GOING TO THE BEACH

We have a home in Michigan where the altitude is about 800 feet. So, in December 2009, and hungry for the beach, we traveled to the city of Oaxaca, Mexico, where the altitude is about 5,000 feet. We spent a month there and the beaches were okay but that’s about it. Here in San Miguel de Allende the altitude is about 6,400 feet and talk about beaches! Mexico is all about its beaches and San Miguel de Allende is no exception.


For the last three years we have rented a beach condo in San Miguel. From our window we can see the turquoise waters of the Atlantic and it’s unbelievable! It’s a two minute walk to the beach and even today we enjoyed two large shrimp cocktails with crackers for only 38 pesos. That’s about $3.15. We had these overlooking the Atlantic at Restaurante Mercado Ramirez. Add a couple of glasses of white wine and the tab was 85 pesos. In total, we spent roughly $8.00. We have enjoyed this many times but don’t like to write about it.

We first met Mercado in January 2008. He’s a great guy with a lot of personality, a wife and three kids. He thinks we are rich. We think he is rich. Everybody is happy. Mercado is always surprised that the beaches here have few tourists while Cancun and Acapulco have all the action. We told him that for the life of us we don’t understand it either and to please refill our glasses. Perhaps we could get to the bottom of it.

Mercado suggested that we go snorkeling. We really enjoy snorkeling and particularly enjoy it at this altitude. It’s the same as snorkeling in Cancun but given the altitude you use a long snorkel. Usually about three feet long unless you are experienced in which case four feet works best. It’s fun to watch the inexperienced tourists use a standard one foot snorkel and nearly suffocate. Rest assured that Restaurante Mercado Ramirez has a gift shop with plenty of long snorkels for sale and Mercado does a brisk business. He even offers high altitude snorkeling lessons. The man is a business genius.

I love snorkeling here, truly love it. The water is lighter and generally has less salt. When salt is present it comes in waves or “olas”. At one moment you are swimming in fresh water and in the next in salty water. The sea life also comes in salty and fresh water waves. It‘s beautiful to watch a salt water school of Tilapia swim side-by-side with the fresh water Perch. The two schools will never touch and are separated only by a thin film of salt water.

Salty water makes you float and fresh water allows you to slowly sink so you are always going up and down without any effort. This can be nice but the “olas” don’t always flow side-by-side. Sometimes one is above the other. Here the novice can get spooked because above you is a beautiful fresh water school of ruby-red trout while below you is a nasty salt water school of barracuda and you are separated only by a thin film of salt water. The benefit of a larger snorkel is evident here as you can choose which side of the salt water film you wish to swim. We have gotten quite adept at this form of snorkeling. Other tourists are not so adept. You can imagine the results. Our three-fingered friend, Stubby, who is originally from Idaho, and who now serves French Fries from his beach stand, wasn’t too quick to grasp the beauty and danger of snorkeling in San Miguel. Each year we bring him a new pair of gloves and his business improves almost immediately. It’s been more difficult to find an appropriate gift for his wife, Pastie, who used to like to swim topless.

Strolling along the beach after our swim we collect fresh and salt water sea shells. Some are colorful, some are soft and some are hard. Sam likes the hard shells while I enjoy the soft shells. We refer to this area as Taco Beach.

On our way home we stop to say goodbye to Mercado. He suggests that we enjoy buceo (scuba diving) tomorrow. I don’t feel up to it. If you think the snorkels are long you should see the size of the oxygen tanks.

In any event, we will see Mercado again soon. Now it’s time for our siesta. Surely, we will have dreams of another day at the beach in San Miguel.

Buenas Noches!