We have been here three years and my sister for five. Our feeling is that
San Miguel is one of the safest spots we could ever be. There is a higher
incidence of break-ins here than in our previous home in wealthy No.
Calif, (computers and TVs are the main target), but as guns are against the law
here and therefore much less prevalent than in the USA, if my home is
going to be burgled, I would rather be burgled here!

As far as personal safety is concerned, the same precautions you would take
in the USA apply here. My maid told me there are a few areas in town that
are not as safe, but why go there? We take a taxi at night instead of
walking dark streets. The USA press loves trashing Mexico, which is damaging
to the tourist economy and really makes those of us living here very angry
at the injustice. But happy news never sells newspapers. The bright side
is that if Americans knew how wonderful it is here, they would move here
in droves and destroy the current tranquility. S..t happens everywhere,
even here, so if you want to live a 100% safe life, lock yourself in a
concrete bunker in an earthquake-free zone.

Carol

photo credit: hmerinomx

Advice from: The Week magazine.

Mexico City
An app for graft:  Mexicans are rushing to download a new iPhone application that helps them avoid paying off crooked cops.  Mexican police officers routinely extort money by pulling over drivers for real or imaginary infractions and then offering to waive the ticket for a fee.  The new app outfits drivers with an array of tools, including a directory of relevant traffic and parking regulations and a list of fines.  And there’s a hot line to a corruption watchdog, so a driver can report a bribery attempt on the spot.  The app will soon also be available for the BlackBerry.

photo credit: iskir

Driving directions to Morelia and Ixtapa from San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato-Two Versions

Travellers looking for San Miguel de Allende activities have offered these as their directions. If you want  to go to the beach fast, you are looking for something new, have a car, a sense of adventure and just want some new San Miguel de Allende activities try these.

Version A

1. San Miguel de Allende to Morelia Airport:
Leave San Miguel to the south on Highway #81, towards Comonfort and Celaya. Before Celaya, turn right before the overpass of Highway 45, at sign towards “Irapuato” or Salamanca. If you drive under the highway into Celaya, you have missed the right turn.
Continue driving on the Queretero/Salamanca/Irapuato cuota to the west.
Four kilometers before Salamanca, at highway marker, 77K, take the new cuota to Morelia, marked Morelia – Ixtapa.
You are now on the new section of the Morelia Cuota. The new cuota by-passes Valle de Santiago and goes around Moroleon.
As you drive the long bridge across Laguna Cuitzeo, notice the old “Libre” highway towards the east.
As you leave the Bridge, you approach the Autopista from Mexico City to Guadalajara, with Morelia straight ahead. Go east, left, towards Mexico City several miles before signs for Morelia Airport Cuota. Exit to the right and after several miles, exit right at Airport signs.
After the airport, return back to the cuota, turn North, left to the Mex City/Guada Autopista. In a few miles and turn west, left, towards Guadalajara. Continue west, past Lake Cuitzeo and exit north, right, on the cuota towards Salamanca and backtrack back to San Miguel.
The new Salamanca/Morelia cuota is fast, with several new Pemex gas stations and very clean XXXOOO stores, with immaculate “banos”.
PS The town of Cuitzeo, on the other side of the Lake, has a newly remodeled and recently reopened Cathedral, plus several lakeside restaurants, making a nice stop either way. If you eat at one of the restaurants, please let me know. Sinceramente, David

Version B

The so called new highway to Morelia goes from north of Salamanca to just south of Lake Cuitzo (near the intersection with the Guadalajara-Mexico Autopista. To get to it go south of SMA to Celaya. Before you get into the city there is a concrete bridge with a sign to the right to Salamanca/Irapuato – RT 45D. This is a toll road (cuota). After a bit you will see an exit for Morelia – this is the new highway. You get a ticket and pay when it ends. From there you follow signs to Patzcuaro – I think it is shorter to ignore the first sign in Morelia, and take the second which goes directly to the road out of Morelia. (If anyone knows a better way please tell me!) Eventually you come to the toll road to Uruapan, and off of that the cuota to Ixtapa/Lazaros Cardenas. Follow signs to Ixtapa.

The FIFA world cup and the great anticipation to wait and see and cheer on the Mexican team for them to win against France for the very first time…that terrible rival. The

San Miguel de Allende goes crazy over winning against France!

only San Miguel de Allende activities that were going on today were the pregaming, the nervousness, the shuffling of feet and the wait for the 1:30 game local time. At 6am all the national mexican tv stations were on it, reviewing strategy, reviewing angles…what an incredible rush to be in such a patriotic country for such a moment. This game had to be won for Mexico to have any chance of going on. Every bar and restaurant and even school in San Miguel that has a TV was turned, tuned up and focused on the game. Of all the San Miguel de Allende activities remembered in the past , it was the old fever of the pamplonada, later known as the bullfights of the San Miguelelada and the Mexico FIFA finals…MExico actually has a chance at the cup, a real chance!!

Finally outrageous satisfaction and cheering in all the street! Mexico scored 2 to 1

VIVA MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Kristine MacKain

I am an American living in San Miguel de Allende Mx and, to me, this town
is wondrous.

For such a modest town, San Miguel de Allende Mx
photo credit: mickou is filled with spirit and
meaning. It is also a place that triggers the imagination, which is one reason
it appeals so much to artists. The town connects each individual to its past,
its present, and its future. In the U.S., life is all about the present and,
especially, the future. The U.S. is a curiously ahistorical place; the downside
of that is Americans can feel very disconnected with their history and also
with each other. In San Miguel de Allende Mx, you are reminded of those who have come
before—a 16th century church bell chimes as it has for hundreds of
years, an iron monger uses techniques passed down through the ages, the Day of
the Dead ceremony formally honors and remembers those who have died. You are aware that you are part of that
human history, and part of a history that is unfolding now.

The town itself is pure poetry—an exquisitely beautiful
place, continually expressing itself in sensuous and unexpected ways that cause
one to stop and reflect. For example, the ordinary sounds the street vendors
use to sell their wares are unique and intriguing: the rapid, high-pitched
sounds of the knife sharpener playing his pan flute, the lyrical chant of the
man at the corner selling garbanzo beans. Their singing and playing bring
beauty and wonder to the otherwise mundane activity of selling products.

This is also a city of contrasts. Contrasts raise one’s
awareness of one’s surroundings and satisfy one’s need for balance. In San
Miguel, almost everywhere you look, you see the traditional contrasted with the
modern, the rustic and simple juxtaposed with the elegant and
sophisticated. In the morning, for
example, you may encounter a street musician strumming two strings of a guitar
and singing folk songs – then, that evening you could be listening to the Miami
string quartet.

Mexicans in San Miguel are accepting and patient, warm and
friendly. They are especially patient with foreigners’ clumsy attempts to use
their beautiful language. Mexicans have a beautiful manner of courteously
greeting strangers who make eye contact with them on the street. In this way,
Mexicans acknowledge and value the presence of another as opposed to ignoring
those who pass by them. This ritual makes even a stranger to San Miguel feel
part of a larger community, welcomed and accepted, and reminds us that we are
interconnected.

Personally, I love the common ground I encounter almost
every time I talk to a native of San Miguel. Because the border between Mexico
and the U.S. is very fluid, you are always discovering someone who has worked
in your State, or has cousins living near your hometown. It is a reminder that
we are part of a global community and that we all have a responsibility to each
other.

Finally there is great news for Mexico, parents and children when it comes to developing good eating habits. After Mexico has become famous in the headlines for being number 1 in the world for child obesity and of course, hand in hand with that, number 1 consumers of soft drinks, commonly called “refrescos”, Coca Cola has agreed to have withdrawn all their soft drinks out of all schools in Mexico by the year 2013. They do have the chance to replace them with nutritive drinks without heavy sugar content if they manage to invent popular ones within that time. This is part of Mexico’s move to take all junk food out of schools. If you have had a chance to send you kids to private schools in San Miguel de Allende, like Colegio Atabal and Carrusel preschool, Los Charcos and Colegio Siglo 21, you have been told that no cookies, chocolate no prefab type food of any sort is allowed through the door.

If you are considering a move here with your children and are looking for schools in San Miguel de Allende, be sure to ask about their programs for nutrition before making a decision, as it is still far from 2013.

Of course Coca Cola loudly makes the claim that they have always accompanied their old drinks machines in schools with information on a balanced and active life and what constitutes good nutrition. As the sales of soft drinks soars, we know that hasn’t worked.

For a list of all the schools in San Miguel de Allende go to this list:

http://sanmiguelconcierge.com/schools.html

Meet Leonard, almost 99 years old at the opening, Bellas Artes, San Miguel de Allende, 6pm May 28th, 2010

Canadian Artist

This Thursday and Friday, further projected onto a huge screen, will be a free concert of Paul McCartney in the Chapultepec Park. This is at no cost to the Mexican Government and no cost to the 10,000 or more spectators who fit into the area designated for the concert and the six hundred police on horseback. That is two concerts, part of the “Up and Coming” tour he is on. Paul is staying in a hotel on the Paseo de la Reforma, all around which hundreds of fans have been hanging around waiting for photo ops!