There are too many Americans in San Miguel de Allende…..and that is not a good thing.
Rosie on holiday sits alone in the corner of a coffee shop. Dont feel sorry for me, I enjoy it, I sip my latte and soak up the atmosphere of the place I have chosen, normally I pick a spot on the terrace or in a window so I can also watch the world go by as well. I enjoy the buzz of people talking in another language, I cannot understand a word so it passes over my head and becomes a nice soothing background noise, I totally enjoy that too.
Except here in San Miguel I can understand it….and it is annoying. Harsh, whining, loud, American accents, why do they have to be so loud and enunciating, and all round irritating. So irritating. I hate that I can understand their vacuous and shallow conversations. Normally all about themselves and what they have. Where they live here in the city, (its very important for pecking order on where you live in the city apparently, Rosie has learnt this through her unintentional eavesdropping). So many conversations on what they do, real estate values and gains they have made, what yoga studios, spas and vegetarian delis they frequent. Blah blah blah.
Rosie has spoken to a couple of Americans in the earlier days of being here, Rosie thought it would be nice in a strange, foreign place to be lucky enough to be able to converse with people, especially people who live here. This is the American expat capital of Mexico after all, statistics reckon about 12,000 Americans have homes and live here.
The experience didnt live up to the expectation…Rosie smiled and nodded as they talked about all of the above topics non stop….its like they are reciting their San Miguel acceptance bio or resume….after fifteen minutes of self platitudes they finally tell me their name….and then, half heartedly ask for mine, wow, the first question in a one sided conversation.
Sarah, I say, nice to meet you….I leave it hanging….I have already deleted their name from my memory banks….Hope to see you at the artists galleries open day I told you about? Not likely. Rosie/Sarah scuttles out the door.
Rosie has come to Mexico….not America. So for once in my travels I have eschewed the company of English speakers, being that they are all American, ditched Tripadvisor whom I normally rely on for the recommendations for good cafes and restaurants because in this town they are all biased to Red, White and Blue hangouts. Haunts Rosie cannot stomach to frequent.
Rosie wanders the streets and peeps into windows of places that do not even feature on Tripadvisor, the Mexican coffee shops and cafes. They are modern, humming with people, give excellent service and make a good latte. Plus they serve churros for breakfast as a standard part of their menu, no avo on toast with poached eggs in sight. No English is spoken by anyone and Rosie sits a corner and drinks her coffee in peace…..bliss.
Just goes to show how right Rosie was way back in 2011….see American Musings – Americans are Nice, When in America.
