Monthly Archives: May 2008

Sending Mummies to Cicero

One of my favorite museums in Mexico has to be Guanajuato’s Museo de Las Momias.

Set off alongside the city cemetery overlooking the city, this plain little museum has always struck me as being more about life than death. A visit there a few years ago, just days after a friend had died, seemed to tie life and death together more neatly than all of the platitudes tossed about at your average funeral service.

Guanajuato’s one of those Mexican states which sends great numbers of its citizens off to live, work and die in El Otro Lado. Its civic leaders thought sending a few mummies to Chicago could prove an enriching cultural exchange, but Chicago offered to send them where Mexicans live: Cicero. And not even in some mainstream museum, but a high school gym.

While no one’s mentioned what kind of visas the U.S. government would even grant the dead, offering up the use of a gym signals the level of respect the U.S. harbors for even the Mexican dead. I’d suspect that even the Cicero High School prom warrants a better venue. Even the National Museum of Mexican Fine Art over in Pilsen would be a better choice, even though it still puts Mexicans in a ghetto.

Why We Really Blog

It’s not really about fame and glory – or even the chance to market ourselves. It’s not about the money we earn from those Google ads. Or even warming up before embarking upon some productive activity or preventing it from occurring the first place.

We blog because it’s a good for us.

It’s a brain thing, and it’s cheap therapy, says Scientific American.

Thanks to Two Weeks Notice for turning us on to why we blog.

 

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What You Need to Know Before Becoming a Mexican

1.- ¿CON QUE PAÍSES TIENE MÉXICO FRONTERA AL NORTE Y AL SUR?

2.- ¿QUE TIPO DE GOBIERNO TIENE MÉXICO?

3.- ¿CUÁL ES LA CAPITAL DE MÉXICO?

4.- ¿CÓMO SE LLAMA EL ACTUAL PRESIDENTE DE MÉXICO?

5.- ¿DE QUE PAÍS SE INDEPENDIZÓ MÉXICO?

6.- ¿EN QUE FECHA SE CELEBRA LA INDEPENDENCIA DE MÉXICO?

7.- ¿QUIÉN FUE EL ANTERIOR PRESIDENTE DE MÉXICO?

8.- ¿CÓMO SE LLAMA LA LEY FUNDAMENTAL DE MÉXICO?

9.- ¿EN QUE FECHA ES EL ANIVERSARIO DE LA REVOLUCIÓN MEXICANA?

10.- ¿CON QUE PAÍSES CELEBRÓ MÉXICO EL TRATADO CONOCIDO COMO TLCAN O NAFTA?

11.- ¿CÓMO SE LLAMA EL ACTUAL SECRETARIO DE RELACIONES EXTERIORES?

12.- ¿PRINCIPAL FUENTE DE INGRESOS DE MÉXICO?

13.- ¿CON QUE OCÉANOS COLINDA MÉXICO?

14.- ¿NOMBRE DE DOS ISLAS DE MÉXICO?

15.- MENCIONE 5 ESTADOS DEL NORTE DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA.

16.- MENCIONE TRES DESTINOS DE PLAYA EN LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA.

17.- EN QUE ARTICULO DE LA CONSTITUCION MEXICANA SE ABOLIÒ LA ESCLAVITUD.

18.- ¿DESCRIBA LA BANDERA DE MÉXICO?

19.- ¿CUÁLES FUERON LAS PRINCIPALES LEYES DE BENITO JUÁREZ?

20.- ¿CUANTAS ESTROFAS TIENE OFICIALMENTE DEL HIMNO NACIONAL?

21.- ¿QUÉ SE CELEBRA EL 5 DE MAYO?

22.- ¿CUANTAS PENINSULAS TIENE MEXICO?

23.- MENCIONE AL MENOS 3 CULTURAS PREHISPÁNICAS QUE FLORECIERON EN MÉXICO.

24.- MENCIONE QUIEN FUE EMILIANO ZAPATA.

25.- ¿EN DONDE SE ENCUENTRA EL MUSEO DE ANTROPOLOGÍA DE MÉXICO?

26.- ¿QUIÉN FUE EL CURA MIGUEL HIDALGO Y COSTILLA?

27.- ¿QUIÉN FUE VICENTE GUERRERO?

28.- ¿QUIÉNES FUERON LOS NIÑOS HÉROES?

29.- MENCIONE AL MENOS 3 PRODUCTOS AGRICOLAS ORIGINARIOS DE MEXICO.

30.- ¿QUE REPRESENTABA PARA LOS AZTECAS EL DIOS TLALOC?

31.- ¿CUÁL ES LA CAPITAL DEL ESTADO DE CAMPECHE?

32.- ¿EN DONDE SE ENCUENTRA EL TEATRO DE LA REPUBLICA?

33.- ¿A QUE PERSONAJE DE LA REVOLUCION MEXICANA SE LE CONOCIO COMO “EL CENTAURO DEL NORTE”?

34.- ¿EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPÚBLICA SE ENCUENTRA EL CERRO DE LA SILLA?

35.- ¿CÓMO SE LLAMA LA MÁXIMA CASA DE ESTUDIOS DE MÉXICO?

36.- SEÑALE EL NOMBRE DE TRES PINTORES MEXICANOS SOBRESALIENTES.

37.- MENCIONE LOS SÍMBOLOS PATRIOS.

38.- ¿COMO SE LLAMA EL AUTOR DE LA LETRA DEL HIMNO NACIONAL MEXICANO?

39.- ESCRIBA EL NOMBRE DE DOS CIUDADES COLONIALES DE LA REPÚBLICA MEXICANA.

40.- ¿QUÉ SE FESTEJA EL VEINTE DE NOVIEMBRE?

41.-¿CUÁL ERA EL NOMBRE CON QUE MÉXICO ERA CONOCIDO DURANTE LA DOMINACIÓN ESPAÑOLA?

42.- MENCIONE EL NOMBRE DE LOS DOS ÚNICOS EMPERADORES QUE HA TENIDO MÉXICO DESPUÉS DE SU INDEPENDENCIA.

43.- ¿QUÉ SE CONMEMORA EL 21 DE MARZO?

44.- ¿CUÁL ES LA FECHA DE LA CONSUMACIÓN DE LA INDEPENDENCIA DE MÉXICO?

45.- DIGA LOS NOMBRES DE LOS AUTORES DE LA LETRA Y MÚSICA DEL HIMNO NACIONAL MEXICANO.

46.- NOMBRE DEL CONQUISTADOR ESPAÑOL QUE DERROTÓ AL IMPERIO MEXICA.

47.- NOMBRE DEL LUGAR DONDE EL CURA MIGUEL HIDALGO Y COSTILLA DIO SU FAMOSO “GRITO DE INDEPENDENCIA” EL 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 1810.

48.- ¿DOROTEO ARANGO, EMILIANO ZAPATA Y PASCUAL OROZCO SON PERSONAJES DE LA HISTORIA MEXICANA QUE PERTENECEN A QUE PERIODO HISTORICO?

49.- COMO SE LE LLAMA AL PERÍODO DE LA HISTORIA MEXICANA DURANTE EL CUAL FUE PRESIDENTE EL GENERAL PORFIRIO DÍAZ.

50.- MENCIONE EL NOMBRE DE TRES ESTADOS DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA CON SALIDA AL OCEANO ATLANTICO.

51.- NOMBRE DEL PRIMER VIRREY DE LA NUEVA ESPAÑA

52.- CON QUE NOMBRE SE CONOCE A LA FAMOSA BATALLA DEL 5 DE MAYO DE 1862:

53.- ¿CUANTOS ESTADOS CONFORMAN LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA?

54.- ¿A QUE CIUDAD SE LE CONOCE COMO LA “SULTANA DEL NORTE”.?

55.- ¿A QUE CIUDAD SE LE CONOCE COMO LA “PERLA DE OCCIDENTE”?

56.- MENCIONE EL NOMBRE DE CINCO SECRETARIOS DE DESPACHO DEL ACTUAL GOBIERNO, INDICANDO DE QUE SECRETARIA SON TITULARES.

57.- INDIQUE QUE PERSONAJE DE LA REVOLUCION MEXICANA FUE ASESINADO EN LA HACIENDA DE LA CHINAMECA, ESTADO DE MORELOS, EN 1919.

58.- ¿COMO SE LLAMO EL PRIMER PRESIDENTE DE MEXICO?

59.- A QUE PERIODO DE LA HISTORIA DE MEXICO CORRESPONDEN LOS SIGUIENTES PERSONAJES, MARIANO ESCOBEDO, IGNACIO ZARAGOZA Y MIGUEL MIRAMÓN.

60.- ¿CUANTOS AÑOS DURO LA DOMINACION ESPAÑOLA EN MEXICO?

61.- ¿EN QUE EVENTO INTERNACIONAL PARTICIPO EL “ESCUADRON 201”?

62.- ¿EN QUE GUERRA OCURRIO LA BATALLA DE CHURUBUSCO?

63.- ¿ EN QUE AÑO SE LLEVO A CABO LA CONQUISTA DE MEXICO POR PARTE DE LOS ESPAÑOLES?

64.- ¿EN QUE AÑO SE PROMULGO LA CONSTITUCION MEXICANA ACTUAL?

65.- ¿EN DONDE SE ENCUENTRAN LA PIRAMIDE DEL SOL Y DE LA LUNA?

66.- ¿DIGA LA FECHA DE LA EXPROPIACION PETROLERA?

67.- ¿QUIEN FUE FRANCISCO I. MADERO?

68.- MENCIONE EL NOMBRE DE DOS EMPERADORES AZTECAS.

69.- ¿CUAL FUE LA PRIMER CUIDAD FUNDADA POR LOS ESPAÑOLES CUANDO LLEGARON A LO QUE HOY ES LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA?

70.- ¿CUAL ES LA CAPITAL DEL ESTADO DE BAJA CALIFORNIA?

71.- ¿EN QUE PARTE DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRAN LAS RUINAS DE TULUM?

72.- MENCIONE EL NOMBRE DE TRES HÉROES DE LA INDEPENDENCIA MEXICANA.

73.- ¿A QUE PERSONAJE DE LA GUERRA DE INDEPENDENCIA DE MEXICO SE CONOCIO COMO LA “CORREGIDORA DE QUERETARO”?

74.- ¿A QUIEN SE CONOCE COMO “EL PADRE DE LA PATRIA”?

75.- ¿EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA SE ENCUENTRA LA CIUDAD DE GUADALAJARA?

76.- MENCIONE EL ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA DONDE SE ENCUENTRAN LAS RUINAS DE PALENQUE

77.- MENCIONE AL MENOS 10 ESTADOS DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA CON SUS RESPECTIVAS CAPITALES.

78.- EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRA EL PUERTO DE ACAPULCO

79.- ¿QUIEN FUE VENUSTIANO CARRANZA?

80.- MENCIONE EN QUE PARTE DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRA EL MAR DE CORTES

81.- MENCIONE A CINCO PRESIDENTES DE MEXICO DEL SIGLO PASADO, INDICANDO LOS PERIODOS EN QUE GOBERNARON.

82.- ¿EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRA EL PICO DE ORIZABA?

83.- ¿QUE SE CONMEMORA EL 13 DE SEPTIEMBRE?

84.- MENCIONE 3 ESCRITORES MEXICANOS.

85.- ¿QUIEN O QUE ERA QUETZALCOATL?

86.- ¿COMO SE LE LLAMA A LA RESIDENCIA OFICIAL DEL PRESIDENTE DE MEXICO?

87.- ¿EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA NACIERON LOS PRESIDENTES BENITO JUAREZ Y PORFIRIO DIAZ?

88.- MENCIONE LOS ESTADOS DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA QUE LLEVAN POR NOMBRE HEROES DE LA INDEPENDENCIA.

89.- ¿EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA SE ENCUENTRAN LAS RUINAS DE CHICHENITZA?

90.- SEÑALE EL NOMBRE DEL GOBERNADOR DEL ESTADO DE BAJA CALIFORNIA.

91.- ESCRIBA UNA ESTROFA DEL HIMNO NACIONAL MEXICANO.

92.- EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRA EL VOLCAN POPOCATEPETL.

93.-MENCIONE EL NOMBRE COMPLETO DE 3 EXPRESIDENTES DE MEXICO.

94.- MENCIONE LOS TRES PODERES QUE EXISTEN EN MEXICO.

95.- SEÑALE EL NOMBRE OFICIAL DE MEXICO.

96.- MENCIONE QUIEN FUE FRANCISCO VILLA.

97.- EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRA LA CIUDAD DE MONTERREY.

98.- EN QUE ESTADO DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA SE ENCUENTRA EL FUERTE DE SAN JUAN DE ULUA.

99.- ¿A QUE PERSONAJE DE LA HISTORIA DE MEXICO SE ATRIBUYE LA MAXIMA “ENTRE LOS INDIVIDUOS COMO ENTRE LAS NACIONES, EL RESPECTO AL DERECHO AJENO ES LA PAZ”?

100.- ¿CON QUE ESTADOS DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA COLINDA EL GOLFO DE MEXICO?

GUIA DE ESTUDIO PARA LA PRESENTACION DEL EXAMEN DE HISTORIA Y CULTURA DE MEXICO, PARA DAR CUMPLIMIENTO AL ARTICULO 19, FRACCION III DE LA LEY DE NACIONALIDAD.

Foreigners who thought obtaining Mexican citizenship by naturalization was just a matter of hanging around and paying the fees were in for a big surprise late last year, when the folks in charge at the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores decided that it was high time to interpret the naturalization code by requiring that would-be citizens show some knowledge of Mexican history and culture. Aw shucks, the test isn’t that hard. Everyone ought to know this stuff anyway. What, you don’t?

 

One More Reason for Foreigners to Visit Mexico

Culture, shopping, great food and breath-taking landscapes lure many tourists to Mexico, but come June, there one more reason. It’s the money, honey.

Tourists departing Mexico City, Cancún, Guadalajara, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta by air and who spend between $115 USD and $1,000 USD on a credit or debit card issued outside of Mexico at authorized stores can get up to half of the sales tax back. In the second phase of the program, slated to begin six months later, tourists departing the international airports at Morelia, Monterrey, Cozumel, Leon, and Mazatlán will be able to enjoy the same privilege. The rest of the country’s international airports and the maritime terminals of Acapulco, La Paz, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, and Mazatlán will join the pack in the third phase of the program. Food and beverage expenses aren’t part of the deal.

 

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Stuff Mexican People Like – Gelatin Fantasies

The per capita consumption of Jell-O™ in Mexico has to exceed Utah, where it reigns as the official state snack. In Mexico, it’s a basic food group. Entire aisles of the supermarket may be devoted to feeding the national fetish. Mexico has taken flavored gelatin beyond the usual scope of fruit flavors to include sherry, eggnog, vanilla, pecan, chocolate, anise, red currant, tamarind, green apple and mango.

It’s not just for sick people and children. Well-traveled and even the rare Mexicans who actually read books have been known to wax eloquently about gelatinas they have known. There are even magazines devoted entirely to making gelatin desserts. It’s gone far beyond Perfection Salad.

jello Its incarnations range from gelatinas served up in plastic cups by street vendors to layered versions with stuff floating in it. Mexicans don’t stop at making gelatina with water; adding milk to it makes an opaque version all the better to disguise floaters.

Mexico City Gelatin artist Lourdes Reyes Rosas, the high priestess of three-dimensional gelatin art, has trained thousands in the art internationally, bringing the art and science of creating gelatin cakes filled with realistic gelatin flowers to all levels of Mexican society. There’s nothing that will impress a group of friends than an elegantly presented gelatin creation. Reyes Rosas says “besides being a form of emotional therapy, [it] may be a source for an income and profitable business.”

Yes, we consider gelatina just as good as psychotherapy and anti-depressants in this country.

 

Stuff People Reading Blogs Like

Back in the 80’s, we had to make do with Lisa Birnbach’s Official Preppy Handbook, Marissa Piesman’s The Yuppie Handbook, and Anna Sequoia’s The Official J.A.P. Handbook. And then there was Paul Fussell’s Class: Style and Status in the USA, followed by David Brooks’ Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive.

Stuff White People Like is this year’s answer to all of that, and it’s spawned even more:

Stuff White Trash People Like

Stuff Educated Black People Like

Stuff Educated Latinos Like

Stuff Iranians Like

Stuff Asian People Like

Stuff Cajun People Like

Stuff Desis/Brown People Like

Stuff Country People Like

Stuff Straight People Like

Stuff Jewish People Like

Stuff Jewish Young Adults Like

Stuff Christians Like

Stuff Queer People Like

Stuff Lesbians Like

Even More Stuff Lesbians Like

Stuff Fashion People Like

Stuff College People Like

Stuff Stick Figure People Like

Stuff Ghetto People Like

Stuff Oprah Likes

White Stuff People Like

Stuff Lawyers Like

Stuff Nobody Likes

Stuff English-Speaking Foreigners Living in San Miguel de Allende Like

and then, Stuff God Hates.

I’m waiting for Stuff Mexicans Like.  You know, our affection for tight clothing, gelatina, pizza Hawaiiana, spike heels and pointed-toe shoes, dyeing our hair as the national hobby, hog dogs used as condiments, learning English, futbol (which Estadounidenses keep referring to as “soccer”), el shopping, mustaches, foreigners with money, name brands, telenovelas, and exiling our ex-presidents.

Have I forgotten anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

¡Feliz Día de las Madres!

After all these years living in Mexico, you’d think I’d remember when Dia de las Madres is. Here is always happens on the same day of the year — May 10. The newspaper reminds me of the Mother’s Day sales and restaurant specials, and I usually manage to snag one of those free gifts of flowers and candy that merchants hand out to all women, but there’s one constant which never fails to catch me by pleasant surprise.

Last night after going to bed around 1:30 a.m., hoping not to repeat the previous night’s nightmare of sleeping with Al Gore, I directly went to dreamland, only to hear choruses of dulcet voices. In my neighborhood, the only noises at this hour are the usual cohetes, gunshot, bone-shattering music, and the signoff song du jour, Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song (We came from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.) Sweet music is a rare occurrence in my part of town.

This year I connected the noise with the date, grabbed some clothes and a camera with a dead battery and went to the street. A dozen men, beer bottles in hand, had moved the serenade from the house across the street to the corner, singing away with amazing sincerity and talent to four generations of mothers at the pozole lady’s house. They would soon move on to another house, and yet another, before heading across town, hitting the homes of all the womenkind in their world.

It is 10 a.m., and Las Mañanitas rings out down the block. Before long, the mariachis will make their rounds, showing up for an hour here, an hour there, to perform for mothers who’ve slaved away over hot stoves preparing a festive meal for their families. For what the mariachis charge for house calls, the entire family could be feted at one of the city’s best restaurants. But the neighbors wouldn’t be as impressed.

Sweet music is always a pleasant way to start the day.

Jim Karger’s Golden Handcuffs

Jim Karger was a big-time gonzo labor lawyer in Dallas. Since 2001, he’s lived in San Miguelde Allende, going from doing nothing to tackling the big-picture issues of transforming workplaces and lives.

In his spare time, he writes a column from time to time for Atencion San Miguel, the English-language weekly that tells people living in San Miguel what to do with their lives.

His May 2, 2008 column in Atencion explains what keeps him rooted in this central Mexican town when other expatriates toss in the towel. We’ve reprinted it in its entirety here, because it’s too damned hard to find among Atencion’s archives later.

Business, Real Estate and Investing
By Jim Karger May 2, 2008 San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel: The Golden Handcuffs
Why do I stay in San Miguel? Why do you stay? Have you ever asked yourself that question?
In the six and a half years I’ve been here I’ve thought of leaving at least once a day, sometimes more often, depending on how many times I have to find a parking place in Centro.
After all, all signs point to the US. Our six children live there. My work is often there. It is far easier to travel to Singapore and London from LA and New York than from León.
Of course, the weather is nice in San Miguel most of the time, but the weather is nice most of the time in San Diego, too.
The traffic can be rough in Los Angeles to be sure, but have you spent any time in a car on Ancha de San Antonio at 8am on a weekday? If you live and work in Redondo Beach you’re never really in the traffic except for the 15-minute drive to LAX. That’s different from the 4:30am run to Silao to catch the 6:55am Continental flight to Houston.
There is the art community here. A good point but I’m not a part of it. Indeed, I may be the only non-artist in San Miguel, or better said, the only person who openly admits to not to being an artist.
There is also the vaunted culture—you know this place where everyone says, “Buenos días!” That wears off after a while and would be easily traded by most for simple competence which is harder to find than a hearty “good morning!”
There are good restaurants in San Miguel, no doubt, but nothing of the caliber one can find in New York, Chicago, Paris, or any significant city in the US or Europe.
Entertainment here is a nonstarter. Indeed, there’s never been an act that has come to San Miguel I’ve ever heard of before I read about them in this newspaper. For sure, the Eagles aren’t coming anytime soon.
What about the cool people who migrate to San Miguel? There are some, to be sure, but I have found some flakes, too (or better said they found me)—people who didn’t come here, but rather, fled here, reinvented their pasts and now are on to promoting new scams that won’t work any better than they did from wherever they originated. In short, I don’t find more or less cool, good, or compelling people in San Miguel than I do in any other part of the world.
The whole inquiry led me to introspection (which led me nowhere). It was in extrospection (if that is a word) where I found the answer—out there.
For me the answer was “bang for the buck.”
Those who have been here long enough (or read the five-part series in Atención comparing the cost of living in San Miguel with various cities in the US) know the truth in spades: it is much less expensive to live in San Miguel, even though it is reputedly one of the most expensive cities in Mexico in which to live.
As I review my current lifestyle, I live in a home that is worth about US$1 million based on current San Miguel prices. The same house would cost about US$5 million on the Strand in Hermosa Beach. I have a full-time maid who charges US$125 a week but would set me back US$100 a day in any US city, a full-time gardener who I pay US$150 a week but would be US$400 a week in the US. I can go out to a nice dinner with wine and pay US$50 for two and walk to the restaurant. I pay US$4,400 a year for 90/10 cross-border health insurance for the two of us, which has doubled in the last six years but lets us make the decision where and from whom to get medical care worldwide. That kind of point-of-service policy is nearly impossible to find today in the US and would set us back at least US$24,000 a year if we lived in St. Louis. The US$20,000 savings on health insurance alone more than covers maid, gardener, taxes and utilities. And I as thought through it, the lifestyle list got longer and I quickly realized that I woul
d take a major step down in standard of living if I returned to the First World.
The cost to me is a few airline tickets to see the kids, or even better, I fly them here. While I can’t find a Zen Palate in San Miguel like I can in New York City, a Sushi Club as I can in southern California, or score James Blunt tickets like I can in Denver, I travel enough on business to enjoy these things and I judge any sacrifices I make to live here a small price to pay in order to live a life where administrative and household details are taken care of by others.
To some this will echo elitism, and they have a point, but I know no one who lives here full-time who could say honestly that “bang for the buck” didn’t have something to do with their being here, too.
I often wonder why more gringos don’t move to Mexico and why those who do come don’t stay. My anecdotal perspective after years of watching the revolving door is this: the average gringo who shows up in San Miguel “to live the rest of my life” lasts about two years, or until they discover the hard way why they should lock their doors, have a guard (or a very aggressive German Shepherd) on their property at night, take their blood pressure medication before connecting to the internet, learn the way to Laredo because that is where they will find the closest Best Buy, and watch carefully when the guy at PEMEX pumps their gas. In short, the learning curve is steep in this culture. One has to either sport a spirit of adventure or have an iron will that he or she will make it work come hell or high water. Most people have neither.
When I arrived in San Miguel, soon to be seven years ago, I was burned out and ready to live the rest of my life doing nothing. I had the money to do nothing and everything looked simple. Then, it dawned on me one day when I was doing nothing that doing nothing was boring and I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. Rather, I was ready to take on new challenges and I have done so without regret even though it has required a great deal of travel.
So, what keeps me here now since the original goal of doing nothing didn’t work out? What keeps me running the early morning road to the airport dodging 18-wheelers looking to make me more red jelly on bad plaid seat covers? Why do I put up with the hassles endemic to living here when San Francisco beckons?

Lifestyle.

San Miguel and all that it offers are my golden handcuffs, no different from execs with big companies who might leave for other opportunities but for the fact no one will pay them more money to do so and they have developed a lifestyle they are not willing to sacrifice.
Bottom line: In San Miguel you can live the life of the rich by simply being well to do. The question that resonates for many (even those too politically correct to utter it out loud): “Is it worth it?”
For me, the answer is “so far, so good.”

Thanks go out to Robin Page West of San Miguel for alerting Staring at Strangers to Karger’s column.

Gangs Invade San Miguel de Allende

It was bound to happen. You’ve read all the press about the narco-terror along the border of the Rio Bravo. You’ve read about the dangers of Michoacán. One brave Canadian soldiered on to San Miguel de Allende, where he discovered the town taken over by gangs. See the film here.