TheTraveler

 
The Vicarious Gazette
by Steve and Marcy Frank

Volume 1 - Sam Miguel

Hola from San Miguel de Allende!

We have arrived at the first destination of our year-long journey. I sit this morning at the little blue table in our apartment on the hill, gazing out across the valley. From our perch we have a 180 degree view of the valley across to the peaks on the other side.

Our apartment though small, could not be more charming. There are common verandas on all but one side as well as separate private patios for special social gatherings. You can also venture up on the roof to enjoy the sunset and sunrises. Alas we skipped this treat today (our first day) and went straight to bed!

Prior to Marcy and I arriving at San Miguel, we ended up not sleeping for about 36 hours so we were a bit done in. There were all the final details (the packing up of the house and ourselves) which we worked on right up to the point that the shuttle came and picked us up at 3am to go to SFO for our flight.

Having arrived in Mexico City and gotten over our first scare, (will we ever see our luggage coming around the carousel?) we sought out the official taxi stand as outlined in the directions from our language school and purchased our ticket to the bus station. We were then led to a suburban masquerading as a cab and off we went.

One of the first phrases I want to learn to say in Spanish is "dude, we are not in that big of a hurry"!

Our cab driver with his raceway driving style managed to annoy several of his fellow drivers, one of which chose to retaliate by chasing us and tossing beer bottles at the cab...

Welcome to Mexico City!

Fortunately, our stunt driver soon eluded our pursuers and we arrived safely at the bus station. We settled in for a three hour bus ride that began through the streets of Mexico City and then out into the countryside along remarkably good roads. With complementary snacks and videos on board, we diligently attempted to watch the scenery pass by through droopy eyes. After a while, we were drawn into the movie, Remember the Titans (in English subtitled in Spanish) and only glanced occasionally at the lush rancheros and farms passing by outside.

This first bus took us to Queretaro where we were to catch a second bus on to San Miguel. As it turned out, the next available bus would not leave for four hours which at this point in our journey might as well have been 2 weeks. We did a bit of checking and learned that we could take a cab for 320 pesos (about $35.00 US) which seemed well worth the expense. To put the length of this ride into perspective, this would have been equivalent to a $150 cab ride in the States and I am happy to report there was no stunt driving involved. We did need to switch to a local cab once in San Miguel and arrived in front of the Casa Engelbrecht tired, but intact.Our host Guillermo immediately showed us to our lovely new home, and left almost as quickly ( I think he may have been afraid that we would run over him in our stampede for the bed)

Guillermo (the man of few words) has warmed considerably over the last few days and we have actually managed to get a few consecutive sentences out of him, if not an entire conversation. He does speak fluent English! It turns out that he also works in the administration office at our language school (Instituto Allende) which for us is a great bonus. He has helped smooth over issues with our bill, and he may be able to arrange access to a high speed internet link for us at school. We walk to and from the Instituto twice a day (up a moderately steep hill that will definitely help our waistlines) and our classes are from 9-1, siesta, then 4-6. We have been experimenting with different routes as a means to explore this picturesque little town and are constantly finding wonderful surprises.

San Miguel is set in the rolling hills of central Mexico with narrow winding streets paved entirely in coble stone or slate. The architecture here is classic Spanish and there are a great many churches which speak out with a symphony of bells each day. They start around six and ring at different times through out the day, each taking a turn. I will have to ask someone the significance of the different chimes. We have learned that San Miguel is a world heritage site and all the architecture is either old or made to look old. It has a charm that is similar, I think, to some of the villages we will see in Spain and elsewhere in Europe... And there are NO McDonalds!! Every time you go through a doorway in San Miguel, you never know what you will find on the other side. It is often an open air courtyard that is filled with hanging flowers and plants, always with a few benches that are perfect for enjoying the beautiful surroundings and contemplating our next activity, (a brief study session? a cocktail? )

One of our favorite activities when traveling is to venture into the local markets. We love shopping for food and trying to figure out what things are! We've found a great little market in town (the Bonanza) from which we have been stocking our larder. The fruits and vegetables we purchase from the produce shop next door, and of course butchers and bakers etc. are all separate establishments. We have a very tiny kitchen, but have managed to turn out some decent meals so far (our neighbors are always amazed).

We almost always know what is going on at the plaza, as the sound drifts up the hill to our apartment. More often then not it is the laugher of children or the general sounds of people. We are also treated many evenings to the styling of one of the local mariachi bands. There is a cornucopia of sounds from the assorted animals in the area: the local dogs chat with each other clear across town and there are apparently some fairly heated topics being discussed. Alas, there are also several local roosters who appear to be time-impaired: they crow whenever the mood takes them so we do not much rely on them as our morning alarm!

We have also found the local supermarket (the Gigante) where you can purchase everything from milk to underwear (think Mexican Wal-Mart). The big find here is something along the lines of a glade plug-in which keeps mosquitoes away (we are covered in bites). There is no detectable odor and it works well enough that we plan to stock up on refills and perhaps a second unit for use later in our travels. I don't even want to know what chemicals are involved as long as I am not kept awake by the bzzzzzz of a hovering predator. We also spotted out first scorpion! It was about 2" long, and was hanging out on the floor in our bedroom. It was quickly dispatched by Steve with a minimum amount of screaming by Marcy, and when we talked to Guillermo about it the next day we were told it was a common occurrence. Now we have added another facet to our morning routine: shaking out our clothes and shoes before dressing!

San Miguel also contains a Bibliotheca (library) with the second largest collection of English language books in Mexico, so we decided to check it out and they do indeed have a very impressive collection of books in every category. We have purchased a library card for twenty pesos (about $2) with a refundable deposit of 100 pesos which will certainly prolong our own private stash of books.

Next week there is a cooking class planned as part of our curriculum. Apparently we all head to the local markets to purchase the ingredients needed (using our limited but ever increasing Spanish vocabulary), then collect at the teachers house to prepare a meal. Those of our classmate who have been here a while have been very helpful with tips and the loan of books, maps etc. on the area, and our first week here has passed quickly. We are beginning to suspect that our time here will be far too short.

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