Going to the Vivero (nursery) in San Miguel de Allende

After a long night f neighborly very loud music, I got up about 7am, and had cold cereal and bananas and milk for breakfast. And a piece of melon. I computed for a bit, and then took the sweet doggie for a walk. . We walked around and took the roof garden photos. When we got home I tidied up the house, and eventually left to go exploring, hoping I would find some plant nurseries.

I had seen three nurseries from bus windows yesterday but I didn't have a clue about how to get there. Unfortunately I didn't think to bring my two plastic plant carry-alls, just in case.
After wandering around a bit, I got on a bus going somewhere. Eventually we arrived at the Centro, the area where all the buses turn around and head out to the colonias or where ever. Together a lady on the bus and the driver got me going the right way to find the Gigante store and the vivero. If you want to read about my long days journey to the vivero, go to My Life in Chacala .

After waiting around for the bus for a while I got bored and walked off and found the giant fruit and flowers and plastic stuff market, maybe called El Nigrogrito. I put a photo of their shrine to Guadalupe on the previous post. Bought some lovely, cheap fruit and a set of the plastic flags hanging from the ceiling.
Finally I left the store and I walked outside and down the street, and saw the bus to Gigante and the Botanical Garden coming down the street. Got on the bus. And got to see a lot of San Miguel from a viewpoint called Mirador. The bus ride was straight uphill most of the way. The driver and a young mom with baby showed me where to get off. We walked around a giant pedestrian bridge to the Gigante (hidden in a mall) and the vivero.

The vivero looked like it was going to be a winner, but I had to find a cash machine, an ATM, and get some pesos. Found one, and then spent 15 minutes waiting for two drunken idiot boys trying to use a cash card in the ATM machine. A store employee finally ran them off.

I got some pesos, and then, as I was heading back to the nursery, a gringa approached me and asked if I spoke English. She had a familiar look, like she was someone I might know. She wanted to know how to get to the Botanical Garden. She was with another woman, maybe her mother. We walked together toward the vivero, and I pointed out the road to her. She said she lived in the Basque country of Spain. She must of have been on a tight budget, because she wanted to walk about 1/2 mile rather than spend $2o pesos on a taxi.

I liked how they looked and thought it was too bad they were leaving tomorrow, because they were the first gringas/gringos in SMA who I thought I might have something in common with. I think almost all the gringos here are well-off. One of them told me that SMA had the most expensive property in Mexico. Who knows if that's true. Even Chacala has some pretty expensive lots.

I walked on over to the nursery and started looking around. There was four areas with succulents. There was a lot of other stuff, but I hardly looked at any of it. Only the succulents. I am hungry for them. A Jade plant never seemed so special.

I didn't see any tropical looking plants, at first glance, except the bouganvilleas. After giving me some ideas about the prices of the plants, the nursery guy left me alone. I collected 15 plants, and then realized I had no way to carry more than maybe five home. I found the worker and asked if he had bags. He suggested I go get some from Gigante, and I did. Some free regular shopping bags.

When I came back the guy was looking over my selection. It turned out I had picked a few he didn't want to sell yet, and he took them back. He said they were hard to start and he could get more money when they got big. And two were too expensive for me. Although I might end up going back and spending the money anyway. But I did end up with 11 plants, and three of them are doubles, I paid 180 pesos, maybe 16.50US. So, I packed up the remaining plants and headed home.

I quickly realized I didn't want to struggle with changing buses. So when a taxi driver pulled up I asked how much, and it was 20 pesos (2.00US) to go clear across town. So I hopped in. On the way back the driver showed me two other nurseries and how to get there from here. So I paid him more. Nice man. Lived in SMA all his life, except for two years in the U.S. He has three teenagers and a working wife, and I had the impression he was just barely making it. He talked about having worked in Texas, and that it was a nice place to visit, but he wouldn't want to live there. He seemed to know it was a joke.

Here is a group shot of my new plants. Five of them got close-ups before a downpour stopped the photography session. Just plain, ordinary succulents, but I have been missing them so much. I can't wait to get them home. After I go to the other viveros, of course. I haven't been able to find any of these in the viveros in the PV area. Maybe I went to the wrong viveros. Don't know. I won't put any names under the plants because I don't have my books with me, and it's SO embarrassing to get the names wrong in public, in writing.