First Guests

February 7, 2019

We’ve been busy getting ready for guests since Sandi and Bill arrive today. This evening Ron grilled some chicken and we had quinoa salad, green salad, and roasted potatoes. It was late when we ate but we enjoyed dining outside.

Feb 8

Today we took S and B to centro, the core of SMA. I think I failed to mention that SMA is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The centro has beautiful Spanish colonial architecture. We started by visiting the Instituto, a former art school where artists and shops are around a lovely courtyard.

From here we walked to Parque Benito Juarez where the botanical sale was still going on, but first stopped at a hotel with an art show.

 

After this, we walked up the hill to Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel ( a church that looks a bit like a pink wedding cake, 

Next was the Museo Historio de San Miguel (this included seeing part of Ignacio San Miguel’s home with period furnishings). See two pooped geezer tourists after the museum.  

 It was time for lunch so we wandered into a small eatery down the street, further away for the main tourist area. On the way, we came across a small parade. Lunch was a forgettable meal. 

After lunch we went to Museo del Juguete Popular Mexicano, a museum of handmade children’s toys made of many types of materials; cloth, paper mâché, metal, wood, and reeds, some of which were woven into buses, trucks carts, and figures.

 Back at home we rested until time to leave for Zumo, a fabulous fine dining experience. The restaurant sits atop a small boutique hotel and has a 360-degree view of San Miguel. The meal was terrific. Ron had tender, boneless short ribs, Bill had ribeye, Sandi had duck and I had lamb. We sat outside although the restaurant has glass walls all around.  It was great to sit outside to enjoy the chilly night. The restaurant provided us with efficient heaters that look like stainless trees…sort of. Ron got some great sunset photos and night shots.

Feb 9

It’s Saturday. After our usual breakfast of cereal/granola, fruit, juice, coffee and on the patio, we headed for the organic market that occurs on Saturday. We were efficient shoppers scooping up wonderful fresh veggies; lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, fennel, potatoes, green beans, and avocados. This market is just a 10 minutes’ walk from us. On the way back we stopped by Textures and Colors, an artisan crafts fair, with beautiful silver jewelry, weavings, pottery, photography, and metal. At home, we washed all the veggies in the disinfectant. It made us a little late for our reservation at La Parada, another fine restaurant. We were dashing there on foot and had to climb a long steep hill. At one point, we had to stop and catch our breath due to the altitude. Two of us had fabulous salads and Ron has pork belly and Bill had liver making him a very happy guy. La Parada is famous for its chicken livers.

After lunch, we proceeded towards an old textile factory that has been converted to art galleries and studios.  Along the way we walked straight into a Mexican wedding parade.

To get to the location we passed through an artisanal market geared towards tourists. We walked through a long gauntlet of every kind of Mexican crafts. We went to Fabrica La Aurora, a former textile mill that served the community for nine decades and is now home an arts and design center filled with fabulous art galleries, antique stores, home furnishings, clothing shops and on and on. It is large and I do not think it is possible to see it all in one day.

 (NOW WHO'S TAKING A PICTURE OF WHOM?

We took a cab home after being on our feet most of the day. Tonight, we dine outside at home with a hearty salad.

A day in the life in SMA

Feb 4 - Frustration

Four years ago, there was a fabulous shop that sold all kinds of items made of copper: pitchers, sinks, plaques, etc.  We had been looking for a hammered copper water pitcher for a long, long time. Way back when on one of our 7 trips to India we bought some hammered copper goblets and serving dishes. We found exactly what we wanted here four years ago and had the water pitcher lined so we could serve other drinks like lemonade. This time we wanted to have a large stock pot made so we searched for our store to no avail.  Then we went online to find it. We got an address and walked there this morning only to discover the building was being remodeled. Later we talked to someone at a realtor’s office where the kitchen store used to be only to discover both stores no longer existed. C’est la guerre. Time waits for no cook so to speak.

I think in a former post I was bemoaning the fact that the ex-pat population seems to have grown here. I failed to mention what many expats do here: they support many charities. They funded the building of a playground for children adjacent to Parque Juarez. A neighbor I met yesterday who is from Canada was on her way to pack grocery boxes for the poor. Events are held to raise money for dental and medical care for locals and the list goes on and on.  I shouldn’t be so critical of ex-pats being here particularly when I have fantasies about living in such a place.

I am really struck how friendly and courteous people are here, both ex-pats and locals. Drivers almost always yield to pedestrians unlike Rep of Georgia where pedestrians are targets! Taxi drivers will readily yield to oncoming cars that are trying to turn left or trying to merge from a side street. It is very refreshing to witness such behavior particularly in a town overrun with cars and lacking the infrastructure to support the number of cars on the roads. It is also very safe here. I never worry about personal safety in San Miguel.

On the way home from our fruitless shopping excursion we stopped by a market that caters to ex-pats. We remembered it from our last visit. It is tiny and crammed full of items ex-pats need or want. One challenge of not speaking the language in any country to finding food you are familiar with. I was looking at a package that resembled quinoa and next to me was another gringo. The package was in a plain bag and the shelf had a sign on it. So we had a discussion saying ‘it sure looks like quinoa.’ She then whipped out her phone and gurgled it and she said ‘yes it is.’ I got a couple of other items and we headed for home. We popped into a tapas restaurant that Jen had recommended and had a delicious albeit expensive lunch. Green salad with Granny Smith apples and passionfruit, duck tacos and sea bass. Each dish was delicious. Everything Jen had recommend has been a hit.

Later we went to La Comer, the large grocery that sells housewares as well. We got some needed items like a cutting board, a tray to make eating on the patio easier with fewer trips from the kitchen, etc. We came home and had roasted fingerling potatoes, fresh broccoli, wonderful green beans, and salad. YUM! After cleaning up the kitchen we watched the New Hour on PBS. I didn’t sleep well last night so I retired early, around 10:00 or 10:30. My guy wasn’t far behind.

Feb 5

We slept well and got moving early since the housekeeper, Nuria, was due around 9:00. Turned out she arrived around 10:00. By then we had had our breakfast of granola, fruit, juice, and coffee, cleaned up the kitchen and were working on our emails. I have to say I'm glad I don’t have to clean house here. I haven’t cleaned house since the late ‘80s.

I left around 10:30 for the town Cenro. I needed some lighter weight blouses for this climate. Today it was 75 degrees. Portland is icy with some snow and 20 degrees according to an email this morning. Guess we got outta there just in time! Two days ago I rediscovered a shop I had seen four years ago. It was in the same place. All the clothes are natural fabrics: silk, linen, and cotton. Ninety-eight percent of the clothes are solid colors, mostly white or ecru. I look like a three-day-old corpse in those colors but they had a dark blue blouse that worked and I found a lovely pair of earrings that matched the shirt I wore there.

While I was gone, Ron took some photos around the house:

When I got home we went two blocks up the street and ate at a tiny café I had spied on the way home. They serve breakfast until 1:00 so Ron opted for a spinach and cheese omelet with bacon and refried black beans. I had a trio of small spinach and cheese quesadillas. What a terrific meal on both counts. The spinach was so fresh. Our dishes were $3 each.

I watered the upstairs terrace plants and then started on roasting some veggies. Remember that quinoa I bought yesterday? Well, quinoa is supposed to take 10-15 minutes to cook. After an hour it was crunchy and I am convinced this was not quinoa. I threw it out and had to punt to come up with a dinner alternative. Ron is now working on it. I have to say living in a foreign country and not knowing the language makes cooking a trial by fire. 

Tonight’s entertainment will be the State of the Union address.

Finally - Back to SMA

Feb 1, 2019

Hola. We landed in Queretaro at 9:30 p.m. with an easy flight from Portland to Dallas with a short layover then on to Queretaro. Nicolas greeted us warmly at the airport and brought us to San Miguel de Allende (SMA). Nicolas manages the house we have rented for the month. It takes an hour to get to SMA. 

Nicolas showed us around the house; it is fabulous. Each room is painted a color of Mexico, a wonderful palate of terra cotta, lime, turquoise, blue, etc. 

Two of the bathrooms have ornate tiles that Mexico is noted for.

There are two terraces upstairs with great night time views. We have a master suite with en suite bathroom. There is a large kitchen fully equipped, a dining area, a living room, and a den and half bath on the first floor.

Right outside the front door is a terrific dining area. I LOVE dining al fresco.  Upstairs is a queen bedroom and a single bedroom with a full bathroom and exit to the two terraces. Many houses in SMA have upstairs/rooftop terraces. We are at 6000 ft. in the mountains with good views around the city.

After biding Nicolas adios, in true Bergman fashion we unpacked and got everything put away. We puttered for a while and around 1:00 went to bed which was 11:00 Portland time. I managed to get so excited about finally getting here that I stayed awake until 4:00. OY! As some of you know in 2014-5 Ron and I traveled for a year. The final three months were dedicated to finding a place we could move to for a year. We spent a month Mexico, dividing our time between in SMA for two weeks then Cholula for two weeks. Next came Costa Rica where we stayed in Escazu for a month exploring nearby communities and finally in Panama with two weeks in Panama City and two weeks in the small town of Boquete. SMA won and we went home to say goodbye to friends and see our doctors for regular checkups before leaving the US for a year. In between, we found this house and leased it for a year. I started seeing doctors and shopping for our trip. I had two bags packed when I found out I needed eye surgery that prevented me from leaving the US for a year. Dang, I wept…not because of the surgery but the dashing of our dream. Well fast forward and we are now in the same house we had leased in 2015!

Feb 2

We got up around 8:30 and made a breakfast of eggs and toast thanks to the last tenant who left two days ago. The bread was still fresh and there were six eggs left. I had brought my favorite coffee beans    (about 4 lbs.) HA! Such a coffee-nut I am. After a couple of tries, I found the grinder. We got ready after breakfast with our tasks of filling the refrigerator and pantry. I was tired but motivated. There is a weekly organic farmers’ market about 15 minutes from here that we learned about last time we were here. On the way there we went to an ATM and got pesos. I found wonderful fresh veggies and bread. Fortunately, I remembered to take grocery bags with us and managed to fill three. I realized I had just spent all the money we had gotten at the ATM. Oops, a miscalculation. We had withdrawn $20 each…not $200. So on the way home, we went back to the ATM and got more pesos. Because of some farming practices, it is necessary to soak all fruits and veggies for 20 minutes in a solution to disinfect the produce. After processing the food, we put everything away and walked down the street to a small local eatery. Yum…roasted veggies over rice and a quesadilla with cheese, mushrooms and fresh spinach. We shared each dish which we often do.

We caught a cab to the large grocery store in the new part of town. We live in old-town known as Centro. It was a megastore with just about anything you might want. They also had a large selection of organic produce but not as fresh as the farmers’ market. We are amazed at how many gray-haired gringos are here. Expats have been coming here since the late 1930s. Stirling Dickinson from the USA helped to start an art school. Soon vets were coming here to study art on the GI bill and now there is a huge art community and a significant ex-pats community, mostly from North America. Apparently, for the last two years two major magazine, Travel and Leisure, named SMA the Best Place in the World to Retire. Back at home we put away groceries and rested. 

Around 7:00 we went to La Parada, a Peruvian restaurant recommended by Jen, our host and friend. Oh my goodness what a fine. The restaurant has two seating areas and we were seated in the area with an open roof so we could see the stars while dining. But the food was out of this world good. I told Ron we should return when Sandi and Bill join us next week. We ordered to entrees and a shared dessert and our bill with tip was $35! Not quite like home. We walked home and  I took a bath to help me sleep and we turned out the lights at 10:30.

Feb 3

It is Sunday and our tradition is to have a Dutch Baby for breakfast. Ron made a great one that got done 8 minutes, earlier than expected. Not sure if it was due to the altitude or a miscalculation of Fahrenheit to Celsius. We are outside under the shade of a dramatic overhead canvas strung between wall and house. After cleaning up breakfast dishes and ourselves we headed out to ‘wander’ with no agenda. After getting so much done yesterday we wanted to slow down and ‘smell the roses’.  So we headed to Parque Juarez where the annual plant sale was occurring. Before we arrived at the park, we visited a hotel courtyard where they were holding a pop-up art exhibit. The art wans't that good, but we liked the architecture. 

Finally at the park for the plant sale.  We attended this same event in 2015. Ron took scads of photos and I drooled over the plants. 

Today we wore the coolest clothes we had as it was another warm day. Unfortunately, I brought turtleneck, long sleeve shirts and Ron bought long sleeve shirts as well. We knew it would get to 70 degrees during the day but we didn’t count on the intensity of the sun. WOW. It is warm here so I wore the one short sleeve blouse I brought and Ron wore a t-shirt. Gringos!  After the park, we headed to town centro stopping at galleries or pottery shops along the way.

We spent three and a half hours looking for places we remembered from 2015. Bingo, we found our favorite tortilla maker and bought a short stack of about twenty and the man in front of us must have gotten a kilo and his stack was about eight to ten inches high. We found one of the movie ‘houses’ which is a room in a hotel and looked at what was playing this week. They were academy nominated films and we had seen all of them. We popped into an Italian restaurant around 1:30 and had a terrific meal of a spinach beet salad, focaccia, and linguine with pesto. We shared the two dishes which is a great way to keep our weight down. Everything was primo and the bill with tip was a whopping $15. You have to love these prices. 

We started talking about living in Mexico. As much as I love San Miguel because of what the ex-pat community has created here, I am also a little put off by the number of ex-pats. Ron suggested looking at other places in Mexico. Daydreaming is always fun!

The streets were very crowded but I found out from a friend here, Steven Goldstein, that tomorrow is a holiday so lots of people came to San Miguel for the holiday weekend. We will see how things are mid-week. After lunch, we tried to find a copper shop where we had a water pitcher made last time but we weren’t successful. After ‘gurggling’ it when we got home we got an address and will try again tomorrow. My feet were rebelling so I was glad to get home and ‘PMB’…park my butt. That is Ron’s term for vacations where you just sit under a palm tree and read your novel. Our usual vacation is ‘tourists on speed’ another Bergmanism. After resting a while I straightened the bathroom amenities and better organized the pantry.  Tonight we will make a hearty salad at home. Another fine day in paradise.