Little Shangri-La: Sharing Our Love of Living In San Miguel

By Linda and Charles Woollett

As writers, we’ve been pondering how to express our love for this little Shangri-La, we've come to know as San Miguel de Allende, and now call home. (Voted by Travel & Leisure readers as the #1 City in the World, many times.) This is an Op-Ed of sorts, a story called: “Life…none of us are getting out alive, so Love, Eat, Drink and be Merry”. 

These thoughts some of you might relate to.

As expats or immigrants, we flock here by the hundreds, if not thousands, (we account for approximately 10% of the population of nearly 185,000) so what do we share in common, what binds us? We’ve all left somewhere for let’s just say, a myriad of reasons, landing as retirees or digital nomads. Because of this, we share a common bond, a fear of the unknown, but it's worth it because we've reached that stage in our lives young or old where it’s, ‘damn the torpedoes, I've got to jump or I'll never do it’. The better to have tried, than not tried at all theory. Once you've departed your old life, a new one begins, like a new chapter in your tired, maybe even dull life to date. Like shedding an old skin.

Someone said, 'Your traveling experiences can leave you speechless and then somehow turn you into a storyteller'. That's where the excitement lies, in discovering others like you, yet perhaps from a different part of the world, the 'something in common' theory. For some of us it’s not the first time we've joined George Carlin’s ‘No More Stuff Club’, so for us it’s easy, we are invigorated to do it again and re-join the global ‘let’s have fun club’ and live life to its fullest. 

We are all giddy with the excitement of finding others like ourselves, safety in numbers. It’s almost like the butterflies in your stomach, on that first date.

You want to get to know each other, to find those things, the sad, the happy, the ‘I can't believe you are so much like me, we have so much in common’, theory. That wonderfully helpless feeling, that scary, intoxicating feeling of falling in love and feeling safe. Close friendships that bond you together. The friends you can talk to about anything, those you’d do anything for at 3:00 a.m. when the phone rings and they need help - the ‘No matter what kind of friends’.

These new friendships are more abundant here in San Miguel they just seem deeper and more meaningful somehow. They blossom, partly because we are all a little bit more fertile, open here, our true selves perhaps, because there are no judgments or less so. The escape is real, the freedom is real, and the new camaraderie is real, is it euphoria or too much tequila? Yet at the same time, we are all vulnerable to one degree or another, depending on how brave or how much we genuinely integrate into the daily culture or stay within the safety of our casa walls and venture out ever so gingerly, only when asked to join the happy throng. Confidence grows, as you find the courage to leave the stereotypes behind. As we congregate at familiar watering holes and rediscover our love of food and conversation leaving everything fast behind. Just wanting to eagerly say “buenos días” passing complete strangers, once so foreign, but now meaningful, liberating, and uplifting. 

Oh hey, if you have a problem with the cobblestones or want to change this or that - ain't happening because there are five hundred years of history here, rooted in deep cultural, heritage and it’s staying the way it is. So, if you can't adapt maybe this isn’t the town for you. One more thing, we've found the medical services and doctors here to be wonderful, even better than stateside, and the response time to see a specialist is lightning fast, and a text or call back within days if not hours. That’s how medical relief is dealt with here, the patient is muy importante! 

Then there is the beauty that surrounds you, stops you dead in your tracks as you are walking, you just stop to stare. The un-ignorable architecture that may be hundreds of years old, holds your gaze. Or a mysterious doorway that beckons you in, as you wonder what’s inside. The endless culinary gastronomy of so many international descriptions, and local flavors tempting the taste buds, stimulating your senses. So many restaurants, cafes, and wineries to experience, overwhelming as you feel as though you can't begin to keep up. Thankfully our local social food pages and countless reviewers, the Phantom Gourmet among them, help us keep tabs on the next must-indulgent place to try and rave about.

Music is so diverse, in equally as many venues offering rock, blues, cuban, flamenco, jazz, and more. A musicians' mecca, luckily for us/you. The cacophony of sounds that surround you, joyous happy indigenous people and elaborate costume parades, fireworks, that for some, sound like the distant explosions in a war zone, but are just signals of celebrations about to begin. Nighttime rooftop dogs barking, sad in its own cruel way, and the haunting sound of church bells ringing, all remind you of the ancient town in which you have chosen to live.  It has meaning and it feels good in a deeply moving way. The artists and local artisans, the photographers that capture late night and way too early morning images that take your breath away. These are the things that bring us together from distant lands on our journeys, different yet the same for all of us expats, from Asia, Europe, and North and South America, a melting pot of humanity. It’s our collective new frontier to explore, to get lost in, and pinch ourselves in the joy we have found here. 

For us personally, we are so grateful for the dear friends we have made, like-minded citizens of the world, who are truly appreciative of the culture and happiness we have embraced and lovingly shared. We have not tired of drinking the Kool-Aid, the nectar that truly makes us happy, the friends who have filled our hearts with love and who help to sustain our faith in the decency of human nature, despite the dark underbelly and rumors of cartels and corruption that exist, welcome to world reality. 

This is the little Shangri-La we now call home, different and becoming more familiar and comfortable as each day passes. Muchas gracias y con mucho gusto San Miguel de Allende. In the words of Mark Twain, “You cannot depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus.” It reminds us why we decided to live in a foreign land again. Especially because the people of México have taught us humility and to be kind to one another. Explore. Discover. Dream.

Our lives to date have seen us in some 161 cities and 59 countries and here we are. We are just saying, from our fair town of San Miguel and a few seaside visits, three years in, and we're feeling pretty damn lucky, deeply thankful, there is a lot of good joss in San Miguel de Allende and México overall. 

PS: There is a beautiful saying in Africa, “Ubuntu… I am because we are”… share the happiness, share the love.