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Return to the Land of the SunAugust 9, 2004 -- Hi folks! I thought I'd post something so you all didn't think we were in jail or something :) Just to quickly recap, we got into Mexico City on July 22nd and spent a few days there seeing the museums and ruins. Then we went to Cuernavaca for a few days to stay with a nice lady I met on http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com. She rents rooms in her house and treated us like royalty. Then we went to Taxco for a day, then to back to Mexico City for a day, then to Guanajuato for two days, then to San Miguel de Allende.
It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we were trying to look at a few towns before we deciced on which one to settle down in for a few months to rent an apartment and take some classes. We ended up renting a place in San Miguel de Allende until October. By that time, it will have stopped raining and cooled down on the beach, so we'll head down there and rent a place. San Miguel won out over the other locations because it is just soooo easy to hang out here! We are loving it so far. We have access to live plays in English, bull fights, chamber music festivals, yoga, olive oil, prosciutto, art films, mung bean sprouts, fresh ginger, great restaurants, and an excellent all-around atmosphere. Plus, it's quiet here, and we like our little apartment. All in all, it's a nice way to introduce Jillian to Mexico and to get pampered a little bit in the meantime. I have 450 photos so far, including the ones from our road trip. I basically just want to show you a few shots of our new apartment in San Miguel de Allende. I'll post more later when I get a chance. Our Apartment in San Miguel de Allende
The outside door of our apartment. We saw this sign while we were walking by. It took us about 1 day to find a place. We tried the Atencion newspaper, and a lot of bulletin boards. Calling people on the pay phone is a little difficult with the street noise and communicating in a second language, but was overall not too bad. We saw a couple other places before stumbling upon this one. The price is 4,400 pesos or $385 a month. This includes all utilities, furnishings, cable tv, and maid service. Not too shabby!! The owner is very nice, and they fixed a couple light bulbs and ordered us a new jug of drinking water right away. Her son is a veterinarian, and he runs his business on the premises too. His shop is immediately to the left of the door in this photo. He sells dog food and pet supplies as well. We have seen him care for one puppy so far, who I am happy to say is healthy now, and went back to his owners yesterday.
The view to the left as you leave the street door of our apartment. The Jardin (the center square of San Miguel) is about 3 blocks to the right of what you see there.
The view looking to the right out the street door. There is a Spanish and art school called Instituto Allende 5 blocks down, and several stores with tasty food to cook with.
The courtyard in front of our place. There are nice song birds in a cage in the foreground that you can't see in this shot. That is our patio door to the left and our kitchen window to the right. The chairs are tilted because there are thunderstorms every afternoon right now and it keeps the chairs dry.
The stairway going up to another garden area in the back. That is our bedroom window on the right, and our apartment door is out of the shot to the right. There are about 3 rental units in here, in addition to the owner's area and the veterinarian office.
If you continue up the stairs in the previous shot, this is the back garden area. This garden and the courtyard are common areas.
Here's what you see upon entering our place. The paintings, couch, and table cloth all have a common theme. The kitchen is where Jillian is standing, and the bedroom is off to the left. The living room is in the foreground. We get cable on the tv with about 12 channels, some of which have English language programming.
A view of the living room. If you squint, you can see the song bird cages out there to the right. The wooden door is the main one to our apartment. The glass door opens into the patio, or you can just open the top part to get some air circulation.
Another shot of the living room.
Me sitting in the bedroom. I moved this chair out to the living room later. (I have rudimentary abilities to edit and upload photos, sorry about the tilt.)
Shower has lots of hot water, 24 hours a day. The light bulbs they replaced were over the sink. The toilet gets stuck now and again and you have to lift the lid occasionally and tinker a little to get the water to stop flowing.
Our first food purchase. Here you can see some conflicting inputs. Jillian has the healthy yogurt, farm fresh brown eggs, veggies in the lower drawer, and milk. I have the large beers, mayonnaise, cheese, bacon, and juice. He he :)
Now we're cookin with gas.
Basic cooking implements. There are plates and glasses too. Also, a big tilty water jug thing which you can see in one of the shots above.
The dresser inside the Love Palace.
I think there's something in my nose?
Jillian cooking up something tasty. It is such a joy to be able to cook your own comfort foods in another country. This ended up being pasta with a bacon, garlic, onion, red wine, and cream sauce.
This is the meal we cooked on the second night. Tomato soup and quesedillas, yum!! Avacados are about 45 cents / 5 pesos each, and the dozen fresh carnations you see were just under two dollars (20 pesos).
OK, that's it for now. Just wanted to let you know that we are getting settled, and to give you a virtual tour of our new place. Hope you are all enjoying life, come down and see us if you can. We miss you all! |
