San Miguel de Allende is a dream Mexican city. With great
places to eat, more little shops full of colorful arts & crafts than you
can visit in a week, many other travelers to meet, beautiful views everywhere
you walk, warm sunny, spring-like temperatures and a comfortable room with hot
water to call home, WHY did we ever leave? We will return, next time for a
winter season in a rented house for less than $800. per month, we will call SMA
‘home away from home’!
On Sunday, January 5th, we had brunch with our
hosts, Wilka & David, and the other guest Bridget, a Canadian currently
living on the Mexican Pacific beach. Wilka is a wonderful cook who prepares
gourmet brunches on the weekend for guests. The first morning she prepared a
homemade hollandaise sauce which topped a poached egg atop grilled beets &
sweet potatoes garnished with fresh basil…very yummy. On Sunday she tried out a
new recipe for soufflé, light & fluffy. Served with grilled vegetables, it
was elegant. We enjoyed her fiancé David’s company very much. An Israeli he had
traveled South America extensively after serving his 3 years in the army. He is
a successful businessman exporting iron & onyx lamps to the states. His
confidence was a bit overwhelming, but his intelligence and memory for history
and places he has visited impressive. Wilka is more reserved, but very
accommodating and sweet.
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| Not Wilka & David, one of many weddings on Saturday |
They are to be married this coming year in Israel, we
wish them the very best. The large home they rent makes a perfect B & B
with the rented rooms separate from their living space, close to the center in
a working class Mexican neighborhood with upscale homes belonging to ex-pat
Americans at the end of the street. We will stay there when we return to look
for our own home.
After Sunday’s brunch we went on a colonial homes tour
sponsored each week by the local library, which serves as a cultural center for
ex-pat residents of San Miguel. Live music awaited our arrival and while we
waited for our group to leave the library I chatted with a woman who has lived
in San Miguel for many years and encouraged us to join the community.
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| View from the 2nd home on the tour |
The two
homes we were able to tour were impressive, filled with art & color. Each
had a rooftop garden with great views.
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| Rooftop cactus garden |
The second also had a Mask Museum
attached in which the owner/curator was proud to show off his gigantic
collection.
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| A great Mexican kitchen in one of the homes on the tour |
While we walked through the homes and from one to the other we met
other travelers and a couple from Austin, Suzane & Rick, who had recently
purchased a property in San Miguel.
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| Rick & Suzane chatting with Keith |
We were invited over to see their new
acquisition and hear the remodeling plans they have for the coming year.
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| Casa Rosa |
Keith & I are not your average travelers once the real
estate bug bites! The past few days we have had our eyes on a new home in a
very Mexican neighborhood right by the main Mercado in San Miguel. It is within
walking distance of the historic center.
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| The top floor |
Triangular in shape it has three floors
connected with a freestanding spiral staircase. The rooms are odd shapes,
filled with windows & built-in cabinets.
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| Beautiful homes across the street with Canadian, German & American owners |
The top floor has a terrace with
nice views. We saw it the first full day we were in town, and visited it a
couple of times before making a very lowball offer which the owner
countered.
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| On the Terrace of Casa Rosa |
We went a few thousand higher
and when that offer was rejected we came to our senses. It was fun to call the
bright pink house ours for a couple of days, planning how we would come down at
Easter to furnish it for a vacation rental. We both were relieved when we
decided that buying a home in San Miguel at this point is craziness and that we
would rent someone else’s investment when the time comes we can spend a winter
in sunny, beautiful SMA.
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| Sharing a beer with the very friendly Casa Rosa neighbors |
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