One week in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

After five weeks in Ciudad de Guanajuato we bussed onward to the expat hot spot of San Miguel de Allende. Although it was only a 90-minute journey what we found there was an entirely different flavor of Mexico. Because we’ve got ice cream (nieve) on our brains a lot these days, we’ll say it was like licking your way through a scoop of dynamic Tutti Fruti down to a scoop of rich, elegant, classic vanilla bean. The historic center was sparkling clean, perfectly painted and polished, and strikingly classically Spanish, resembling perhaps more of a living museum of a Spanish colonial city than any place in Mexico we have previously visited.

San Miguel de Allende is a town of 140k people. Of those, about 10% of them are expats (mostly Americans and Canadians) which is exactly why it is jokingly referred to as… “Gringoland”. The city center certainly has adapted to cater to its expat population by offering plenty of amenities to make you feel as if you’re in a more Americanized version of Mexico, including plentiful use of English, an incredibly vast and high quality restaurant scene with ample happy hours, designer apparel stores, a vibrant Mexican arts scene, and decadent home furnishing and craft shops, lots and lots of quality things to buy or consume…that is, unless you’re looking for the “simple” things.

This street seriously oozes with charm. Check out Benji in the window. (P.s. points for San Miguel…the dogs are MUCH quieter here than in Guanajuato!)

In fact, we realized immediately, there’s no shortage of cute in this town.

Cute only gets you so far though. As we always do when we first arrive to a new place, our first mission was to make a grocery run and stock our new kitchen. However, based on a quick google search surveying our new surroundings, there didn’t seem to be a sizable supermarket in the center, although we did find two smaller local grocery stores that looked promising. At the “Super Bonanza Food” after about 10 minutes walking, we found the variety of the selection surprising… particularly its numerous “foreigner-friendly” items.

Needless to say, by the time we got to the register our budgeting app was pretty perturbed that we had spent so much for so few items on our list at $702 pesos ($33). And no produce! We’d grown accustomed to spending about $25-30 for a complete grocery trip in Mexico. Maybe, we just needed to wander around a bit more to find the produce, fresh tortillas, and some sweets as in other cities in Mexico.

Of course, there was lots and lots of architectural eye candy to look at as we wandered aimlessly looking for a green grocer so we didn’t mind at first, but after 45-minutes we still hadn’t stumbled onto one open produce stand, which in our opinion, seemed strangely un-Mexico. We also paused to realize the center of San Miguel (or at least the direction we turned) is surprisingly “sin -ria” which is something we hadn’t encountered elsewhere in Mexico. No carniceria, no panderia, no eh…produceria (made this up), and where was the squeaky wheel sound of the tortilleria??

Fortunately, eventually, our wandering bore fruit when we stumbled upon the area surrounding the San Miguel Mercado. Although prices were definitely inflated a bit to account for the blanco price, at least now we knew where to get, well…, the “simple” things in our Mexican life.

The no-car and pedestrian zones are an absolute pleasure to walk down. This is where we chose to maneuver ourselves. The streets with cars…not so much…due to the lack of common courtesy, and excessive noise from the thump-thump-thump of the wheels whacking the cobblestones.

When in San Miguel, don’t forget to project your gaze up to check out the “canales.” Canales are the the rain spout gutters that hang off the edges of homes. We’ve never seen ones like this before. Most of them extend beyond the sidewalk, which kindly allows pedestrians to pass without getting soaked. Others just seem to aim for cuteness, (and soaking people?)

The historic fountains are tucked into beautiful corner pockets throughout the city.

And lots of places to dine al fresco. It truly has vibes of Spain or Portugal, so we can see why some people really like it.

Near the Jardin Allende and main plaza of SMA.

The crown jewel and centerpiece of San Miguel is indisputably the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, a soaring 17th Century neo-gothic church which seems to drip lofty pink spires like icing on a wedding cake.

Inside the Parroquia is not quite as jaw-dropping but still quite beautiful.

Just a building we thought was lovely.

We asked a local about the eye-catching garlands that adorn some people’s doors in SMA, which was also a new treat for us. He said the garlands typically indicate a wedding in the home or a family celebration.

Heading south from the center, we started to see more signs of “typical” Mexican life…

…including some lively street art.

The Parroquia de San Antonio. We thought the clock face was really cute.

Walking back to the center, we ambled our way through Benito Juarez Park, which was lush, grand and full of green and posh facilities.

Same view as an earlier picture but this time in the evening. Like our experience in Guanajuato, you couldn’t feel safer walking around these streets at night.

It’s hard to find a boring door or entrance in SMA. This disco club is called “El Grito” (the Scream.” We thought it should be called “La Suegra”….the Mother-in-Law.

Another catching saloon-style door of “La Sirena Gorda.” The Fat Mermaid.

One night, in search of cheaper food options, we decided to “cross the tracks” out of el centro into the west side neighborhood of “San Juan de Dios.” After a couple days of being surrounded by a lot of people who look like us, we were glad to be back in Mexico. The sad reality is, there is serious gentrification in this city due to the influx of expats, which has driven up prices substantially. According to a friend, who is a San Miguel native now living in the States, “I know tourism has brought money in and has cleaned up and revitalized some parts of the city. But the bridge between the rich and poor just continues to widen. Most of our family just keeps to their neighborhoods and the areas they’ve always frequented. They struggle, but survive there, and my mom and sisters only can do so because their home is paid for. But they live most of the time without hot water and often struggle to pay electricity because it’s so expensive.” To us, this is really sad.

That said, in San Juan de Dios, the squeaky wheels were back!! As well as abundant flowers, produce and puestos (street vendors). 🙂

And a great market as well!

After grabbing some gorditas (street food), we paused on a bench near el Templo de San Juan de Dios. The Wednesday evening church service was happening so we attempted to follow along with the loudspeaker as the priest spoke in manageably slow-ish Spanish.

A home in San Juan de Dios. Notice the ATV. Expats and locals alike seem to bop around on these throughout the city. I guess they probably handle the cobblestones quite well, but the noise of them is a bit obnoxious.

Church of Our Lady of Health, built in 1735, is where people lined up for their COVID vaccines. Kidding.

The street where we stayed up on the hill offered a fantastic view. We were very pleased with our accommodation at Suites Santo Domingo.

We tried twice to go to the Mercado de Artesanias, where Mexican handicrafts are copious. Unfortunately, I guess both time we got there too earlier as nothing was opened yet. We know the Mexicans aren’t morning people… At right, next to the mercado.

A lovely side street.

Doors you want to walk through…San Miguel de Allende.

We were glad to see a lot of people use motorbikes here. It’s just so much more practical than cars (or ATV’s) ?

Notice anything a little “off” about this statue?! A former local tour guide shared this amusing story with a laughable ending…

“This man was born Ignacio Allende y Unzaga in the town of San Miguel de Grande in 1769 and raised in his family’s 16 room mansion across from the town’s El Jardin. As an adult he first served as a captain in the New Spain army then changed his allegiance and became a Lieutenant General in Mexico’s independence movement where he played a significant role in the country’s independence from Spain. During the war he was captured executed and then beheaded with his head hung high on the corner of a granary building in the town of Guanajuato for ten years. To honor his service to his county and home town San Miguel de Grande changed its name to San Miguel de Allende in 1829.

In approximately 1986 a statue of General Allende in full uniform was placed prominently high on the north east corner of his former home facing the Jardin. About three month later an astute citizen informed the city officials that although the uniform was correct, the statue’s head was not that of General Allende. The city officials, realizing the mistake, quietly took down the statue one evening and, for the second time, General Allende’s head was removed. The statue with General Allende proper head securely affixed was soon placed back up on the wall.

If you stand close to General Allende’s statue and look up at it for a while you will notice that his head is out of proportion (just a little) to the rest of his body – it is smaller! To correct this problem will most likely require the unthinkable; removing General Allende’s head for a third time.”

Two young lovers, one with only half a head of purple hair, enjoy each other on the steps near a church as we head up to the Mirador. Hope this picture doesn’t bust them.

An impressive flag near the mirador. Sadly, this area was closed off for COVID.

Lavaderos del Chorro is a colorful colonial chapel known for its public laundry bins.

Another street scene

So many choices of ice cream, including very bizarre ones like cheese, red wine and cucumber with chiles!

The only time we set foot in a restaurant in San Miguel was for the astounding view at the Antonio Bistro. On our last night, we grabbed two beers, one craft and one local for $190 pesos with tip ($9) where the waiter immediately spoke to us in English. That said, there’s a few reasons San Miguel is not a good long-term fit for us. But, clearly, it’s a gorgeous town and is a lovely place to call home for many people! We’re glad we got the opportunity to visit.

Our Accommodation: Suites Santo Domingo

We love the authentic Mexican character of Suites Santo Domingo, which has been around since 1949, when the current owner Guillermo’s grandfather, opened it as a guesthouse for visiting Spanish students. (Lucky students!)

Our one-bedroom apartment was complete with lots of thoughtful extra touches helping to make it extra comfortable and feel like a home. We especially appreciate the good lighting everywhere (proper “soft” lighting like bedside lights are something we always struggle to find in our travels the world over, and it makes all the difference in comfort); also high on our comfort list is a variety of places to sit and work or relax, and an ultra comfortable bed and soft sheets… check, check, and check. Highly recommend staying here! Apartments currently start at $32/night on Booking.com and you can check at the rooms at http://www.suitessantodomingo.com/

We’re gonna be using this table. A lot! 🙂 As we mentioned, we love the authentic character of this place. It’s actually quite remarkable to see the contrast between new (the modern houses on the hill) and the traditional.

Our cozy living room. Not too often do we get a fireplace. And it’s certainly cold enough to use it. The temperature swing is drastic in SMA, swinging from the 40’s at night (around 7 Celsius), to 80’s (around 28) during the day.

The couch was incredibly comfortable too. We learned you don’t always find a couch this size in Mexico!?

Our kitchen is surprisingly fully stocked and functional, including a couple things that are starting to become more important: a blender for all our smoothies and full sized fridge (we had a mini in Guanajuato and it was kinda laughable sometimes!)

Our bedroom is light and cheery, including a splash of Mexican cultural creativity on the lovely headboard. Also, in our room was Mandy’s favorite part of our apartment to camp out in!! A full-sized lay-down, super cozy, window seat! Love this!!!

Love the splash of red, tile floors funky artsy sink in our bathroom. Bonus: lots of HOT water and good pressure!

A large terrace all to ourselves amongst the trees. And yes, we’re CRAVING green. Yoga time!! In the afternoons when we’re working, we can almost almost always hear birds and Latin music flowing up from somewhere down below. Ahhhh.