A weird little town in Mexico

San Miguel de Allende is the odd man out on the Mexican landscape.

What makes it strange is that it has more Gringos than flies on a dead coyote. You can live there quite easily without learning any Spanish . . . or troubling yourself with cultural differences.

Little nuisances like that.

It´s a great place to live if you want to "live in Mexico" without actually living in Mexico. Living in Mexico requires some effort and sacrifice. It´s a gritty place. Gringos who move to San Miguel don´t want any of that effort-and-sacrifice business.

And, of course, no grit.

We hear tell there are about 8,000 Gringos in the city, which has about 80,000 people total. But their number does not reflect their immense influence, good and bad.

San Miguel is a beautiful place, has most services Gringos are used to, plus great restaurants, art galleries, theaters and self-improvement classes of every stripe.

It´s a good landing spot for Gucci Gringos and aging hippies.

In a recent Conde Nast Traveller magazine poll, it was Number 4 on a list of great places to live in the Americas. That´s all of the Americas. It bested everywhere in the United States.

It´s a matter of taste, one supposes.

(Note: The area around the town of Ajijic on the shore of Lake Chapala is pretty much the same arrangement. However, the Gringos there tend to be less artsy-craftsy than what you encounter in San Miguel. More meat-and-potato folk.)