Mexico Day 3: San Miguel de Allende

This will hopefully be the last novel-length post for a bit, as things in San Miguel occur at a slightly slower pace, so updates should get easier to post. Anyway, this post will describe the trip from Mexico City up to San Miguel de Allende (mostly just photos) and our first day in town and at the house on the hill.

The bus system in Mexico is clean, safe, and cheap - about 1/10 the price of airline tickets. the bus station and the buses themselves really felt more like an airplane/airport than anything else....

We left from the Mexico city - North bus station - there were 114 terminals at this station and there are 4 stations (labeled by their geographic location and by the directions that the buses departing that station are heading...very intuitive..so, in other words there are a lot of buses coming and going from Mexico City every day!







The bus ride was quick and most of it was spent dozing, practicing Spanish, and laughing at the dubbing of "ultraviolet" - where some kid had the voice of a 40 year old man...excellent.

The pictures of San Miguel were taken as we came into the bus station on Sunday morning...





We were met at the bus stop by one of the PACEMD staff members and escorted up to the place where we are now staying. The ride through town was excellent - it allowed us to sit back and appreciate how genuinely different this place is from any place either of us have been before...

There are a few things you notice quickly about San Miguel -- it's very very hilly...I'm talking steep hills where you are amazed that the cars don't start rolling backwards (and all the cars here are manual transmission - all of them). The other thing you notice is that the streets are incredibly narrow and - like in Mexico City - you are amazed that you don't get into car accidents. These streets were built 500 years ago for horses, not cars - and as you drive around this becomes quickly apparent.

Furthermore, the first trip through town can be a little daunting because there is a very difficult layout to the town and many of the building look very similar and are often connected in long rows for the entire block.

Fortunately, there are many public squares and parks as well as large cathedrals (this is definitely a Spanish colonial town) - to guide you and provide a sense of direction.

Anyway, like I discussed in the previous Google Earth post, the house we are staying in belongs to Dr. Haywood Hall who is the director of the PACEMD MedSpanish program. It is located in a Colonia Atascadero in a small gated community named Residencial las Fuentes - about a 10 minute walk (downhill) from the center of town.

I will get some pictures up of San Miguel soon enough - but for now, here are some pictures I took of the home while we were unpacking....

The gates to Residencial las Fuentes....


The small park across from our house with las Fuentes...


The outside of the house


downstairs patio area...one thing to notice is something that I have often tried to describe about Mexican architecture to other people - there is always a sense of feeling like you are simultaneously inside and outside. In Tampa, the building that best captured this same feeling was "Viva La Frida" - a restaurant that has since closed in Seminole Heights. Whether it be wide open entry ways with no clear door - or rooms connected by outside pathways (such as Trotksy's house demonstrates in the previous post) - or, like this house, the inclusion of inter-atriums within the home...the courtyard area and the atrium are relatively open to the elements and when it rains, it literally rains within those areas as well --- the lack of carpet in the homes and the use of solid building materials (no dry wall here) - allow for this type of environmental intrusion....








grottos in Mexico are like palm trees in Florida - they are EVERYWHERE...


the aforementioned atrium


upstairs now -- our bedroom.








our guest room in our bedroom - um, anyone want to visit Mexico?



check out the fern growing at the end of the huge bathtub -- not too mention the nice tile work...



this is a nice feature - this is the upstairs living room (there is a similar room not pictured downstairs). Not that you need it very often, but this room is also air conditioned and has cable and all the computer stuff (wireless router, printer, etc)..




this is outside our bedroom window..


okay - next up will be some pictures of San Miguel de Allende itself..