San Miguel de Allende - day 13
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2005
1
7
14
Trip End
Mar 01, 2005
Loading Map
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Like San Luis, we enjoyed San Miguel de Allende enough to stay two days. So much to see and do.
Day 1 ----------
We fired up the cycle and were on the road at 10:35, a cool overcast morning. We have yet to be in any hurry to get going.
Fortunately, getting out of San Luis Potosi was a breeze. Highway 57 south was another fine road, a divided four lane road. We eventually turned off and travelled a good two lane highway, arriving in San Miguel in mid afternoon, 160km or 99 miles. The sun was shining and it was 78 degrees according to my travel thermometer. Hot in our heavy riding clothes.
We descended into San Miguel on cobblestone streets, reminiscent of Puerto Vallarta. Found much traffic near the main plaza. No main thorough fares here. A lot of stop and go driving which caused the cycle to run hotter than I would have liked. I parked the cycle as soon as we reached the main plaza. As is the custom, Annette stayed by the bike while I went exploring for a suitable hotel. The first one I found went for $125 a night. Needless to say, I moved on. A lady in a shop told me that I was in the expensive district and directed me to a less expensive area of town. We located a lovely hotel for $41 a night and not too far from the main plaza. It is upscale for us. While waiting for our room to be prepared I had a beer and Annette a liquado (bananas, strawberries, papaya), the best she said she has had in years. Beer and liquado cost only 23 pesos, or $2.04.
All the streets that we have travelled today are narrow and lovely. The narrow sidewalks require me to often walk in the street, always conscious of cars and buses. The shopping "looks fabulous", according to Annette. Lots of different and beautiful things. This place is for you, Carol and Sandy.
This is the first time thus far that we noticed a good number of gringos on the street speaking English. I understand that there is a sizeable number of retirees from Canada and the U.S. The influx started in the 1940s with artists and writers. U.S. citizens started arriving from the 1950s on, principally to study. Thousands have now come to stay permanently or through the winter months. It is said that real estate offices outnumber art galleries. The Mexican government has declared the entire town a national monument. The population is now 63,000 and the elevation is 1840m or 6,072 feet.
Day 2 --------------
Today consisted in more walking about. Annette did one of her favorite things and wandered through a number of shops. She found a copy of a cast dog for $42 US that she calls "Fritzie". She bought her dog for $5 in a garage sale. We took a city tour, again in Spanish, that even if we missed most of what was told us we still were able to see parts of the city and some important sites that we would have otherwise missed. At least six of us were English speakers.
At 11:00 this morning there were a couple hundred children lined up outside one of the churches. On command they processed in and took their seats in the front. We went in and watched for a while in what we determined was a catechism class. Imagine trying to teach a group that large and from ages 6 to 13.
We will be off tomorrow for the next city. I'm not sure which one it will be. There will not be much travel time needed, as the rest of our intended towns are now quite close by. Hasta luego
