Today we left Merida and headed west, for San Miguel de Allende. We got up early, Ubered1 to the Merida airport, flew to Mexico City, then shuttled 4 hours to San Miguel. San Miguel doesn't have an airport. The nearest is Leon, 90 min away.
The MEX airport has a Black Mirror air, and not in a good way. Drab cement alternates with garish screens. Windowless, like a casino, but not a nice casino. My eyes became seared by the endless loop of advertisements. The departure board loops with ads, each ad pushing off the useful information so you have to keep watching to gather the needed information.
We waited for the shuttle at arrivals then I called the shuttle service to inquire. They apologized. As a reward, or was it punishment, Bajiogo shuttle sent us a van piloted by Mad Max. His driving was so aggressive I resorted to distract myself with an audible, the last chapters of a Trollope2. I averted my eyes from the road and threatened carnage ahead. After several hours of pedal to the metal speed, dodging between cars, trucks, and construction zones, Max suddenly slowed. We'd arrived in quaint, cobble-stoned San Miguel.
San Miguel is different from Merida.
Our driver left us at the door of a striking ultra-modern glass and cement architectural delight. From what I've seen so far, of the house and the colourful city, it looks like San Miguel will be a visual feast.
In the meantime, we gotta eat. So we stocked up the fridge from a nearby grocery then headed out for dinner. Tired, hungry, we'd not eaten since breakfast at the airport, we resorted to our fave cuisine, pizza. Yeah, I know, pizza in Mexico, why would one eat pizza in Mexico, but why not? And they had my numero uno, a thin crust Margherita with anchovies.
Upon leaving the aptly named Neapolitan Pizza, which by the way was excellent, we found ourselves refreshed and surrounded with murals and I love murals. The first time any murals caught my attention was in Valparaiso. The colourful public art transformed the town, the seaside setting being beautiful but the architecture not. Turns out, San Miguel de Allende has murals, too, though they are just an added bonus to the charming architecture. I've a few mural photos below.
1We'd not used Uber prior to Merida. We quickly became fans of the no-cash-needed service.
2Trollope's stories of life in Victorian England are absolutely nothing like Mad Max.
