Getting reacquainted with San MIguel

March 11

We slept well, which is always a gift. I woke up around 6:00 and got up about 6:30. Ron was up shortly after. We read emails and I made coffee in our little kitchen. Being a coffee nut job, I brought my own grinder and beans. Yes, I know I’m weird but age has its privileges.

We showered and headed up the street to one of our favorite cafes, less than a block away. Fresh fruit, mushroom and cheese omelet for me and eggs with chorizo for Ron. We also had Americanos to drink. Yum!

We came back to our home and got organized. The first stop was a hardware store for some plugs with multiple outlets, then on to our favorite market where we got groceries; cheese, artisan bread, granola, rice salad for lunch with our cheese sandwich, butter, and disinfectant for veggies when we buy some. Most probably we will eat in for breakfast and out for most dinners and do both for lunches. Our kitchen has a little coffee, and sugar and powdered creamer that we don’t use. That’s it. So, setting up for making hot meals is more trouble than it is worth, frankly. It is very inexpensive to eat here. I do get weary of eating in restaurants and when that happens, I’ll break down and cook. Staying at Brad’s in Ajijic I was blessed with a fully stocked kitchen so making black beans and rice was easy.

We returned home and Ron listened to a podcast with an analysis of the election. I am outside in the yard blogging. Soon I will meander in and put our lunch together. Life is good.

We went to a 3:30 movie, The Good Liar. It's not very good but you can’t win them all. Later we walked up the street to Café Rama and shared a salad and each had a grande bowl of tortilla soup that was impossible to finish. I wish they offered a smaller size because it was sooo good. It is rather hard to share a bowl of soup.

We watched the news on PBS when we got home. I took another luxurious bath and off to bed we went.

March 12

We had breakfast here, our standard granola and fruit with coffee. Then headed out to Centro. On the way, we dropped off our laundry. As we walked, I commented that the streets and sidewalks weren’t crowded which is usually the case here. But in the past, we came in January one year and February last year. Halfway to Centro, I realized I had left my sombrero at the laundry. We checked out the movie schedule at the other theater but didn’t see anything that appeals and headed to one of the plazas for Ron to get some photos.

I peeled off and returned to the laundry to fetch my hat and headed back to the plaza to catch up with Ron. On the way back home, we went by the central square to see how may folks were there and found the Church bells ringing and a bus with a musical group.  

On the way home, we popped into a great bakery and got treats. I wasn’t hungry but Ron was. I ate my croissant later.

One of our tasks, while we are here, is to determine if we want to move here. We have loved this place since we first came in 2015. But we have discovered two issues that concern us and that we want to fully understand as part of our decision-making process. The first is a water issue. We learned that the aquifer where SMA gets its water is not fully replenishing each year. This may be a serious problem so we will first attend a lecture given by Dylan Terrel, the executive director of Caminos de Aguas, a non-profit that deals with water issues. This happens next Thursday. We also hope to have a sit- down meeting with him one on one before we leave town. Currently, his schedule is packed. Dylan’s mom in NYC is the boss of David’s boss. David is our younger son. Small world indeed.

We met Peter, a friend of Brad’s for lunch. He has lived here for four years.  He has an advertising consulting business and can do a lot of his work online from home.  He reported that the cartel activity hasn’t impacted him one iota.  Everyone we have asked about this issue says the same thing; cartel members kill each other, not gringos. He had good things to say about living here. I told him it seemed like there were fewer people on the streets and in the plaza and he tossed it off to being mid-week. We remember it differently from last year when anytime we went to the main plaza it was crowded with tourists and vendors.

After a long lunch, we went to the movies. The two movie houses in town are small venues. The one we go to most often has two screens and plays English language films and seats about 20 people in each screen room. The price is $5. per person and that comes with a free drink (we get water, of course) and popcorn. We saw Jojo Rabbit and I loved it.

We came home for a while then went out to dinner at a place where we ate last year when we were here. There were two tables of six Americans in the outdoor section. From the conversations, it was evident that some of the people have homes here and know the owners well as they made the effort to say goodbye and knew the owners’ names.

I ordered the trout and watched a man make my salad, cutting mushrooms, carrots, bell pepper, and picking out fresh greens. I was impressed that the veggies had not been precut and stored for the day. I LOVED my meal. Even the rice was delicious with some oil and herbs. Ron had a spinach and mushroom quesadilla.

We came home and watched the news about the virus in the US and how ill-prepared we are for it. OY!