Forty Five days in San Miguel, leaving tomorrow. Off to Oaxaca. A lot of mixed reviews on Oaxaca. Guess I am going to have to find out for myself. I am hoping it will be the same calm family oriented atmosphere of 6 years ago, that overrode an abundance of political campaigning in the downtown zocalo/square. A four hour bus ride at 1pm to Mexico city, almost three hours at the airport and then a 75 minute flight to Oaxaca and then we will begin to get some answers.
For now I am going to summarize thoughts about San Miguel. After the first couple of weeks here I was questioning whether I liked it as much as I did 21 months ago. Now I can state without reservation that I like it even better.
Initially dogs barking, firecrackers and church bells. along with what seems to be more trash than 21 months ago disillusioned me a bit. Later cheap access to great bread seduced me and I started to eat too much. My blood pressure went up, not good, so I have stopped eating bread. As time went on perspective changed. We are living on the edge of the central district. It is the most crowded part of the old city, and we are even more centralized than we were in the previous visit. That likely explains more trash to be picked up, and more traffic. Firecrackers and bells are simply part of life and became less noticeable as life went on. We had four times as much time in the city as on our last visit. That allowed us to explore the barrios (read neighborhoods) surrounding the central zone much more thoroughly than last time. Walkability makes it easier to stay in shape while we are here.
Things change as you move into other neighborhoods. Mostly it is less hectic in other barrios. I would live in Guadalupe or San Antonio if I lived here. As much as I love the centro energy I feel it is not what what I need for day to day life. The neighborhoods I mentioned are close enough to be walkable to the center of town and all it offers. If I figured out the buses, even easier. It is likely easier to save on living accommodations moving away from centro. Every barrio has galleries, shops and markets. Speaking of galleries today we went to a gallery that is 100 feet away from our apartment. We had never noticed it before. The feature image is from the gallery, Galeria Funke. Here are two more images from a very impressive display.
In San Miguel there are a lot of free music events, some dance, gallery openings so it is fairly easy to be busy without a big outlay of money. But, just hanging out is nice too. We love hanging out and people watching, the mercados, easily shopping every day if needed in order to make a delicious meal(s), the weather, friendliness, walkability. When we cook, or eat street food, we eat very cheaply; 5-10 dollars a day for two. Restaurants abound where we can eat a meal for $5 or less, and of course there are many restaurants where you spend much more, which we rarely do.
Today we also walked past a restaurant, Clasico San Miguel, that we had never noticed. Instantly fell in love with it and now we are going to leave with never having sampled. They have painted almost the entirety of the inner walls with murals, colorful. That kind of artistry is one of the things that is so attractive about the city. Very few things are sterile, instead art is infused inside and out of homes and businesses. I am posting a link to help others visualize Clasico San Miguel, plus a couple pictures. It is inexpensive and great reviews, sounds unique so I am going out on a limb and recommending it without having eaten there. It is at 43 Calzado de La Luz and is another example of how much there is to discover and how little time 45 days actually is. Link https://www.facebook.com/CafeClasicoSM/
People (I mean a lot of people) hang out in the center of town at the Parroquia, El Jardin, tourists and locals alike. Natives are calmer don’t move as fast, stand around more, take more family pictures. They seem to like being with each other. Not a blanket statement, but in general tourists slow down less, seem to often have somewhere to get to. There are a lot of walking tours and even many Mexicans take those.
Mexicans take a lot of photos, but not of the sites. Often with their extended families, with their lovers, all alone for their families and lovers; and they love to pose. Men even the young men stand up very straight, tuck the chin and often look serious. women camp it up assuming glamour model poses, stances, hands and smiles; even if the smiles are only temporary. They usually have makeup and red lipstick is in. The Mexicans appear to be big fans of preserving memories of the family on film. I grew up without much extended family exposure and for a lot of my life not feeling close to family members. I have never been a fan of people pictures, but I think I get why it is so big here. It appears to be a cultural thing organically grown out of the close knit extended family experience. For tourists inanimate objects are what appears to interest them most.
I started this entry last night, we got up at six this morning and were ready to go by about seven. We decided to go get “coffee” one last time in San Miguel. So I am going to list a few of my favorite things:
Cafe Umaran for coffee. They serve an unsweetened 100% cacao hot chocolate and for an extra dollar you can have it made with freshly pressed almond milk. Today they made an Americano 50/50% coffee with cacao and a shot of almond milk on the side for Sheila. Even with all of the extras the cost was $4 apiece rather than typical Starbucks prices.
Street food. Go to the corner where Codo meets Nemezio Diaz meets San Antonio where there are two or more taco trucks, just not every day, and I am unsure which days they are there. Our favorite is the lady with 12 different types of fillings. Our favorite is the unsweetened mole, but the puerco verde, the mushrooms/champignons, and chicken are all worth a try. She is very generous with her servings and the cost was one dollar when we bought multiples, $1.25 for a single.
Our favorite restaurant was Los Milagros for the molcajete which you can read all about in an earlier entry.
Finally, here is a link for a free walking group that will give the opportunity to explore parts of San Miguel that the tour guides don’t explore.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2471303886384072/?notif_id=1735408725574342¬if_t=group_r2j_approved&ref=notif
An hour from now we will be in an uber on our way to the bus station. Adios and hasta luego!
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Great post and enjoyed talking to you and Shelia, today the excitement of your posts brightens my day keep it up and have as much fun as possible.
Glad to be a brightener and we enjoyed talking to you also.
Thank you for allowing us to share your experiences. I really look forward to reading each new post. So glad you two are enjoying your adventures.
Its always great to hear that people are following my ramblings.