Life In San Miguel

Transportation In San Miguel

Imagine for a moment your city without stop lights, stop signs, or center lines to tell you which side of the road you should be driving on...it would be utter chaos, but not here in the quaint town of San Miguel, Mexico. As you are driving around you will spot an endless supply of green taxi cabs, buses, motorcycles, and four wheelers. You would think that there would be a lot of accidents, but somehow the traffic flows so smoothly. Actually, the only rule to driving here in Mexico, is don't hit anyone. If you feel like going the speed limit you do. If you feel like stopping you do, if you don't, don't. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow of the traffic. The police really don't care how you drive, as long as you don't have an accident. You will hear an occasional horn blow but for the most part the drivers are courteous and there is not a lot of road rage or angry drivers. The cobblestone roads in San Miguel are very narrow making it a challenge for the driver to navigate around. Sometimes it is better to park your car and just walk to where you want to go. Some people just take a taxi or the bus. Scott and I live on the outer edge of town, so a lot of times we park our van in the downtown parking area and walk to where we want to go. We love to walk so it great exercise of us.

This is a picture taken outside the "Mega" grocery store. These little green taxi's are everywhere in the city. Here they are lined up waiting for customers to come out of the store wanting a ride. Most people travel around the city this way. It is the best way to get around.

Some people choose to get around the city in various ways. Here this man is trying to make a living. This is not an uncommon sight here in the city, to see donkeys and horses along the streets.

This nice man hauls these bamboo woven rugs around on his bicycle. This is his form of transportation and his way of living. He sells these rugs for 150 pesos which is about $11.00 US dollars. These are all hand made and they are worth every penny. Alot of the people native to San Miguel are very crafty and skilled with their hands.

As Scott and I were going around the city, we got behind the garbage truck. When the garbage men are out and about, they will ring a bell to signal that they are approaching your home, so you can get your trash to the curb. In the states the trash is put into the back of the truck and compacted down. Here in Mexico you have several workers, some in the truck and some out. They haul the garbage into the back of the truck to the workers inside. The workers inside ride around with the trash until it is unloaded. I'm not sure what kind of money they are paid to do this job, but I'm sure it's not much. I do feel sorry for them because of the heat and the flies. I know I need to thank the people who do this job, so that we can have a clean home and city!

Our next post on Life in San Miguel will be on construction around the city. They have some very unique ways for fixing the roads, and building homes. Scott is just amazed and humored some of the way things are done.