Housesit San Miguel 2019

Feb 6, 2019
1:20 PM

Location: San Miguel de Allende, Colonia Paloma

Dates: Jan 3 – Feb 4, 2019
We thoroughly enjoyed this house sit. The home is on the outskirts of San Miguel, walking distance to the beautiful botanical gardens where there are trails that meander around a reservoir.
The main square is a 20 minute, violently downhill walk that is probably ridiculously slippery when it rains, but it was the dry season and we walked it many times.
Coming back home was a different matter. We actually walked up the hill twice, but the rest of the time we took a taxi for 70pesos.
The homeowner’s property is large, probably a full hectare landscaped with desert succulents and cactaii mostly, although we enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice from the orange trees and there were lemons and limes as well.
The temperatures in January are usually just around freezing at night and in the low 20’s during the day. The house does not have central heating, but did have a lot of gas fireplaces that we were instructed not to use due to the fact they really didn’t heat very well and used a lot of fuel. The only one we were told to use was in a den/diningroom combination but it was so stinky that we didn’t use it at all. Instead we brought in a small electric heater from the kitchen and used that for an hour or two first thing in the morning. After that, the sun came in through the floor-to- ceiling windows and heated the room up very well.
The dogs were easy keepers right up until a couple of days before we were to leave when Ella, the Mexican dog, caught and killed a skunk!
The homeowner’s best friend, happened to have some skunk neutralizer and brought it over the next morning and helped us to bath both dogs.
Chloe had what was thought to be arthritus in her front left leg and I was required to give her medication for it. This was not hard since I wrapped the pills in cream cheese and she gobbled them eagerly – right up until we were leaving. We had to go at 5am and when I tried to give her pills, she spit them out 3 times. I gave up figuring it was just too early for her to eat. But 3 days after the homeowners got home, Chloe had to be put to sleep. She would no longer eat and was in great pain.
We were surprised that the homeowners seemed to be reluctant to spending any time with us, but did encourage us to get in touch with her friends. The one friend we never did meet, but the other we went to visit her ranch where our homeowner keeps her horse, Molly. The lovely lady fed us tacos and we had a wonderful visit with her. In return, we had her over for dinner. I made my ham and cheese lasagna and we had another really nice visit.
Our neighbourhood is one that is changing fast. Many new subdivisions are in their preliminary stages and there is a new mall with a grocery store and large department stores. Also, the tienguis, Sunday market, was in walking distance where we could buy fresh fish, and really delicious chocolate cake by the piece!
There is also a ‘ribfest’ kind of truck that sells smoked brisket and pulled pork every weekend. Yes, a very good neighbourhood!
While we were in SMA, the homeowner from Patzcuaro came to house-sit for a friend of hers, not too far away from us. We went to visit with her for an afternoon. She brought her dogs, Lucy and Pettit so I got to see them too.

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