Last Thoughts on San Miguel de Allende

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Today marks the end of our stay in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. When we left off last time we were anxiously awaiting our son Michael’s arrival from California. His plane was delayed by 2 days, but luckily he was able to extend his visit by two days.

He finally arrived a little after midnight on Christmas day. Another American couple was stranded at the airport because the cabs had stopped running, so we decided to give them a ride to San Miguel. It was a tight fit in our tiny car, but we had a nice hour and a half drive back to San Miguel. They had a nice house on the hill above town and graciously offered to pay for gas, but we told them they could buy us an ice cream if we saw them in the square later on.

We had fun with Michael showing him all the places we had been in the past. For the most part we have hung around San Miguel, but since Mike was here, we decided to revisit many of the places we had traveled to when we lived in Guanajuato in the past. Michael is a very good photographer and we enjoyed taking him around town and too many of the photogenic places that are common in the Bajio region of Mexico.

We had a nice walking tour of town on the first day. Because Mike enjoys taking people pictures more than pictures of buildings, we ended up getting a lot of people pictures ourselves. The next day we took a ride to our old stomping grounds of Guanajuato, where we lived for 3 months at the beginning of our trip to Mexico. Guanajuato is a beautiful city that provides many great photography opportunities.

The next day we stayed around town again and did some grocery shopping as well as taking a walking tour of town and seeing some of the places we had not seen the first day. We visited El Chorro, Parque Benito Juarez and the bullring which is located in the center of town.

The next day we went to visit the church at Atotonilco and then went on to visit Dolores Hidalgo, famous for being where the Mexican Independence started, as well as having the best ice cream anywhere in the world.

We enjoyed New Year’s Eve by watching fireworks in the main square. The fireworks were nice, although short and we enjoyed the crowded square where thousands gathered to watch bands and light sparklers to celebrate.

New Year’s Day was a slow day and then we travelled to Bernal, Mexico famous for its huge monolith that is said to be the 3^rd biggest in the world after Gibraltar and one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We enjoyed a moto-taxi ride up to the park at the bottom of the trail that leads to the top of the mountain.

Because Mike’s plane left quite early and the airport is about an hour and a half from San Miguel, we decided to spend the last night in a hotel near the airport. This gave us an opportunity to visit Cerro del Cubilete, where the giant Cristo Rey statue is located. The views from the top of the mountain were excellent despite the slight drizzle.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Michael the next morning. The highlight of all of our travels has been when we have all been together and Mike’s 3 visits to see us are something we have always looked forward to.

We leave tomorrow morning to move to a small town near Guadalajara on Lake Chapala called Ajijic. Like San Miguel, Ajijic is well discovered by American ex-pats. While having so many Americans around is sometimes convenient, it has taken a little of the adventure out of the last couple of months. We hope to spend some time visiting Guadalajara and the Tequila growing area that is located in Jalisco state.

We have 1 ½ months left on our visa in Mexico and plan to return to the states for a few days before we get on our way to the next part of our travels on a different continent. We are keeping our destination a bit of a secret until we actually get things a little more confirmed. Now that Mike has visited, we will have more time to start full time planning for our continuing adventures.

Overall, we have enjoyed our time in San Miguel. It is a beautiful town and has a lot of friendly people. It has been affordable and we have really liked the house that we have stayed in. However, we have now learned where all the light switches are located and we know which way to turn the key to unlock the door, so it must mean it’s time to get on our way once again. See you in Ajijic!

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Photos

Mirror Image
Back Together Again at Institute Allende

San Miguel Bullring
Sombra or Sol?

Comments

[cabochick]

Thanks again for capturing Mexico by photo and posting for us to enjoy. Love it!