Overview of our stay

Trip Start Jan 01, 2006

Trip End Feb 28, 2006

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Flag of Mexico San miguel de allende, Mexico
Thursday, January 26, 2006

Since I have finally gotten internet access, I have been going back and adding entries and pictures, but will leave most of this initial posting intact. I had visions of constant updates but my battery on my computer is on the blink and it is hard to find a place to use it to upload text and pictures and typing on a plank board at the internet cafes is hard. Anyway, we arrived Jan. 1 and had three weeks of glorious weather until the rain hit Tuesday night, but now the sun is back out. I took one week of private Spanish lessons and then switched to photography which I loved. The first week was a fundamentals class with only four students. I was the only one shooting digital but the teacher, Jo Brenza, spent time on both film and digital. I finally learned how to really use my camera off the auto setting and learned a lot about basic composition. Everyday we had instruction and then a home work assignmet and then got back together to share our pix and critiques. The next week I took a photoshop class with her that focused on using photoshop to duplicate traditional dark room techniques, more frustrating than the first class but helpful. Esteban took private Spanish classes the second and third week. Everyday he bought newspapers and focused on politics and economics and read a story or editorial with his teacher and then discussed it. The rest of the time he explored the whole town on his shopping quests. we have done a lot of cooking so he has searched out all the best bread and cheese places and has been to all the speciality produce markets as well as the two big outdoor markets.

You can buy fresh chicken but not on wed. His favorite shop for chicken is closed for a week because the store keeper went with the pilgrims who came to town monday night en route to Jalisco where they will number over a million upon arrival. Estaban created quite a stir the first time he bought chicken breasts but didn{t want the heart which is a delicacy. Everyone was making jokes about it, no heart, no love, no romance, etc.

We went to Mexico City and the pyramids with a group tour one weekend and have decided it is not all that overwhelming to do Mexico City on our own some time, you just have to be careful. We went one day on the bus to Queretaro, a nearby city that has a nice colonial historic center but isn{t all that interesting from a tourist point of view. It is impeccably clean and has an adequate supply of water which is more than san miguel can say.

Our first set of friends come this weekend and we are looking forward to the company. We have met a lot of people through the group trip and my classes and some of our neighbors are Americans.

We have mastered the details of daily life and have figured out how to deal with the garbage pickup schedule, always a dilemma as you have to be there when the truck comes down the street and run out with your garbage.

Our rental house is in Colonia San Antonio, a neighborhood that is gentrifying so there is a mix of very nice homs and sheet metal and woodworking shops and it is not a gringo enclave to say the least, but we like it and love our rental house. We have a beautiful little garden behind our wall and the whole front of the house is french doors so we can watch the hummingbirds and enjoy the fountain and flowering bushes and trees even if it is too chilly to sit on the terrace. Most days it has been hot enough mid day to eat lunch on the terrace but you need the fireplace in the early morning and evenings. The rain was very unusual this time of year, normally it is sunny and dry. See later entry for photos.