November Dirt Dwellers in SMA

—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!

Sunday, November 7

We woke up to a 43-degree temperature in the morning.  (Looking ahead, the morning temperatures will be gradually decreasing to a low of 38 degrees by next Sunday.)  Through discussions with Mexicans who live here full time, we were told that there are only two weeks of cold weather in the winter and only two weeks of hot weather in the summer.  (Of course, "hot" and "cold" are relative and the humidity is so low that it is not a factor.)  As someone who is 
interested in the changing weather from day to day, the weather here is totally boring.

Lola absorbing some of the warm 
Mexican sunshine.  (Today was
Lola's fourth birthday!)

This afternoon, I was a little cold (the tile floors always seem cold here), somewhat down, and questioning my purpose in life. I did some "googling" on finding purpose during aging and found a book that I ordered--I hope it's helpful. (I followed my normal procedure for solving a problem, reading current literature about it first.) I need to do something that involves writing and photography, possibly improving upon both skills. (I am in the best place I know of to work on both skills.)

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Watching football games occupied most of our afternoon and evening.  I ran a small electric heater (for the first time) while we were watching TV to make the living room temperature a bit more tolerable.

This small electric heater in the living
room was just enough to
take the chill off.

Early in the evening, we pulled the oil-filled radiator out from between the wall and the armoire and put it to good use.  (We typically use oil-filled radiators on our boat when we can no longer use our reverse-cycle heat--so, we were really familiar with this type of heater.  There was also some type of propane heater in the bedroom which we avoided using due to safety concerns with carbon monoxide.)

(An interesting side note: One of the reasons we came to Mexico for the winter was for warmth.  Currently, it is warmer in Annapolis than in San Miguel de Allende.)

The oil-filled radiator in the bedroom proved
extremely beneficial last night.

The "medium" setting was just enough to take the chill off during the night!  (Of course, our cats felt the inviting warmer temperature too and spent most of the night with us in the bedroom.)

Monday, November 8

We had oatmeal (made with milk and water) again this morning for breakfast--it was very tasty!  Maggie got up early and got prepared for her conversational Spanish class which was held earlier in the day for her last week.  While she was in her class, I started to read the kindle book I had just recently purchased.  (This is something I never would have taken the time during the daylight hours to do back home.)  As I began to read the new-to-me book sitting next to he heater in the bedroom, I quickly realized that it was a memoir of a Nazi concentration camp survivor who was a psychologist.  While riveting to read, it was not the type of information I originally sought (or so I thought).  I was about half way into the book when I put it down for the first time.

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This morning we decided in advance to have lunch (possibly nice big salads) at the Food Factory at Fabrica de Aurora, the same restaurant where we had a fantastic hamburger and fries on Friday.  Our tastes seem to go in moods--somedays we are adventurous and raring to try new Mexican dishes and other days we search out familiar meals from back home.  Today we were in the mood for good food from back home and, at the same time, eating healthy.  (At this point we had yet to try tacos from a food stand but that is in our near future.)  

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At 11:30 AM I was still feeling chilled to the bone.  I was wearing jeans, a heavy shirt, and a loose sweatshirt over top.  As I got outside I could immediately feel the warmth of the sun.  We walked over to the Food Factory for lunch.  I had a delicious club sandwich while Maggie had a big salad.

After lunch we walked along Aurora and stopped in some small shops along the way, buying two very colorful hand-made pillow covers.

The bridge over Arroyo las Cachinches
(which I call a drainage ditch) 
near Fabrica de Aurora.

A colorful cover over an electric
meter along Calle Obraje.

Very colorful doorways along
Calle Cancion India where
we are temporarily
housed.

We got back to our apartment sometime after 2 PM with our new treasures, full bellies, and our bodies fully warmed by the afternoon sun.

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As the sun went down, the chill in the air increased.  We ran the small electric heater in the living room as we watched a little TV.  I drank a (skinny) mojito as I absorbed as much heat as possible from the little electric heater...

Tuesday, November 9

The outside temperature hit a low of 38 degrees this morning!  As Maggie left for her Spanish class, I spent the morning reading more of one of my kindle books. I am currently reading Matthew McConaughey's memoir entitled Greenlights.  (The book about the Nazi concentration camp experience was a little too depressing for me to continue at this time--I'll pick it up again later.)

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For lunch today, we walked to the nearest taco stand and had tacos.  We watched them cook our tacos.  They use two thin flour tortillas for the outside of the taco, frying them in oil to get them warm.  Then they grilled the chosen meat--I chose beef steak.  I then applied a generous amount of the hottest sauce ("muy picante" they said) and wow, was it hot!  I am one who loves spicy food but this sauce was way above my comfort zone.  We paid for our tacos after we were finished eating them (which is the custom, apparently?).  (Four tacos cost only 52 Mexican pesos or $2.60 USD.)

We ate lunch at this taco stand today--it
was located on Czda. de la Aurora,
about 1/4-mile from our
apartment.

From lunch we drove to La Comer supermarket to get just a "few" items--it turned into an all out grocery shopping spree.  (I guess we needed a lot more than a "few" items!)   We were finally able to buy diet tonic water, something we have been looking for since we arrived here in San Miguel de Allende.  We purchased two fish filets and two ribeye steaks, as well as some wine and liquor that was on sale.   We also loaded up on fresh fruit: red plums (from the USA), red and yellow watermelon (from Mexico), and bananas (I think from Costa Rica). (Our grocery bill was 5,236 Mexican pesos, about $262 USD.)

A man offered to wash our car while we were grocery shopping--it needed it badly.  We took him up on his offer.  We paid the car washer $10 (USD) and he wanted only $2.50 (USD)--so, the car washer went away very happy.  (Maggie isn't very good with numbers in Spanish yet--I still can't figure out how it got this messed up though.)

As always, stowing the groceries on our return to our apartment was a major feat, carrying them from our trunk and into the courtyard, and then up the stairs into the kitchen, and finally, putting them away.

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We went out for dinner for a change--at the Food Factory, because it was close by and I was craving American food.  We each had hamburgers and fries, something we seldom eat at home.

As we walked home after dinner, the evening shift
was just coming alive at the taco stand
where we ate lunch today.

Wednesday, November 10

Today after Maggie's Spanish class, we went out for lunch at the Cafe Santa Ana in the Biblioteca.

The entrance to Cafe Santa Ana.

Iced tea in Cafe Santa Ana is the best
we've tried anywhere in the area.

For lunch we both had delicious cobb salads.  (I had a tasty orange-raisin muffin for dessert.)  After lunch we walked to the Artisan's Market and checked out the hand-made goods again.  (Maggie purchased a cute hand-made outfit for her new grand daughter.)

A scene in the Artisan's Market.

We walked toward home from the Artisan's Market a different way than we do normally.  We ended up taking a taxi home from about halfway there.

I think this was Calle Loreto.  It was
certainly one of the better
paved streets.

Please stay tuned for more of our land adventure in and around San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

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