Life in San Miguel

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We arrived in San Miguel de Allende on Sunday, 1 July 2007, and heaved a great sigh of relief. Before I get into anything let me tell you about the busses. The bus stations in San Luis de Potosi, Queretoro and San Miguel are very organized and clean. There are first class (these are the express which don't stop, get there faster and cost a bit more, they have TV showing, a/c and a toilet in the back), very comfortable and clean; and second class busses (which stop everywhere), have no a/c but are still okay. Both Upon entering you see all the counters for the different bus lines (and there are many). They have their schedules and prices on the boards behind them. We went there on Saturday to get our tickets but the idea of buying a ticket ahead of time didn't work for them for some reason. They helped us work out our route then told us to come back tomorrow when we were ready to leave and get our tickets. Only 1 person there some English and I wasn't understanding his pronunciation of Queretero. We kept saying we needed to go to San Miguel and he kept telling us we had to go to Queretero and change busses there. He was such a nice guy and very patient. He ended up going back to one of the offices and taking a big map off the wall and bringing it up to the counter and showing us on the map what our route would be. Once the fog had cleared from our slow gringo brains we thanked him and headed back to the luxury casa to pack. We are very proud of ourselves that it only takes us about 30 minutes to pack everything we own and we hope to whittle that down even more in the coming months.

The next morning we showed up early for our bus. When we bought our tickets (from the great guy who spoke a little English) he said there was bus leaving in 5 minutes and we could get on that one. Great! We had to go through a turnstile and show our tickets (ticketed passengers only) and went to the gate. Just like at the airport, each bus was pulled into a numbered slot with the bus destination on the front. The ticket showed our bus number and they told us the gate we needed. We handed over our suitcases and the driver gave us claim checks and we grabbed a seat. The bus took off within a couple of minutes so we think he was waiting for us. The movie was X Men 2 in Spanish. We drove to Queretoro and made our way to the ticket counter where we had to buy our next ticket to San Miguel. Our bus line had no first classes busses to San Miguel (it was only 45 minutes away) so we bought 2nd class. I did ask here if there were 1st class on any other bus lines but I think she pretended not to hear me and just pushed the 2nd class tickets my way. Then in her rapid Spanish she told me where to go to get the bus but of course I understood nothing and headed the wrong direction and to make matters worse I asked directions from someone and he headed me another wrong direction. The bus was leaving in about 5 minutes and we ended up walking almost completely around the bus station to find our bus. If I would have just stopped to really look at the tickets (she wrote the gate # on the ticket but also told me about the waiting lounge which through me off) probably could have figured out the gate we needed to go to. So, off we go to San Miguel. We made about 10 stops and some of those allowed vendors to jump on and sell food and drink and we made it to San Miguel in about 1.5 hours. When we pulled into the bus station we saw a couple of first class busses that I knew came from Queretero (different bus line) which were first class. Oh well, live and learn.

I had looked up a hotel on the Trip Advisor website (www.tripadvisor.com) and found one that had good reviews but wasn't expensive. So at least we had a clear destination in mind when we arrived. It was easy to get a taxi at the bus station which is on one side of town. None of the taxis use meters in San Miguel. The straight fare no matter the destination is 20 pesos (about $2 USD). If the driver thinks you are a tourist and they can get away with it they will tell you 35 pesos when you ask. After talking with locals we discovered the true taxi fare is 20 pesos so we were overcharged on about 3 of our taxi rides before we wised up. The town is small and the drivers know where everything is so you don't have the problem of your driver getting lost. But keep in mind San Miguel is full of 1 way cobblestone streets and we have rarely had a driver take same route. Also since there is no meter it's no matter if they take the long way round. San Miguel is built on a steep hill (think San Francisco with mostly cobblestone streets). Many of the drivers prefer to go out and around the edges rather than up and over the hill.

Our hotel, Parador de San Sebastian (address is Mesones 7, about 3 blocks from the main plaza (El Jardin) was beautiful. At one time it was a convent and there are lots of flowers and tile everywhere. Very very clean with great soft sheets, firm mattresses, ceiling fans and big bathrooms. They don't take reservations so don't even try. The cost of a double is 300 pesos (about $28 US). Parador is not a big hotel and don't expect anything professional or 4 star customer service. They don't speak much English and aren't overly helpful with information (since they don't speak English) but they are very nice.

The weather here is wonderful. The daily high is usually in the upper 70s and at night it gets down to about 67 Fahrenheit with very low humidity. Our first week here it rained about everyday at the same time and mother nature always gave about a 15 minute warning with some thunder before the rain started. Our terrace has been great for watching the lightening streak across the sky. After 2.5 years in the desert this rain has been wonderful.

San Miguel has a large population of gringos and this reflects in the city. There is an English language newspaper and many cultural activities for English speakers. The newspaper, Atencion
San Miguel (http://www.atencionsanmiguel.org/), lists all the city activities and has a great classified section for housing which is what we used to find our apartment.

We found our apartment on the first day of our search. This is such a tourist/transient friendly town. They are accustomed to people coming here for 1 or 2 months to learn Spanish at one of the many schools and there are lots of small furnished apartments and houses with utilities included in all parts of the city to choose from. We looked at 2 apartments, the first one had a fabulous view and was up on the hill which proved quite a hike up the cobblestones. The layout was pretty bad, didn't have internet and they wanted $600 US for it. The 2nd was just what we were looking for. A family recently built this apartment on their roof so it was almost new with terra cotta floor tiles and pretty tile in the bath. It's only a 1 bedroom so no place for visitors to crash here (hint hint) but we do know of a very nice hotel for $30 US per night not far from us. Juana the mother lives below with 2 of her daughters and is very nice. We are only a 15 minute walk down cobblestone streets to the center of town and there are several small convenience stores within a 2 block area.

We have decided our daily routine will consist of one major task and the rest of the day is for nothing but relaxing. We have a TV which we bought a set of rabbit ears for and we may watch the Mexican soap operas for an hour or so a day. There is a great library in town which is half Spanish and half English so we have plenty of reading material and we try to get out for at least 1 nice walk a day. Usually we are able to put in 2 or more miles of walking a day. The only time we will get a taxi is if we are loaded down.

We have found a couple of great sources for cinema. The library shows films frequently in their little theater and our favorite is a very upscale hotel that shows films above their bar in a small theater. The Hotel Villa Jacarinda is beautiful and very pricey. Their lowest room rate (everything is a suite) starts at $155 USD, wow. They usually show independent and foreign films charging 750 pesos (about $7.50 USD) and that includes a cocktail and a bag of popcorn. So far we have seen Volver (a Spanish film with Penelope Cruz) and Pan’s Labyrinth. For those of you in Chico, this is our substitute for the “The Pageant”, which we miss very much.

All in all we are really happy here. We plan on staying in San Miguel until the end of the year but you never know what’s going to happen with us. Until next blog!!!

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Photos

Jardin in City Center
This is located in the central of town.

Paroqia Church
Beautiful church build in the late 1800's.

Jardin
Typical afternoon in the Jardin.

Our Apartment
Walking up the stairs to our casa.

Dinner with Kathy.
We took advantage of Kathy's time in San Miguel by getting together almost every day.

Streets of San Miguel
Vendors hats resting on the street.

Comments

[anonymous]

Very nice!
Hey guys! It sounds like you found a great apartment and the city sounds fantastic!