This is a pretty detailed post since I’m just chilling in Sarasota and have the time to fully tell the tales of our fantasy life in San Miguel de Allende. Most of the photos/videos in this post were not taken by me so thank you to the crew for capturing such incredible content. The particularly good looking photos that are nicely edited were done by the man, the myth, the legend; Memorandum Media aka Jason Myers.

Travel experiences can be hard to put into words sometimes especially since some of the best moments are shared with the people you are with at that time. The connections made through conversation and laughter can be hard to convey if you weren’t there. But nonetheless I’ll do my best to include some of those aspects of the trip into my stories throughout this blog. 

So much thanks to Jason and Hayley for inviting me on another incredible Inspirato trip and once again curating such an amazing group of people for it. We were all on the same page from start to finish with our travel style, senses of humor, party energy, food tastes, willingness to help, and really just everything. It truly was a family affair. When living the castle life everything just seems to go your way…we even turned are run in with the neighborhood Karen into one of our best running inside jokes of the week. 

San Miguel Overview

I’m going to give a little overview on San Miguel de Allende first before diving into the details. My coastal Mexico trips in the past have been an absolute blast celebrating Paul’s bachelor party in Cancun and Lindsey and Jack’s wedding in Tulum but those places are very touristy and kinda feel like America 2.0. San Miguel stole my heart as a truly authentic Mexican experience that I would highly recommend to everyone. The city is located in central Mexico up in the mountains with an elevation just over 6200 feet. It’s about 3.5 hours from Mexico City and 1.5 hours from Lyon.

• Charming city with winding cobblestone streets surrounded by colorful colonial-style buildings that are beautifully decorated with plants lining the windows and rooftop. And most of the buildings have a crazy ornate front door and/or a flower arch around the door

• Most buildings have their door open so when wandering around the city you just peak inside while you walk by and discover a little boutique shop, a restaurant, an artisanal market or a courtyard with some combination of those three

• There are multiple plazas that are always bustling with activity – people chatting on benches under these cool square shaped trees, street vendors, mariachi bands, and so much more. Most of these plazas face a beautiful church

• Very religious. Lots of churches and crosses around town. The main plaza directly faces the main church in town – Parroquia San Miguel Arcángel which is light pink with pointy spires. It looks like a church you would see in Europe with its gothic style architecture. Unfortunately we never made it inside but I’m sure it had a gorgeous interior

• Heavily influenced by the arts. There are many amazing street murals around town particularly heading toward La Aurora art gallery which itself is a maze of rooms filled with sculptures, paintings, and countless different artistic styles

• There are no traffic lights in town – you just gotta go for it and walk across. The drivers are pretty good at stopping for pedestrians…besides the one car that tried to pass on the wrong side of the road and bumped into Hayley

• People are all very friendly. The locals seemed pretty indifferent toward tourists but everyone we interacted with first hand had such a welcoming energy

• Happy dogs with paws hanging out the window greet you as you walk by

• Very clean city – constantly saw people pouring buckets of water in front of their house/shop to keep the streets clean. Garbage ambulance going around town ringing its siren to collect trash

Day 1: We Made It!!!!

Evan and I landed in the Leon airport and grabbed a marg while waiting for the rest of the crew: Jason, Hayley, Kendall, and Sarah. Then we were greeted by our Inspirato driver who was going to transport us the 1.5 hours to San Miguel de Allende. It was nice not having to worry about haggling with taxis or dealing with getting a rental car since we didn’t really need one in the city. Plus our driver even stopped at a random town so we could get some beers for the road. Ah it’s nice to be in Mexico. After a car ride filled with nonstop chatter and excitement, we arrived at our Inspirato house – Casa Fuentes – and our jaws were dropping the entire tour. It was a massive 3 story house + 4th floor rooftop that had outdoor terraces on every level, an open courtyard with a pool that had lion head fountains and a massive vine wall, exotic plants everywhere, a dope chandelier over the dining room table, unique house decorations, and so many comfy couches. We were truly living in a castle. There were also these 6 creepy looking statue guys that were all standing in a row on the 2^nd floor by the stairs and throughout the weekend they were mysteriously moved around, which became a running game of whodunnit to figure out who was moving them. Turns out it was Jason 80% of the time, or so we think. Also could have been the digital bees, this electric buzzing sound we all periodically heard through the week (except Sarah…probably because she was controlling it). In reality, electrical line next to house with pool = digital bees.

After celebrating our luxurious new lifestyle with some tequila shots and a swim in the pool we decided to check out the city. We walked to the main plaza in awe over the colorful buildings with their beautiful doors and decorations. It was immediately clear that this was going to be a magical city to wander around aimlessly. There was a lot of activity in the plaza even on a Monday. This was our first up close view of Parroquia San Miguel Arcángel and its stunning architecture. We eventually made our way further up the hill and found a rooftop restaurant called Antonia Bistro to eat dinner and watch the sunset which was absolutely beautiful. I was impressed with all the sunsets we saw especially since we weren’t even on the coast. The dinner wasn’t super traditional Mexican but it was still quite tasty.

Then we headed back to our castle for more drinks and cozied up on the rooftop couch for a tarot reading from the deck Kendall brought. This was a great way to start the week as it really opened us all up in a different way and got some good conversations flowing. I barely knew Kendall and Sarah going into this trip but by the end we really got to connect on so many personal levels and learned so much about each other. Getting to share this unique experience with the crew really created such a strong bond between all of us and was a great reminder why I love things like traveling and going to see music. It creates this special level of connection with people and memories that last forever.

Day Two: Castle Living, Mocahete, and Catan

We all slept in pretty late as we didn’t really have any plans for the day other than to enjoy the castle life and eventually wander around town. That was really our only plans for most of the days other than a mezcaleria booked for Thursday. I’m usually a power traveler but for this trip I was in no rush to do anything and it was super nice that everyone else in the group felt the same way. We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool, sunbathing, blasting music, drinking homemade cocktails, and just enjoying each other’s company. At one point we went out to get more supplies from the market and these dudes had setup a bakery in the trunk of their car filling it with pastries. Gotta love the random shit you see when traveling abroad.

Later that evening we headed out for dinner to Los Milagros and got an incredible molcajetes volcano bowl with beef, chicken, peppers, onions, a green sauce, refried beans, guacamole, and more. Although I ended up getting rocked by one of the peppers. I was already pretty drunk and the spice just absolutely kicked my ass causing me to puke. I ate so much spicy food living with Vicky and Yen and held my own but sorry former roomies I failed this round. After dinner we got drinks at a mezcal bar called the Room and ended up chatting with the owner for yet another friendly local encounter.

Then we went back home and partied til the wee small hours playing multiple games of Catan and just chatting it up. I ended up sleeping on the rooftop couch because it was such a nice night.

Day Three: Lost in the San Miguel Sauce

Once again we slept in and started our day by hanging out by the pool. But this time we wanted to leave the house earlier in the afternoon to truly explore more of San Miguel. There was an area of town with lots of murals and an art studio so our goal was to head that way. Kendall paints murals for a living so we had a resident expert in the group. Check out her IG because she is amazing and if you know a good wall that needs painting you know who to call!! But we were also going to allow ourselves to just get lost wandering on any cool streets we saw. We passed by so many more colorful buildings with beautiful doors and plants everywhere. You can really walk anywhere in this town and it will be aesthetically pleasing to look around. There’s also just endless shops, restaurants, and artisanal markets to discover. San Miguel is the perfect city to just walk around and get lost. We eventually made our way to the area with lots of murals and there were so many cool ones!

From there we continued walking to La Aurora art studio. One hilarious thing we saw was this truck that drove by with its sirens on and yelling in a megaphone out the window. At first, we thought it was an ambulance but it had a dumpster on the back and a construction worker ran up to it throw something away so we ended up calling it the garbage ambulance. Along the way we stopped at La Familia which is this tiny little house that sells street tacos for under $1. The mother cooks the tacos and her daughter collects the money. Such an authentic family run place and the tacos were so good. I discovered my love for Nopalitos (cooked cactus).

Then we made it to La Aurora which didn’t look like much from afar but once you get inside it opens up to a courtyard and this giant art gallery maze with countless rooms. Some rooms were actual artists’ works and others just had little trinkets and home decor but everything in there was for sale. One of the big reasons for coming to this area is that the group (minus me) wanted to get tattoos and the top recommended artist had his space next to La Aurora called Heart of Mexico Tattoo & Clothing Brand. We went to Daniel’s studio, who was yet another incredibly kind soul we met, and planted the seed for setting up an appointment for 5 people on Friday. At this point we were all roasting and ready to cool down in the pool. We walked home, but not without getting ice cream and stopping in a few more shops on the way (Evan bought this dope green poncho thanks to me and Kendall’s convincing powers), and sat on the rooftop couch enjoying another amazing sunset while everyone picked out their tattoo designs. It’s not that I have anything against tattoos and I actually really like most people’s tattoos, I’ve just never had a strong interest in getting one myself. This moment was as good as any so if it wasn’t going to push me in that direction, I don’t think anything will.

Afterwards everyone pitched in to prepare a family dinner of chips and guac, charcuterie, steak, and salad. We were all a little drunk and had the giggles so it was a really fun group activity. There was this mysterious meat/cheese/caramel apple like substance in the fridge that looked like a pair of balls tied to a string. So naturally instead of cutting into it to see what it was, we used it as a prop for Evan to tie around his waist and serve us wine in his new poncho. We spent the rest of the night taking turns making party punch margarita pitchers and doing more of the same: swimming, hanging on the rooftop, drinking, talking, laughing, and playing Catan and Heads Up. Evan even used his fine dining waiter skills to make us a homemade Rosé which was actually just a mixture of Red and White wine in a pitcher (my dad, his boss, and any other person who cares an ounce about wine would be cringing but we were having too much fun to care).

Day Four: Mezcal Rancho La Quinta and Casa Fuentes Rager

This was the first day we actually had to be up at a particular time and even though our car was at 11, so not really that early, it was still a difficult start to the morning after the way we partied the night before. Who knew homemade Rosé would lead to such a bad headache?! It was about a 1.5-hour drive to the Mezcaleria and our first time exploring outside San Miguel other than our car ride in but I was too hungover to soak in much. As we got closer, we turned onto a dirt road even driver was like where the fuck we going. He started asking people in town and they had no idea about the ranch. And since the town name and the ranch name were both La Quinta, it was pretty hard to clarify where exactly we were going. As we started going further down the dirt road, the potholes were getting bigger and the situation was getting dicier. Does this place even exist??? Finally, we saw some baby agave plants in front of this shed and a sign for Mezcal Rancho La Quinta. I guess this is it. It was already 12:30 and all we had to eat was 2 smoothies split between the 5 of us. The tour was supposed to include lunch but at this point it looked like we’d be lucky to even get a tour, let alone what are the odds that it will be in English. Evan and I were both starving and gave each other this look like better strap in we might not be eating for a long time. Everything was looking suspect as hell but then Esteban walked up and it all went uphill from there. Esteban was our tour guide and also the fifth-generation owner of the Mezcal ranch. The second he started the tour he quickly turned around the vibe. He began by giving us all our own sunhats and shot glass to borrow for the tour. Then he popped open a bottle of Mezcal, poured us a shot, and explained how we should be using our five senses with each sip of Mezcal. This really resonated with me as I had previously written down a note to use all five senses throughout my adventure to really soak it all in. After going through how to use the five senses we drank our first of many Mezcal sips…and they’re off! It was quite tasty Mezcal too, not too smoky but still enough of that Agave flavor to pack a punch.

He then led us around the ranch (well not him, his dog Alembique was leading the way the whole time) and gave us the history of the land; told us about their processes of gathering the Agave and turning it into Mezcal – harvesting and cutting it, cooking it, mashing it, distilling it, and bottling it; explained the different cactuses and the flowers they produced; split open a plant and discussed its healing properties; and many other interesting things that I can’t remember. It was such an authentic family run business and Esteban was at the top of it all. He was trying to get his business of the ground and give back to the local community of 200 people employing them and teaching them English. This girl Lori that we met later on was a jack of all trades in the Mezcal production line, and she didn’t look a day over 16. Esteban asked each of us what we did for our profession and was trying to craft ways in which we could help get him investments or at least bring more tours to the ranch. When some people do stuff like that it can feel pushy, but not Esteban. He was super genuine and knowledgeable and ran the type of business that you would want to be a part of. I would work with him any day of the week, and all of us in the group felt the same way. And here I am doing my part now by promoting him to all of you on this blog. If you ever in San Miguel, I highly, highly recommend visiting Mezcal Rancho La Quinta. Hopefully some day he is able to tap the American market and it will be in a store near you! Anyways enough of the sales pitch. Throughout the tour we got better at identifying all the different flora that Esteban pointed out in the beginning. Also throughout we were slowly sipping shots of Mezcal and whenever you ran out the shot glass was immediately filled right back up.

After walking around the ranch, we ended up near where we started and saw the firepits used for cooking the Agave pina and the area for the Tahona process, which is this giant stone wheel use to crushed the cooked pina. It is too large to be pushed by human so some ranches use a mule or donkey but Esteban said they now use a truck. Then he we went back to the shed that we started at and he showed us their bottling process and Lori was working away continuing her duties as a jack of all trades.

It was such a nice tour up to this point that we all had totally forgotten about the lunch part. Esteban took us about 5 minutes into town where we walked into this local family’s backyard. There were dogs roaming around everywhere, clothes and shoes hanging from lines, little kids playing in the dirt, and these two nice ladies cooking us an authentic meal – pulled chicken, rice, mole, cactus, and tortillas. And of course, we had to refill our Mezcal shot glasses. You really can’t beat this experience! But we weren’t done yet. Esteban invited us to come check out his parent’s place after lunch.

We figured sure why not, you don’t turn someone down when they invite you to their parents. It was a bit further away so we went in two different groups riding on his golf cart with the girls going first. We were joking that Esteban might never come back. Sure enough he did and when we got to his parents’ place our jaws dropped. It was nicer than Casa Fuentes…in different ways. It had this open-air concept with massive rooms and high ceilings, and the views were absolutely incredible. We all kicked off our shoes making ourselves at home drinking more Mezcal and getting a tour of the house from our gracious host. After hanging for a little we realized that we should get going since we had a dinner reservation later that night, but why would we ever leave this place?? Esteban didn’t totally pick up on the cues and asked if we wanted to go see another part of the ranch. We kindly declined saying we had to get going, but we wanted to buy some bottles before we left. He would have gladly continued showing us around all night. What started as a potential nightmare experience turned into our best day yet. Don’t judge a Mezcaleria by its dirt road. After an afternoon in intense sun and drinking Mezcal, we all passed out on the car ride home.

We had some nice pool and chill time at Casa Fuentes before heading to Atrio Restaurant for our fancy dinner night. The restaurant was on the rooftop and had an incredible view of Parroquia San Miguel Arcángel especially as the sun was setting. We order a bottle of Red and White (this time not blended together as the infamous Rosé de Evan) and shared a bunch of dank appetizers then picked a partner to split an entrée with. The gang was also really sweet and had the waitress bring out the desert with sparklers to celebrate my adventures ahead.

There was only two nights left in the castle and after the amazing day we had at the Mezcaleria and amazing rooftop dinner with view, it was only fitting that we would party like there was no tomorrow 9:30AM tattoo appointment. The Mezcal and Tequila was flowing like water as we played Heads Up on the rooftop and got so into it that we purchased multiple new decks of cards. There was an extra loud and energetic Hayley coming out to play and we were all loving it. After countless rounds everyone was really drunk and in such a goofy and fun mood that we had to capitalize on that energy by doing silly things: coal walks, giant candle dances, wall climbs, human bridge crossings, flower pedal shots, and whirlpools. Just your normal Thursday night activities that most Inspirato members participate in at Casa Fuentes. This is what happens when you start drinking mezcal at 12:30pm on an empty stomach in desert heat and never stop the rest of the day. And like how any good night that includes those types of activities should end, we popped on Euro Trip and fell asleep on the couch.

Day Five: Tats and Hats

Since I wasn’t getting a tat I slept in until about 10:30 before slowly making my way out of the house and over to Heart of Mexico Tattoo. When I got there, Daniel was tattooing Hayley (for her first one!!!) and another artist that he brought in, Luis, was doing Kendall. I thought they would be further along but were still only on the first two people. Going to be a long day at the tattoo shop. I didn’t really care though because La Aurora was right there to walk around and it was fun being with my friends and watching them get tattoos. In order to fit in with the bonding experience, I bought one of the swag hats that Daniel sells at his shop – tats and hats. This turned out to be an all-day affair. Jason went last and Hayley stayed with him while the rest of us went back to reliable ole La Familia to get 12 tacos for the group (well after trying another taco stand that was closing and the guy saying something way too quickly for us to even pretend to understand).

We were finally almost home around 5 when the great Karen Incident occurred. We were about a block away when this American woman walks by us and goes “do you live that brown house over there behind the white one?” We were taking a different route than usual so Evan’s response was “I don’t even know what street we’re on.” Even though our house was more of a beige color Jason and I immediately sensed she was talking about us and he said “No” then we power walked down to it. We get to the door and there’s a notice from the city on it…fuck! The lady pretended to walk up the street then turned around and watched us from the top of the hill as we walked into the house. Welp, looks like the neighborhood Karen called the city on us for being too loud last night and we got a noise complaint. Everyone’s tattoo (and hat) high was immediately gone as the mood of the house turned. I could tell Hayley was especially worried, which was totally understandable given she’s the one that works for Inspirato. The concierge David was coming shortly so it was going to be a make-or-break moment for how the rest of the night would go. He arrived and upon looking at the notice told us that it was from the 80-person party that the homeowners of Casa Fuentes had thrown a few weeks back. Phew what a relief! I’m sure Karen called in that complaint too but thank God it wasn’t us. And there’s no way that the 6 of us partying late could even compare to the noise coming from an 80-person party. The mood of the room immediately elevated and the rest of the night we made countless Karen jokes so our run in with her actually turned out to provide a great deal of comic relief. With that weight off our shoulders, we went back into town to do our last round of shopping. One of the rare fails of the weekend was getting drinks before dinner. First, we tried going into a place that had a sign that said 2 for 1 margaritas only to find out that they don’t even serve alcohol. Then we went to this cool looking underground bar with a neon sign only to have them be out of Tequila and it take nearly 30 minutes for us all to get our drinks even though we were the only people in the bar. Oh well can’t win them all. Per David’s recommendation, we grabbed dinner at Raffaela Terraza which had a beautiful rooftop, cheap tacos, and a tasty Mezcal cocktail. We went back to Casa Fuentes in good spirits and reminisced about all the highlight moments of the trip and enjoyed each other’s company one last night in our castle. Evan did the grand reveal what the balls on a rope were and it was….cheese!

Day Six: Farewell Friends and Chicken Wings

We got up early so that we could take our Covid tests at the Rosewood Hotel right when they opened at 9. Always nerve wracking to take a Covid test and especially when testing positive would mean getting stuck abroad (particularly for Jason and Hayley who have been on the wrong side of that story). We had to go into a van parked next to the hotel to take the test and it didn’t even seem like guy was paying attention to which sample went with which person. I’m sure he has a system…or maybe they just say everyone is negative. It could take up to 2 hours to get the results so we went and got breakfast while we waited. Within 30 minutes we had all gotten our results and luckily everyone was negative. Crisis averted. Shortly after breakfast our ride arrived to take the Denver crew to the airport and me to a hotel nearby the airport is Silao as I wasn’t leaving until the next day. They dropped me off at the Holiday Inn and it was a very sad farewell. This was truly a magical experience and such a great stop on my adventure. I am excited to travel solo but I had so much fun with this group of people at Casa Fuentes and wandering around San Miguel. So many great memories and a true bonding experience with Jason, Hayley, Evan, Kendall, and Sarah. I love all you guys so much and hope that we all get together again when I’m back in Denver and that we can do another trip in the future. Maybe if we promote Mezcal Rancho La Quinta enough it can become an annual trip out to Esteban’s parents’ place. Kendall and I have also discussed moving to Casa Rojo in San Miguel when my trip is done. The options are endless! In the words of the great Zach Velmer: love, love, love, love, love, love!

I tried checking into the hotel only to find out it was the wrong Holiday Inn. Doh! Luckily they were nice and sent a driver over from the other one which was only 10 minutes away. Also, the Holiday Inn I had booked was closer to the center of Silao so I could actually walk into town if I wanted to. Earlier in the day I had seen that there was a chicken wing spot so obviously I had to see what Mexican wings were all about. I chilled at my hotel for a bit and ended up discovering that there were 5 different wing places in town so I picked the one with the best reviews. Who knew that Silao was the chicken wing capital of Mexico?! Before dinner I walked to the main plaza just to see what Silao was all about. Definitely a much different feel than San Miguel. The streets were lined with little shops and restaurants but everything was much more rundown. Also, I’m pretty sure I was the only non-local in the entire town. The main plaza had a nice feel to it and I sat on a bench for 15 minutes staring at the church and people watching. Then I went to DevorAlas to get wings and they did not disappoint! It was only $6 for 12 wings and the best mango habanero sauce I’d ever had, probably because it was made with real mangos. Plus, the wings were the perfect crispiness. It was the perfect meal to end my trip. I went back to my hotel exhausted after 5 nights of Casa Fuentes living and immediately fell asleep.

One key takeaway from this trip is that I have a LONG WAY to go on my Spanish. My reading skills are okay but listening and speaking comprehension is terrible. I know some vocab and grammar but hard to put it all together into sentences in real time, let alone hold down a conversation. The first couple months in South America are going to be a challenge with the language barrier, but it will also be a motivating factor for me to improve. We shall see how it all comes along.

Road Tripping Home

I had an early flight and was back in Houston by 10:30 Sunday morning, just in time for Mother’s Day. My mom and dad were in Houston as they had been watching Jade that weekend while Paul and Nichole spent their wedding anniversary in New Orleans. My dad cooked us a nice brunch then Mom and I hit the road. It was good catching up with her on my past couple weeks and we also had some great conversations that helped me zone in on what I needed to pack for my trip and the things I needed to get done while in Sarasota. We stopped in Slidell that first night then headed a few hours down the road to Pensacola where I spent the rest of the day with Conrad, my buddy I studied abroad with in France and also backpacked around SE Asia for a month. He’s one of those great friends where every time you see them you pick up right where you left off. I wish he could join me on the South America journey as we have always traveled so well together but I’m so happy to see him crushing it at naval aviation school in Pensacola. Truly one of the smartest people I know. Keep kicking ass my friend and we will do a world adventure again someday soon.

The next morning Mom and I hit the road and made it back to Sarasota where I am currently at. This 9-day stint is a time for relaxation before my life on the go. However, I still have a lot to do: buying any last-minute things, packing all my stuff for 6+ months, practicing my Spanish, getting some vaccinations, spending time with family, and just preparing myself for the life ahead.