CompuServe Messages

Steve.. …Expat situation My expats (brits) fled the area around 1890, having failed dismally to revive the mining business with live steam on a basis of bloated stock offerings on the Brit. Stock Exchange. They left some lovely, tall chimneys (very GIF.able) next to most of the local historic shafts, but not much else. 'Fraid I'm an odd man out here…blame my super Mexican wife. Your (US) expats are more tenacious and, as you say, have built up quite a colony in San Miguel Allende. Alas, no more mines in that area and roads are not all that good; however it does possess the only office in central Mexico that handles foreigner's residence permits. This immediately puts the town in the 6 inch Proustite class, for expats. I don't have personal experience of Michoacan, Jalisco or Colima, but if you are interested in live volcanos, Colima is the place to be. It's also very quiet and getting in or out is tough, owing to a the poor road system. Michoacan has an overdose of political hotheads, who succeed in making life difficult for everybody. I imagine that expats (especially US) would be cosidered fair game, with no closed season! Guanajuato has a changing population of US expats, due to the university's exchange schemes and is still "original", including the water supply and drains. (SM Allende is too "twee" for my tastes) House prices reflect local salaries, rather than expats', so you can get a good buy, if you do not go after something really ambitious. You are 40 mins by tollway from Leon (and yours truly), with Price Club and other similar essentials, including tollways to Guadalajara (and Colima), Aguascalientes (new, blue topaz discovery…no further details till I get my pieces), Zacatecas and (if you are a masochist) Mexico City. Try Guanajuato, it's difficult to beat. Sure I'll see you here soon. …Chris