Locked Down in San Miguel de Allende

“March 1st,” my friend, Glenn, said to me.  He was right...the last time I wrote on this blog was March 1st...when we were still in Argentina.  And...I believe he was wondering when I might be posting again.  Lance has been asking me that exact same question for weeks.  The truth is...I don’t know why I stopped writing.  For some reason...it just didn’t seem important.  After all...who wants to hear about travel stories when the whole world seems to be in a lockdown.  However...maybe Glenn is right...maybe it is time to start posting again.  So Glenn...thanks for giving me the push I needed...and...this post, I am dedicating to you.  

Since the Coronavirus appeared, it has dominated my thoughts throughout the days.  Now instead of visiting far off lands or tourist attractions...I spend my time hunkered down in Mexico...watching the latest updates on CNN, binging on Netflix, cooking, and working on jigsaw puzzles.  Most of all, I think about if or when we will get back on the road...and if we do, how our traveling life will be different.

One of four puzzles I have completed since arriving in San Miguel.

We departed Argentina on March 17th.  The night before we left things were already beginning to change.  The big street market near our apartment had been cancelled, and, when we went to dinner that night, the president was on the TV making announcements about other restrictions being put in place for the days and weeks to come.  

When we arrived in Mexico City...things still seemed like business as usual.  We spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express...then took a shuttle the following day to San Miguel de Allende.  After settling in, we walked to town for a nice dinner...and the next day ate breakfast out as well.  That was the last time we would have the opportunity to eat in a restaurant here.

San Miguel is a very active expat community, and we had already heard that many of the concerts and plays that take place here on a regular basis were cancelled.  Still...restaurants and some stores remained open for the rest of that first week after we arrived here.  Then, everything began to change.  The stores closed...restaurants became take out and delivery only...we began to see fewer people on the streets in the historic district...parks closed...and finally it was mandated that people wear masks in the grocery stores, shop unaccompanied by someone else, and walk in one direction down the aisles.  On May 1st, the municipality decided that anyone out in public was to wear a mask and that we were to stay home unless you had a good reason to be out and about.  Those who didn’t follow the rules would first be warned...then fined...and, if they continue to break the rules they would possibly be given jail time.  

Our first AirBnB in San Miguel was located closer to the historic center of town.  It was a lovely compound, with the main house recently renovated, and plans by the owner to do the other two buildings sometime in the future.  

Every evening we would enjoy Happy Hour on our balcony.
Below is a photo of the sky as the sun began to set.

We enjoyed living there...but we had only booked it for one month.  Our plan was to leave for Europe in the middle of April.  When we finally decided that would not be possible, we asked the owner if we could stay on.  Unfortunately, the place was already booked for the remainder of this year.  That meant Lance would have to find us a new place to stay until we were ready to depart for the States at the end of May.  Of course he did not disappoint me.  

Our new home was located in a different part of the city...up on a ridge...and further from the historic center.  The house is owned by Sharon, who built this house with her husband thirty years ago.  She lives in the main house and we live in the casita below it.  She is originally from California and is an artist specializing in sculpture.  Sharon is friendly, but we don’t really see much of her.  She keeps her distance because she does not want to risk getting Covid 19 due to her state of health.  

The inside of the house is beautiful, with all kinds of art displayed throughout the building.  

Sharon has an award winning garden.  It is one of the main reasons Lance selected this place.  Since most of our days were to be spent at home, we wanted a nice space outside where we could spend at least part of our day.  Lance was told he could add plants to the garden if he wanted...which made him extremely happy.  A gardener comes three times a week to water and take care of this space.

This pond has several fish in it.

This is one example of Sharons work that is displayed in the garden.

This flower only blooms at night.

When we first arrived at our new location, we would walk to a park to meet with other full time travelers that found themselves stranded here for the unforeseeable future.  On the way we pass this house with a beautiful wall of flowers.  

One of the couples we spend time with while we are here are the Senior Nomads.  They have a blog that has become quite well known among fellow travelers.  The Senior Nomads, Michael and Debbie, have just begun their seventh year of full time travel.  We have followed their blog for several years...and recognized them immediately while walking through the park one day shortly after we first arrived.  Since that time we have been meeting in the park on Fridays.  We each bring along a packed lunch...sit an appropriate 6 feet apart...and talk about travel...where we still hope to go...and what might change.  Debbie also hands out jigsaw puzzles to those who are interested in doing them.  

The other couple is Ali and Allison...two more full time travelers who joined our group.  Recently, they departed for California to spend time with family before deciding what comes next.  This picture was taken before the mandate on wearing masks in public and staying at home.  

The rest of the pictures are of the town of San Miguel de Allende.  Even though we haven’t been able to see half of what this city has to offer...it is easy to see how beautiful it is.  We have read that fall is great time to come because all the flowers are in bloom.  It would fun to come back here some day to see it in all it’s glory.  

Here is Lance’s favorite fruit and vegetable market.
This young man does a great job displaying the produce.

You might be wondering...what comes next.  Well, as I mentioned, we are headed to the States at the end of May.  More specifically, we are moving to Las Vegas, New Mexico for most of the summer.  We chose that location for several reasons.  First...we wanted to check out Santa Fe because we hope to live there some day in the near future.  Las Vegas is about one hour from Santa Fe...but the AirbnB’s are much cheaper in Las Vegas.  Also...we are within driving distance of serval national parks that we hope to visit this summer.  

Luckily, we were able to cancel almost all our our reservations for the summer in Europe...which included several AirBnB’s, three planes, 2 ferries, 6 trains, and several concerts.  The flights came back as vouchers, we got most of the money back for the AirBnB’s and ferries, and we got some vouchers for the trains...and are waiting for news on the other ones.  We are also waiting on refunds for the concerts.  Of course, we incurred some loss...but not much over all.  Let’s just say it could have been much worse.

Near the end of August we will drive our rental car to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit with family and friends.  Then...then...well, who knows.  We have bookings in Europe From September, into early 2021.  It’s too early to try and cancel them...and it would be very difficult to walk away from all that money that we invested.  So, we will wait and see...much like the rest of the world.  Who knows what will happen?  Will the virus be under control by then?  Probably not.  Will it come roaring back in fall?  We hope not...but we just don’t know.  So until we have more information we will sit tight and wait for more news.  

Until we talk again please stay safe and healthy...

Oh...I almost forgot...this is Sharon’s dog, Charlie.  He lives upstairs with Sharon, but comes down several times a day to see what we are doing.  He greets us...goes over to that plant you see behind him, and uses it to scratch his back.  Then, off he goes.  Charlie is a very sweet dog, and although we are not people who want to own a pet...we enjoy his company.