Last Days in San Miguel de Allende

—Blogpost written by Bob 

In this blogpost, we continue our 6-month winter excursion in Mexico.  We arrived by car on October 15 in San Miguel de Allende (SMA), traveling from near Annapolis, Maryland where we live on our sailboat.  This blogpost described some of our last fifteen days in San Miguel de Allende.  (At the end of January we will be moving to Bucerias near Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific coast, for our last two months in Mexico.)

Wednesday, January 19

Today was our big outing: the Pizza Guy Restaurant and La Comer (the supermarket), all while our apartment was being shown to prospective tenants.

Two young puppies up for adoption near
the Pizza Guy Restaurant.

The Pizza Guy himself greets
us every time we come in.

Bananas are grown in Mexico and they
are abundant in the supermarket!

We see strange fruit every time we
visit La Comer.  (You could never
find these fruits in the U.S.!)

We got back to our apartment shortly after 4 PM.  As I typed up this blogpost, I ate one of the delicious little mandarin oranges that we keep in the fridge.  (Now my hands are sticky!)

During our late lunch we talked about things we want to do in San Miguel de Allende before leaving for Bucerias...

Thursday, January 20

Today was chilly, getting down to 41 degrees last night (and remember we don't have central heating).  Fortunately, it was expected to reach 74 degrees in the afternoon.  Our apartment was soooo cold--we had to get out today!  On our agenda was Santa Ana Cafe for lunch, a visit to the mask museum, and a photo session at Bar San Miguel.

Cafe Santa Ana is inside the
Biblioteca (public library).

A statue of a monk in the
garden at Cafe Santa Ana

Plants in the outside courtyard of the Biblioteca--these
would make nice indoor plants back east.

We had delicious salads at Cafe Santa Ana, walking around the Biblioteca before leaving for the Bar San Miguel.

The beautiful courtyard
in the Biblioteca.

Bar San Miguel matches one's 
imagination about Mexico.

Maggie was very attracted to this
red hat--I'm more attracted
to "shiny things."

Street vendors along
today's travels.

This dreamy image brings together
most of the colors of Mexico.

After walking more than two miles (on cobblestone streets) and much of it uphill, the mask museum was closed when we arrived.  We took a cab back to our apartment, our legs aching from the day's uphill climb.

Friday, January 21

The mask museum was on the top of our agenda today--but a different one.  We decided to take a cab to a nearby highly touted restaurant for lunch and then walk to the (different) mask museum, making our outing later in the day than yesterday.

----------

Today's afternoon temperature only reached a high of 67 degrees F, nearly 10 degrees below normal.  The sky was overcast and it WAS cool all day!

The interior of the Spice Market
Restaurant. (We sat at the
table on the left of
this image.)

We had a delicious lunch at the Spice Market, an Asian restaurant.  It was the most expensive restaurant we've been to in San Miguel ($90 USD for lunch for the two of us).  The food and the service were great.  (An Asian fusion dish of cauliflower was particularly noteworthy, though my sought-after steamed bun dim sum was not.)  We were the only ones tin the restaurant (just after 1 PM)--I'm sure this restaurant gets crowded in the evening.  We took a taxi there and back, not realizing that the restaurant was so close by (maybe 1/2-mile away).

Saturday, January 22

It was cold again last night, in the mid-30's outside!  Our apartment was so cold in the morning that we joked about removing all our food from the fridge and climbing inside to warm up.  (Living on a sailboat during the winter in Annapolis was warmer than it was today here.)  I had my second cup of hot tea at 11 AM.  (I ate a delicious navel orange for a late breakfast.)

----------

We didn't have much on our agenda for the day--only watching two NFL playoff games, the first of which was scheduled to start at 2:30 PM local time.

----------

We had a delicious lunch (left-over shepherd's pie that Maggie made about a week ago) in our apartment.  (Shepherd's pie is the only Irish dish that I consider edible but I love this dish!  Maggie's part Irish.)

Left over shepherd's pie
for lunch today!

We tried again to make a reservation at a small (but highly recommended) hotel in Tonala (just outside of Guadalarja) for next Monday night on our way to Bucerias.  (I tried to make the reservation online several days ago to no avail.)  Today, Maggie tried by telephone.  A representative from the hotel who spoke English called us back and we successfully made the reservation.

----------

The NFL playoff games in the afternoon didn't involve any teams that we cared about, more so we wished certain teams would lose (namely, Green Bay and Tennessee) and, fortunately, they lost.

Sunday, January 23

This morning was a bit warmer (43 degrees F outside) than yesterday and we could feel the difference inside our apartment.  It still felt very cold inside our apartment.

I relied on green tea
to keep warm all
morning.

Today's NFL playoff games involved one team I was rooting against (namely Tampa Bay--Tom Brady has had enough Super Bowl opportunities!) and one team that I was rooting for (namely Kansas City--how could you root against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid?).

Kali sitting on the table between me
and the TV during the second
playoff game.

At the end of the day both teams I rooted for actually won, Kansas City and the LA Rams.  Next weekend, the LA Rams will play the San Fransisco 49ers in the NFC playoffs--I expect that the Rams will win.  Kansas City will play the Cinncinnati Bengals in the AFC playoffs--I expect Kansas City to win.  So, my expectation is that the Super Bowl will be between the Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Rams, which should be an entertaining game for sure.

Thanks for following our blog!