San Miguel de Allende

Last weekend I went to San Miguel de Allende with three other classmates. we had a presentation to prepare on narcotraficantes and one of our group members, Meghan, told us we could stay at her parents' house to work on it.

the bus ride was only an hour and 15 minutes and as we were entering the city, it reminded me of Guanajuato City. the architecture is very similar. I had heard that the difference between the two cities is that San Miguel is home to a lot of retired U.S. citizens, and foreigners in general, and that everything's a bit more expensive.

Meghan's parents are retired and live in one of the nicest houses I've ever stepped foot in. her mom is Méxican and bilingual, whereas her dad is taking Spanish classes once a week.

above is a mural from their backyard.

we decided to just relax our first night, so we got ourselves ready to eat at a restaurant and to see a couple of bands at this night club called Mamma Mia. getting ready was easy cause we each had our own bathroom, apart from each of us getting our own bed.

above is Mira, from the L.A., California, trying on Emilia's outfit for the night

above is Emilia, from Korea. she was showing us pictures of her trips through México. we told her that it seemed like she had already visited every place in México, and she said, "No, I haven't been to Veracruz."

Meghan took an hour and a half, or maybe more time than that, to get ready, and by the time she was all dressed up, my camera had gone dead, due to us taking a ton of pictures while waiting. anyway, we got to the restaurant at 11:15 PM, and we were told that the kitchen closed at 11 PM. fortunately, Meghan knew the server, so we were still able to order food, which turned out to be beyond good. I used to think that all Méxican food was essentially the same, but now I realize it's cause I've always ordered the same things. I think my meals have never been more varied than it has been here. and now that I'm far more familiarized with Méxican cuisine, I know what to look for at restaurants back in the states.

afterward we walked to Mamma Mia and along the way I noticed that there weren't many people walking around, not even in the central square garden. and the people we did see all looked middle aged, which was weird for me cause I'm so used to seeing a ton of university students out and about.

it was the same story in Mamma Mia. for a decent amount of time, us four were the only ones on the dance floor, which was a shame cause the both bands that played that night were great. the first one played a lot of funk music, and the second played covers of songs in English. they even covered the Ting Tings. anyway, we continued dancing to every song until the last band finished at around 3 or 4 AM.

the bed I slept on was the most comfortable one I've ever used. even while I was lying on it, I was thinking about how unbelievably uncomfortable it was.

above is part of the hallway near my room. again, another pretty mural.

we all got up around noon and took a taxi into town to eat breakfast at a place called Buenos Días. when we had gotten into the taxi, Meghan told the driver, "Buenos Días," to which the driver replied, "No, es buenos tardes."

above is Emilia while we were waiting for the taxi.

above is Meghan and her dog Truffles

the food at Buenos Días was also beyond good. I had mixed fruit covered in yogurt and a special made omlette with guacamole and salsa and a glass of naranjada (which is orangeade)

afterward we walked to the market

above is a little piece of the central square garden. again, San Miguel looks deserted, well, compared with Guanajuato City

the market is a huge cluster of small stores

we didn't get back home till around 5 PM, and by that point we started worrying about how much time we'd have to work on our project, since we wanted to go out again that night and planned on leaving San Miguel Sunday afternoon.

we set up camp outside and finished most of our project within 3 hours.

later in the evening we took a taxi back into the city, at the same restaurant, in fact, and ended up getting there at 11 PM. still, we were able to order food.

above is a photo from Mira's facebook. this was actually from our first night at the restaurant.

above is a mocajete dish from our second night at the restaurant. the food that night was so so so good, it kills me.

afterward we walked back over to Mamma Mia. this time there was a cover charge, but the boss saw our group and let us pass for free, while telling us, "Dance!" he remembered us as his only dancers from the night before.

the same two bands played again, which was comforting, but we didn't plan on staying out too late. in fact, we left around 1 AM, which was a shame cause we were yet again the only dancers at that point

the next day we woke up to eat lunch with Meghan's parents at the country club, where I ate fish tacos for the first time.

anyway, we left San Miguel soon afterward, and agian, I felt so happy to arrive back in Guanajuato City.

this week I didn't have class on Wednesday due to Méxican Independence Day. Tuesday night was when everyone was supposed to party, but I ended up going to bed before 11 PM. I think all of my sleep deprivation caught up with me, so I felt real exhausted.

I'm doing fine in all of my classes, but I know that I could be getting a lot more out of them if I focused more. it's just that I keep allowing myself to be distracted by the city and friends.

Thursday I went to my second session of painting class, in which we just drew fruit. the teacher kept making me feel nervous and frustrated cause she would come by and tell me to change this or that, so I felt like I wasn't doing anything right, and I also felt like I wasn't being allowed to draw the way I wanted.

next week we're supposed to draw vegetables. ugh, I hope we start to actually paint soon.

above is a sketch I did a couple of weeks ago. Samuel, Mira, Daniella, and I went to one of plazas in order to draw. I drew them as they sat on the bench.

Friday night was Mira's birthday, so 15 of us ate at an outside restaurant by the Jardín Union, and afterward we went to the Bacardi Lounge, a club that plays really good mixes. we danced till 2 AM and then went to another bar called Boga. we went to the roof where there were huge sofas, almost like beds, scattered all around. we had a great view of the city and the music they played was just like the music at Bacardi and low enough that we could easily carry on a conversation.

at around 4 AM we left Boga and my friend Marco gave me a ride on his moto. it was so cool to go through the city at high speed, and for the first time the city looked empty.