San Miguel de Allende, Mexico is a beautiful town, with one of the best climates on the planet, and now, one of the hottest real-estate markets on the planet. The town began as a destination for Americans when in the 1950’s a few yanks  discovered that they could attend the Instituto Allende, an art school put together by an American, Stirling Dickinson, on their G.I. Bill Benefits.  What better life than having a Dollar Stipend, a perfect climate,  and all the Tequila and Pot you could buy in a sweet lovely little Mexican town that had been forgotten by time?

But long before that, San Miguel's Glory Days were during the height of the 1770’s Silver Boom in Mexico (the Spanish Crown took more value out of the Mexican mines than all the Gold in Peru...it kept the Spanish Empire afloat for a few hundred years, just as Cheap Oil has kept the U.S. on top - at least up until now).  A good bit of architecture, churches, convents and homes were built. Then it happened.

Mining collapsed - end of Boom, beginning of Sleepy Senescence.  San Miguel’s 400 year old charm was forgotten, left in the dust, preserved for 200 years.  Just as similar cycles of Boom/Bust and NO subsequent development gave us the beauty of Salvador, Bahia (Sugar), Manaus (Rubber), Prague (Hapsburgs), to mention only a few.

The 1950’s  U.S. Veterans  were followed by 1960's/70's  U.S. Bohos and Beats  (Neil Cassidy of Kerouac's "On the Road" fame died in San Miguel; his body was found on the railroad track leading out of town, death due to an overdose or drugs or alcohol or both). Where the Hipsters went, the Well-To-Do soon followed.  So the "scene" in San Miguel: great parties, great drugs, great weather, great beauty great art, reached its apex in the 70's and 80's. 

Americans continued to arrive in San Miguel attracted by its reputation, its beauty and climate and by something difficult to describe, that didn't exist in other Gringo Gathering Spots (the likes of Cuernavaca and Taxco)  - cultural respect for Mexican art and life. Perhaps this was due to the two art schools in town, the Instituto Allende and Bellas Artes.  But even long after the heady post WWII days of GI Bill-Yanks, this regard for Mexicans, their cultural heritage and their holidays endured among resident Americans in San Miguel de Allende. 

A bi-lingual library, the Biblioteca, which celebrates Mexican history and folkways came to be the cultural center for Americans in San Miguel.  Now, new generations of yanks,  attracted  more by how far their Social Security checks would stretch than by the plentiful cannabis and other intoxicants came to  admire Mexico, enjoy the Arty Atmosphere,  bask in the fabulous sunshine and, for the first time, indulge in  first-rate restaurants, annual Jazz and Classical Music Festivals and The Good Life.  Older Americans who were barely scraping by could buy a house for $10,000, have a maid and gardener and still have enough left over to go out for Margaritas and tacos.

Then a few years ago, Conde-Nast's Traveler Magazine's readers voted San Miguel among the ten best destinations in the world. (That might have something to do with that magazines demographic - the gerontocracy who had embraced San MIguel) 

Another wave of Americans visited and looked for homes there.  Now San Miguel de Allende is morphing into The Hamptons With Chili as the Upwardly Chic crowd  pour in to snap up renovated homes for a million plus dollars apiece...Rich Texans seek relief in July and August from the humid heat.  

The old bohos are gone, the Social Security people are being priced out of the market and it's is becoming a weekend destination for Chilangos - rich Mexicans from Mexico City. These days the narrow cobble-stoned streets can barely accommodate the ludicrously massive SUV's, Escalades and Hummers...   I'm selling my house and moving on..
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