Next up - getting into San Miguel de Allende. The GPS kept telling us to turn down a cliff. Um....
Our place - cheaply rented via Airbnb at the last minute when we decided that a beach trip to Zihuatanejo wasn't in the cards. Those couches - super comfortable. San Miguel is a fairly small city, but 15-20% of residents are foreigners, mostly Americans and Canadians. How they all ended up here, I don't know, but it makes for a mix of international cuisine and shopping. Not why I came to Mexico, but it's also a beautiful town.
Our street (on the edge of town, it seemed, with very few houses on it, but somehow all the taxi drivers knew it. Which is awesome because we had to walk up a loooong hill to get home).
Time to venture out and explore. We took the long, scenic route into the city, as described by our hippie host. I don't think she really knew what she was talking about, and she definitely didn't get the names of restaurants correct, though she's been there for almost 30 years. I also didn't get the impression that she speaks any Spanish other than 'gracias.'
This post is mostly going to be photos, cause there's not necessarily a lot to do here. You just come here to see the place. And to celebrate NYE, cause it's the best place to be in all of Mexico.
If I ever open a store anywhere, I'm totally calling it Miscelanea "Lauren."
Parque Juarez
The main cathedral - I don't know the name. There are about 7 really awesome ones in the center of town and after awhile they all run together.
Of course, a Starbucks break....
Nestor was 'Wendy.'
Courtyard of a nice hotel. Totally staying there next time.
We found a great Italian place on this street for dinner, except we decided to see what else was around before committing. And by the time we got back, it was closed! Or, it was full, and they locked the door. That's a common practice, we would soon find out. No taking of names, no waiting areas. Just rope off the entrance or lock the door until people leave.
We had Thai instead.
And while eating Thai, those pretty blue skies turned to gray and started to POUR. Yikes. We can't celebrate New Year's in the rain!
Thankfully it cleared up after an hour, we made it home to put on warmer clothes and get ready for the night.
Walking back down the hill into the center....
The plaza was full of people that came to ring in the new year . Music, food, dancing, fireworks, and sparklers!
The band planned to play til 6am. Whoosh!
Tim made us buy a ridiculous amount of sparklers. Of course we went through them all before midnight and had to buy more.
Finally - the big moment!
We had some corn after midnight, first snack of 2012. But without the glob of mayonnaise on top.
New Year's Day - more wandering around.
We decided to get breakfast at this churros place - every single time we walked by this place over the weekend, there was a crowd of people outside. And yep - the door was roped off so no one else could even get inside. Every now and then a girl would come out and take names, but we realized we weren't moving up the list at all. Everyone was such a hoverer.
We eventually jumped the rope and made an order to go.
Not quite as good as churros in Spain, but it'll do.
We bought gum from boys on the street. Clorets - my grandma's favorite.
We jumped on the historic tram tour, since there wasn't much else to do. It took us to a lot of places we'd already been.
The tour guide was hilarious.
He made everybody sing a song. Tim and I were the only non-Latins on the bus. We definitely didn't know it.
Back at the best lookout point.
There are public wash areas in a park. The tour guide grabbed my camera and made me wash clothes to demonstrate to the group.
There's a lady actually doing it.
We went home for a nap (cause naps are awesome) then back to the same place where we'd had breakfast, except this time we sat on the roof.
We saw someone order the pizza at brunch, and it looked delicious. We ordered it for dinner. It was pretty terrible. Like, really disappointingly awful.
We left early on Monday so we could get back to the city before dinner. There was grocery shopping to be done (at the Whole Foods of Mexico, with valet parking. Bring lots of tip money).
I drank alpura yogurt every day. The
green one.
There's a few more DF adventures to be had - stay tuned.
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