San Miguel de Allende
My fingers are frozen, poised above the keyboard. It is difficult to get started on a writing adventure. I have a tendency to list activities or try to wax eloquent and poetic. All this fails when I have spent no time practicing the art of it. But, as always, a person must just begin.
This is the start of our adventure. I know that we have already been away from home since the 7th but this is the beginning of the two of us exploring a new place, setting up house and getting into a routine.
After a hot stuffy journey by La Compostela bus from Sayulita to Puerto Vallarta Airport we weighed and reweighed, and transferred to backpack and pocket, various and sundry items to make sure we were not over the allotted weight of 22 pounds per person. (And yes, they did weigh our suitcases as we boarded the plane.) The flight was just over an hour in length and when we arrived, a random email I had sent to a shuttle company just before departure happened to produce results and there was a man with a sign with my name on it at the arrival gate. Yikes, what good luck as we had spent days trying to arrange the hour and 20 minute ride from Queretaro Airport to San Miguel. Our driver delivered us to our doorstep and we made our way through the jumbled courtyard and passageways to our door, dragged our luggage up the narrow flight of stairs and here we were.
The place is delightful, tiny and yet spacious. It has a lovely kitchen and dining room, a sitting area and two small bathrooms and two bedrooms. This all for $50 a night. It is in El Centro and the buildings and streets are colonial much like Xela or Antigua or any other colonial city in Central or South America.
Rudy checked out the crockery situation and was delighted to report that there was sufficient plateage and cupage. (Check your dictionary for a definition of those words if you are unfamiliar with them.) He was even more excited to find a full complement of silverware (at least the local version of cheap tinware) and a full drawer of larger utensils (some still in their plastic packaging). He has declared that all this is very civilized and the Airbnb has exceeded his expectations.
We crawled into bed under heavy blankets and mostly enjoyed our lumpy bed.
Today, things got even better. We have a large spacious rooftop patio where I am now sitting and writing. The sun is warm, but not too warm and tonight it will cool down again.
We went on a jaunt down to El Centro, the park, church, and market this morning and bought some groceries. We also had a weird breakfast at the market tables. I chose Menudo which is an odd kind of pork rind soup with spices and lime and Rudy had pancakes. He ordered coffee and I ordered tea but we only got one mug full of something which we determined was a combination coffee/tea mixture with added canela and carmelo.
And now it is mid-afternoon and we have just finished a delicious sandwich. Rudy has settled into a website project for Chris Koop (Chris has assured him he can pay in pesos) and I am ready for another adventure down the streets.