San Miguel de Allende

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Saturday, 10 March 2007, San Miguel
Two weeks have passed rather quickly since I wrote the first instalment of this diary and we are preparing to depart San Miguel tomorrow. Most of our time has been devoted to going to Spanish class for 2 hours each morning and studying it in the afternoon, but there has still been lots of time to socialise with the changing tenants of the campground. I should perhaps have spent a bit more time studying Spanish and a bit less time socialising, but I believe it is all part of the total experience. Nevertheless, I do feel that we have learned something in the 3 weeks of Spanish and should be able to build on that in the weeks to come as we find ourselves in places less prone to operate in English.
Both Juergen and I have visited the dentist here to have our teeth cleaned and checked. It is very cheap and a lot of Americans come to Mexico to have their dental work done. We also both had our hair cut and that was also quite reasonably priced. In general though, San Miguel is fairly expensive by Mexican standards. This is because of the large proportion of 'gringos' who make the place home. The town of San Miguel is quite attractive and interesting, but somehow it doesn't feel like real Mexico when you walk down the streets and see more white faces than Mexican. We have been to the Jardin [= garden] several times - the name given to the Zócalo here - and the benches are always at least half full of 'gringos'.
Nancy and William, a great couple from Texas who are travelling in a converted broadcasting bus, left almost two of weeks ago. The bus is a little longer than the rigs that would normally come into this campground and almost everybody came out on that Monday morning to see them leave. But even with such an audience, William just kept his cool and eased it gently forwards and backwards until he was out of the gate. We were sad to see them go as we had spent some nice times chatting with them. They surprised us with a visit this last Thursday as they were passing through again on their way back to Texas, and it was a nice bonus to get to spend time with them again.
One experience I'm glad I didn't miss was the Tuesday Market. It is huge and sells almost anything you could imagine - except live animals. The fruit and vegetables are in huge supply and many of them seemed to be freshly picked. A lot of it around here, even in the Mega, always looks a bit old. I went with Nancy (from Nova Scotia) and we spent a couple of great hours wandering and shopping.
The WiFi connection here is really good and I have made use of it to talk to various members of my family. I still remember very well 20 years ago in India trying to keep in touch with those at home. Letters took weeks, if not months, and using the telephone service was always a bit of a gamble. Now I just open skype, put on my headset and talk to anyone I feel like. We heard from other travellers that this is really the first year that WiFi has been widespread here in Mexico - before it was always necessary to go to internet cafés - so we are certainly making the best of it. Who knows how it will be when we head further south into Central America?
The Escapees and Nancy and Terrie left a week ago and since then the campground has seemed almost deserted. It is not a particularly busy time of the year, evidently. Somehow having less people doesn't make it necessarily quieter - I think we hear the roosters more when there are less rigs here and the church bells are a constant in our life, as they chime every quarter hour and call the people to mass several times a day.
On Sunday 4 March it was our 1 year anniversary of arriving in Los Angeles to begin this journey. We celebrated by sharing a couple of bottles of champagne with the residents of the campground and our hosts in the early evening. They all wished us well and many more years on the road. Maria brought us a lovely bunch of flowers which lasted until Juergen's birthday. Unfortunately a cold front was moving in and the temperature dropped rapidly which sent us all scurrying for the inside of our campers earlier than we might have!
In preparation for moving on we spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon with André and Susanna, a French Canadian couple who have been to Guatemala this year and also last year. They were really happy to pass on information about nice places they had visited and also places they had stayed. They had spent some time doing Spanish classes there and I think we may also do some more when we reach there. It is great to get information from people who've actually been where we're planning to go. It is so much more reliable than the 'I've heard that...' that we hear much too frequently...
We will be sorry to leave this little haven here and the people who've made it so pleasant. Jerry and Anne are a couple of considerable years, and the wisdom to match, who have been coming to Mexico for many years and hope to continue coming for many more. I've heard people here say, they are my role model. I agree, and I hope to be still travelling when I am their age and beyond. They are travelling in a truck camper much like ours and seem to be permanent fixtures here. But I hear they will be going home to Santa Fe in the next couple of weeks. Mitch and Lisa are really permanent fixtures here. They have made this place their home although they do drop in to the States regularly. It has been most useful to have them with their ready advice on such questions as 'Where's the nearest...?' and 'How much should I tip...?' and many other things that are better known than finding out the hard way.
But the thing I will miss probably most of all will be Maria's smiling face as she greets everyone with enthusiasm and always has time for anyone to practice their Spanish. And that is in between raking leaves, damping down the dust, sweeping and other upkeep of the tennis courts, taking care of chickens, keeping the bathrooms in their immaculate state and all the other things she manages to fit in to her extremely busy days. It really is a home away from home here and I can see why people end up staying longer than they think they will.

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