We took Primera Plus back to Guanajuato in the morning.  The landscape between the two cities is surprisingly green.  High dessert in the US would be more barren with lots of sage brush and an occasional green spring area, but here there were large areas which had been farmed, mostly with what appeared to be corn crops, and an occasional rancho or settlement with an adobe house, a few chickens, a few cars, some in disrepair and a few cows, donkeys and horses. And lots and lots of cactus.  It was a rolling landscape with mountains in the background. 

    As we entered the outskirts of GTO, pardon the cliche, but it was really like coming home. Familiar buildings along the highway with the first floor completed in cinder blocks and the rebar sticking up into what was planned to be or imagined to be, someday when the "plata" was earned or garnered, the second floor.  There were several stands already selling Christmas reindeer made from tree branches and vines twisted together.  We took a taxi back to our apt., unloaded backpacks, freshened up then headed downtown for an ice cream cone!  Yes, there were buildings with crumbly facades and more in need of new paint, and probably a few more stray dogs, but everyone seemed happier, friendlier and the city just seemed much more vibrant.

    We also wanted to scout out a restaurant that everyone says serves the best breakfast in town, "Vamos con Lalo." To find it you have to thread your way through the twists and turns of a few very narrow "callejones" or alleys, but once there, you are rewarded with some of the most lovely murals in town (see pics). We bumped into another gringo nearby, "Ricky," who had been living in GTO for two years and was an avid long distance biker.  He sang the praises of the city, of the restaurant, of biking, of all things GTO and sounded like other "expats" who have moved here and have really found their Shangri-la.  The difference between Ricky and the two ex-pats we met in SMA walking near our rental tells the whole story. They were a retired couple in their mid-seventies who had lived in San Miguel for 20 years after retiring as technology millionaires from Palo Alto.  I said, "You must be fluent in Spanish." They indicated that they hadn't really learned much of the language yet. After 20 years?! They lived in a home near our rental and casually informed us that houses on that street now go for around two million unless there is a fire sale and then you might be lucky to get one for 1.5 million. A fixer-upper. Ricky pays $600 a month for his furnished rental and probably his most expensive possession is his bike. But he is one the happiest people we met on this trip.

Countryside between SMA and GTO from bus window


Typical house under construction
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Mural near Vamos con Lalo restaurant

Another mural on callejone (alley)


Mural on same callejone







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