Sunday in the Country

Although there is a lot going on in town every day, there's still a big unexplored world outside the city limits. Heck - we're in the mountains, and if we can enjoy nature in Tahoe, we can certainly do the same in San Miguel.

Adriana picked us up at our house, and our first stop was Xote, the kid-friendly hot spring and water park. Bryce has been bugging to return here for weeks, and was psyched. Nicholas - Bryce's new friend and Adriana's son - met us there on the back of his dad's dirt bike. And Ann-from-Colorado and her family joined us as well, so we had a nice multi-family gathering swimming, sliding and hanging out.

(One of the great things about living in a very religious country is that you can go anywhere on Sunday morning and avoid the crowds. We practically had Xote to ourselves.)

Having lived in San Miguel for three years or so, Adriana knows some great spots. Our next stop was a hotel/restaurant called Casa de Aves (House of Birds), way out on a dirt road. If we didn't know Adriana so well, I would have been sure she was driving us to a place to get mugged or something. It really was way out there.

Casa de Aves was awesome. We arrive, and immediately we see a tree house, a trampoline, and a pond with a dock. The kids were delighted. The restaurant was beautifully perched next to the pond, with new age massage music piped in from a distance. We had a long leisurely comida, and between courses the kids checked in with us every ten minutes or so from trampolining or duck chasing or whatever else they were doing. The food was good, and Jim (Adriana's husband) ordered a nice Italian bottle of wine. My only regret is that we didn't get to try the zip line that travelled over the pond. We'll have to return...


Casa De Aves