a turn in the park in San Miguel de Allende

I have to say I’m amazed by how we have not yet found a place to eat great Mexican food, the way I had imagined it. I have lived 30 something years thinking I love Mexican food. But apparently I don’t. I like the international version of Mexican food that actually has very little to do with the real deal unless for some reason the state of Queretaro and Guanajuato have a completely different food culture than the rest of the country.

However, cold starters, like tartars and ceviches are great here, especially on top of a crispy tostada. Or not just great, splendid. The restaurants are mostly really inviting and different with nice and friendly staff. It’s starting to be very warm here so light food and fresh cold drinks are the way to go. Like what we had at this place in San Miguel de Allende. 

A lovely city not far from where we live.

We spent a lovely afternoon here, walking around, visiting a few roof terraces and sitting on a bench in a park listening to a lovely local lady tell us about the history of the city and what she remembered from her childhood and youth. She just sat down next to my social husband and we got ourselves a really nice chat. 

The lady with her son told us what building had been a movie theater, how they were showing movies separately for the rancheros (ranch people from outside the city) at 11 in the morning and then the rest of the people later in the afternoon. 

Rich people were called los fresas (the strawberries) and still are today, I guess. At the park we sat they would have what was called Vueltas al jardín ("turns at the park"). A gathering of young single people on Sundays. The rancheros were placed at the outskirt of the park, the common people from the village in the middle and "the strawberries" in the heart of the park. Then they would circle around and make eyes on the one they fancy. This was how either her grandparents or her parents had met ... or both. We did our turn around the park making eyes at each other ... just to keep up the tradition. A tradition that is no longer ongoing here in San Miguel de Allende but apparently still something done in Jalisco, another state here in Mexico.

So my advice to myself and people with same taste for food and people as me; Take a tostada with seafood as a starter and just enjoy the ambiance and the company. Accompany the starter with a fresh lemonade or margarita with or without alcohol or perhaps a nice glass of white. If still hungry, repeat the same thing at another place, change to a tartare or ceviche and repeat until you had enough. And if not hungry, sit around the park and enjoy the ambiance and the people. It's truly amazing.