Mexico SM Week 13 w/fond farewells

Located approximately 1.5 kilometres outside of San Miguel Centro lies a 300 acre botanical garden named El Charcoal Del Igenito "Jardin Botanico". It lies within a canyon having many pathways that lead you through a wonderful area of native plants to the Mediterranean climate zone of Chile -primarily cacti (80 species) and succulent species. 

Evidence remains of aqueducts built by conquistadores and a 16th-century wooden water-mill both historic treasures. A large lake centers the landscape as springs, streams, waterfalls overlook views of incredible beauty including the Guanajuato mountain range in the far off distance.

There are various activities offered here that include a full moon ceremony offered to those romantics at heart in the group, also bird-watch tours for the adventurers as well as guided garden tours for the majority of all who like to be surrounded by spirits and legends of the native, indigenous community. 

It's interesting to note that this Botanical Center is owned and managed by an independent Mexican nonprofit organization committed to preserving the natural and cultural heritage of San Miguel. 

San Miguel de Allende is located in the heart of Mexico's only wine region better referred to as the central state of Guanajuato. 

You may or may not be familiar with these wines as they're not exported into the USA. The  entire region has a very rich wine-growing tradition that dates back to the 16th century when  wine was strictly used by the church.- how sad.

San Miguel is the starting point of the Guanajuato Wine Route.  Indeed wine lovers can truly discover a new appreciation for the region, the art and the architecture with a glass of wine in hand. .. something about a laid back lifestyle in a serene setting that's very hard to beat when accompanied with a little wine:-)

Naturally there are many popular wineries in the area all located a short distance outside of town. We preferred rather a much shorter route to our local supermarket that carried many wines produced by local vintners. We hesitate to generalize to any great degree in providing an overview on Mexican wines other than to say they're all hard to resist. 

The Syrah Grape is very popular here and with the average purchase price of $12.00 bottle it's so much easier to swallow then the wine back home.  These wines have aromas of black cherries, often times with a silky rich texture of berries on the palate ... particularily enjoyed when served with cheese or Mexican chocolate (best in the world) 

Okay .. Well that's it for yet another wonderful winter getaway - we've just arrived home with enough time to recharge for a few days before tackling Spring cleanup of garden beds - 

This week written by Bill edited by Sue with pictures from both 

Cheers with happy trails to you yours! 

Mexico SM Week 12

San Miguel Conclusion

As we go into the home stretch of yet another winter getaway we can only say "Retirement is such a marvellous position to be in, particularly when coupled with terrific travel destinations. Yes!, travelling is such a rewarding experience and we sincerely hope that this will continue being a perpetual pilgrimage full of new experiences, challenges and opportunities for growth and development in the many years ahead. Now in our fifth year as official travelling retiree's, we understand better than ever that it's a journey without signposts, and like life itself, we're keeping it awesome. Often times to the untrained eye we might appear to be just a pair of tightrope walkers working without a net. Now doesn't that make you think of Barnum & Bailey's Circus and all of the fun in that? How about...it's our monkey, it's our circus. :-)

And on the topic of childhood experiences, San Miguel has been referred to as an adult Disneyworld. We didn't quite get that at first, but, watching performances of actors, musicians, dancers, listening to Playreaders, lectures, going out any afternoon or evening to watch movies, taste foods for almost any country and rides in buses down steep hills with break sqealing and never knowing if it would or could actually stop!! Just as thrilling as Space Mountain!!

On Friday evening we walked to the Jardin in Centro and witnessed the celebration of 3 separate weddings. After the service, the happy couple and guests are greeting outside of the church by dancing puppet bride and groom, a donkey carrying celebratory beverages, and a mariachi band to lead the party to their destination for dinner and dancing. We had heard about this tradition and are extremely pleased we captured the event.

Celebrating Spring Eqinox at the Botanical Garden. An annual event, one not to be missed.

5 more sleeps and then we'll be on our way home. San Miguel is highly recommended as we often found ourselves picking and choosing from numerous daily events. The weather is consistently warm and sunny and the Mexican residents are some of the happiest and welcoming people we have ever met. So many expats are here for the same reasons so everyone feels connected and free to give great suggestions on where to go for eats, treats and fun. 

   San Miguel de Allende--we love you!

     

            Written by and Editted by Guillermo & Susan            Pics by both and other strangers       

Mexico SM Week 11 correction

FAKE NEWS

My latest post contained incorrect reporting identifying Sarah as an "in-law" As you all know, my life is blessed with 3 of the bestest step-children one could ask for, Sarah😘, Kurtis😘 and Gillian😘.

The thoughts of the Thai massage obviously relaxed more than my muscles.

Mexico, SM Week 11

Where did the week go? We didn't do a lot of exploring, but I had a mani-pedi (didn't bring my own polish so toes are bare = not beach ready for sure!)  Later in the week I had a Thai massage. My daughter-in-law and I had made an appointment in Burlington in April 10 years ago and we had to cancel due to a major snow storm. It's taken that long for me to make another appointment and Sarah, you were right. It was soooo good that I've another appointment scheduled for Thursday. If you've never had a Thai massage, it is a lot of stretching, with masseuse using hands, arms, feet and legs while you lay relaxed on a mattress on the floor, fully clothed and you are massaged from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. The result is like doing an hour yoga class of stretches but you don't have do any work.

There wasn't anything unusual this week, so we'll blog about a normal day in San Miguel.

The day begins with fresh from the oven orange  glazed donuts and scones! 

Oh oh! Someone is sneaking a taste of the cranberry scone before the coffee is served. Yes, I see you!

A walk down Refugio Street.

We pass a factory that makes corn tortillas all day that are then packaged and delivered to the street food vendors and small, local variety stores. 

A picture in our garden with Marcilla who works hard keeping the yard and casitas clean. 

The young Nino carries fresh mangos into the fruit market where we buy veggies, fruit, eggs and fresh bread.

Then off to the library to purchase tickets for a movie.

Stephen sells PlayhouseTheatre tickets to us every week. He and his son, Noah, have a gallery in centro to exhibit their art work. He saves Section A, seats 1 and 2 for us, our favourite viewing chairs for live shows.

Another spot for music and movie tickets.

Lining up for ice cream. Flavours are exotic and delicious. They include garlic, avocado, rose petal, corn, hibiscus flower, chili, cheese, jalapeño and my fave...tequila with lime. Dos scoops por favor!

Streets are crowded, it is a another holiday!

It's the first day of Spring. And why not celebrate, days are getting longer and warmer. Just like being at home.......I hope!?

If you want to build a road, and a tree is in the way, why heck. Let the cars drive around it. After all, the tree was there first! This is on our street, Refugio, as we walk to town. Always makes me smile...as does the handsome hombre supporting the trunk.

Bill purchased these amazing lilies from a lady who knocked on our gate door last Friday. Everyday another 1 or 2 buds come into bloom boasting the most beautiful colours. 

HAPPY SPRING everyone.

Written by Sweet Sue            Edited by Guillermo         Pics by Both 

Mexico, SM Week 10

Alive and well living in San Miguel!  Yes that's us here in the real Mexico that surrounds us day and night. 

Hey Poncho! Hey Cisco! For those of you old enough to remember watching the Cisco Kid on TV. Hey Poncho come save the day and run off some of those barking dogs, and quiet down those ringing church bells and while you're at it get those crowing roosters and cooing doves to quiet down just a bit:-)

MARKET DAY

We love it and we love the town where truly so many of the best things in life are free. Some say the Beatles took inspiration from San Miguel ...you know "The Best Things In Life are Free Now Give Me Money" our sentiments exactly

Mexico is so much more than seeing people dance around wearing indigenous outfits at various weekend festivals. 

It's a fair statement to say that we've done our best to convey to all that San Miguel is one great place to live particularly in ones retirement years. - don't ever forget this as the day of your retirement is arriving faster than you know. All you have to do is open your eyes to that which surrounds you and get involved.

SHOPPING FOR BARGAINS,

This isn't a place for people who can't handle surprises or last minute cancellations or who for whatever reason have lost their knack at sign language or various forms of improvisation.:-) 

One thing that is surprising to us is that Mexicans are far more patient than we are. Patience, I think, is the lubricant that makes any imperfect interactions and differences between other cultures and theirs so very manageable. 

HMV ... In Mexico

Wonderful news ... our very kind and thoughtful landlady has just offered to extend an additional two (2) weeks in our Casa free of charge in order we don't miss out on a most singular event. 

It's all about the first weeks of April leading to Holy Week and Easter here in Mexico. This naturally is a very important time for Religious celebrations with students having a two week vacation (effectively their spring break) all celebrating in different ways. We understand there are processions reenacting Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, foot-washing ceremonies and dramatic recreations of the crucifixion of Christ. Participants all dress in costume to evoke the time of Christ while woven palms are sold outside churches. 

This is in fact the second most important holiday season of the year here and as such, a great opportunity  to get involved. Just for the record, our return date will not change. We miss our family, friends, the horticultural society and most of all the tax man who takes priority over almost everything.

Written by Guillermo.  Edited by Sweet Sue

Mexico, SM Week 9

The good news is that Bill and I are back to a 100% energy level, kicking the cold and sniffles. So we played catchup and joined friends for dinners, lunches, back to Spanish classes, shows and lectures.

We joined in discussions with Jorge Ramos, known as the reporter who Donald Trump had expelled out of a press conference in August 2016, who gave a lecture on "Mexico in the Era of Trump". Ramos predicted that 30% of the US population will be of Hispanic origin before too long. My Spanish may come in handy after all!

The following evening we continued on our literary journey, enjoying a couple of dramatic monologues from Alan Bennet's series, "Talking Heads". Both were humourous and entertaining. As they say here, attend these events with low expectations.... so far we walk away happy and impressed.

Writing a best seller is exhausting.

The Playhouse Theater gave us the comedy rock musical, Little Shop of Horrors. This production was more of the caliber of a high school production, but a lot of fun non the less.

Art Walking Tour

The colonial area where we are staying is called San Antonio and each year they have a weekend where artists, sculptors, fashion and jewellery designers in the neighbourhood open up their studios and homes for a walking tour. Each offers snacks and beverages, water, tequila (note large bottle of Kirkland's finest) sangria and beer. There were 45 studios on the tour this year and we were fortunate to hit all but 4. On our walk we found a couple of new restaurants to try and saw some gorgeous gardens and views of the city and surrounding area.

Sure I had a drink, but I didn't put that umbrella on my head!

Our last and final event of the week was accomplished by a Canadian actor in the stage production written in first person of "Diary of a Madman". Alan Jordan was on stage for 90 minutes, none stop reciting and it was humourous, emotional and simply amazing. All the live entertainment is so inexpensive that we feel very fortunate to take part in this caliber of entertainment.

Susan and George have returned to New York this week but not before we celebrated with them and  MaryLou and Ben, by consuming "grande" margaritas and tacos!

 Mike and Linda have gone back to Maine, and Phyllis and Lee left for Philidelphia. Guess we need to find some new buddies to explore with! Linda was very proud of the rug she crocheted while here.

On Sunday we walked to the bus station to pick up a schedule so we could plan a couple of day trips to different towns close to SanMiguel. A bus was leaving in 5 minutes for a town on our "to do list" so we bought a ticket, hopped on the bus and had a great afternoon exploring. Fortunately for us, this was not the bus we took.

We did have an opportunity to look at several additional home properties....prices go lower in March as most gringos leave end of February. 

Over and out for another week.

 Big hugs from Author Susanna and Editor and Photographer Guillermo

Mexico, SM Week 8

Another Dog Day Afternoon:

A perfect place to start this week is with the dogs or rather the dog culture that seems to be stratified by class here in San Miguel. The upper class having the purebred male dogs while all other dogs without a pedigree or not sleeping on a feathered bed stem from much more humble beginnings.

Waking around the streets of the various colonial neighbourhoods that encompass San Miguel we've come across what we refer to as the Mexican street dog. Easily identified as a medium sized dog approximately 32 lbs. with a short cinnamon coloured coat. These dogs are mostly in groups sometimes sunning themselves on the cobblestones in what would appear to be the act of living the life.

 I believe that most of these dogs have been surviving on the street for many years thanks to the support of kind locals taking time to feed and care for them. 

We've been told that it's a common practice here for people to just open their doors and let their pets roam all day. When we see the same dog often enough in the same location we guess they belong to someone and are just out for a morning or afternoon stroll. I think the word loosely owned, might apply here, at night they are often enclosed in a courtyard or on a roof top acting as the families home alarm system. 

All in all the way we see it they're just canine folks trying to get by the best they can. 

When our landlady Carrie started to tell us about "doggie" nights well I I just couldn't wait to hear more. -naturally. She went on describing nights having a full or nearly full moon that somehow affects all dog's of San Miguel. Each dog having carefully worked out bit of choreography, some with their own scrap of melody having a more limited part while others with commanding voices perform long into the night all eloquent in their own way:-)

There is an animal shelter identified as " Sociedad Protectorate de Animals. This is a shelter that accepts an animal and will not euthanize it, rather waiting for it to be adopted to a great home.

Another is an organization that many expats are members of here called SAMM, this stands for Save A Mexican Mutt.- established to rescue, rehabilitate and adopt. 

Here's a Cheer! to the adoption of all these dogs onward to a much better places.

Okay well that's it for another week as I sign off as Sr. Don Guillermo will my lovely photo assistant Sara.Dona Suzanita provides the stunning photos to the dogs of Miguel. 

Mexico, SM Week 7

It's hard to imagine we are over halfway through our stay in San Miguel. With all our activities and daily adventures the time is going by very quickly and I'm sure the next 6 weeks will zoom by.

I have to admit, this past week was not packed with a lot of new discoveries.  Many people are suffering from colds and Bill is one of them. It's knocked the energy right out of him and so we took it easy staying close to home. That's not to say we didn't do a little real estate investigating. An agent drove us around to see some really expensive properties ($700,000 to a million) and then on another day some fixer uppers. Although we are not interested in buying, one particular home and garden had us stop for a minute. Price was under $300,000Cdn, had 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, (so lots of room for company) a large private lot with garden, fountain and even a patch of beautiful green grass. The downsides were that you definitely needed a car to get around and the train tracks ran 100 yards from the home. Even where we are now, 20km away from the tracks, we hear the whistle blow for a good 30 seconds in the middle of the night.

This house we saw on our real estate tour, not for sale though. It's called the "Egg House" and the artistic owner has designed the outside with mosaics made from bottles, plates, bowls and who knows what else. I can only imagine the inside and it's furnishings! Yikes!

Once a month on the 3rd Sunday, a Flea Market is held on the mountain, outside of town. Today we thought we'd check out the bargains, even made a trip to the Banco for extra cash. The place was very busy and even though Bill was tempted to buy some metal garden art made from engine parts, we left without a second look. Clothes and most items looked second hand and not as interesting as the Tuesday Market with the fresh veggies and fruit. Saved big $$$'s today!

There are over 600 destination weddings in San Miguel, mostly rich families from Mexico City. The city is widening the sidewalks in our area for one of the big hotel resorts. I can't wait to observe an actual processions but heard that the whole wedding party and guests will march down the sidewalk behind a mariachi band and a donkey while guests parade around the block drinking, singing and celebrating the bride and groom. Maybe the donkey carries the tequila!

I'm standing in the courtyard of a hotel in Centro. A small 1 bedroom apartment here rents for less than $500Cdn. for a month. Not a bad deal.

Step outside of the hotel and you're in the middle of town where the women are very tall!

Photos by Guillermo   Written and Edited by Susan and Guillermo

Mexico SM Week 6

I think we must do a better job for all our readers in describing the neighbourhood we're living in better know as Colonial San Antonio. 

For the record 85 % of the population is Mexican, ranging from crushingly poor to quite wealthy - all the expats falling somewhere in between. 

The charm of colonial style homes that surround us with their cantera stone doors and window surrounds, and moulded cornices, all combine to give way to a certain grace and sense of form - truly the 1750 look is sufficiently cutting edge here:-) it's in the arches and domes, the high ceilings, the fountains and courtyard gardens. 

Some might say it all looks a little bit like Europe on the cheap and though that might be somewhat true- the larger sense, sees this longstanding approach toward living in one's house with a relationship to nature - well at least my perspective, as gardener I believe this to be absolutely true.

In looking around our neighbourhood, there are certainly signs of much earlier inhabitants. Though the casita we're renting was built approximately ten years ago and there are indeed many others nearby of this same vintage. 

When we chose our location for this three month getaway we hoped to become a part of a community that offered us an experience different from home, one where we could feel connected. -and low and behold "Ladyfortune" smiled upon us. Note: that's not lady fortune below but she sure is cute don't you think?

So how well do we two snowbirds from the distant north really fit into this neighbourhood you might ask? Well in truth most Mexicans have already seen their fair share of foreigners, though perhaps we might appear a bit more exotic I'm thinking particularly with my exquisitely coiffured facial hair I've recently grown. In truth we seek only to be good neighbours, and most all the locals here I believe understand that. As posted a few weeks ago most every resident here is really friendly and informal towards us always with a quick smile and a few words -all of which is very positive - though we're seen as being very rich and as such we'll never truly fit in but that's okay. Perhaps some folks are observing us more closely with each days pass wondering amongst themselves just how much long I'm going to keep wear this same black t-shirt:-) for sure as you all know we seek only to demonstrate that we respect the Mexican people their culture and values. After all we've always found in our lifetime no matter what the country mutual respect and goodwill, approach always works out. Or maybe my inspiration for these comments come from watching Justin Trudeau this week on CNN. :-)

Hi Everyone, it's me, Sue, adding to Bill' blog and filling you in on our past weeks entertainment. As Jazz Week comes to a close, we attended our 3rd Jazz concert on Wednesday evening. Earlier in the day at the Instituto Allende's Lifelong Learning Program for was an Academic Course on "Madama Butterfly", which premiered in Milan in February 1904. The course focused on the story and different performances of this popular opera. Madam Butterfly the opera played here on Saturday, but unfortunately due to illness (ours not Puccini's) we were at home nursing colds. But, Saturday we felt much better and walked to the Playhouse Theater for a revival of Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee. Talk about stretching our musical appreciation eh?

Also this week, we met a real estate agent to view some properties for sale. Lucky for us they were way out of our price range! We weren't serious about buying anyway, just curious to see what was available. 

Churro, crueller like pastry sprinkled with sugar and can be filled with chocolate, yummy! With a hot chocolate to wash it down. Extreme pleasure!

I said to Bill, we seem to be doing a lot of walking but I don't feel I've lost weight! We walk to the grocery store, walk to the bakery, walk for ice cream!! 

To end our blog for this week, a picture of the sky at sunset taken last night from a park bench in the Jardin, center of town. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!