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10/24/05 - San Miguel de Allende, MX

Car trouble causes yet another delay of our PV trip

We'd planned on heading to Puerto Vallarta a couple of Sundays ago, then last week, but both times got updates from PV that the floor was still not laid in our condo there (making it hard for us to put anything in it).  Now our floor is done, so we finally decided to depart this past Sunday - only to find that old Chevy-Girl decided she did not want to make the trip.  Since the mechanics were closed on Sunday, we spent a good part of the day shopping online for a new (used) car (minivan), hoping we could fix the Cavalier up enough to drive it to Texas and trade her in.  She visited the Chevy dealership (that's 'Chevy' with CH like in 'Chips') to find it was a cheap fix - just a new thermostat and radiator cap.  We'll take her to PV on Wednesday, then decide from there if it's time to put her into retirement.  She's given us a good 45,000 miles over the past 11 months, she may be due for a break.

10/21/05 - Leon, MX

Beginning our search of Mexico for a comfortable couch

One thing we haven't found yet in Mexico has been a comfortable place to sit.  Most of the furniture here does not invite one to lounge about, which unfortunately happens to be a pastime of ours.  After scouring the stores of SMA and reaching out to the gringo community here (via listservs & message boards), we confirmed that it's just very difficult to find comfortable and/or stylish upholstered furniture in Mexico.  We decided to head almost two hours west of SMA to Leon to see what the big city stores have to offer.  It turns out, they have a surprising variety of very comfortable, modern and contemporary furniture for extremely reasonable prices!  Of course, finding the 'couch of our dreams' was still as difficult as it was going to be anywhere else in the world.  We can be picky at times.

Leon is the leather capitol of the hemisphere... If you want to shop for shoes, bags, coats, etc., this is the place to come.  There is a shoe district and a leather district that an interested shopper could spend days trying to see all of.  Scott was glad we were 'focused' on furniture, and could drive quickly through these areas without worrying about any glares from the passenger seat.  Leon is an international business city (as our friend Ryan of Steelcase fame knows), and has more of a U.S. feel than any other places we've been in Mexico.  It's not the States, but if you found yourself in one of the beautiful brand new malls or furniture stores, you wouldn't know you were in Mexico anymore (well, except that you wouldn't recognize many of the stores).  At various times, it reminded us of both San Antonio and Southern California (in which places you might mistake yourself for being in Mexico).  We didn't find the 'couch of our dreams', although we saw some things we might want to go back to see again.  Next time we need a mall, movie, and fast food (i.e. an American fix), we'll take the trip to Leon instead of heading up to Laredo.

10/18/05 - San Miguel de Allende, MX

It's just business as usual around the casa

It's mid-October.  The air is getting crisper (especially at night!) and things have quieted down a lot now that September's holidays and festivals have gone into hiding until next year.  Things in our household are quiet too.  We've had lots of contractors over to give us estimates for building a decorative fireplace in which to house our new gas log set - we hear it gets cold come winter! - and to have a wrought iron bed made to our specifications.  A week and a half after purchase, our new washing machine is fully functional and the plumber should be back tomorrow to vent the dryer (which will hopefully render that machine fully functional as well!). 

And for the highlight of the past few weeks: last Saturday, Caroline bought her first pair of "San Miguel Shoes" sandals, which are designed and manufactured locally for the specific purpose of walking comfortably, safely and fashionably on cobblestones.  (She really needs them, too, what with all the furniture shopping about town we've been doing lately!)  They are quite ingenious in their simplicity: each shoe is merely two wide, tight elastic bands of fabric attached to a stiff plastic sole, with an added stiff support at the heel.  Although the locals don't seem to favor them, these shoes that come in an amazing array of styles and colors are extremely popular with the fashionable over-45 gringas (there aren't too many locals our age, you know) seen about town.  And it is obvious why.  They are indeed miraculous shoes.  No more twisted ankles.  No more sore feet (that you can't even  imagine until you've walked on these cobblestones).  No more blisters!  And they don't look half bad either, especially when you consider that the comparable alternatives are sneakers or hiking shoes.  (And you know they're affordable or Caroline wouldn't be so excited!)  Rest assured, this will definitely not be Caroline's last pair! 

10/01/05 - San Miguel de Allende, MX (Photos)

Yes desert, not dessert. Chocolate, wine, & cheese tasting in a Sonoma-like setting in the desert near San Miguel

An expat chocolate maker moved to San Miguel about five years ago, and decided that what this town needed was a local gourmet chocolatier utilizing local ingredients and workers.  This weekend, he had a ribbon cutting event at his newly opened chocolate factory about 10 miles outside of town.  Sensual Chocolatiers advertised that there would be chocolate, wine, & cheese tasting (free!), as well as tours of the chocolate kitchen and gardens where herbs are grown to be used in various chocolate recipes.  We, of course, could hardly resist, so we ventured out with our San Miguel friend Wendy to check things out.

The grounds are in a beautiful lush desert setting.  With the music playing, the umbrella-covered tables, the wine and cheese being passed around, it was very reminiscent of an event we might have attended in Northern California's wine country.  The dark chocolate truffles we sampled were delectable, even though we're not typically fans of truffles.  The wine was also good, and the entertainment was outstanding.  This consisted of watching Wendy ask if she could ride the burro mascot.  She was obliged, and we watched her ride the tiny burro through the agave fields.

10/01/05 - San Miguel de Allende, MX

Just doing the moving in thing and getting all settled in to our new abode

We've spent the past week focusing on setting up our new home, in an attempt to make it functional and comfortable.  The cable guys came out with surprising speed to set us up with cable TV (the highlight of this being ABC, NBC & CBS out of NY - yes, that's about as good as it gets) and high-speed internet.  Scott also called the gas man to come and fill up our propane tank that resides on the roof so that we'll have hot water and the water guy to come and deliver a couple of those ubiquitous 10-gallon or so garrafones (jugs) of purified drinking water.

Time to go shopping!  First, we traveled to Dolores Hidalgo, which is about a 30-minute drive from SMA and is where much of the beautifully hand-painted talavera pottery and tiles in MX are made.  Many of the shops are attached to the actual workshops where you can see unfinished products and the artisans at work.  And everything is so cheap, it's a bargain shopper's (like Caroline's) paradise!  Our top priority was to buy a portagarrafon or two in order to have a way to dispense the water from the garrafones the water man just brought us.  We were successful, and in addition to the two portagarrafones we bought (one for kitchen, one for bath - each with a stand and matching cup), we also  bought a soap dish,  toothbrush holder, hair accessory dish, and 3-part food crudite tray all for about $50us!  The prices here are much better than what we've seen in PV, since they make the stuff here, and they have so many beautiful designs, one could browse for hours, if not days!  You can find just about anything you might want that they can possibly make out of clay.  It was a really fun day, complete with a stop in the plaza for some of the famous and delicious Dolores Hidalgo ice cream (Caroline had the lime and Scott had a flavor that was something like butter pecan - yummy!) and a scrumptious carnitas (pork) taco lunch on the way out of town.

Next stop: Queretaro (kay-RAY-tah-row).  Ready for more punishment, the next day we headed to the big city (about 750,000 people), about 50 minutes away from SMA, to shop the big box/warehouse stores you all know and love in order to pick up some staples and organizational supplies.  We've been told that Queretaro has a lovely historic colonial centro, but we never made it past the ring road where all the wonderful modern/American-style shopping lies.  After lengthy stops at Costco, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Soriana (a Mexican Big K-Mart-like store) and a fabulous new mall containing a fancy and high-priced Sears store, among other delights, we headed home exhausted, but much better equipped to start our new life in San Miguel.