Mexico Journal - Getting There

Tiffany and I left San Antonio on January third, to our designated bus departure at a Taqueria (who wants to ride a Greyhound bus bounded towards Mexico anyway?) Surprisingly, Mexican buses are far better equipped and more comfortable than those in America. We crossed the border 3 hours later and by early next morning we were having our first meal in San Miguel de Allende. We jumped out of the "pesero", the bus that took us from the station into the Zocalo (main plaza) and right in front of us there was a croud surrounding a street cart selling the "breakfast of champions" Tamales and Atole, a sweet chocolate flavored, somewhat slimy, but very energizing drink.

We were traveling with a guide published in 2003, so a few hostels listed had gone out of business and we had to settle for the supposedly cheapest place in town, which was still a few dollars above our original budget. Once free of our backpacks we spent the evening walking around town and taking many pictures. San Miguel's architecture and history as a colonial city remains fairly intact, but it has become such a popular place for American tourists that the entire town now offers menus in English, and there are several American-run guide services (which we found to be a sad tragedy, since this could be an industry that the locals could profit from). It is a beautiful place worth seeing, but we wanted to run away from the touristy spots pretty soon, and decided to head towards Mexico City, where my friend Vanessa and her boyfriend Raul had offered us a place to stay the next day.