Michael - just out of curiousity and I always wanted to know - what made you decide to retire there? I always watch House Hunters and love when they go different places to retire and find a house.
Marc was the driver in this area. I LOVE the beach, the heat (yes, I can go to Palm Springs with 120 degree temps (no humidity) and be VERY happy), the lounging by a pool with beverages brought to me by wait staff, the heat, the beach, heat - have I said I love the heat? I moved to L.A. from the U.P. of Michigan with a stopover of 18 months in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. ANYTHING, in my mind, is better than those two places weather-wise.
Marc, while happy in L.A., is not a "heat" person at all. He gets redder than a beet if he's out in the sun for more than, oh, 5 minutes. He's put up with me for 24 years now (2 of those married - the anniversary was yesterday!) and when he was talking about retirement he mentioned that he had been looking around for a place to retire that would be both economically feasible and a wonderful area. We both love Mexico (me the beach, he the mountains) and it was time for me to realize that this all wasn't about ME! If he could put up with me and all my foibles for this length of time, I sure as heck could learn to love any place that we decided to light down.
San Miguel de Allende (SMA) is a jewel. He researched it, bought books about it, put them down where I could pick them up and read about it, read blogs about it, and it didn't take much to convince me!
Our first time there was early March of this year. We spent 3 days there and loved it! Met one of the ladies and her partner of 30-some years who wrote one of the books that convinced us about SMA as well as the blog that we read and we just had a grand time. By the time we got home they had sent an e-mail suggesting a new place for us to think about renting (the first place we wanted, very Gaudiesque, just wasn't right for us) and we were back down there at the end of March to take a look at that; 4 days that visit. The next visit was at the end of April and we were there for 7 days! In total we've only been there 14 days but have become enamored of all things SMA. We've met some wonderful people in our short time there and we know we've made the right choice. Some might say we've chosen hastily and one couldn't argue with them! But we're darn happy right now! Almost gay!
What makes it even better is we've got to work a bit while there. Our Spanish is horrendous! Our neighborhood is a working-class Mexican neighborhood. There is one other gringa on our street and that's it. We can't retreat behind our housing walls and expect to make it. We've GOT to get out and meet the folks.
One could live in a palace down there, but you don't need to! Yes, there are enclaves of expats in million-dollar homes but that is so unneccesary for us. We've got a great home at a great rent (4 months rent there = 1 month mortgage here) for a house more than twice the size of what we have now, LOTS of cultural stuff going on every single month, and, if we need to, we can get back to the states easily - or just take the $20 airfare I just found from Guadalajara to Cabo and spend a few days at the beach.....
We're gonna have fun! Life, no matter WHAT they tell you, IS an adventure!
we won a botle of Lambrini in a Disney Quiz competition last year on holiday in Cornwall......dh & I were so angry though as we had to name 3 Disney princesses....and they accepted Princess Fiona from someone!!!!! 
lol......Disney geeks that we are 
I hope we get our cabin number soon!
