We traveled to San Miguel de Allende, via a night in Mexico City, just before Christmas.
Trying to be budget conscious, we booked an AirBNB for a month here with no idea what to expect. Well, maybe a little as we had met some people who had traveled here in the past, and read up on this beautiful city.
Our place was right in the city - next to the old library (Biblioteca) and an easy quarter of a mile walk to the center of town. We got a great rate - a discount for the monthly stay and an additional discount because of construction going on next door. But that was never an issue for us. A beautiful place to stay - kitchen, living room and bathroom downstairs and bedroom with fireplace and bathroom upstairs - and our own private rooftop deck - in addition to the shared one for the place.
Arriving just before Christmas and the holidays was great as everything was decorated and beautiful. There was some sort of entertainment going on in the city square almost every night, and we could watch fireworks for New Years from our rooftop.
At the beginning we thought…maybe a month is too long. But by the end we were wishing for a few more weeks. This is an incredibly beautiful city. Our pictures don’t do it justice. And the people are all so friendly and kind. Many expats live here - mostly US and Canadian. Some full time and many for maybe 6 months of the year. At about 6,200 ft elevation, it takes some time to adjust, but the temperature stays great. This time of year into the 30’s at night, but around 70-80 in the day. And sunny almost everyday.
From the time we arrived until about January 7th, there were festivities every night. On New Year’s Eve we attended the annual bull fights (I know, I know) which were amazing. One matador was on horseback only and changed horses about three times during his bout. These horses were incredible - they never got touched by the bull, and would run tight circles around him. They even knelt in front of the bull. Anyway an amazing event to see for sure.
We also had a chance to witness the “Dia de Los Reyes” (the Epiphany) on January 6th. Also known as 3 Kings Day, it was a huge event here, with children lining up hours in advance to get their gift from the 3 Kings, and the streets blocked off with tables a block long lined with Rosca de Reyes - the traditional bread for Epiphany Day.
The holidays were great, and just walking around this city is wonderful, but the food is even more amazing. Seriously, I don’t think we have been anywhere that had such a high concentration of absolutely incredible places to eat. Restaurants were amazing and even the street tacos were the absolute best. We enjoyed a Taco Tour - sampling at a few places in the city with Oscar. From a few restaurants to “Andy’s Taco Truck” the food was fabulous.
Oh, did I mention Mezcal??? Our new favorite? Well, it seems this region is famous for Mezcal, and there are so many small distilleries, there are plenty of choices. The process for Mezcal is a bit different from Tequila.
Mezcal means - oven cooked agave - deep pits, lined with lava rock and filled with wood and charcoal. All tequilas are Mezcal, but all Mezcal is not tequila. Mezcal can be made from any of over 25 varieties of agave, while tequila must be made from only Blue Agave. To qualify as Mezcal it must be produced in one of nine regions in Mexico.
The pinas (heart) of the agave is roasted for several days, giving Mezcal its smoky taste.
Long story short - Mezcal is gooood (Clark). We had fun trying this in a few different places. San Mezcal was a little tapas bar that specializes in mezcals. They would give you samples of many, trying to help narrow down your specific tastes. The bartenders were great, and the tapas were good as well.
But our favorite place to sit and enjoy a drink (although there were many), was the bar in Hacienda El Santuario. Mostly because the murals on every wall were incredible!
San Miguel was a great town to visit - either for 4-5 days or for a month, or even longer. But it was time to leave, so we flew from the nearby airport in Queretaro (QRO) to Cancun to spend some time in the sun.
That’s it for this trip. I’m getting caught up and hope to have a few posts from our current travels soon.
Please enjoy the photo album on this destination.
All the best,
Tim and Eileen
