To escape the gringo bubble of San Miguel we went to a wrestling match in Querétaro My husband and I have lived in Mexico for about 17 years but we can't claim we know the country or its people all that well. Some Americans clustered in San Miguel may rhapsodize about how much they looove …
We spent the Fourth at a lovely picnic hosted by our friends Bill and Edith, and with a few other people some of whom we hadn't seen in years because they live in a small community of expats in a quadrant of the San Miguel countryside we'd never visited. Though the menu contained the usual …
When we arrived in Chicago, two days before Thanksgiving, the reception was neither warm nor surprising: The weather was gray and cold, and a steady breeze drove the freezing drizzle at a thirty-degree angle that felt on the bare skin like pinpricks. The 25-minute wait for an Uber taxi felt more like an hour. But …
Expats who have vowed never to leave San Miguel get that final wish by being buried in a special corner of the Municipal Pantheon known colloquially as the "Gringo Section."It's a lovely spot, manicured and carefully laid out, that would not be out of place in any small all-American town. It's also walled and gated …
When we arrived in Hendersonville, North Carolina, a few weeks ago, to visit some friends who used to live in San Miguel, what immediately struck Stew and me was the sight of so many trees: Stately evergreens keeping such close company with oaks, maples, cypresses and other varieties that, beyond 15 or 20 feet, the …
Stew, with his remarkable recall for dates and events, casually mentioned on Sunday that November 7 would be the anniversary of the Great Border Crossing. I, the one with a far foggier grasp of birthdays and most other significant historical markers, replied: "The what?"Indeed Wednesday was the seventh anniversary of our voyage from Chicago to Mexico …
Voila. The sudden appearance of architectural drawings might suggest this project is leaping forward. Well, hardly. Or at least it doesn't seem that way to us. It has taken over six months, and a change of architects, to get where we are. We're delighted with the results, though. Friends keep telling us this is the …
As long as we have been together--37 years and counting--Stew and I have fantasized about building our own house. But while waiting for that to come true, our lives often seemed like an endless series of remodeling projects.Our bookshelves clearly revealed our passions: Magazines about architecture, interior design and gardening (lots of those), along with …
El Rancho Santa Clara 