FRANK AND GRACE
Actually Friday. I stayed in in the morning and then at noon met Martha who was going to have lunch with friends whom she wanted me to meet. We met in the square. Frank and Grace Prindle have been living in San Miguel de Allende for 8 years. Frank retired from 22 years in the Army where he trained as a helicopter pilot after attending West Point. After retiring from the Army he sold real estate in the Washington area where he son and grandchildren live. Grace was born in the United States to Mexican American parents and speaks good Spanish. She spends about half the year in Washington with the grandchildren and he spends a little less.
It is clear to me why they moved to San Miguel de Allende. Frank says he can’t stand humidity and the dry climate suits him. But the restaurant we were sitting in, the beautiful shops, the pastel houses, the cobblestone streets, the musical scene with constant concerts, festivities almost every day and the low cost of living make this a wonderful place to live. A taxi driver the other day who spoke good English was ecstatic about San Miguel de Allende. He said that there were 60 nationalities living here with a range of shops from high end to local markets. And Frank says the same thing. About 7% of the 100,000 population comes from abroad, not only the USA and Canada but from all over Europe and China and Japan.
It was Grace who gave Martha the name of Dr. Werner Ricardo Gordillo Marath who I visited a week or so ago with an earache that turned out to be nothing. But the conversation I had with him—-he speaks German, Spanish, Catalan and English— was worth the $50 consulting fee and now if I come back and get sick I know where to go. She also gave me the name of their dentis, Dr. Alma Godinez, who can take care of implants if I need one.
I forgot my iPhone and felt naked without my phone camera. So I have no photographs of Frank and Grace or the rooftop restaurant but I had a marvelous time.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 