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marcia cox

Jul 23, 2003, 12:05 PM

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Guanajuato vs San Miguel? Festival Timing?

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I was intrigued by Garrycouch's reply re the Cervantes Festival. My husband and I are planning a trip to Guanajuato and San Miguel, incorporating a week of language school in G. We have been studying Spanish for about a year & have longterm plans of living at least part of the time in either G or SM.

We wanted to see the 'real' Guanajuato & avoid the festival (not even realizing it would be so rowdy) & the crowds/activities that are out of the norm. I understand goes from Oct 17 to Nov 2 this year.

Right now we are looking to arrive Sat Nov 1 & enrolling in classes Monday 11/3.

Questions:
1. Do you think that timeschedule would avert the mess of the festival or do you think we'd have to delay the arrival an additional week?
2. Curious--are you working/retired? Did you choose G over SM -- or vice versa -- and why? I am serious about experiencing expat life. Would have loved that to be Italy or France (I was fairly fluent in both many years ago), but for several reasons (not excluding the stock market plunge) Mexico is more appealing now. I am an interior designer and the artistic draw of SM is strong--but I would not want to live in an all-English speaking enclave, as living as a native in a foreign land, speaking another language, is what I'm seeking.
Retirement is not in our immediate plans--we are activitely working/hiking/tennis-playing 57 year olds, but I'm self employed which gives me more flexibility than my husband to visit frequently & for long stretches. He is a construction manager/civil engineer.
3. Do you know anything about the Institute Cervantes language school--or do you have one to recommend? We'd want to do a homestay to have a bit more immersion.
3. Finally, we would like to connect personally with some ex-norte americanos while we are there. I am an active Rotarian & thought there might be Rotary Clubs in Guanajuato and San Miguel. Do you know of anyone with whom we might spend a bit of time with & share their experience?

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated,
mcoxintrs@juno.com[/email]