Thursday, May 31, 2012

Why San Miguel? And definitely why Mexico. Those questions haunt me continually. I'm mid sixty, reasonably healthy and enjoying some of the best business years of my life. So why, for heavens sake, would I risk it by moving to Mexico? Life is one long journey that moves through a world of sight, of sound and smell. To be alive is to experience these sensations to the fullest. I have always been jealous of my friends who live in their old neighborhoods and still have, for a best buddy, their friend from first grade. That did not happen to me. I've been pushed and pulled along all my life. Because life is comfortable doesn't mean I'm coasting to the finish line. I can learn to speak Spanish, I can eat lamb brain quesdeasas, I can make an exciting new life, with the woman I love, in a place and culture completely different from what I know. Life is like a travel book and some of us never get past the first chapter. I know to fully love life you need to keep turning the pages. My head long rush is not going to be a complete abandonment of Texas civilization as it may appear. My sweetheart and myself are currently looking for a part-time home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Mention this to a Mexican and he'll tell you it's a Gringo town. This is true. The continuous presence of tourist and expatriates makes the town livable but also keeps prices high, the housing bubble has not completely deflated here. Starbucks coffee and McDonalds burgers are available if not completely approved by the locals. Bullfights still occur in the town's bullring and strolling musicians cover every venue. Night time is still for strolling around the town square and TV sets are not glaring from every window. Life here is still "Manaya", if it doesn't happen today, it isn't over, your on Mexican time. The world climate change is doing a number on us here in Texas. It's just the first of June and the heat index is forecast to be one hundred and eleven tomorrow, so in the tradition of many former Texans, we're looking for a summer home. In the past it was the great migration to Colorado in the summer, but that's getting pricey. Right now, as I see it, the best climate at the best price is six thousand feet up in the desert mountains of Old Mexico.