Hello from Mexico!

I’m in San Miguel de Allende, a small city known for its architecture, arts scene, and wonderful weather. Not to mention the fantastic views! Here’s a picture of the city from the roof of a local restaurant:

I love the way the light changes throughout the day. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the rooftop patio, which has a 270 degree view of the city. Here’s a picture in the early morning:

And here’s a picture taken at sunset:

Location-wise, San Miguel de Allende is at the southern end of Mexico’s central plateau, smack dab in the center of Mexico. Here’s a map that shows its approximate location (the little blue dot is San Miguel).

Despite its southern location, it’s not hot at all. That’s because it’s at an elevation of about 6000 feet, which tempers the heat and makes for nearly perfect weather – about 50-80 F all year round. A lot of foreigners retire here because of the weather; even more “snowbird” here, enjoying the warmer weather in winter and then returning home in the spring.

(As a Bay Area partisan, I think their weather isn’t quite as good as ours, which is similar but with less humidity – but it’s hard to complain about weather this nice.)

The architecture is beautiful, and so are the cobblestone streets:

I’m not sure whether the rainbow flags signify anything, but San Miguel de Allende has a reputation for being LGBTQ friendly, which makes me happy!

I’ve decided to do a retreat here towards the end of the year, and possibly move here permanently. The plan is to spend August packing up the house, September tying up loose ends in the Bay Area, and then spend October through December in San Miguel before deciding whether to live there long-term or go back to the U.S.

Towards that, I did a relocation tour of San Miguel last week, driving through the entire city and getting the skinny on each neighborhood. Then I walked around the city a bit to get a feel for the more interesting neighborhoods. Finally, I picked my two favorites and reserved AirBNBs in both areas.

I’ll be spending October and most of November in a place I’ve nicknamed “Casa Gigante”. It’s a house in the Villa de Los Frailes district, in the far southwest of the city, and it’s just gorgeous. It’s also HUGE: four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen and a kitchenette, and two dining rooms. 

Here’s a pic of the living room:

I love the arched brick ceiling. I have seen this in a few homes to date, so I’m guessing it’s pretty common here. 

Here’s a better picture of the ceiling:

(As a Californian accustomed to earthquakes, brick ceilings make me nervous, but I’m told earthquakes are uncommon here, so it’s unlikely that the ceiling will land on me like, well, a ton of bricks.)

Check out all the photos of Casa Gigante in the AirBNB listing here. 

I don’t know what I’ll do with all that space in Casa Gigante, but I will definitely enjoy it! And I have already invited any interested friends to come visit.

After that I’ll go to Casa Luiguy, which is right next door to Los Frailes, in the La Lejona district. It’s a lovely 2-bedroom house in blues and yellows (you can see all the photos here). 

Casa Luiguy is just down the street from La Comer and City Market, the two big supermarkets/megastores in town. City Market is Whole Foods on steroids, full of imported gringo foods as well as the usual supermarket stuff. While I plan on doing most of my shopping in local shops, it’s nice to know there’s a place in town with an entire wall of gourmet olive oils, my favorite U.S. brands of yogurt, and so forth. They also sell appliances, clothes, and other household items.

I’m considering a house in the Azteca district as well, which is close to the heart of the city. It is less suburban than Los Frailes or La Lejona, but it’s also right next door to the gym I plan to use for my powerlifting training. Condicion Sana has squat and deadlift platforms and a bench press setup, which excites me no end! Powerlifting is not terribly popular in Mexico, so finding a gym with the right equipment is not easy. I had been expecting to have to set up a home gym, but this is far better.

I picked San Miguel de Allende because it has great weather and a lot of English speakers. (Roughly 8% of the town is either expat or immigrants, mostly from the U.S. and Canada, and there are even more English-speaking tourists). 

Because I don’t speak more than a few words of Spanish, it’s really helpful that many of the locals speak English and/or are accustomed to dealing with people who don’t speak Spanish. (I plan to learn Spanish, but until then it’ll be helpful to be able to supplement with English to get around.)

After a week of bureaucratic delays, C. and I have our temporary resident cards, which is exciting – means we can stay in Mexico for up to a year, open a bank account, etc. In a year I can renew the resident card for three years, and then after the fourth year I can ask for permanent residency. Super cool.

I don’t know yet if I want to move here permanently. My main reason for doing a retreat/trial run here in the fall is to do a life “reset” – to give myself time to cocoon and figure out what the next phase of my life will be like. If I stayed in San Jose, I’d have to battle the temptation just to keep on exactly as before. Here, though, the difference in surroundings and new location will help me shake things up a bit. I may yet return to California, but if I do, it will be a conscious choice and not just the default option.

I brought the phoenix scarf along and finished the beaded fringe on the trip! Here are pictures of the scarf and of the fringe. I really like it.

What’s next, creatively speaking? As with virtually everything else in my life, I don’t know. I do know one thing: like everything else, it’ll be an adventure.