The End of Classes and Opening Our Eyes a Little More

My life in San Miguel de Allende is undergoing change. A major objective for starting our adventures in Mexico was to enable me to became a much better Spanish speaker. I have been taking a class 5 days a week for the past two and a half weeks. Class lasted for 4 hours a day and I spent another hour or two a day studying. That ended yesterday, Friday the 13th. By the way, Friday the 13th is just another day here in Mexico. I got to take a test for the class yesterday and not that it matters I got 80% correct. I enjoyed taking the test and it is useful because it pointed out areas where I need to focus. The class was fun and productive for me. It gave me more to work with when I am in public and trying to converse.

Back to the beginning though. Life is changed for me going forward. I no longer have 6 of my waking hours programmed. Hopefully I will self motivate to study daily, but I also have 6 more hours daily to spend with Sheila and San Miguel. Also, we have a definite direction forward now. Our contract on the lovely apartment we have been living in is up on January 5th. We had a choice, stay in San Miguel a bit longer, or head to Oaxaca. The choice made itself when I was able to book a room in Oaxaca at our favorite lodging, Las Mariposas, but only for 2 weeks January 5-19th. That will give us a chance to find another suitable place to stay until some time in April.

We have been exceptionally fortunate in San Miguel with the weather. Average temperatures for the time we have been here have consistently been 10 or more degrees above normal with highs almost always being at or near the 80’s. Morning can be cold, but we have had only 2 mornings in the 30″s.  Now we will be going to Oaxaca where we can expect temperatures to be warmer, especially in the mornings.

We walk quite a bit. When we were here 20 months ago we also walked quite a bit. There is a difference between the two visits, however. Several areas we visited 20 months ago we never wrapped our minds around, didn’t put them into context, and missed out on what is special about them. Yesterday we visited one of those neighborhoods, Guadalupe.

Guadalupe is known as an artist’s neighborhood. The main reason for that is the presence of numerous murals. The above picture is an example. Twenty months ago when we were here we went to Guadalupe, but somehow missed the best parts. This time we immediately found ourselves in the best part of Guadalupe, surrounded by quaint shops, coffee shops, restaurants and murals. We are realizing it takes time to properly see a city, and likely next time we come we will see even more.

We went to another of the areas we didn’t appreciate enough last time for the second straight Saturday. Mercado Sano is the only organic market in town. It is a combination of permanent structures and purveyors who only show up on Saturdays. I apologize again for not taking pictures. I haven’t made a habit of photo documentation yet. We made acquaintance with some of the people we saw for the second week in a row, talked to brand new acquaintances, even saw some previous acquaintances. That is a big deal for us. New town, it can be difficult to have enough social interactions. We listened to some good live music there and shopped. We bought two kinds of exotic mushrooms, sausages, produce and a 100% cacao chocolate bar. No sweeteners and no dairy. For those of you who have been reading you know this is big deal for dairy free, sugar free Sheila. It was the first chocolate bar of it’s kind we have seen in Mexico. Another interesting shop at this market is the Mezquiteria. It serves coffee, and also caffeine free coffee made from mesquite seed pods. It offers natural sweeteners. I don’t drink coffee, but I think we will try it next Saturday.

San Miguel is an artist’s colony, but is also a place of artful living. We rarely walk rapidly because we are constantly having our attention grabbed by the doors on the homes and the businesses, the amazing stone work and the potted plants on rooftops. Things are simply done differently here. Although many things are done simply, the preponderance of construction manifests a direction towards style and creativity. Very little is modern and sterile here, attention to detail is part of the culture. In the U.S. I see it many older homes. We live in a neighborhood of older homes and it is prevalent. Our home in Spokane with its intricate brickwork, interior arches and built-ins is an example. Modern building in the U.S. appear to have gone in another direction though and homes like ours are the exception in Spokane. The artfulness in every day construction  is one of the things we appreciate about Mexico and San Miguel in particular.

Below see a door and a table. As always, thank you for reading.