June 28 – 4 July.

I’d read that San Miguel de Allende was an old colonial town surrounding a Cathedral, and was a must see. Had we not turned around when we did we would have missed out on one of Mexico’s gems. We are parked at the workshop of Euro-Latino Racing on the main road roughly 10km out of town. Mattias, the owner, has welcomed us to stay in his yard at no charge and has given us a list of sights in the greater area that would keep us busy for a few weeks. Starting with San Miguel, which is a popular destination for tourists and expats alike. There is a significant year round population of Americans, Canadians, English & Germans.

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It was love at first street, wow, what a beautiful old town. The tight twisty streets lined with old houses with the most fabulous door fronts. Rough rock cobble stone lanes ooze history. A Unesco world heritage site, all houses in the core must be restored to their original state. I love this about Mexico, Oaxaca’s old centro was the same. Old San Miguel is draped over the hill with steep streets, many of the old houses are now store fronts, door to door of beautifully decorated shops and boutiques. Hip, trendy and very current, more of the town here is open compared to Oaxaca, there are people walking about and you can tell the tourists are wanting to return. There are no tours operating, no bus loads of people pouring in to spend money. So it’s a nice time for us to be looking around.

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One street side cafe was open, people were sitting out enjoying drinks & the sunshine, a glimpse at pre-covid times.  I get the feeling that this is what it must feel like in post war Europe.  Jaxon was wearing his usual Stitch hat, which never seems to fail in being a conversation starter.  As we walked by a patio table a man passed comment on how cute the hat was, we started talking, 5 mins later we had joined them at their table and drinks were ordered.  Five hours later we had to leave but not before accepting an invitation to dinner at their house the following night.  Todd & Mark had just moved to SMD permanently after escaping NYC.  Their apartment was one block from Time Square, said to be Ground Zero for Covid’s outbreak, where for three months they were confined to their comfortable apartment, but with so many restrictions life was miserable.  They packed up and flew to Mexico.  Super nice guys, we connected instantly had a fun afternoon of great conversations, like we were old friends catching up on each others lives, lucky us, they happily paid the bill too!  Promising we’d come for dinner tomorrow night we left and made our way across town to Cafe Rama, where we were meeting Mattias & his wife Mayumy and their 2 yr old son Mattias for dinner.  

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Cafe Rama could well have been found anywhere in New York City, walls covered in quirky art, period furnishings and an in tune baby grand piano, which Charley spent the next half hour playing.  While the decor was north of the border like, the food was distinctly Mexican.  Again, due to Covid, they were only open a couple of nights a week, and we were one of the two tables of diners.  Lucky they aren’t paying NYC rent!!  We left the cafe at 10:30pm and walked the empty streets up to see the Cathedral lit up in all it’s pastel pink glory, it was quite beautiful.  But the kids were exhausted so it was a quick look before heading home, both fell asleep in the van on the way, we got them into the truck and bed as the sky rumbled with thunder then the rain started.  Another spectacular lightening, thunder and torrential rain storm.  I drifted off into a deep sleep listening to the truck getting pounded by oversized raindrops.  

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The next morning we had access to lightening fast wifi at Euro-Latino Racing workshop, got caught up on emails, photo editing and uploading of blog posts.  The news says the USA is experiencing their second Covid wave with 25,000+ people confirmed in one day!!  They also seems to be picking a fight with North Korea, what kind of world is this turning into?  We’re  thinking we’re better off staying in Mexico a little longer.  

July 1st – HaPpY Canada Day everyone! Not too much going on here to celebrate, but the kids dressed up in their Canadian colours.    

That afternoon we hitched a ride into town, a lovely local couple pick us up with their 2yr old son sitting quietly in the back, no booster or seatbelt.  No masks and no fear of the virus, so seeing us hitching with masks on, must have been a funny sight, the four of us on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, gringo-looking mask wearing foreigners.  If it wasn’t for the kids, I don’t think we would have been able to get a ride so quickly.                  Picking up a bunch of fresh flowers and a bottle of wine we slowly made our way to Mark & Todd’s place.  Dinner was Indian, all home made curries form locally sourced tienda’s (stores).   Another couple Lisa from Toronto, a data scientist and her boyfriend Dylan from California, who was building an eco-house on his farm in Silao, just an hour away.  It was a fun evening, 6 bottles of wine later, we decided to spend the night and not brave the streets for a taxi at 1am.   Dylan was telling us how the town Silao was under attack this week.  Two waring oil cartels are going at each other hard, burning the town in the process.  The military stormed a house and ‘arrested’ or abducted the family of one Cartel and delivered them to their rivals.  The family members were then systematically tortured, with the sessions recorded and sent out on What’s App!!  Dylan had seen them himself and said that water boarding was one technique used.  He then went on to say that we were welcome to come and visit his farm, but that it was probably best we wait a couple of weeks for the smoke to clear, literally!!  I think we’ll pass.  

Thursday 2nd, we drove the back roads into the hills of Sierra Gourda, it was a beautiful drive climbing into the mountains to cooler weather.  One side was dry & desolate, passing through towns clung to the cliffs with people quietly going about their day.  The other side was covered in lush green jungle, teaming with life and more beautiful villages.  We spent that night in the town of Bernal, camped in a carpark at the base of the worlds 3rd largest monolith.  Of course it was closed to climb, but the view from the gate was worth the walk up.  We strolled the village that was somewhat open, a tourist town begging for business.   

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The following night we camped close to some waterfalls that were also closed, knowing this would be the case, but Ioverlander recommended a pretty & free place to camp by the creek.  Enclosed by trees with no view, the kids had fun building a damm and playing with the tadpoles.  Directly above us was a small house with pigs and a friendly dog who came down and hung out with us.  The Mexican dogs are the nicest and friendliest we’ve encountered on the road, Jaxon wanted to keep her.  My guess is that she’s been welcomed and fed by other overlanders who camp here and was secretly hoping for a meal.  

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Sadly as suspected, the Edward James Gardens just outside the town of Xilitla, was also closed, but we were able to catch a glimpse of some of the obscure structures nestled in the forest. Between 1949 and 1984, James built scores of surreal concrete structures which carry the names The House on Three Floors Which Will in Fact Have Five or Four or Six, The House with a Roof like a Whale, and The Staircase to Heaven.  Las Pozas is a surrealistic group of structures created more than 2,000 feet above sea level, in a subtropical rainforest. It includes more than 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering surrealist sculptures in concrete, costing more than $5 million.

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Happy 4th of July to all our American friends!