San Miguel de Allende
We arrived safely here after a rather hair-raising bus ride in a very luxurious coach. Our driver was apparently in rather a hurry to get here on the winding country highway. Glenn was bothered by this a lot more than Bryn was.
We passed an area where farmers were walking behind their old-school plows pulled by horses or mules, but by the time I realized I should take a picture, we were in ranching country.
A taxi brought us to our chosen hostel, but the prices weren't what we expected, so we found another nearby hotel that was half the price. Turns out it was just down the block from the main jardin and Starbucks, so it's all good. Hotel Posada has a nice courtyard and large rooms and a view of the top of the landmark Parrocchia from our third-floor balcony.
We took a couple of long walks around the city, including all the way to the little place we stayed in 2008. We checked out a couple of cathedrals. It seems that if you aren't into shopping, there's not a lot to do here, so we spent a lot of time in Starbucks on the Internet.
Still a pretty town, still not as enjoyable as Guanajuato for us. For one thing, it seemed as if gringos were everywhere. Back in 2008 we noted that we rarely saw any at all. I'm not sure what changed. Either the gringos are only out and about on certain days, or at certain times of the year, or we were just so overwhelmed by it all back then that we simply missed them. Another difference is the makeup of the two towns. The old part of San Miguel is all designed around shopping and eating for gringo expats and rich Mexicans. The old part of Guanajuato has less trendy shops and more local small-town businesses and lots of students everywhere, and very few gringos. Evidently we like being tourists in areas that don't really cater to tourists so much. Strange, I know.
But don't let us stop you from visiting! Just keep it in mind.