San Miguel Redux

      Tom reading Attencion in the casita living room

Sometimes I actually do something right! Mary Ann was groaning (maybe even approaching whining) this past fall about not having any trips planned during what was shaping up as a very cold Chelan winter. Having no trips planned around here is pretty much of a crisis. We have not been planning the long trips in the winter lately because of my having got overextended with community volunteering as Rotary President, city planning commission, and joining the hospital commission. Alas, I needed to find a solution.

On to the internet for a long look at San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. We had spent 10 weeks in SMA in 2007 right after retirement and just fell in love with this high altitude central Mexico city brimming with art, culture, warmth, and great cuisine. I had looked last year, trying to find a casa, but because of the amazing popularity of San Miguel in the winter I was unable to find a casa to rent. This year I lucked out, even though I did not start until mid-November . Fortunately, a property came on to VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) following a remodeling. I was able to rent it and keep it a secret for Mary Ann's Christmas present. You can check it out at http://www.vrbo.com/327478 which includes my review published at the bottom.

The rental and trip was for two weeks in January, and it was a great renewal of our past love for San Miguel. As usual we lucked into interesting native festivals, continuing research in 15 wonderful restaurants, a lovely casita in the heart of the historic centro, a great parade celebrating the 242nd birthday of Ignacio Allende, and making the world's greatest shopper very happy. Needless to say, we had to ship home two boxes of handicraft purchases and a wonderful new painting which is showing off above our fireplace.

Travel often makes for some interesting contacts and this trip was no exception. I have developed a fun email connection with the owner of our casita. Cheryl Finnegan is an international acclaimed jewelry designer from San Miguel. We have discussed by email, books about San Miguel and Mexico, art including that of her husband, writing, and renovation of wonderful properties in San Miguel. Mary Ann and I visited her studio, which was around the corner from our casita, and ate in a restaurant (Café Rama) that she is a partner of. Interestingly, she was a featured local personality in a December article in Smithsonian Magazine. You can check her out, and what Smithsonian thinks of San Miguel de Allende at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Under-the-Spell-of-San-Miguel-de-Allende.html?c=y&page=1.

Well, needless to say, we are hooked. We thought, wouldn't it really be neat to share this wonderful place with all of our family, so rather than wait until November, I went to work and found what looks like a wonderful three bedroom casa for a month over Christmas and New Years. Now I am a hero with Mary Ann - and all the kids! Check it out at: http://www.vrbo.com/70432.

Just a Few Things I Have Learned in Mexico

Travel is supposed to expand your horizons and teach you new things about the world, and maybe even yourself. With this thought I decided to figure out just what I have learned from nearly 10 weeks residence in Mexico. Of course, you must appreciate that I have not been in the big cities, but have covered a lot of territory and spent a lot of time in San Miguel de Allende, a gem of a destination, as attested to by thousands of world visitors, and which is often listed as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit. So just what have I learned?

 The weather in central Mexico is wonderful. It gets down to the 50’s at night and into the 80’s in the daytime. Mind you, this is during the spring when the Great Northwest is swinging between rain, wind and snow and rarely gets out of the 50’s. As a bonus there are no bugs like in the tropics, and the bougainvillea bushes and Jacaranda trees are beautiful.

 Even when immersed in a country with a foreign language I realize I can get by with about 50 words of vocabulary and the natives figure out my problem. My words are also mostly nouns and very few verbs. You know the words I need, like: banos (bathroom); caballeros or hombre (men); cerveza (beer); mas (more – to be used as mas cerveza = more beer!); por favor (please as in por favor banos); cuanto cuesto (how much – needed for helping out Mary Ann, the world’s greatest shopper); la cuenta por favor (the check please). Well, you get the picture, and with a lot of hand signals I get along just fine.

 For those of you who have been following my semi-daily travel blog regularly on the internet (http://tomoffthebench.blogspot.com/), having to write often has really improved my writing description skills. You have to consciously record what you are seeing, as you see it, and for the “Quirky Living Notes” you have to study those things that are different and contrast with your normal living style.

 At least in San Miguel, you feel completely safe. There are a lot of helpful police officers (who I try to avoid), but there seems to be very little crime. Graffiti is minimal and the government requires removal within 72 hours. In any case the locals seem to keep everything very well painted in the vibrant colors of Mexico.

 I have found all of the Mexicans courteous and polite, even drivers in town who will always stop to let you cross the street.

 In every town there is always an eclectic colorful Mercado, which contains the stalls for fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, meat, chicken and a lot of handicrafts. If you are brave you can also try the food stands and get tortas (sandwiches) and a wide assortment of Mexican dishes which are unrecognizable to this gringo eye.

 Mexico has the most beautiful well behaved small children and a lot of them. Mary Ann is continuously taking their photos and has quite a collection of adorable pictures. They are always clean and the little girls are always the best dressed of anyone in very pretty dresses.

 You do see the contrast of the wealthy and the poor, although it is not as apparent in San Miguel de Allende as in other communities we have visited. On the streets you do see the begging Indian grandmothers sitting on the sidewalks and the small children selling Chiclets and Indian dolls. It really however, is just part of the color of the town and part of the excitement of being outdoors and part of the life of the community.

 When driving on the highways you get to see the most amazing things, as you can see from the attached photo, such as the animal stampede that recently stopped our car.

Foreign travel is an exciting, entertaining and challenging experience for anyone. Instead of Disneyland next year, give a foreign trip some consideration.

What is it about San Miguel de Allende, Mexico?

Huh, you have never heard of San Miguel de Allende? It is one of the travel gems of the world and a destination for serious travelers, who whisper its name in the same breath with London, Paris, and Venice. San Miguel arrived on the tourist map in the 1930’s when the Instituto Allende was founded for the purpose of serious art, music, and language education. After World War II it grew into quite a U.S. expatriate community when the G.I.’s found that they could use their G.I. Bill for education in San Miguel. As a result the community of about 70,000 people has a permanent Anglo population of between 7 and 10 thousand. However, San Miguel for the tourist (or resident) has become much more than an institution of higher education.

San Miguel de Allende is in the heart of what is known as the colonial district of Mexico. This is where Father Don Miguel Hidalgo, now considered the father of the Mexican nation, started the revolution in 1810 for independence from Spain with his fellow revolutionaries Ignacio Allende, José Mariano Jiménez and Juan Aldama, all who were eventually executed for their trouble. The town was originally founded in 1542 as San Miguel by Father Juan de San Miguel. In 1926 San Miguel de Allende was declared a National Monument by the Mexican government, thus preserving the cobblestone, colonial nature of the town, free of traffic lights, neon signs and fast food franchises. Because of its position historically on the silver road from the mines in the North with the road going to Mexico City and Veracruz, San Miguel became a very wealthy city, and it remains so today.

Well, just where is San Miguel? It is not easy to find it on the map, as it is not one of the huge Mexican cities like Guadalajara, Mexico City, or Monterrey. Specifically, it is 171 miles (3½ hours by bus) northwest of Mexico City and due east of Guadalajara. The nearest large city is Leon where the Leon/Guanajuato airport is located and where most people fly as there is regular daily service from Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles. It is about a 1½ hour drive from the airport to San Miguel. A 24 hour van service is available as there is a lot of visiting going on in the community. The terrain is dry hills similar to Arizona and Southern California, but the town has a high altitude at 6150 feet. The wet season is June through September, and the rest of the months see little precipitation. The temperature is pretty constant ranging from monthly average highs of 71 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now how did your intrepid adventuresome traveling judge end up spending 10 weeks in San Miguel? Following the recent retirement it was always our plan to spend a couple of months during the Chelan cold months in some warm location elsewhere in the world. Twenty five years ago we visited San Miguel with our then small children. We loved the town and always hoped to return. It was a natural for our first winter/spring trip. As you know from the last issue of the newsletter, when we decided to drive instead of fly, it really did become more exciting than we wanted. We are living in a beautiful Mexican style casa which we leased for the ten weeks. Booking homes in foreign countries is obviously a subject for a future article.

So what is the attraction? How about live theatre, world class art shows, wonderful restaurants, international musicians and an event schedule (in English) that is close to exhausting. The central square (the Jardin) is in constant motion being enjoyed by Anglos and Mexicans alike. Several of the historic district streets have been closed to traffic so it is enjoyed by all the inhabitants. So you can get a feel for what is going on, and if you are interested I suggest two websites. The first has a lot of information for travelers, including such things as real estate, shopping, home rentals, and a daily event schedule. Take a look at http://www.portalsanmiguel.com/. San Miguel has an English language weekly newspaper, called Atención San Miguel that is online. It is at www.atencionsanmiguel.org. A unique aspect of life in San Miguel is the volunteer programs sponsored to benefit the Mexican residents and the local quality of life. This is directly attributable to the large gringo retirement community. An example is the Biblioteca, the center of expat community life, and the largest English/Spanish library in Central America. The Atención is published by the Biblioteca.

If you are just coming to San Miguel as a tourist for a few days, the city has some wonderful high quality hotels and B&B’s. Shopping is also a great attraction for those so inclined (like my wife) with a huge selection of high quality native handicrafts, clothing, jewelry, and ceramics. How can you beat a combination of great hotels, great food, great touring, and great shopping? Because of the large numbers of Anglos, there really is no problem with not speaking Spanish. Everyone will help you. But, if you do want to dip into language learning, there are many language schools ready to immerse you! What a great place, for short term or long term. While in San Miguel I wrote a travel blog which will give you a lot more perspective. It is accessible on the web with daily experiences: http://tomoffthebench.blogspot.com/. Now, just call your travel agent!

(Published in the 2007 ABA Fall JD Record; Published in the June 2007 The Good Life magazine)

What do you do in Chihuahua for four days without a car?

                Hector the "Mechanico" at work

Driving to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for our first winter retirement retreat we surely did not contemplate such an extended stay in Chihuahua. Our first overnight in Mexico was scheduled for Chihuahua as we drove through the interior of Mexico. When departing this very large city on Sunday morning our car decided to completely stop running. Knowing Mary Ann’s love for shopping, the car did quit in front of a huge shopping department store that was open early on a Sunday morning.

As Mary Ann can accomplish miracles in a department store, even with language barriers, she recruited a very helpful bilingual security guard. He arranged a call to our Mexican insurance company to provide for a tow truck. When the tow arrived he interpreted our options, which on a Sunday morning were not great. Eventually, we were towed to a mechanic (who just might have been a relative of the tow truck driver) who would work on a Sunday. We arrived at the mechanic’s home/garage in a very dusty neighborhood on the edge of Chihuahua. Oh, lordy! Hector “the mechanic” found a young friend, Alan, “the interpreter”, and they went to work.

The diagnosis was a failed fuel pump. I then rode to the parts store (I have a credit card!) with Hector and Alan in what could only be described as a late 50’s/early 60’s Mexican decorated Ford pickup. We felt fortunate that we found a match for the fuel pump. However when installed the car still did not run. This required that the car be checked on a diagnostic computer (now where would he find that?) which had to wait until Monday. We then returned to our previous hotel to extend our stay and wait for calls from Alan “the interpreter”, for progress or lack thereof. By Monday afternoon the part failure was diagnosed and the search was on for the part. No replacement was found in any of the parts stores, but then they moved on to the wrecking yards. Hope for Tuesday?

As we were waiting for calls we were stuck full time at the hotel, albeit a very nice new Holiday Inn Express (you can check out my review on Tripadvisor.com). Another crisis then arose as Mary Ann was running out of books, and her supply remained in the car in the wilds of Chihuahua. She was reduced to reading my books, a whole different genre. One bright spot was having our laptop (yes Mary Ann, it was a good idea to buy and bring a new laptop) and the hotel had free internet. These days I select hotels with free internet and wi-fi. This gave me the options of canceling hotel reservations down the line, communicating with family that we had dropped off the face of the earth, and keeping up with the news (CNN World can be tolerated for only so long) and emails. On the previous Saturday, before the car crisis, we were able to check out the historic center of Chihuahua and enjoyed the locals walking the streets and observed the bike race through downtown.

A call came from Alan. The only part is in Juarez and they need us to send money. Uh Oh! At that point the handsome bilingual desk clerk Fernando (soon to be referred to as “the savior”) took me in tow and we visited parts stores, his mechanic and then the biggest Nissan dealer I have ever seen. We discussed the part, the situation, and Hector (the Mechanic) with the Nissan folks, and the next thing we were doing was traveling with the Nissan car hauler to Hector “The Mechanic’s” house/car garage. My savior negotiated the car ransom and by early evening it was safely at Nissan.

Hurrah, a call from the Nissan Service Department. The car was running. You don’t even want to ask what all of this cost! We were now off to our next night in Zacatecas. What was the bright spot? We met some great people who went out of their way to help us and the car did not break down in the middle of the Sonoran desert between one of our nightly destinations!

(Published in the Summer 2007 ABA JD Record)

The Best Vacation I Didn’t Take!

                 Estella and the cook wanna-be's!

A couple of years ago when in Thailand, Mary Ann thoroughly enjoyed a one day cooking school. This began my thinking about sending her to one of the week long cooking schools somewhere in the world. Even better, maybe I could win a lot of husband and father points by planning a mother-daughter package for all four of the ladies in my life, as a secret Christmas present. Although I love to travel, I like the planning of a trip nearly as much as going on it.

In September of last year I started looking for cooking schools, with my search mostly limited to France, Italy, and Mexico. I quickly discovered that if I was going to spring for the big bucks trip for four, I probably needed to control some of the expense by not sending them all to Europe. Thus I began looking in earnest at the possibilities in Mexico. I scoured the classifieds in all the glossy cooking magazines and surfed the internet for recommended schools.

This was becoming so much fun, that I had to share it with someone, so I enlisted a co-conspirator, one of my daughters. She then participated in evaluating the alternatives and suggesting times and dates. This was going to require some logistics as I would need to clear the dates of travel with everyone’s boss, as I would be booking the school and flight arrangements several months in advance. The final selection was a well regarded school in Tlaxcala, a small community about an hour from Puebla, Mexico. Puebla is southeast of Mexico City on the main road to Veracruz. Tlaxcala is on a high plain surrounded by volcanoes. The selection had everything I needed to keep all the ladies happy-for some the cooking school, for some the relaxation of living at a Mexican country home, for some the chance of shopping for native handicrafts and art, and for some opportunity to hike, explore the region and climb the pyramids.

I became a real email pal with Estela and Jon, the owners of the Mexican Home Cooking School. They thought my gift plan was a real delight. I booked a week in February, and when there are at least four people, they do not book anyone else with them. After I confirmed the school, I then arranged for all of the ladies to fly together from Seattle to Mexico City, and then travel to Puebla by the hourly luxury bus. To become acclimated the ladies started by staying two days at the Camino Real Puebla, a converted monastery in downtown Puebla and considered the top hotel property in town. Then they were on to the cooking school for a week. The plan was for cooking in the morning and playing in the afternoon. You eat what you cook for lunch, and are treated with margaritas and delicious gourmet dishes for dinner. The school and hacienda has an excellent website at www.mexicanhomecooking.com.

For me, the making of the gift was probably the most fun. I had all four open their respective packages together on Christmas morning. You could hear a pin drop. Then the astonishment was followed by the tears. A sure way to become a family hero! If you are interested in a day-to-day narrative of the adventure with a lot of wonderful photos, one of my daughters has written a travel blog about the experience. Katy's excellent and humorous blog can be found at www.travelerkaty.blogspot.com. My wife and daughters all had a fantastic time and consider it one of their great lifetime experiences. Now I have to figure out someplace I want to go, as if that has ever been a problem!

(Published in the Summer 2006 issue of the ABA JD Record)

The Love Affair With Mexico

You would think, from reading my travel ramblings, that we only visit Europe. Actually, our family has a long travel history in Mexico and Central America. Great vacations have been enjoyed in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize and many adventures in Mexico.

It all started with those month long leaves in the Army. We took off for a road trip around Mexico in the year of the 1968 Olympics. Were we crazy or what? Maybe just young and fearless! We drove down the west coast of Mexico through Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Guadalajara to Mexico City and back up through the mountains to Victoria and Monterrey and back into Texas. We survived the car break-in, the torrential flood in a backwater named San Blas (allegedly soon to be an undiscovered destination resort – hah!) where you cross rickety wood bridges over roaring rain filled rivers, and lots of highways that were still awaiting pavement. This was our first out of country trip testing the foreign language skills or lack thereof and overcoming the fear of the unknown. As you can tell from “Time Off The Bench”, we really got hooked. We had actually taken a Spanish course at the University of Texas-El Paso so it didn’t go too badly. I can still, decades later, clearly say “mas cerveza porfavor” – more beer please! We loved the food (yum-shrimp wrapped in bacon and cheese), the culture, the people and the excitement of a different life style.

Mexico for many Americans is all about beaches and sun. Mary Ann and I are not really beach people, but we do seem to end up at beach resorts frequently. Thus while we do visit the beaches, we have learned to love a couple of interior Mexican destinations. We would recommend to you the two towns of Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, both located near each other in the colonial district of central Mexico. They can be reached by flying to Guadalajara, San Luis Potosi, or Leon, and then driving to these towns. Guanajuato is built in a canyon and is located in a historic mining district. It has a university popular with Americans. San Miguel de Allende is an art colony with a lot of U.S. ex patriates. Both are exciting and great fun. They are the kinds of places that you think about retiring to or at least to rent a villa for a few months in the winter. Check out these websites: www.mexconnect.com/MEX/mxc/tour.index.html and www.internetsanmiguel.com.

Our favorite large city in Mexico is Guadalajara. Guadalajara, and the state of Jalisco, both have interesting shopping neighborhoods, crafts, year round good weather, and lots of big city cultural events. It does not have the crime, smog, nor overwhelming size (it is Mexico’s second largest) that you experience in Mexico City. While there be sure and visit the suburb of Tlaquepaque. The whole city gives you the experience of the Mexican culture and vibrancy, which you do not get when you spend time in the beach cities where there are so many foreign tourists. To look at the opportunities in any of the Mexican cities or resorts, the Mexican government has an excellent website at www.visitmexico.com.

To get out of the rain and snow of the Pacific Northwest we have spent a number of weeks in the winter at the Mexican west coast resorts. For us these have included Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Los Cabos. Some of our most memorable family experiences have come from those vacations. There is nothing like being in the airport in Mazatlan when your oldest daughter dislocates her shoulder. Having seen the hospital, her mother then grabs the shoulder, pushes it back in the socket and commands Katy to get on the plane. Maybe this is how Mary Ann obtained the reputation of being a tender and caring mother, and her children now follow her theory of “buck up and quit whining!” How about flying back from Puerto Vallarta when our youngest daughter Amanda who is sitting next to me (Mary Ann must have had a premonition), leans over in my lap, as we were landing in Seattle, and vomits all over me. You have never seen flight attendants exit a plane so fast while completely ignoring two passengers. Or how about the time when having an excursion out of Cabo San Lucas to the “Hotel California” village of Todos Santos, when the “Gringo Judge” gets busted by the policia for running the hidden red light (the only red light). Go figure! It was close to lunch time and I think the police needed lunch money. I was hauled up to the police station by five policemen, and three police cars. Fortunately, our good traveling friends were carrying enough pesos, as no visa cards were accepted. Afterwards I asked if Mary Ann saw the court while she was killing time waiting for us. She said, “No, but I did find several really awful jail cells.” I left my business card to be given to the judge advising him I would have to forfeit my bail!

We have some good friends who have a time share at the Westin Club Regina (www.loscabosguide.com/clubregina/) in the corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. We have enjoyed the ambiance, weather, whales of this resort and the two cities at the foot of Baja California Sur. Los Cabos is growing like crazy and you should plan to visit there before it gets completely out of control. If you are a golfer it is a must. With all of the gringos being catered to, it is also becoming very expensive. Last year we also spent a week in Mazatlan. We were not really looking forward to it, as the last time (about 20 years ago) it was really going to seed. To our delight it is now a very exciting resort, very busy, cleaned up, lots of fun and easy to get around with the open air pulmonia taxis. We had a great time and can heartily recommend the experience. For a lot of information take a look at www.mazatlan.com.mx.

Where ever you go in Mexico, if you enjoy other cultures, you will have a good time. We heartily encourage some time off the bench in Mexico.

(Published in the Spring 2003 ABA Judicial Record)

Just a Few Things I Have Learned in Mexico

Travel is supposed to expand your horizons and teach you new things about the world, and maybe even yourself. With this thought I decided to figure out just what I have learned from 10 weeks residence in Mexico. Of course, you must appreciate that I have not been in the big cities, but have covered a lot of territory and spent a lot of time in San Miguel de Allende, a gem of a destination, as attested to by thousands of world visitors, and which is often listed as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit. So just what have I learned?

The weather in central Mexico is wonderful. It gets down to the 50’s at night and into the 80’s in the daytime. Mind you, this is during the spring when the Great Northwest is swinging between rain, wind and snow and rarely gets out of the 50’s. As a bonus there are no bugs like in the tropics, and the bougainvillea bushes and Jacaranda trees are beautiful.

Even when immersed in a country with a foreign language I realize I can get by with about 50 words of vocabulary and the natives figure out my problem. My words are also mostly nouns and very few verbs. You know the words I need, like: banos (bathroom); caballeros or hombre (men); cerveza (beer); mas (more – to be used as mas cerveza = more beer!); por favor (please as in por favor banos); cuanto cuesto (how much – needed for helping out Mary Ann, the world’s greatest shopper); la cuenta por favor (the check please). Well, you get the picture, and with a lot of hand signals I get along just fine.

For those of you who have been following my semi-daily travel blog on the internet (http://tomoffthebench.blogspot.com/), having to write regularly has really improved my writing description skills. You have to consciously record what you are seeing, as you see it, and for the “Quirky Living Notes” you have to study those things that are different and contrast with your normal living style.

At least in San Miguel, you feel completely safe. There are a lot of helpful police officers (who I try to avoid), but there seems to be very little crime. Graffiti is minimal and the government requires removal within 72 hours. In any case the locals seem to keep everything very well painted in the vibrant colors of Mexico.

I have found all of the Mexicans courteous and polite, even drivers in town who will always stop to let you cross the street.

In every town there is always an eclectic colorful Mercado, which contains the stalls for fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, meat, chicken and a lot of handicrafts. If you are brave you can also try the food stands and get tortas (sandwiches) and a wide assortment of Mexican dishes which are unrecognizable to this gringo eye.

Mexico has the most beautiful well behaved small children and a lot of them. Mary Ann is continuously taking their photos and has quite a collection of adorable pictures. They are always clean and the little girls are always the best dressed of anyone in very pretty dresses.

You do see the contrast of the wealthy and the poor, although it is not as apparent in San Miguel de Allende as in other communities we have visited. On the streets you do see the begging Indian grandmothers sitting on the sidewalks and the small children selling Chiclets and Indian dolls. It really however, is just part of the color of the town and part of the excitement of being outdoors and part of the life of the community.

When driving on the highways you get to see the most amazing things, as you can see from the attached photo, such as the animal stampede that recently stopped our car.

Foreign travel is an exciting, entertaining and challenging experience for anyone. Instead of Disneyland next year, give a foreign trip some consideration.

© Thomas C. Warren 2007

Safely Back in the U.S.

The Trip From San Miguel to the United States: Leaving on Saturday, we got off to a good start and everything fit into the car, much to the relief of Mary Ann who thought maybe she would have to be strapped to the top of the front fender. We laughed about the full load remarking we still had room to purchase a large piñata, but that just might obstruct the view out of the back. Our first road day was to be an easy one going through Guanajuato, Leon and Aguascalientes to Zacatecas. One thing about Mexico is that they have some magnificent huge manufacturing plants in their major cities. Just outside of Leon in Silao, there is a huge General Motors plant. On the way into Aguascalientes we seemed to drive for miles past what appeared to be a brand new Nissan plant. I assume this is all due to NAFTA and cheap labor.

We were returning to Zacatecas as we thought from our trip into Mexico that it was a city worth exploring. It is set in two canyons with high mountains above the canyons. It was originally one of the great silver cities of the Spanish conquest. After arriving early in the afternoon at the Hotel del Bosque, which is located on one of the canyon rims and the site of the Eden Mine and the base of the cable car to the top of El Bufo mountain, we walked down into the Historic City Center. It is laid out on a long boulevard between the churches and the parks. It is clean and what seems like a very prosperous city. The city is famous for the Battle of El Bufo which was the military taking of the city in the Revolution of 1910, when Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata became famous as heroes of the revolution.

Our route from Zacatecas was to be the most aggressive of our trip. We were headed to Durango and then across the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. The drive was difficult as it is termed by the locals as the road of 3,000 curves. I can attest that there are at least that many. However, the upside of the route is that the vistas, the rock faces, and the mountains are gorgeous. It is clearly one of the most beautiful and picturesque regions of Mexico. After descending from 8,000 feet to sea-level we reached luxurious and relaxing Mazatlan. We stayed at the Inn at Mazatlan which is beautiful RCI resort in the Golden Zone. We immediately hit the pool and walked the beach. We had 2 for 1 drinks during happy hour while enjoying the pool and soaking in the sun. For dinner we walked the Dorada Zone and enjoyed dinner along the beach at the Playa Mazatlan.

The road north from Mazatlan is mostly straight through lush farming and an improved toll road. The Mexican government is definitely into toll roads. There is always a free (libre) alternative, but we have stuck with the 110 KPH option. For the day from Mazatlan to Ciudad Obregon we traveled about 400 miles and it cost us a little over $50 (500 pesos) in tolls. Another unique part of Mexican road travel is the inspection stations you go through. This is common throughout the country, but especially prevalent in the States of Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora. The inspections are of two varieties, one a military check point and the other a fruit and vegetable checkpoint. We must look pretty harmless as we have never been pulled to the side for a full inspection. It probably helps that as we do not speak fluent Spanish the guards mostly just become frustrated and wave us on. We did have one that looked in our trunk and who we think decided he did not want to even begin to tackle that problem.

Ciudad Obregon was hot but we had air conditioning and a pool to sit by. Our big surprise was that the trip north from Mazatlan caused a two hour time change so we had stopped at 1:00 p.m. instead of 3:00 p.m. like we thought it was. Oh well, we will probably lose the time again on the trip into Arizona.

The drive from Ciudad Obregon to Nogales was uneventful. We drove through Guaymas and Hermosillo. North of Hermosillo the country becomes rocky, mountainous, and a lot of cactus. It was very picturesque to people who obviously enjoy dry terrain. We did see a very serious accident outside Guaymas where a bus ran into the back of a semi truck. It looked like there was a resulting fire. When we arrived on the accident all of the bus passengers appeared to be watching from the nearby hills.

Our worry was to accomplish the border crossing with as little delay and problems as possible. Mary Ann really did not want to unpack the car at U.S. customs. When we had entered Mexico in Juarez we had to register and pay a tax for use of the car in Mexico. You pay the tax with a credit card so they have the numbers in the event you do not remove the car from Mexico. At that time we received the six month authorization papers and a permit for the car window. The AAA advised us with no uncertain terms to make sure we got our car checked out` of Mexico, otherwise they assume you sold the car in Mexico and charge the taxes to your credit card. Today when we were about 15 miles south of Nogales we were diverted to a very nice young lady who checked our papers, handed me a razor blade to remove the window sticker, and then processed our car departure. It was much less painful than the entry.

At U.S. immigration and customs the only problem was the long line and delays in getting to talk to the Immigration and Custom Enforcement lady. She was very nice and passed us right through. Ironically our impression of driving in Mexico was that it was easier and safer than U.S. freeway driving. Phoenix freeways are a real bear so close to rush hour. In any case we were safely back in the U.S.

A Final Mexican Quirky Living Note: You will recall my moaning about the topes, the speed bumps that are endemic to all of Mexico. After crunching over hundreds of them on the way back to the U.S., I just want to raise the question of what came first, the topes or the fruit juice stand at every topes. You are always offered the chance to buy fruit, juice, and unrecognizable eatables at each slow topes (Mary Ann thinks they should be called bumpies). At least they are not as objectionable as the kids at stop lights who jump out and try to wash your windshield!

The Last of San Miguel?

Caitlyn says goodbye!

Thursday & Friday – Week 10: You might have noticed from the blog that San Miguel does a lot of celebrating. Tuesday was a holiday to celebrate world wide Labor Day. The San Miguelese do it one better with a celebration today of Holy Cross Day (Dia de Santa Cruz). You know it is a beloved holiday as the firecrackers and rockets started about 2 a.m. this morning. This is a kind of a construction holiday also referred to as the day of the masons and builders. The workers take altars and crosses to be blessed at a morning mass and then erect them at the construction sites (see photo above). Employers are supposed to provide food and refreshments, and then disappear, and naturally no work will get done today.

As Friday will be the final packing day, on Thursday we transited all the favorite handicraft spots and did some “cultural” buying. Some things we had delayed purchasing so as to confirm that our tastes at the beginning of our visit would still be something we would still want just before we left. How did I know that one of the purchases would be another pair of San Miguel sandals? I think that we have just about bought out the town. We will be well stocked with gifts, and handicraft decorations for the Chelan condo.

Thursday evening in the Jardin was starting to look pretty classy, as Rotary District 4160 was starting their District Convention. Looked like a reception or check in at the Municipal Palace and then an outdoor cocktail party around the bandstand in the Jardin. Looks like it will be a busy and liquid convention for the Rotarians. We also succumbed to the Jardin vendor we have been fending off for 10 weeks. We bought one of the foam US and Mexico State puzzles. A little parting gift for Caitlyn to play with.

Friday is finish the packing day. Will it all fit in the Maxima? Will I be able to see out the back window? Why didn’t I buy a rocket box? Will I be able to walk after carrying the suitcases and boxes from the upper floors? Stay tuned to see if we actually leave San Miguel. I think that Mary Ann wants to pack up the lap top. I will try to post something along the trail to home, assuming we find an internet connection at some hotel. Check up on us. I have been writing an inventory of Quirky Living Notes and I have some left over. Thus you get to see all that remain:

Quirky Living Note: A very practical solution has been provided for all the San Miguelese who do not own cars, but need to haul things to their homes. One of the options for a taxi is a Nissan combination crew cab/truck. The vehicle will fit as many passengers as one of the regular Nissan Tusuru cabs, but also has the open pickup back end to haul larger items. One day we saw a family who was having a refrigerator hauled to their casa. These combination vehicles are painted identical to the regular taxi’s, but as I haven’t needed to use one (Mary Ann just hasn’t bought anything big enough) I don’t know how much they charge.

Quirky Living Note: When walking along Zacateros Street one day, and looking in the open doors, I came to a complete stop. The business was a funeral home and in the open area they were constructing a wooden casket. Obviously a full service mortuary and they certainly offer a discount box! Now this is something that Jones & Jones and Telford’s in Wenatchee need to look into.

Quirky Living Note: I can assure you that I am not addicted to Mexican wrestling, or U.S. wrestling for that matter. However, here in San Miguel you can buy versions of the masks that the wrestlers wear on TV. I guess they are to show ferociousness or maybe to remain anonymous. To my surprise, my son-in-law, while visiting, bought three of them. He explained that he and two of his friends are going to be a real hit at Halloween parties this year.

Quirky Living Note: On most of the street corners of San Miguel, near the street name (they are very good here with putting up the names) there is often a reference to “Manzana” and a number. In Spanish this means “apple” but I don’t really think they are promoting Washington apples, although we see Central Washington apple boxes all over the Mercado. Apparently, prior to naming all the streets, or at least putting the names on the buildings, each block was numbered, thus a reference to Manzana #.

Quirky Living Note: As part of the scenery of San Miguel you see ancient Indian grandmother types, often with grandchildren, sitting on the sidewalks, with their hand out begging for donations. Sometimes they will be selling some unrecognizable vegetable or small native dolls. I do not see a lot of people who give to these women, but it must be a worthwhile pastime, as there is obviously an agreement about location and space between beggar ladies. You see the same ones in the same location every day, however moving with the shade from one side of the street to the other. It seems very sad, but it must work or they would not spend hours and hours doing it.

Quirky Living Note: When walking the sidewalks of San Miguel you find early on that two people cannot pass without turning sideways. This is due to very narrow sidewalks, in most cases about 2 ½ feet wide or less. The sideways passing is known here as the San Miguel tango.

Quirky Living Note: Upon our first arrival in San Miguel I was convinced that they did not have home mail delivery. I know, everyone has a mail slot in their door, but I thought that was just a historical anachronism. In addition I saw all the lines at the Post Office (on our way to the Jardin) so naively thought everyone had a box or picked up their mail as general delivery. Besides I knew most of the gringos received their mail through a mailing service where their mail actually went to Laredo and then was trucked to San Miguel. But aha, we have actually received two letters at the casa, and I saw a mailman…he was delivering on a motorbike. Take that US Postal Service!

Instead of the Grammy's, Here are the Eaties!

The Favorite Restaurants of San Miguel
(According to Mary Ann & Tom)

A careful reading of the previous 46 postings on the blog will reveal that a conservative estimate of our 75 days in San Miguel about 25% of the time was spent eating. With this kind of gastronomic research it is only right that we pass on our findings to all future (or present) residents or visitors to San Miguel.

Favorite Coffee Hangout: Café Montenegro-Correo #12A. It also has the advantage of being on the way to the Jardin, has comfortable chairs, and really clean bathrooms. Oh, by the way, great coffee.

Favorite Italian Food: Romano’s-Hernandez Macias # 93. Great classic Italian dishes, and a wonderful second floor with roof top views.

Favorite Cheapo Place: El Ten Ten Pie-Cuna de Allende #21. Good for a light meal for lunch or dinner. Specialty is tacos and you can order the number that your appetite demands.

Favorite Pizza: La Grotta-Cuadrante #5. No it is not Domino’s, although you can have Domino’s deliver in San Miguel. La Grotta is a small second floor restaurant with some excellent pizza, including some unusual selections.

Favorite Breakfast: La Puertecita Hotel (Santo Domingo #75) and Casa de Sierra Nevada en el Parque Hotel (Santa Elena #2). Both locations just ooze with morning ambiance with breakfast in gorgeous courtyards and at very reasonable prices. We just love breakfast in San Miguel as you always get large quantities of fresh squeezed orange juice. No colds for us!

Favorite Splurge: La Capilla-Cuna de Allende #10. The roof top restaurant located on the side of the La Parroquia Church. Wonderful atmosphere and great food – at a price.

Favorite Churros: San Agustin-San Francisco #21. Great for coffee or lunch and then overdose on the fried churros sprinkled with sugar. Les Cooper liked churros so much that I am sure he will be opening a churros shop in Chelan.

Favorite Everyday: El Pegaso-Corner of Correo & Corregidora. Lots of interesting sandwiches and the waiters really push the drinks. Aiyiyi, mas margaritas and cervezas. I always went for the smoked salmon and crème cheese on a bagel. Very Mexican!

Favorite Ice Cream: Santa Clara-Ancha de San Antonio #1. Not only very good ice cream cones, but also tables and chairs for a rest and free bath rooms. You always need to know where those clean free baño are when making the mid-day stop.

Favorite Steaks: Casa Payo-Zacateros #26. An Argentinean steak house that has great steaks and very nice live guitar music.

Favorite Lunch: Mesón de San José-Mesones #38. We found this restaurant on our first day in San Miguel when our historic walking tour guide told us it was his wife’s favorite lunch spot. It is kind of hidden across from the Civic Plaza, but has a wonderful picturesque courtyard and a very pleasant place for lunch. Uriel will be your waiter and will always recognize you if you return again. I think we took all our guests there after they completed their walking tour.

Our All-time Best Favorite Grand Winner: Bugambila-Hidalgo #42. This restaurant (photo above) has been feeding the San Miguelese and its visitors for 62 years. We think this is the restaurant we had dinner in when we were here 25 years ago. A very romantic courtyard setting and excellent food. The shrimp wrapped in bacon with a mild chili sauce is to die for.

Quirky Living Note: One of the unofficial religious holidays celebrated here around the 2nd of November, but which we haven’t experienced is called “The Day of the Dead.” It is really “All Souls Day” where the locals decorate their homes and cemeteries to create a communion with departed loved ones. Elaborate altars are built and trails of marigolds are spread from the cemeteries to homes so the departed can find their way. There is a Mexican belief that the past is not dead and they mock death. There is quite a local handicraft effort making elaborate decorated skeleton statues seen in many of the stores and Mercado. Saint Paul’s Anglican Church gets in the swing of this celebration by sponsoring a charitable fund raising tour which looks like it would really be fun to be a participant. Check out “tours” at http://www.stpauls.com.mx/.

Garbage Trucks & TV Cable VW's

Wednesday – Week 9: San Miguel is becoming very quiet as we start into May. This morning I walked to Parque Juarez to read and I was one of the few people there. I am currently reading “The River of Doubt” which is the story of President Theodore Roosevelt’s journey of discovery of one of the unmapped and undiscovered rivers of the Amazon. It is an exciting and scary combination of travel literature and history. Appropriately I was reading in the high canopy of the park.

When walking up to the Jardin I observed the garbage truck on Aldama Street. There is parking on one side of the narrow street and the travel portion of the street is not wide enough for the truck to pass. At this point one of the garbage men takes a block and puts it in front of the right front tire, so the right wheels of the truck can get up on top of the sidewalk. They then proceeded down the street at a slight tilt using the sidewalk as part of the road. It was all very ingenious.

While I am out and about having fun observing garbage trucks, Mary Ann was starting the tedious business of getting us packed up for our departure on Saturday. We will miss this wonderful city and beautiful casa. We plan to return by a different route than our drive down (surprise!). We will return to Zacatecas the first night as we want to spend more time investigating what looked like a fascinating town. Then there will be a long drive across the Sierra Madre mountains to Durango and then on to the coast where we will stay in Mazatlan. The next day we will drive to Ciudad Obregon and finally on the fourth day exit Mexico at Nogales. Back in the United States we plan to go to Phoenix, on to Durango, Colorado and a visit to the National Parks around Moab, Utah. The final two days will be to Twin Falls, Idaho and then back to Chelan. A nice website describing various Mexican cities including Zacatecas is: http://www.advantagemexico.com/.

Quirky Living Note: One very quaint thing you notice around town is the cable TV vehicles. Back in the U.S. you see the repairmen or pole climbers using midsize vans with several ladders or often trucks with a motorized bucket lift to get up to the wires. Not in San Miguel! Here I suspect that trucks that size would often not even get down some of the streets and alleys where they had to work. The Tele-Cable Company has outfitted all their crews with Volkswagen bugs, with one long ladder fastened to the roof extending from the front bumper to the back and a line spool at the back of the ladder rack.

Off to Patzcuaro

Sunday, Monday, & Tuesday – Week 9: Before our children returned home, Mary Ann made the comment that she really had not bought much since being in San Miguel. When I heard this I thought I was going to choke. On Sunday, after recuperating on Saturday from having visitors, Mary Ann moved into Type A buying mode. I think she is now realizing that we will be leaving San Miguel next Saturday and there are few shopping days left. We began Sunday with the Home and Garden tour and visited three completely different homes. One had wonderful art work. One had beautiful native handicrafts (which Mary Ann quizzed the owner about) and the third was in our neighborhood and was fun to see what was hidden behind the walls.

In the evening we returned to the centro district to pick up our packages and have dinner at what we referred to as the poor man’s La Capilla. The name of the restaurant is La Posadita and is across the street from La Capilla, which is probably the most expensive restaurant in San Miguel. Both have roof top dining areas and overlook the Parroquia Church. We had dinner and drinks for about $10 a piece, so felt very righteous in saving the money after the shopping splurge. The restaurant is not listed in any of the guide books, so we also felt very adventuresome. As May approaches the Rainey season is upon San Miguel (they hope) and about 9 p.m. we had a wonderful colossal lightening, thunder and rainstorm. The storm was right over the top of us and I don’t recall ever being so close to so much electricity. We lost power two or three times for a few minutes but the CFE (power company) efficiently got everything running again.

On Monday we started early on an overnight road trip to Patzcuaro, which is about 150 miles southwest of San Miguel. We traveled south to Celaya, then southwest through Morelia, both which are large cities. Getting through the cities is always a challenge for us, as there seemingly is an absence of road signs at critical points. As our children will tell you, the only time Mary Ann and I ever argue, is in the car and about what direction to go. This trip was no different, having been challenged in Celaya with a main road that came to a complete stop because of construction and no directions for where to go. We did however arrive in Patzcuaro in about four hours plus another half hour being lost in finding the hotel.

Patzcuaro is a wonderful picturesque town of about 40,000 people located on Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacán State. On hotel was the Mansion Iturbe located right on Plaza Don Vasco Quiroga. The hotel was fun as it had 14 rooms, must have been built in the 1800’s and was decorated for that period. (See photos above.) It was a great day as it was Children’s Day for the Mexicans and there were literally thousands of children in the Plaza for live music. We had a great dinner at one of the restaurants on the Plaza with Mary Ann having the local soup and fresh trout from the lake. Because of my conservative nature I went for the Filet Mignon with mushrooms. We walked the whole historic downtown including the Gran Plaza, visited the Basilica, and braved communication at a shoe repair store to repair a tear in my shoe, which was the only pair with me.

Tuesday was the return day from Patzcuaro and of course we would never return the same route. We went west along the lake, then eventually north on some crazy back roads ending up in Silao (near the Leon airport) and then back into San Miguel on our usual route. The mileage was about the same as Monday, but because of the mountainous back roads it took us a couple of extra hours. For a look at Patzcuaro take a look at the following website:
http://www.patzcuaromexico.com/

Quirky Living Note: The street our casa is on is a little bit schizophrenic in the naming department. The primary name is Salida y Queretaro (exit to Queretaro). It is also named on some of the street signs as Real y Queretaro (royal road to Queretaro), but on some of the local maps the lower portion of the street where our casa is located is called Calle Pedro Vargas. Pedro Vargas (1906-1989), was from San Miguel, and was one of Mexico’s most beloved tenors and movie stars. In 1964 he performed at Carnegie Hall and he appeared in over 70 movies. He owned a house somewhere along our street. Could it have been our casa?

The San Miguel Charities

While spending the last nine weeks in San Miguel de Allende, we have been introduced to several charities that are worthy of support. On occasion in the travel blog I have mentioned them, and have often given a website for access to more information. For anyone who might be coming to San Miguel and wants to volunteer, or who wants to contribute to a good cause I thought it might be helpful to put all of this information in one place. All of these organizations seem to have U.S. tax deduction clearance, at least according to their websites. Most seem to be prepared to give a 501(c)(3) receipt to anyone who contributes. There is so much help we can give to the poor of Mexico it is worth yours and our consideration. The list includes the following:

Feed the Hungry: It is my favorite as it seems to be touching so many children. The organization has build 27 kitchens at rural schools in the San Miguel area, trained and hired the cooks, and feeds over 3,000 school children every day. It is operated by over 60 volunteers. They are constantly expanding and it apparently costs $65 a year to feed one child. Website: http://www.feedthehungrysma.org/.

Sociedad Protectora de Animales (SPA): This is the humane society for San Miguel (not the dog catchers) where abandoned cats and dogs are temporarily housed until adoptions can be arranged. For all you animal lovers, this is where you can help financially, or help out at the shelter when in San Miguel. They provide veterinary assistance for abused and injured animals and have a weekly public adoption program on Thursdays in the Jardin. Several hundred cats and dogs are adopted by both Mexicans and Americans each year. Website:
http://www.spasanmiguel.org/.

San Miguel Lions Club: The Lions Club is an English language club which pursues the same national goals as Lions International. The major effort is eye sight screening and diabetes detection. The treatment site is on Correo, just around the corner from our casa, and is open for free diagnosis every Thursday, all operated by volunteers. Website: http://www.smalions.org/.

Patronato Pro Niños: A wonderful organization which is very visible in the community as they raise much of their money by the volunteers conducting the historical walking tour of San Miguel every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In addition to the $10 for the tour, they raise much of their operating funds by donation and the acceptance of volunteer services. The organization provides approximately 2500 medical and 2000 dental visits and services to low income children in the municipality of San Miguel. They also appreciate Doctor and Dental volunteers. Website: http://www.patronatoproninos.org/.

Midday Rotary Club of San Miguel: The English language Rotary Club, which is one of the very few in Mexico, is only a couple of years old, but is growing rapidly and has a very active list of service activities. They meet weekly and always have a very interesting and provocative speaker. They promote the club and their programs weekly in Atención. In the 2006-2007 year they have had over six major projects. If you are a Rotarian, I am sure they would appreciate help from your club. Website: http://www.rotarysma.org/.

San Miguel Educational Foundation: A U.S. Tax Code 501(c)(3) tax exempt conduit foundation for contributions to worthy projects and programs in San Miguel. They support the other worthwhile organizations of the community, while providing sound investment of donations and oversight of worthwhile charitable activities for the benefit of the San Miguel community. It would appear to be similar to U.S. community foundations, like the North Central Washington Community Foundation in Wenatchee. In the 30 years of the foundation they have received $6,000,000 which has been donated and disbursed for the benefit of San Miguel. Website: http://www.smefmx.com/.

Save the Laja: For those of you who have ecological interests, this foundation is dedicated to preserving the watershed of the Laja River which flows, or does not flow, as is often the case. They are very active in watershed education, preservation, and restoring the aquifer which serves the valley. Website: http://www.rio-laja.org/.

Saint Paul’s Anglican Church: The Episcopal Church in San Miguel, which we attended while in San Miguel, has an extensive human outreach program conducted by their volunteers and their church giving. They are a strong supporter of Feed the Hungry (see above) which they helped found. Another program they have established is Centro Infantil San Pablo, which is a pre-school program for a San Miguel neighborhood modeled on Head Start. Websites: http://www.stpauls.com.mx/ & http://www.centroinfantil.org.mx/.

Biblioteca Pública: Probably the most impressive volunteer organization in San Miguel is the Biblioteca – the English-Spanish library and much more. It is the center for most all expat activity in the community and reaches far beyond its library shelves, which are the most extensive in Central America. They provide children’s art classes, computer classes, language classes for Spanish speakers, drama classes, theater and movie presentations, and hold hundreds of community events at the library. One very visible fundraising event is the Sunday Home and Garden tours which raise thousands of dollars to provide scholarships for Mexicans to go to Mexican Universities. Website: http://www.bibliotecasma.com/.

anYél, escuela de música: AnYél is a free nonprofit early childhood music program for the children of San Miguel. When we first arrived we enjoyed a concert in the Jardin of several grades of children. Into each child, anYél instills the belief that they are musical beings, and that music matters in every life. They have a wonderful website with lots of the kids enjoying music: http://www.anyel.com/.

All of the above are worthy of your interest and support. It is not an exhaustive list as there are many other charities in San Miguel, they just have not yet reached me during our short ten week stay in this delightful and caring community.

Quirky Living Note: In addition to the exquisite antique doors of the casas in San Miguel, you soon notice the wonderful and unique door knockers on many of the classic wooden doors. I suspect this is due not only to the age of the doors, but practical need, as the living areas are often far from the front door because of the courtyards and living levels. We have a door knocker, and when someone is at the door they always bang it hard and loud so it can be heard throughout the casa.

A European City in Central Mexico?

Friday – Week 9: Guanajuato is clearly one of the most fascinating cities you could ever visit, and it is right here on our continent. Our kids were leaving early Saturday morning so they were staying at a hotel near the airport. It was a convenient day to visit Dolores Hidalgo and Guanajuato and then drop them off at the end of the day before our return to San Miguel.

Guanajuato is the state capital of the colonial area and dates from the 1500’s. It is built in a steep canyon and all the buildings go right up the sides of the canyon and are gaily painted in multiple bright colors similar to the Mediterranean. When the Spanish arrived it became one of the three greatest silver cities of the empire. The city of about 100,000 has a very European flavor. It includes the prestigious University of Guanajuato with 8,000 students founded by the Jesuits in the mid 1700’s and is famous for its music and theater.

A unique feature of Guanajuato is that they have converted a river bed and mine shafts under the city into automobile tunnels. They criss-cross all over and have made it so we have never parked in the same area twice (because we are usually lost). What this has accomplished is allowing most of the city to be pedestrian only on the surface. This provides for beautiful squares, parks, vistas and beautiful public buildings and theaters. There are many outside restaurants and it makes it feel very Parisian.

Above the city on one of the mountain sides there is a huge monument of El Papila, one of the hero’s of the battle of the granary in Guanajuato during the Revolution of Independence in 1810. It is accessible by a very steep funicular that starts behind the Teatro Juarez and Union Square. We all took the funicular (even Mary Ann, but I suspect with her eyes closed) and enjoyed the wonderful views of Guanajuato. It was all a very wonderful final day for the family. Geoff was advocating that we should buy a home in San Miguel. Oh sure! A website with several excellent photos is at: http://www.mexconnect.com/MEX/mxc/gto.html.

Quirky (but Important) Living Note: Because of the involvement of a friend, we learned of the role of an organization called the 24 Hour Association. Because of the large population of Americans and Canadians in San Miguel, and as most are retired, there inevitably will be an occasional death. This can be a major problem when in a foreign country, because of the different laws, regulations and requirements. For instance, Mexico requires burial within 24 hours of death. Thus a wonderful association was formed to help the expats with such problems. For a modest joining fee, the association members and staff will immediately take over and handle all of the problems, arrangements, and details when a death occurs. An excellent article about the association was written by Natalie Hardy, who is the sister of Pat Malone in Wenatchee. You can read the article in a recent issue from the archives of Atención newspaper: http://www.atencionsanmiguel.org/index.php?engarchives.

How about an award for helping the Mexican Economy?

Wednesday & Thursday – Week 8: And I thought Mary Ann could shop. Today I saw the four of them (Katy, Amanda, Geoff & Mary Ann) roar through San Miguel like there was no shopping days in the future. After a nice walk through the Chorro Casa Cultural, breakfast at Sierra Nevada en la Parque, a walk through Parque Juarez, the shopping frenzy began. Up San Antonio and Zacateros stopping in every shop (and buying in many) it was on to Loretto and into the Artesanias. What a list: bedspread, Mexican wrestling masks, tile and tin mirror, pewter platters, crosses, metal day of the dead statues, ceramic suns, children’s finger puppets, Mexican style bingo with photos, and it goes on and on.

This afternoon was haircut day. After lunch I received another of my 50 peso specials. I am afraid of what Mary Ann will say when she sees it. When my lady barber asked about short, I did not realize that meant sheared bald. Katy and Mary Ann were also getting their hair cut, but certainly not for $5. I have a barber, they were at a salon. Following my haircut, Amanda, Geoff and I brought all the packages back to the casa. They went on to more shopping or looking, and I stayed at the casa, hoping I would still be solvent when all returned.

Dinner out was to be at the funky little café, El Ten Ten Pie, but surprisingly it was being renovated. This time of year, after Holy Week, lots of stores and restaurants go on vacation, so things are a little problematical. We ended up at El Pegaso, which is always good and not too expensive. On Thursday, breakfast started at La Puertecita hotel up the mountain. It always is great and makes you feel like the rich and famous. As this was to be the kids last day in San Miguel, it was serious shopping, guided by the Worlds Greatest Shopper. We started at La Fabrica Aurora, and then walked downtown. Geoff and Amanda bought an excellent modern bull painting. While I was in wait and stand mode during all the shopping, I was caught in a photo (above) making friends on the street. Everyone stocked up on a lot of handicraft gifts.

In the late afternoon Katy and I took the local bus to Super Gigante to stock up on fresh orange juice and other necessities for breakfast. You sure wouldn’t want to starve around here. For the last dinner in San Miguel for the kids, we took them to our favorite restaurant, Bugambila so they could enjoy the shrimp stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and in a sauce to die for.

Quirky Living Note: On a couple of morning occasions, I have seen a service that I thought would have ended years ago. At the side of the street will be a pickup loaded with several of the large milk cans that they fill at the farm. People then came with their pails or containers and bought what is obviously un-pasteurized milk. Now you don’t see that in Wenatchee or Chelan these days.

Bicycle Fun!

Monday & Tuesday – Week 8: One thing you rediscover about having children is that when they are visiting you seemingly can be eaten out of house and home. The first event of Monday morning was that Katy, Amanda & Geoff were sent off on the historical walking tour, while Mary Ann and I spent our morning at the grocery stores and bakeries. After really loading up we took a cab back to the casa with all our bags. Now all stocked up we could face a few days as properly provisioned parents. We met the now fully informed historical buffs at the end of the tour and had them relax with noon refreshments at La Buena Vida. One of life’s little crises happened today, and that was our DSL line and TV failed to connect. My goodness, no internet, no publishing to the blog, and no American baseball with Spanish play by play. Curses!

Next we did some back street walking, heading for Bici-Burro bicycle shop. We had offered Geoff, for his birthday present, a bike tour while he was here. We had previously talked with the very nice young owner Alberto and he was trying to put together a tour of a few people while Geoff and Amanda were here. When we got to the shop, Alberto said he had called us and had another couple scheduled for Tuesday. We immediately signed Amanda and Geoff onto the tour. One of the family jokes is my wanting to bike the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, but I thought this might not be the best time to start my training regimen. Katy also begged off saying she did not want to slow them down! Bici-Burro has all sorts of tour options and Alberto is a delightful guy. If you are a biker and visit San Miguel take a look at http://www.bici-burro.com/.

Tuesday, we sent Amanda and Geoff off on the bike tour, left Mary Ann (#1 crisis solver) to solve the internet and TV problem, while Katy and I headed to Juarez Park for her run and my sedentary relaxing with a cigar and book. We met Mary Ann later for coffee at Café Montenegro who reported no progress on the electronics. Katy and Mary Ann went off to shop at the Artesanias and I stayed at the casa, hopefully to let in any computer guru’s. Ah, what sacrifices we must make in life.

Amanda and Geoff had a wonderful bike trip and got on famously with Alberto and the other couple from Toronto. Katy and Mary Ann spent the afternoon shopping for gifts and yours truly awaited the computer guy. We were reconnected in late afternoon after everyone had returned. Mary Ann cooked burritos for dinner and then the young visitors went out for drinks with the Toronto couple. Now why did they not want us along? Mary Ann and I consoled ourselves by sitting in the Jardin and then having an ice cream cone.

Quirky Living Note: From the blog photos you may have noticed all of the roofs of San Miguel are flat. Many of them have elegant patios on the roofs, along with a lot of trees, flowers and vegetation. As a result all of the buildings have spouts that extend off the sides of the building, theoretically at a distance to put excess water onto the street. However, my experience has been that many just pour water onto the sidewalk, so even if it is not raining you can get showered from the patio being washed or the plants being watered.

Family Reunion!

Sunday, April 22 – Week 8: Bright and early, and on time Katy, Amanda, and Geoff arrived on Mexicana Airlines flying from Seattle through Los Angeles. They have voted LAX the worst airport in the world. Noisy, chaos, and it was a completely aggravating experience. Of course, it was all worthwhile so they could join their loving parents! Your humble tour guide paid no attention to jet lag, or such lame excuses. Upon arriving at the casa we had breakfast and then the kids had a short nap, shower, and then off to explore.

As this was the only Sunday they would be here, the mandatory event was taking the Biblioteca Home and Garden Tour. This week it was three homes in the Atascadero neighborhood atop the mountain behind Casa Tranquilidad. Mary Ann and I were delighted this was the selection as we had not had a chance to explore this neighborhood due to its being an intimidating climb for us, or anyone. The three homes were all different, and fun to visit. The problem, is although our casa is a delight, seeing these upper end homes makes our home look just a bit humble.

After the tour we hit the churros and bebidas at San Agustin. That got everyone revived for a walk abound the centro area. Amazingly enough, Katy was the first to buy shoes. She must have had a real need. Everyone crashed for a couple of hours siesta, before the required margarita hour. No rest for the wicked.

After evening refreshments and a lot of political talk we went to dinner at El Market Bistro. On the way back through the Jardin a theater with lots of seats had been set up and there were hundreds of people watching Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, the Oscar winning documentary. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. I am always amazed as to what is happening around here.

Quirky Living Note: I hadn’t thought about it being strange, but it is a bit surprising to look out of your bedroom and see a hot air balloon nearly at eye level (photo above). There is a local gentleman who gives balloon rides in the early morning, usually on weekends, over the church spires and history of San Miguel. Most often he is quite a distance from us, but yesterday it looked like he was about to land on our patio. If you are so inclined a ride is $150 per person and they throw in breakfast if you survive.

Day Trip to Leon

Saturday – Week 8: Last night we went to dinner at Casa Payo, an Argentine restaurant. Strangely, I think it is about the first time since coming to San Miguel that we have had steaks. They were delicious and the dinner was accompanied by an excellent guitar player who we talked with after dinner. At the conclusion of dinner we were given complimentary Bailey’s Irish Cream which topped off a fine evening. Friday night in the Jardin is definitely devoted to the teenager mating dance. It was packed with groups of young boys and girls walking the Jardin and giving the eye to each other.

Saturday was a trip to Leon and some investigating of the big city. Leon has over a million people in it, and it seemed that large. Although we had been to the Leon/Guanajuato airport several times, the airport is on the San Miguel side of town, so we had never been into the city. We found out that they claim to be the world’s largest shoe manufacturing center. I suspect they are not kidding, as all the billboards advertise shoes, and the downtown is loaded with shoe stores. I think it was just plain overwhelming for Mary Ann, too many to choose from. The downtown historic area is very nice, with a couple of huge squares and a very large pedestrian only area (photo above). Mary Ann says that all the people we saw were wearing very nice shoes. Go figure? We stayed at a hotel near the airport so we would not be driving in the dark to pick up the kids who were arriving from Los Angeles on Sunday morning. It was a nice relaxing day before the frantic business of entertaining our children.

Quirky Living Note: All over San Miguel you see internet cafes, and signs for selling internet service. I am convinced that everyone is selling access so they can pay for their high speed DSL line.