Mexican Dirt Dwellers

—Blogpost written by Bob 

In this blogpost, we continue our 6-month winter excursion in San Miguel de Allende (SMA), Mexico.  We arrived by car on October 15, traveling from near Annapolis, Maryland where we live on our sailboat.  This has been quite a change in our life style!

Tuesday, December 7

It was a little strange starting a new blogpost on a Tuesday, but oh well.  I enjoyed a cup of my favorite tea this morning, thanks to my recent Amazon shipment.

Ahh, my favorite tea!  Thanks, Amazon!
(BIGELOW tea is harvested on a tea
plantation near Charleston SC--we
drove past it a few years ago when
we spent the winter in Charleston.)

Wow, a nice hot shower can make you feel 5 years younger, which was how I felt this morning!  As I sat here in our small living room writing this blog on my laptop, the whir of the little space heater was a reminder of the cold tile floors and our inability to keep them warm. (There was no central heating system nor air conditioning of any kind in most of the homes in San Miguel de Allende, including our rented apartment.)

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We decided to go into town today (after the outside temperature warmed up a bit) in search of a small pedestrian area called "Life Path" and have lunch at a restaurant in the area.  (The afternoon temperature was expected to be in the mid-to-upper 70's, very typical here in the winter.)  We walked about half way to the restaurant and picked up a taxi for the remainder of the trip since we probably couldn't find it on our own.

After our body temperature was checked (a COVID screening), we were seated in the courtyard.

We chose to have lunch in the courtyard of
the restaurant, Hecho en Mexico.

My lunch consisted of three fish tacos, sweet potato
casserole, and grilled cactus (napoles).
(Excuse the red cast on this image
created by the red umbrella.)

The food and service at Hecho en Mexico were excellent.  I tried grilled cactus for the first time and it wasn't bad--it tasted like green beans and it needed a squeeze of lime and salt to make it palatable to me.  We had apple crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream--even the apples were grown in Mexico.  Our lunch was excellent, certainly among the top three restaurants we have tried here in San Miguel de Allende.

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After lunch we sought out our goal for the day: Life Path.  The best way to describe Life Path is about a 1/4-mile long pedestrian walkway that is lined with murals, all types of flowers, and colonial homes.  (All of the following photos were taken using my new 35-70mm lens.)

The doors and windows on the left are
simply painted on the wall--they are
not really doors and windows.

A flower blooming within Life Path.

Colonial homes within Life Path.

A beautiful colonial home just
outside of Life Path.

We got back to our apartment at about 2:45 PM, taking a taxi back home.

Wednesday, December 8

In just one week, we will be leaving for Mazatlan, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico for a one-week getaway.  (Generally speaking, it will be 10 degrees warmer than San Miguel de Allende and much more humid.  We probably won't experience the chilly mornings that are typical here in San Miguel de Allende.)  From my perspective, this trip was intended as an evaluation of another place in Mexico that could serve as an ultimate retirement spot for us when we can no longer liveaboard our sailboat or, at least, a better spot for spending winters.

I realize this is an exaggeration, but I feel "imprisoned" here in our apartment since there are no windows and the floors are always cold.  (Thankfully, there are skylights!)  When I selected this apartment many months ago, I didn't even think about this situation in a negative light.  (However, from now on, we will for sure!  This experience has been a learning exercise.)  I am also (kind of) bored here right now...

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We had lunch in our apartment today--Maggie made Steak Diane for the first time--it was delicious!  We also had a salad using the very fresh cucumbers we recently bought at La Comer--they are crispier and taste so much better than those from back home.  (However, meats, particularly steaks and pork chops, are not nearly as flavorful as in the U.S.)

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I paid for a total of four little packages that cleared customs and were delivered the Calle Almada Office (downtown).  (Based on my experience, it typically takes 2 to 3 weeks to get a shipment from Laredo in the U.S. to San Miguel de Allende. So, the current deliveries are things that I ordered before Thanksgiving.)  Maggie stopped by the Aurora Office this morning and was told that the packages were being delivered from Calle Almada and would arrive anytime and that they would call me when they arrive.  (I have never received a telephone call for email response from this company!)

When we returned to the local La Conexion office in mid-afternoon to pick up our deliveries, we were told that they were still in a car being delivered to this branch from across town.  They thought for sure that the car would be here by tomorrow morning.  Being a Type A personality, I could feel my blood boiling with the total incompetence I was witnessing.  I tried to remind myself that this was just a different culture and that I must be more patient...but it's tough.

Vertical multi-colored ribbons are a sign of
something available for sale since
billboards and banners are not
allowed in SMA.

These leaves hang down from a
tree nearby--the tree looks like
a weeping willow tree.

Tonight's frozen margarita really helped my sore
throat (from swallowing a very hot piece
of a muffin this morning).

Thursday, December 9

Today started out by tracking down my packages--they never arrived at the local branch of La Conexion and, in fact, they were supposedly still in transit from the Calle Aldama branch.  We took a taxi downtown to the Alameda Branch and were told that they we taken to the warehouse where they would be re-routed to the Aurora Branch and they said they would definitely be at the Aurora Branch by the end of today.  (This statement proved to be "telling us what we want to hear" and not necessarily the truth.  They weren't at Aurora by the end of the day.)

(Two of the packages contain several new camera lens filters (to replace the two recent broken ones), and a device to assist in fine tuning the autofocus of my lens/camera combinations.  Nothing valuable...)

We went out for lunch at PizzaGuy and had a delicious (New York Style) pizza--we shared a medium pizza.  After lunch, we drove to La Comer (the supermarket) where we did our grocery shopping for the week.

After returning to our apartment and stowing our groceries, Maggie walked out to a nearby hardware store to pick up a hook for our wreath and stopped by La Conexion to see if our packages had arrived yet--only two had arrived at the Aurora Branch.  There were still three small packages that were lost in the local system.  (I don't think I will be using La Connexion ever again because of my recent bad experiences.)

Our wreath on the front door of our
apartment--it was made
from corn husks.

Late in the afternoon, I put the three new filters I had just received on my camera lenses so that they were properly protected from mechanical damage.

Friday, December 10

Today, I decided to work on the fine tuning of my auto focus system, particularly with my new 35-70mm lens.  I spent about an hour at mid-morning adjusting the AF fine tune feature in different directions but the adjustments were so small I couldn't tell which one was best.  

A view of the lens target
for AF fine tuning.

An enlarged view of the scale
after I made adjustments.
(Maybe I needed
more light?)

Supposedly, it is "right on" when the "zero" on the scale is perfectly in focus and 1/3 of the distance in front of the focal point is equal in clarity to a point 2/3 in back of the focal point.  I didn't have a tripod with me, so I used a high ISO and a very fast shutter speed to minimize the effects of my movements on the outcome.  (I didn't think this exercise was conclusive at all.)

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Two additional packages arrived today, a new lens hood (that didn't fit my lens) and an infinitely small container of lens cleaner.  (I'm hoping that that's all the packages in the pipeline.  I never got a telephone call as promised or an email about their arrival--what a way to run a business!)

A scene from a cafe in
Fabrica Aurora.

A particularly amorous couple at a cafe in
Fabrica Aurora.  I called this image
"Putting on the Move."

Stay tuned as we prepare for a week in Mazatlan on the Pacific Coast.  Thanks for following our blog!