In San Miguel de Allende, first three days

February 3, 2012.   We are here, Aurelie and Ron are here with us in our casita and are proving the best people to help us discover this amazing, magical place called San Miguel de Allende.  Aurelie speaks fluent Spanish and Ron knows all the best restaurants!  What more could we ask for?

The casita is in the area called Atascadero and requires the agility of a mountain goat to get down to El Centro!  All the streets are roughly cobbled.  We are adapting.  Ron is moving on stilts faster than all of us (he's working on his upper body strength).  Coming back up is a challenge but oh so good for us considering all the food we're eating. 

 Mike and I managed fairly well on Wednesday, eating at Cumpanio on Correo the main drag.  The food was lovely, light, fresh and very tasty.  We met Christina there, who was full of stories about her amazing life and we plan to visit her casa next week to meet her husband David, who is an artist and her three-legged dog.  Christina used to build harpsichords.  We have discovered that this experience is going to be duplicated here again and again.  People who live here are so interesting.  Aurelie and Ron arrived in the evening and since it's hard enough to find our casita in the daylight, we spent anxious moments yelling "Ron" out the window now and again.  Finally, they arrived!

Yesterday, Thursday, we had a wonderful breakfast (sorry, I do gone about the food but it is incredible) at Buen Dia on Callejon del Pueblito where Juan presides and has a huge store of movies available.  Up on the roof area, we met Steve from Leeds, a graphic artist.  You can always find a Brit wherever you go!  He's been here for years and I thought he was Mexican, he blends right in.

Our afternoon took us through the parque to see preparations for a garden show and met Rafa, resting in his wheelbarrow and Samuel, a beautiful boy with such piercing eyes. The people are so nice and it's hard to see how difficult life is for some of them.  Walking up another steep street, we were behind a man carrying an enormous load on his back.  He would stop now and again and rest.  Finally, he made it to the top and we talked.  His name was George.   Darkened by the sun and bent by hard work, he spoke English having worked in Tucson for sometime.  Such sadness filled his eyes.  I'm sure he would have incredible stories to tell of his adventures but they have taken such a toll.

We were now outside the most amazing bed and breakfast.  The contrasts between poverty and oppulence are so evident, though I felt that upward mobility is making progress if only slowly.  The middle class is in its infancy but ever reaching for a place to grow.

The bed and breakfast, Casa de Liza, on Bajado de Chorro is owned by Beatrice from Switzerland.  Full of life and enthusiasm, she runs a fantastic place beautifully landscaped and with several locations to rent.  Each one decorated with such care and style.  Beatrice showed us around even taking us to the kitchen to see Remedios making scones.  We came away with wonderful home-made jam.

The evening found us at Organica, on Margarito Ledesma, eating their delicious salad verde (I had soup as well, pureed greens with potato) and we met the incredible Isabella, daughter of the owner Rosarita.  Isabella is 11 and so precocious in the most charming way.  Her father is American, her mother Mexican.  She loves gymnastics and drawing and wants to learn French.  She is of course already bilingual.

We came home in a cab!  US$2.30.

Friday, today, we ate breakfast at home, and then walked down to the outside market to do some shopping and then made our way to Bistro Sabores y Salsa Gourmet run by Maria, another amazing woman.  It is a tiny place with just a few tables and everything is so fresh.  Lunch is different every day and consists of a salad, soup, entree (2 choices) and dessert followed by Mexican coffee.  US$32 for four.   It is all exquisitely prepared in the smallest kitchen imaginable.  Aurelie and Ron met some old friends who passed on more tips for eating places.

After lunch, we went to the Center for Global Justice where we had an interesting talk with Dick.

Then more marketing, back to bakery for scones for tea and home.  Boy, we are getting our exercise!

Snacks and a movie tonight.

Photos to follow and I'll try to keep food talk to a minimum.  Plus we are now planning our cultural events!