We are finishing up our final week here in San Miguel and the end of our trip is certainly bitter sweet. We’ve met so many wonderful people and it feels like home here. In one of my earlier posts I described how frazzled grocery shopping had me because I had to walk from place to place and I didn’t know the ins and outs of the entire process. I knew there was a system but I was a little embarrassed to ask. For example, buying eggs was a mystery. Eggs are not sold in cartons of 6, 12, or 18 like we are used to. Instead, you take your eggs out of a large carton and in some places you pay by the egg. But here was my question, how do you get the eggs home without breaking them? I thought maybe I had to bring my own carton with me since in some stores you have to bring your own bags. But I never saw cartons or people with them. What to do?
Finally I asked a woman getting ready to buy her eggs, “how do you bring your eggs home?” Her response, “very carefully.” Then she showed me her bag that she was getting ready to put her own eggs into. She gave me the nicest smile and went on about her business.
So simple. That’s how life in San Miguel is. It’s so simple and everyone is so nice. People love to help each other, love to make new friends, and open their homes to new friends. You don’t really need a car because a taxi is a flat rate anywhere in town of 25 pesos (about $2.00 USD). Makes it super easy to get from one place to another. A lot of people walk anyhow which I love to do. You get to know a new place so much better when you walk it.
San Miguel is a beautiful place, almost like a time capsule of architectural history. Even with all of the foreigners that live here it has retained its beautiful colonial characteristics. I think I mentioned before that there is a large American population here but unlike some places in Mexico (Cancun, maybe?) the Americans have fully embraced the spanish language and the mexican culture. It seems untouched by tourists or the modern world. Except for restaurants, most offices and stores close at 2pm and re-open at 4pm. You go home to pick up your kids from school or have lunch with your family. Imagine that, a two hour lunch break!
Most of the Americans I have befriended live here full time or spend their entire summers here. Their children were born here and speak Spanish fluently yet have red hair and blue eyes. It’s an amazing sight to see. They love the schools here and love how easy their life is here. Makes it hard to think about going home to the hustle and bustle of life back home. I know soon I’ll be at my local Publix going down the aisle, selecting my eggs, placing them in my trunk to make their way home in their sturdy carton. As I drive home, I’ll be thinking about the time I hand-picked my eggs, put them in a shopping bag, then sat on them minutes after I got into the taxi because a bee flew into the car and scared me half to death. Luckily I asked the lady to put my eggs in two separate bags so I still made it home with some eggs for breakfast.
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