hey welcome to Eat Baila Travel with Jenny and Kevin and if you're new to the channel we
are two mexican americans who are traveling throughout mexico in search of a new home
we've had the opportunity to travel through yucatan quintana roo and veracruz and checking
out different cities to see which one is going to be the best fit for us would
see which one we want to settle down in though we are in no hurry to settle down
so we'll be traveling mexico for the rest of the year in search of a new home we want to
make sure we make the right decision and take advantage of exploring our heritage
country as much as possible before we really stick to just one place so make sure to join us on our
journey and hit that subscribe button and the bell so you can follow along throughout our journey so
after checking out some cities and states in the southern part of mexico we're heading to the north
first to the popular city of san miguel de allende that happens to have a lot of expats living
in the city and we're really curious to find out what is it that brings so many expats here
so in our short visit to san miguel de allende we're actually looking to answer three specific
questions number one why are so many foreigners attracted to this small city in the mountains in
guanajuato number two how did san miguel become such a magnetic destination for artists and
expatriates looking for a new life and a lot of them being americans and number three lastly would
we actually live here we have three days to try to figure this out so let's go
we got a private room at la catrina hostel for USD $25 a night we got a very spacious room
and it's only four blocks away from the city center of san miguel
we're going to be the first ones to put a chicago pin on the map
i'm so excited i forget that i only slept one hour
our receptionist just mentioned that guanajuato just opened up for tourism again this month
so it looks like we came at a good time and it's rainy season but i don't mind it it feels really nice because it's not cold
one of the first things we noticed about San Miguel de Allende is how clean the
streets are and how kind the people are another really special thing i noticed are the doors
i'm not sure what it is about these doors but they're really impressive the detail the
designs are beautiful i tried to google what is so special about these doors other than they're
impressive but i couldn't find anything so let me know in the comments if you find if you know
anything about if there's a story behind these doors because they're just too beautiful not to have a
story or some sort of history behind them that i just haven't been able to find
when you come to san miguel de allende the best way to see the city is by walking
the cobblestone streets and colonial architecture make for some awesome pictures
we recommend going to calle Aldama located right behind
the famous church here you'll be able to take some beautiful pictures during the day and at night
my first impressions of san miguel de allende is that i feel like i'm in a disney
a disney environment
there's the castle like the church
the magic kingdom of Guanajuato
another first impression that i have so far of San Miguel de Allende is that
they take pride into how calm their city is the taxi driver was talking about how they don't use
their horns to beep at people or to people at other cars
they like to maintain it quiet there's no street lights controlling traffic it's just very calm
it's a very common place to come relax if you're coming to a party this is not the place for you
this is a great place to come if you're looking for relaxation and
it's starting to make sense why so many people retire here it's it's calm it's safe it's quiet
but not boring like there are things going on and it's not it's like it's a sleepy city so if you're
looking for a nice little getaway this is great if you're looking for adventure maybe maybe this
isn't your place but it's also a great opportunity to learn some really cool mexican history
phew oh it's been a nice first day but tomorrow's an exciting day because we're
not only gonna continue exploring the city but we're also going to visit a very special
grave for someone that's really important to this city and it's not san miguel it's not
ignacio allende it's someone else who's been super instrumental to this city
we are gonna go to bed
right now but we will meet you right back here tomorrow morning so we can continue our tour
with san miguel de allende and find out what all the fuss is about so good night see you in the morning
good morning y'all so after a good night's sleep we woke up early this morning to
take a tour of the park and then we head over to the cemetery like we were talking about last night
but as we're walking around we decided we want to share our first impressions of san miguel de allende with you
one of the things that really stands out to us is the heavy presence of
european architecture and spanish influence which of course makes sense
because it was one of the first because it was the first city to gain its independence from spain
they there was some sort of pride in preserving the architecture so any
updates to the to construction or buildings um are designed to preserve its colonial
aesthetic and it's even noticeable in this park as i'm walking around it reminds me of the parks
that i used to walk around in when i was studying abroad in spain so it's a really nice touch and
special characteristic for it for being a small city that's preserved its colonialism
which you do see a lot throughout mexico um but it's it's got a really calm vibe here
coupled with the calmness of the city with how safe it is and how you know people
are out and about in the community it feels like such a strong community feel for anyone looking
for a place where you can fit right in with with everybody else as far as my our first impressions
and would we live here i like the tranquility of this of this place i love the parks it's tough
to save within three days if this is somewhere we want to live but first impressions i think
can go very far and so far i'm pleased with our visit and just not quite convinced yet
about whether or not we'd live here all right let's start heading over to the cemetery
and while we go i think it's a good time to start talking about why we're going
so we mentioned that there's a very special tomb that we want to visit it's not san miguel but
it's a person that's really important to the development of this city that person's name
is stirling dickinson
stirling dickinson was a chicago native who upon graduating from princeton decided to travel throughout mexico
and during his travels he stopped in a sleepy town called san miguel de allende
before stirling's arrival there wasn't much going on for san miguel allende
it had suffered a lot and lost three quarters of its population during the the two wars
the mexican independence and the mexican civil war
so it was a sleepy town that was really on an economic and social decline
but what stirling did next is what helped put this place on the map
stirling dickinson loved to paint and he opened up a bellas artes school
a veteran himself he recruited other world war ii veterans to use their gi benefits and enroll at bellas artes
so soon he started building a community of american world war ii veterans and building a
community of americans in san miguel de allende
today one in ten residents are americans and many others are foreigners from other countries including canada
he not only was able to offer a more comfortable life and a way to use their gi benefits for world war ii veterans he also started building
san miguel de allende as an artist's colony and so soon it became popular internationally and
today is known as one of the most artsy cities in all of latin america he kick-start this cultural
renaissance which then ultimately led to the further development of the city soon after
many expats started flocking to the city looking for a new way of life opening up businesses and
bringing more art galleries and art schools to the area dickinson became a well-known and respected
member of the community in san miguel allende because he volunteered for nonprofits he was
a really well-known gringo in town but a really beloved by his neighbors he was really just a
person who was looking for a home and a new way of life and at the age of 27 settled in san miguel de
allende and changed its trajectory and with all his contributions he created a bridge between
mexicans and americans who now cohabitate this city and make it what it is today as someone who
can relate to looking for a new way of life looking for a new place to call home
i think it's super cool that he was able to create this bridge and develop the city more than
anything i think it's super cool that he was a chicagoan so it's been a real treat to get to know
why this place is so special and what is it that attracts people here it's not a place that people
are necessarily flocking to but lots of expats are living here and it's amazing to learn about
how that came to be
one thing that i found very interesting coming to visit this cemetery is that
how was i gonna find mr stirling's grave and i had to ask i looked up it i looked it up in google
and i also asked the person at the front of the cemetery where i can find mr william he said he
he didn't know much about it so i googled it and in google i found out that there's a section
just for americans at this cemetery it's a little garden located within the cemetery grounds and
if you look at the tombstones here they look very similar to tombstones that you find in the united
states normally cemeteries in mexico are very crowded there's a lot of tombstones and sometimes
they tend to be very colorful very extravagant tombstones in mexico the section for americans
looks just like the tombstones in america where they're just tombstones laying on the ground
so i find that very interesting and i wanted to share that with you all
one of the things you just must do when you visit san miguel de allende is visit
Jardín Allende
it's the main square and it's the one right in front of the gorgeous church Parroquia San Arcangel
this is one of the most important corners in all of san miguel de allende to my left we have the
casa where ignacio allende one of the leaders of the mexican spanish war was born to my right we
have fray san miguel one of the priests that used to help out the indigenous communities in this
area of the oppression of the spanish when they arrived in 1826 mexico decided to give homage to
both of these great individuals and name the city san miguel de allende they combined them both
in order to give an homage to the entire city
outside of the city center of san miguel de allende you will find murals and street art all over the city
here are some of the murals we really liked
and last but absolutely not least you cannot leave san miguel de allende without
coming to eat at Chocolates y Churros San Agustin
you can get dinner and dessert here and the churros are amazing just out of this world
you can choose toppings like chocolate, cajeta, rompope, lechera
you can get it plain but trust me you want to get the one with the topping
so so good dinner is good too but what you really want to make room for are the churros
what a perfect dessert
cappuccino with rompope (eggnog)
what are you having, Kevin?
Okay, I'll share
but i get the fist bite
I like how it has the shape where you can
push it into your mouth
it's perfect
I love the kick of the rompope
this reminds me of my childhood
shoutout to my sisters this was our thing
we were always asking our parents for churros
you wanna try some?
okay here
damn! how many churros con rompope does it take to get drunk?
ready to party oh no they're almost gone
what was your favorite? rompope? you want another one?
yep
say no more
our time here in san miguel de allende was short and sweet
maybe it's not the right fit for us right now because we're still looking for a little bit more
adventure but maybe sometime in the future or when we're tired and tired of vlogging
maybe san miguel will be a place for us we hope you enjoy our take on san miguel de allende
we are definitely going to come back here sometime soon so if you have any
recommendations for us please write them down in the comments so that we make sure that we hit
those places where we come back the next time if you haven't been to this beautiful place we
hope that you get the opportunity to come and visit someday well, take care, take a shower and we'll see you next time!