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09/16/05 - San Miguel de Allende, MX (Photos of our San Miguel condo) Move-in day at our San Miguel condo |
(Photos of Mexican Independence Day celebration) |
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Two hours after leaving San Luis Potosi, we pulled into San Miguel, signed the deed, paid our closing costs, picked up the lone key and took possession of our latest real estate acquisition, also known as our new home, in San Miguel. We had intended to arrive Wednesday night, in order to give us maximum time to get things done before the usual weekend business closures, like making sure the power and water were turned on and buying stuff like a new mattress, fridge, microwave, etc., but due to our car permit-related hold-ups at the border we only made it to San Luis Potosi. Luckily for us, the apartment technically is furnished, but you know how picky Caroline is about these things. (In her defense, Scott was in wholehearted agreement regarding the need to replace some of this stuff.)
When we arrived in town, there was much commotion and merriment (more than usual) in the streets; amigos were selling Mexican flags and horns, women were waiting at their makeshift tables to paint your face with any number of designs, such as a tiny Mexican flag, all in red, green and white and the streets were full of people. It turns out that Friday is a holiday, namely Mexican Independence Day, comparable to our 4th of July, when the Mexicans finally gained their freedom from Spain. Guanajuato, the state SMA is located in, is considered the "cradle of Mexican independence" so throngs of Mexican tourists come to this area in September to celebrate. It's a very festive and fun atmosphere but, unfortunately for us, most businesses will be closed Friday, Saturday and of course Sunday, as usual. We sure have a knack for showing up at the wrong time to try to take care of business (but at least the water and electricity are working, since it would have been nearly impossible to score a remotely affordable hotel room this weekend)!
Somehow, we managed to drive through the crowded streets to our apartment, where we promptly unpacked the car, It was such a thrill to take all of our belongings out of the car and finally have somewhere to put them (for now, the king-size bed, until we did a little cleaning). With the car totally stuffed to the gills, we were surprised that it took only five minutes to bring it all in from the car and that it hardly seemed to take up any space at all in our small apartment! I guess we don't have that much stuff after all...(although we do have some things that we left in PV before driving to MI.) Hmmm, guess we better go shopping!
After making space by unloading the car, we drove to our local large supermarket, Gigante, to buy $100 worth of (mostly) cleaning supplies. We spent the afternoon and evening shopping for supplies and cleaning, starting with the rather disgusting bathroom. There were not even too many bugs to clean up (mostly daddy long legs-type spiders), but we did find a (thankfully) very small live scorpion in the tub that needed taking care of, which Scott promptly did with an old mop (incidentally, the grossest mop you've ever smelled - the odor is still lingering). We started on the kitchen and a few other random things, but were too exhausted and hungry to do much more, not having had anything to eat since our breakfast at the San Luis Potosi Holiday Inn Express complimentary breakfast buffet. Time for a quick meal at a favorite restaurant we found on our last trip, El Pegaso, and then home to fall into our makeshift king-size bed made up with queen-size bedding (for our new bed we're going to buy, once the stores are open again)! It's good to be home! |
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