On to San Miguel de Allende

After 3 days in Guadalajara, we got back on the bus for a 5 hour journey to the charming town of San Miguel de Allende. Located about 4 hours north of Mexico City, San Miguel is home to about 7,000 American and Canadian ex-pats. It has become a famous retirement location and is often mentioned in Sunset Magazine and the NY Times as an ideal place to retire. From out perspective, its being such an ideal retirement location is both its curse and its blessing. It is very English-friendly, has some wonderful restaurants, has become a sort of artists colony and possesses a great many interesting shops with truly unique crafts. However, because it is so Americanized, it feels a little like Palm Springs. However, it does have a beautiful cathedral and is organized around a central "jardin."




We traveled there to see our friends, Mirl and Carolyn Gratton, who retired to San Miguel about 4 years ago and have since built a beautiful home. They were both school teachers, Mirl a science teacher at David Douglas and Carolyn, a drama teacher at Jefferson and Central Catholic. When were in San Miguel about 3 years ago, we saw the start of the home, but had not seen it since it was completed.

San Miguel is an old Colonial town and so many of the homes are built behind high walls and around a central entry courtyard. Despite Mirl and Carolyn’s home being brand new, they have adopted the traditional Colonial style and have done such a great job of laying it out and decorating it. As you can see from the photos, it is beautiful.

Here we see Polley and Mirl and Carolyn standing outside the entrance. The rest of the house lies behind this very bright yellow wall.

Once inside the door, you walk into a beautiful central courtyard. I have shown from a variety of angles, including a shot from their lovely rooftop deck which is a great place to have coffee in the morning as the sun comes up. Also a good place for a tan.





From the courtyard, you turn right into the main living room and dining room area of the home. It is bright and airy, with a beautiful corner fireplace. Fireplaces, one in the living room and one in their master bedroom are the only sources of heat in the house.



Just off the dining room is the kitchen.


Also leading off the dining room is the atrium, with stairs leading up to the rooftop deck.


Behind the wall at the end of living room, lies the study, library, computer room.


And beyond that is the master bedroom and master bath. All of these, of course, open onto the courtyard.



Across the courtyard is the guest bedroom and bath. I hesitate to show it because a lot more people will show up at Mirl and Carolyn's and we won't be able to get a room on a regular basis.



As you can see, it is really a gorgeous place. Carolyn has done a wonderful job decorating it and my pictures really don't do justice to it all.

OUr second night in San Miguel, the four of us went to dinner at Bella Italia. This is a local restaurant, but the real draw is that 4 nights a week Doc Severnsen, late of the Tonight Show, and who has retired to San Miguel, plays with a group at the restaurant. We had front row seats. In fact, Polley was about 5 feet from the bell of Doc's trumpet (which for some reason he feel needed to be mic'd) and nearly went deaf.

However, the amazing thing really was the other musicians. They were fantastic! The violinist and guitar player, Gil and Cartas were some of the best I have ever heard. They were backed up by percussion and bass. A truly amazing evening and we bought one of their CDs so we can try to relive one of the best evenings of music I have ever experienced.

The next day Mirl and Carolyn had to go to doctor's appointments about an hour away, so Polley and I had time to wander about. We stopped in at an art school that was built in an old convent. We had lunch in a courtyard restaurant that served wonderful salads (we had great salads each day in San Miguel.


We also explore some of the art exhibitions including this room-size mural


Following lunch and some further downtown exploration, we visited the "Jardin Botanical." It sits in an isolated setting outside of town, but was very interesting. They have tried to preserve all the indigenous plants of the region. They have transplanted many variety from other regions where the vegetation was threatened for one reason or another. We wandered about in the desert heat for about 2 hours.






Friday, we spent the day at the local garden and plant show and then had to bid adieu to Mirl and Carolyn. They took us to the bus station and this time we made the whole trip in one every long night. We travel from San Miguel back to Guadalajara from 4:30 to 9:30 pm, then had a two hour layover. At 11:30 at night we caught the bus from Guadalajara to PV, arriving back at the PV station about 5:15 in the morning. We had a great cab driver who took us as close to our door as possible and by 6 am were back in our apartment. It felt good to be home, but the week-long sojourn was a nice break from the regular routine.