Writing about San Blas

I have put a lot of photos of San Blas on here and I feel that I should write something about being back here again. Before I moved to Ajijic, I came to San Blas for part of the winter. I would stay for several months at a time. I did this for several years. It is too long ago for me to remember how many years I did that. But I hadn't been back here for eight years. I was in a kind of culture shock the first day I was here. Everything is so different from the Lakeside area.  I am staying in a beautiful home that my friend Pat built this last year. It is in a Mexican neighborhood. I wouldn't say it was a quiet neighborhood. I doubt if any Mexican neighborhood is quiet. I woke up at five a.m. to the sound of live music. They may have been playing and singing all night long but I was tired enough to sleep through it.

Also in the mornings there are the sounds of fighting neighborhood dogs in heat, cats in heat, birds singing, church bells ringing. This is a true Mexican experience. 

After one day here I was ready to go back to my comfortable life in Ajijic. But I decided to be patient and give it a chance. After all, I used to love coming here.  I went to the markets in the morning and ate breakfast in a little place that was here eight years ago.   I saw the same waiters, cooks and many other familiar faces in town. And they remembered me. It was great to feel welcomed by them.

I found an upstairs room right across the street from the plaza. It doesn't have internet but the plaza is hooked up with wi fi. I will have to take my computer down there in the afternoons. That might be fun. It will be a way to meet people. There are very few expats here. I see some just traveling through.

I went to a New Year's Eve party last night and saw a few of them. I had met them eight years ago. San Blas is a place that you either love or you hate. Very little in between. It is a place where you are live more with the Mexicans than with the expats. It is a very casual place. No social climbing here. Just genuine friendships.  But you have to be willing to put up with the pesky Jejenes. They can really bite hard. You can't see them. But you sure can feel them.

I went to the beach again yesterday and then I remembered why I was so happy here all those years. The beach here is beautiful. Right now the ocean is too cold for me to swim in but it is fun to walk along the shore and sit in one of the restaurants eating tacos and drinking sodas. I am glad I gave it another try. I think I will like living near the plaza. I rented the place for one month. After that, or maybe even before that, I will go back to my life in Ajijic. I hope you will enjoy hearing about my experiences here and looking at photos from here.