A Rainy Night in San Miguel

It was after 7:30 P.M. Friday night by the time we were settled into our hotel room in San Miguel de Allende.  We were both hungry since we had not eaten since breakfast.  As I mentioned earlier, we were staying at a very ritzy hotel that Alejandro had booked with hotel reward points.  We looked at the menus of the hotel's two restaurants, and the dishes were fancy (and expensive!), but just didn't appeal to us.  I had been looking at restaurants on Google Maps and had found one that had good reviews.  It was called "El Correo", and it sounded like it offered traditional Mexican comfort food at a reasonable price.  It's in the center of town, about a fifteen walk from the hotel, so we decided to go there for supper.

We both had brought water-proof jackets with us in case of rain.  I had my umbrella with me, but Alejandro had left his in the car.  He checked the weather forecast on his cell phone, and supposedly there was only a 16% probability of rain that evening.  Alejandro wasn't going to wear his jacket, but I told him it might be chilly by the time we return from the restaurant.

We headed out along the narrow, cobblestone streets of San Miguel.  We didn't get very far when the heavens opened, and it poured rain. The streets, which all go downhill toward the center of town, were rivers of water.  It was impossible not to get our shoes soaked crossing the streets.  (Alejandro was wearing tennis shoes, but I fortunately had on walking shoes that I recently bought and which I had earlier sprayed with water repellant.)  The cobblestones were very slippery and made the going slower.  As if the downpour were not bad enough, all the old houses have pipes to drain the water from the roofs, and there were streams pouring down on the sidewalks.  At one point we stopped under an awning for about ten minutes hoping that the rain would stop, but it didn't.  We moved on and finally made it to the restaurant.

The restaurant was a cozy little place.  We both ordered the bean soup which was very good.

Alejandro had tacos filled with "carnitas" (braised shredded pork).  He said that they were tasty, but the "carnitas" were rather dry.

I had grilled enchiladas filled with potatoes and carrots.  They were good, but I thought that the sauce had a slightly bitter taste.

 

With our tummies full, we headed back to the hotel.  Fortunately, the rain had stopped, but the streets were still rivers, and water was still pouring from the spouts.  Finally, we made it back to the hotel.  We hung our jackets in the bathroom, and our soaked pants and socks were slung over the edge of the bathtub to dry. 

It was not a very auspicious beginning to our stay in San Miguel.