Summer in San Miguel…Part 2

San Miguel as a town should be an expats dream. There is something to interest almost for every one here in this old silver mining town.. food, art, music, movies, crafts, lectures, spiritual awareness…you name it and it’s here in one form or another.

When I first arrived and started looking at what was available I was dumbfounded by the variety…everyday the San Miguel Events comes out on line offering the list of – what’s happening. I hardly ever made plans far in advance because I could look at the list and have my pick of lectures or documentary films. There was a local group of Occupy Wall Street and I would hit their meeting each week for a documentary film and discussion afterwards. Some of the people were long time residence and others were staying for a few months and moving on. Always a lively discussion and almost all were good liberals working for the cause….which cause depended on the day.

Three cowboys on a corner

There is a large art scene in the city due in part to the art schools and in part to the income level of the expats who reside here. Most of the longterm expats are pretty well-heeled, well educated, cultured and demanding of diversions. A prime example in the local library…Biblioteca Publica…started in 1955 by a group of expat women to serve the community it has grown to be one of the largest bilingual libraries in Latin America. It is a great asset to the community and serves  the local population as well as expats. They offer english conversation class, movies, lectures, concerts and maintain a large lending library of books in many languages.

Art Galleries are located on almost every block of El Centro and openings are part of the social fabric for expats. A glass of wine, the latest gossip and oh by the way there’s some art. The first Saturday of the month the Fabrica La Aurora host an Art Walk. A large collection a shops, galleries and restaurants are housed in a renovated old textile mill dating from 1902 and offers another venue to socialize and check out the latest exhibits

The streets of San Miguel

I will be the first to tell you I jumped into the expat swing of socializing…. Hanks Bar and Restaurant on Tuesday for half price cocktails and taco’s…Friday evenings at Berlin Restaurant for drinks, dinner and socializing…a cocktail party at George and Tom’s home…are you getting the drift. It is a very insular world in San Miguel and one tends to run into the same people everywhere one goes.

San Miguel is a good size town of about 85,000 people with a large expat community of 8,000 to 12,000 residents. Although, it is hard to figure the exact count on the gringo population because it goes up and down with the season. An irreverent but somewhat prescient commentator walked into the El Jardin and saw the old gringos lining up on the benches and pronounced it “Gods Waiting Room”. And that for me is the main drawback to San Miguel. I am used to and like a mix of all ages in a expat community and for me that is why San Miguel is not the ideal location.

Tuesday Market Shopping

It can be hard to find the real Mexico in a town like San Miguel but there is always the Tuesday Market. I have been to markets all over the world and most have some organization…all the vegetable in one spot, the clothes another electronics together etc. etc…..but not here. It was all thrown together with no order or sense…a huge assortment of the good, the bad and the ugly.  But this is where the locals come for everything and anything and I loved walking around checking out the goods.

Shopping for Shoes at the Turesday Market

Having said all that I have said about the shortcomings of San Miguel, I would tell you that I made some wonderful new friends and renewed some old friendships while there and while I would not live there full time I would go back to visit for a few months anytime.