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June 9 – 6:30 am
D – Sharon… what was that?
S – Shut up. I’m sleeping.
D – No, really. What was that?
S – It’s a bird. Shut up.
D – Come on… don’t you hear that?
S – It’s birds. We’re in the jungle. They’re jungle birds. Now shut up!
D – Wow… Jungle birds.
We left Xilitla somewhat early amidst the cacophony of the jungle birds arguing just outside our cabana. They were loud and struck me as rather bitchy.
Sharon took the wheel as we retraced our drive from a few days ago; exit Xilitla, streak through Jalpan, past the falls of Chuveje. We soon entered the highest point in the Sierra Gorda. With the constant swerves in the road and slow speed, it was easy to lull yourself into feeling like you’re in a glider. Easy for me to say since Sharon was driving. She was on a motorcycle twisting, turning and hangin’ with bad boys.
Once over the peak the landscape totally changed. We’re on the free road to San Miguel de Allende. The curves were amplified and the guardrail repair guy hasn’t shown up for work in quite some time. This was our longest drive so far yet we didn’t really go too far as the cuervo flies.
June 10 – I really don’t know how we ended up in San Miguel de Allende. It was never in our plans and it’s typically not our kind of place. Amongst it’s beauty and rich history there are the ever present ex-pats; sun-dried white people that have moved here to escape the United States. They also forgot to moisturize. Retired raisins.
So, we have waited for over a year to come to Mexico due to Covid 19. In general the locals have been reasonably cautious; hand wash stations, temperature checks and masks where appropriate. There are roped-off benches to improve social distancing and the coolest foot pump alcohol gel dispensers. A little bit of pro active safety and it’s “Welcome to Mexico, vatos!”
Except for San Miguel de Allende. Here the zocalo park is closed like a crime scene, yellow police tape, Law and Order type stuff.
To enter the general surrounding area, all pedestrians are funneled into a Temple Grandin style livestock shoot with a special disinfectant spray climax. I can’t help but think this is the result of ex-pat raisin paranoia.
June 12 – We took a quick day trip to the ruins of Cañada, (no, not Canadian ruins). It was just 30 or so km outside of San Miguel. The ever-so-trusty iPhone GPS took us to a rough, washed-out road that we quickly decided to skip. A mere 3 miles later was an elegant, dynamic entrance to the very same ruin. We decided to give it a chance. Unfortunately, once there we were offered Uber-supervised tours with no opportunity to explore on our own. No thanks. The ruins in Mexico are slowly being sequestered away; protected from the stupid types but also banished from being experienced from those of us that respect their significance.
A Guanajuato Street 
Street Art 
I think we stayed up there once
We quickly exited the ruin and decided to make it a day trip to Guanajuato, the colonial city with numerous tunnels for streets that were the result of centuries old Spanish silver mining. Now THIS is a cool town. We ate. We shopped. With a decent wine buzz we walked the streets holding hands just being us. We were back in San Miguel before sundown.
One very bright spot in San Miguel de Allende is Los Olivos de Denver. This was a restaurant we ate at twice during our short stay in San Miguel. Denver; that’s not his real name. Once upon a time he lived in Denver Co. Upon returning to Mexico he wore a shirt that said “Denver” on the front. Hence the name. It’s just that simple. His American wife was quite a hoot. Her name was Zoe. The restaurant itself was what we can only assume was their house. We walked through their living room, past the open kitchen to the back yard and had a seat at the bottom of their pool. The food, both times, was exceptional.
We dog paddled in Denver’s gastronomic indulgence.
Thanks for the idea of what I can do with the cement pond at my house! Thanks for the ride through the colonial gems!
Thanks for allowing me to vicariously visit a place I’ve never been…not much of an adventurous spirit myself, but I know there are beautiful sights, sounds and experiences to be had if one is willing to step into the unknown.
Bueno Wayne-o. Maybe you’ll tag along some day.
did they have a Denver omelet
whoooohoo
I LOVE Y’aLL’s adventerous Spirit! Keep RAWKIN’ Brutha Donnie! Amor y Besos to you both!!