How does one go about describing the streets of San Miguel?

narrow
bumpy to downright jarring
up and downhill inclines
busy
charming
colorful
intriguing

One thing I can say is that I am not quite ready to take up the challenge of driving them myself. Walking, yes. Driving, no. My mother-in-law is pretty darn good at navigating the narrow, crowded streets, but even she has a scratched up side mirror from some encounter she can’t quite remember.

Traffic flows smoothly even though there are no traffics lights to control traffic. Instead traffic is slowed by large speed bumps, called topes, which could rip the underside of your car off if you go over them too fast. Another unique thing is the “every other” rule. If a car is waiting to gain entry to a busy street from a side street, the traffic in either direction will stop and let them out. The next person is not obligated to stop to let someone out, but the following person will be. All very civilized. Just remember that the rule applies to you as well and some people might get a bit testy if you don’t let them out on their turn. Especially taxis.

Ah, the taxis. Cheap and easy transportation throughout the city in a green and white vehicle. Twenty pesos (about $1.50) will buy you a taxi ride to almost anywhere within the older city. A bargain for sure since parking can be hard to come by.

Here are a few street scenes.

To be continued ...

That’s what everybody said when we told them we were going to Mexico. I’m so glad we didn’t listen. Many other people did however change their travel plans due to the swine flu. Our flight from Newark to Houston was on a huge Boeing 777 aircraft (marvelous plane!!) that was not even half full. So many empty seats! Our flight from Houston to Leon/Guanajuato normally held 35 people and we had 15 on board.

When we got to San Miguel the local people were not wearing masks and you would never know there was a threat of contracting the flu. A few places were closed, like the library, but otherwise all the restaurants and shops were open. They tell us that May is normally their slowest month (and hottest) and many businesses close anyway and it was the Mexican equivalent of Labor Day while we were there. Wait staff in the restaurants sometimes greeted customers at the door with hand sanitizer and took orders with masked faces. By mid-week the face masks had been abandoned completely although the odd person here or there might still be wearing one. I saw one gentlemen on our last day that had a white mask on with a drawn-on large mustache and a mouth, suggesting that this is what he looked like under his mask.

Many people had a sense of humor about the whole thing like the book store:

Coming home we did have to go through a little medical check at the airport. We had to fill out a form and answer questions such as if we had had a fever, been on a farm, etc. We had to stand in a certain spot as an infrared camera took our temperature. No big deal.

I am so glad we went. We would have missed out on a wonderful vacation and that would have been a shame indeed. And all because of a pig ...

We’re home. We arrived in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, and all travel plans went without a hitch. We had a wonderful time on our visit to San Miguel and can certainly understand why so many people fall captive to its spell. I have many photos to share so I hope you won’t be bored.

I’ve had a hard time getting my New Jersey “legs” back again and maybe that’s why it happened. After successfully walking over rocky cobblestone streets and the ups and downs of the stone sidewalks, I came home only to fall pretty much flat on my face in the middle of the road while taking the dogs for a walk last night. I should know better. I didn’t have the right kind of shoes on, I was running with Bella on a flexi lead and she saw a squirrel. She took off and I let go as soon as I realized what was happening, but it was too late to save myself. I tore up my lip pretty good, banged my nose, chipped a tooth, and have multiple abrasions and bruises. ugh. I look pretty ugly right now with a swollen lip, etc. I am so lucky though, it could have been much worse. So, not exactly a pretty sight right now. I’m still not sure exactly how I managed to make such a mess of my lip and upper lip without breaking my nose ...

Welcome home, Lynne.
Much more to come (but only photos I hope and no more falls.)

We are having a wonderful time so far in this quaint, charming town. Our trip was uneventful and on half empty aircraft. There are very few signs of panic about the swine flu; very few masks being worn except in the restaurants by the staff. The town is bustling with activity and even the Tuesday market was open although we had heard it was not going to be.

We’ve walked and walked on rocky cobblestone streets past colorful houses. We’ve eaten in wonderful restaurants with inexpensive prices.

It’s strange to hear so much English being spoken around you. So many Americans and Canadians!

I am beginning to smell the armotic breakfast (I think it’s rolled chicken enchiladas today) that Raquel is cooking below, so I’ll sign off for now and send this later when we go over to Rick’s cousins to use their connection.

Off to San Miguel de Allende! I have a reputation to live up to while there and I hope I meet everyone’s expectations. My mother-in-law likes my photography and has told everyone about the photos she plans on me taking. I think she’s made a map of all the places I should capture with my camera. She’s even told Raquel who comes in to cook and clean for them (No, they are not rich, everyone has cooking and cleaning help there. It comes with the rental!) and now Raquel goes around asking ” Will Leen take photo this?” So you see my dilemma ...

Raquel wanted to know what Rick and I would want for breakfast so we told her typical Mexican fare. We hear she has been out buying beans for our breakfast enchiladas. Oh boy!

Until next weekend, readers! I will try to post a photo during the week with a quick update!

Photo above taken in Cancun, Mexico.