San Miguel - Where Old Americans Go To Die

• Dane's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from San Miguel de Allende

Trip Start Jun 11, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Sep 01, 2005 Next
Entry

  San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I stayed in Guanajuato until Saturday. I hung out with my friend Sumeet most of the day, then we both headed to the bus station. I had a nice first class trip of an hour and a half to San Miguel ahead of me. He had a 20 hour bus ride to Los Mochis on the west coast of Mexico. He wasn't too worried about it though. Until he saw his bus. I think it was a Peruvian bus line because they had told him it would have a bathroom (it didn't) and had implied that the dilapidated bus would make it the entire way to Los Mochis (I doubted it). But he sucked it up, smiled, and said he'd email me when he got there to let me know how it all went. I haven't heard from him. I'm not holding out much hope.

I arrived in San Miguel on Saturday evening. I had an immediate distaste for the town, but I think that's just because I enjoyed Guanajuato so much. But I tried to keep an open mind and it's turned out to be a pretty cool place. There's not much to do, but that's half the fun. There is an English library, which will come in very handy, because in San Miguel it's either drink or read. I can't afford to drink, so I'm going through a book every couple of days. For anyone keeping tabs, I just finished Vonnegut's Player Piano. Not his best work, but still good. Now I'm starting on Tropic of Cancer.

So, to explain the title of this entry... San Miguel is an ex-pat community. There are lots of Americans here. Now, I don't know this because I've seen them. I've managed to avoid that. The town itself tells the story. Of course, the old churches are still there. The plazas and gardens are all around. The street vendors still sell anything and everything. But there are a few things that not every Mexican town has. Standing out the most are the funeral parlors with these gorgeous caskets (is that the PC word?). You glance in some nondescript door and see them stacked wall to wall, floor to ceiling. They seem terribly out of place. They're nicer than most houses and cars here. Maybe they let poor people sleep in them at night.

Now every Mexican town has lots of pharmacies, but I think San Miguel probably has more. To go along with this they have rehab clinics (injury not alcohol), cane shops, wheelchair stores, lots of arts and crafts and fancy cafes. From what I'm told these are the sort of ex-pats that don't absorb the culture and mix into society, they make it change to suit them. There's a lot of English spoken here. The town seems to be doing pretty well though. I guess it's because it has rich white tourists that never leave. That is until they put them in one of those pretty boxes and ship them home. Or maybe they bury them here. I'll go look for a really nice cemetery and let you know.

I found a school here. The price isn't bad and the people seem relatively nice and helpful. I also found an apartment. It's like a little house: living area, bedroom, kitchen, fully furnished. Plus the woman said they clean it for me, pay all the bills, and even do my laundry. It set me back $240 for the month. Take that Manhattan.

Now for a quick photo commentary. The Sunday after I arrived was a fiesta day. It was the Fiesta de Los Locos. I don't think it really celebrates anything. It's kind of a Halloween parade. They throw lots of candy. Everyone seems happy. They also made a special effort to offend as many cultures as possible. It was nice. Apparently, it's still okay to dress in black face in Mexico. One truck had a man dressed as Aunt Jamima (I've never had to write that before. Is that spelling even close?). He was painted black from head to toe. And the dancers had pillows stuffed in their dresses to make them bootylicious. Very tasteful. Then the Injuns came. Very classic representations, and they were North American Indians I believe. The weren't Aztecs, they were like western movie cowboys and Indians. The crowd threw small pox blankets at them for authenticity. By the end of the parade they were homeless and destroyed by alcoholism and loss of cultural identity. Very thorough. But then they went to the edge of town and built a casino. Alls well that ends well right?

And maybe it doesn't in the pictures, but I think the church looks a little like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Right? Anyone? The story goes that the architect didn't have any training, so he just studied post cards of gothic churches from Europe and copied them. True? No idea. Interesting? Almost.

So I found a school and an apartment. Things are falling into place. Of course, for some reason my ATM card for one of my accounts doesn't work, so I may not be able to pay for either of those things. Only time will tell. For now, I'm taking off for a few days. I start school on Monday, so I think I'm going to the east coast of Mexico until Sunday. I will, of course, let you know. Cheers.

Slideshow Share

More Pictures

04 Cabs	05 Black Face Truck	06 Black Face	07 Church and Cafe
08 The Church	09 Inside Church	10 Flowers and House	11 Old Men Chatting
12 Little Worker	13 The Never Ending Process	14 Street at Dusk

Previous Entry Next Entry