Fuegos Artificiales

So maybe I should elaborate on what the town here is like. San Miguel is wonderful and ridiculous all at the same time. It is as picturesque as any place I've ever been in. Bright flowers bloom everywhere. The town's buildings are either old colonial stone or brightly painted concrete. The sky is almost invariably bright blue. As with everything, the pictures I've taken don't come close to doing the place justice. And then the ridiculous. San Miguel has a fair amount of expats living here (A 100% unconfirmed number I heard is 1 in 10 residents) and a large amount of tourism from America, Canada, and other countries. I think it would be entirely possible for someone who doesn't know a word of Spanish to happily live here. There is certainly a large number of the foreign residents who don't seem to have interest in learning the language and they appear to be liking their life here just fine. I heard San Miguel called the American Disneyland of Mexico, overrun with people to the point that real culture is stifled out. Some of that is true, most of it isn't.

The presence of a Starbucks in the city center and an Office Depot and Costco (called Mega) outside of town don't do much for the city's reputation. However, there is an incredible community of foreigners here who are doing a lot for the town. The weekly Que Pasa events calendar is dripping with cultural events. Singers, poetry, film festivals, art shows, workshops of all imaginable types, tons of charity events, cooking classes, Aztec dancers, Mexican mask gallery showings, anything and everything you could ever want is going on here. There was even a TEDx conference last year! In the past three days I've been to a fantastic play ( http://www.bibliotecasma.com/ ) and a classical music performance ( http://www.promusicasma.com/January2011_22and23.html ). I also witnessed a very exuberant firework show. More on that later. There is a FANTASTIC movie theater here that plays a new movie each night. I almost signed myself up for each and every movie being played this week. It compares to (and maybe even surpasses?) the Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo, CA and Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka, New Zealand. No kidding.


And the food. The gringo population really loves its fine dining. Maybe the best food I've ever eaten is half a block away from my house. Seared ahi fit for a king. Ambrosia.

But for every hilltop neighborhood filled with foreigners living, there are streets that look as though the only American influence is the strange affinity Sanmiguelenses have for Hollister shirts. You don't have to go far off the beaten path to feel like the only foreigner in town. I'm finding more and more each day that the pro list outweighs any concerns I had for a lack of Mexican authenticity before coming here. The gringos have a handy habit of sticking to themselves so it isn't too hard to be separated from them when you want to be.

When it comes down to it, San Miguel is not the place to go for someone who is looking for complete immersion into the Mexican culture. You can definitely find that here, but I can guarantee that most everybody would also be sucked into all the other things going on. To fight that would be worthless and would rob you of the incredible experience the place has to offer.


Today was my first official day of language classes. Until now I've just been going to drop in classes three times a week. From here on out it will be 5 days a week intensive Spanish. Four hours a day Monday through Friday with an extra 2 hours every M, W, F. Wish me luck. I haven't had to be well rested for a school day in a year and a half, so last night I diligently went to bed early and set my alarm with the satisfaction of knowing I was going to get my full 8 hours of sleep. There was a little hang up, however, when the church a 1/4 mile from my room, the one that my wall of open screens looks out over, started setting off fireworks. At 4:41 am. For an hour. Complete with drums. I had been warned about the church's enthusiasm for early morning fireworks, but I don't think I fully understood what that meant until I experienced it.

Class was wonderful. My instructor is great, the students are all really enthusiastic to learn, I like the structure of the class, overall I'm really happy with it. That didn't stop me from playing hooky for the second round of today's class, which was a walking tour through the town. I got home with an hour and a half of free time before I had to go back to meet the tour, which flew by. When the time came, my "goodbye" to Bruce and Marsha ended in me deciding that spending quality time with them while lounging in the sun was more important than any old walking tour. I stand by that decision.