Day 13

Ah, the street food... it is so yummy. I always tell comidores that I don't eat meat and they tell me what they can make... below are tortillas stuffed with nopal cactus covered with mole sauce, sour cream, cheese and advocado...

San Miguel D’Allende

This is sort of like Martha’s Vineyard of Mexico. Incredibly beautiful and incredibly expensive-- even by US standards. The Gringos and upper middle class Mexicans enjoy this as a place to live-well-- away from the craziness of their home cities in Mexico or the high prices of the US. I am really here because my good friends from NYC were here and I thought it would be good to hang out and see it now because otherwise I’d probably avoid coming to such a gringo-haven. One of my major goals while I’m down here is to improve my Spanish. That is hard to do when English speakers are estimated to make up between 10% and 30% of the population. But anyway I sure aint suffering...

Like in many rarified towns, the people who work here can’t afford to live here. Also there’s a huge parking problem. For some reason I haven't been taking many pictures of that... but there's an empty space in front of this really cool house...

Just outside of town is a botanical garden... I went with my class mates from Spanish Class. The guy on the right is my professor



Lots of cactuses and it gives you an idea of what the country side was like before it was cut up by roads and villages




Last weekend I went to "La Grutta" a thermal hot spring spa about 10 minutes out of SMA. It's really a must go if you make it here. Very relaxing and very nice hot water to soak in. They have a really cool tunnel and cave that you can soak in. I didn't risk my camera in it to take pictures. But here's one of the above ground pool...

At La Grutta I met Moy and Alicia, two hip 20 somethings from Mexico City who were up for the weekend. We spent most of the afternoon together and had a really memorable evening taking night shots of SMA. This is Alicia taking a shot...

This one sort of looks like Alicia firing a rocket launcher but I like it!

Finally, my favorite shot of the evening. I pulled the camera away just before the shutter closed...

Day 4

My trip to Mexico is funded by my paper savings in having dental work done here instead of the States. I needed five crowns. In Boston this would cost a minimum of $1200 per crown or about $6,000. Here the cost is a little over half of that. My joke is that I’ll come back with a full set of dentures, but really this dentist is really awesome. As of today, three of the five crowns have been completed and I’ll have two more my last week in Mexico. That will be the week I’ll give you the official dental report with pictures of me and my dentist. My shiny new crowns and hopefully a report of no complications.

Coolest Street Furniture Ever

I’m Staying at the Casa Gonzalez in the Zona Rosa, or Pink Zone. It’s a trendy area with a couple of Woonerf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woonerf) like street/ pedestrian malls. It’s pretty much known as the gay area with cafes with names like “Be Gay/ Be Proud”. The bars are apparently pretty wild, but as I don’t stay up that late I can’t report on them.

Between my hotel and the Zona Rosa is Avenida Reforma. The City has been investing a lot of money in to making this a showcase for the city. The most modern buildings, all the embassies and many government offices line Reforma. My favorite part of the renovation is the way cool street furniture.

One must see attraction in Mexico City is the Anthropology Museum. It has great exhibits showcasing the populating of the Americas up to the Spanish Colonization. My favorite part though is the architecture… check it out…