
A look back at 2007 and our first week
in San Miguel de Allende.
This trip was our first realization that David could actually work, successfully, from almost anywhere, and it changed our lives.
Behind the heavy wooden doors of Posadas de las Monjas we found true sanctuary.

In contrast, our room is small with a stone exterior and simple white plaster walls. The trappings are not lavish, but its comfortable bed and scarred dark wood furnishings are all that we need. Our windows are screens covered in dark wood shutters with wavy old glass panes. The overhang keeps the rain out, so we kept them open in the middle of a heavy downpour – which lulled us straight to sleep. The heating and air conditioning system consists of heavy blankets for the cool nights and a battered pedestal fan for the warm afternoons. The bathroom is decorated with hand-painted Talavera tile with a dark slate floor. A drain in the floor and a curtain serve as a shower. After the Hiltons and Marriotts of recent weeks this might seem Spartan but the simplicity is refreshing.The people here are very nice, quick with bright smiles and patient with our hesitant Spanish. There is a steady hum of work from early morning until late afternoon as they sweep, clean and tend the plants. We hear a lot of joking and laughing, whistling and singing – there is work to be done, but also a little time for play.
That is the spirit that we have adopted as well.
Every morning we walk a few blocks up the hill up to the main square called El Jardin for fantastic coffee, hard rolls with jam and local butter, and a hearty breakfast at Rincon de Don Tomas. There is free WiFi from a shop on the corner so we browse the news, check email and chat with other patrons. Afterwards, we return to Posada de los Monjas for a few hours of work, then a late lunch and a short siesta. A few more hours of work and then we are free to explore the town. The sun sets about 7:30 these days and the local dinner hour is quite late, so there is a lot of time to see the area, walking for miles and taking hundreds of photographs. Later, we dine at one of the numerous excellent restaurants and sit in El Jardin for some people watching. Wandering back to the hotel around 11 for a last check of email and complete a few last little chores, we wrap up the day. The bars on the street below close down about midnight and after that the city quiets down considerably. However, it really doesn’t matter because with all of the walking we’ve been doing we’re out as soon as we hit the pillow – sleeping deeply at Posada de las Monjas, dreaming in the bright colors of Mexico.
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