Wild about Austin: South of the Border

As luck would have it, one of mi amigas from Austin is spending a few months down here in Mexico and has been kind enough to share her lovely abode with me. I am really enjoying her company as well as this beautiful Mexican home she is renting. The same people have used it as their vacation home for eighteen years ( I think) and have filled it with colorful art and fascinating books about Mexico. I have my own suite on the 3rd floor complete with a gas fireplace and a view.

Above me is a rooftop terrace where I snapped these photos.

That's the famous cathedral on the left. The sky behind it looks smokey , I think, because they have started burning the fields already out on the farms. I saw a number of fires and blackened fields on my shuttle ride into town.

Luxury homes

There is a building with a large goose on top in the photo below. My best understanding it that it was supposed to be a restaurant at one time. Now defunct. Were they serving goose? Who knows!

Many folks are unfamiliar with the town of San Miguel de Allende. It is located in the mountains about 3 hours north of Mexico City . I flew into León and then rode a shuttle van about an hour and a half into the city.

The weather here is pleasant all year, with cool nights and mornings (sweater weather) during the winter, and sunny days in the upper 60s and low 70s. Summers are not hot, if you can believe it! This is due to the altitude ( approx 6500 ft) and the rather arid environment.
San Miguel was founded in 1542 by Franciscan monks and became a colonial city. Now it has about 140,000 people, a few thousand of whom are expats, mostly from the US, Canada, and Europe. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. There's lots to explore here.

On Sunday I went on the home and garden tour held by the library. The first garden we visited was several miles out into the country in a small village. It was fascinating to see the countryside and all the locals out visiting with their families. This lady built this house about 8 years ago and has developed all the gardens. She has quite an imagination.

The green fence is about 8 ft tall so these are not small pieces.

This is the head of a snake planter that entwined another 30 ft or so behind along the pathway.

I wondered what this red guys story was but didn't get back to ask the owner.

The palapa was lovely.

La Caterina, an icon of Mexican folk art for over 100 years, reminds everyone that rich or poor, death comes to us all.

The next home we visited belonged to a local artist who has been living in SMA for over twenty years. He has collected beautiful rocks, crystals and fossils in addition to plants and artwork. This is the little patio by the front door.

His mask collection is impressive.

His back patio was lovely.

Next week there will be different houses! Yippee!

After the tour I went down to the plaza and had some ice cream. The kids were bouncing these large pencil shaped balloons (?) all over the place and having a grand time.