Casa Catrina is perfectly situated in the center of San Miguel, in between the Jardin, Parque Juarez and the famed Instituto Allende art and language school.

With three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, our home handles up to 6 people and has an abundance of outdoor living space, including a central patio and covered sala on the first floor as well as four different terraces on the upper levels.

Entereing from the street you come into a hallway that runs the lenght of the house off of which is the den/study (with fireplace, TV and computer center), then comes a colorful tiled kitchen, living/dining room (with fireplace) and the outdoor sala (another fireplace).

All three bedrooms are located on the second floor of the house. The master suite, with its elegant four-poster queen bed, has its own fireplace and double sink bathroom. The other two bedrooms share a bathroom, one with a king bed and one with two twins (that can be combined to create a second king bed). The twin-bedded room opens, thru French doors, onto a bougainvillea-covered terrace.

Up one more flight of stairs and you are on the first level of a three-tiered roof terrace. The first tier has a private covered area with a lovely fountain. This level also includes another full bathroom and separate laundry room. There is a dumbwaiter on this level that allows you to bring food and drinks from the first floor kitchen to the upper roof terraces.

The two additional roof terraces have more sitting areas as well as yet another fireplace. Both of these terraces have drop-dead views of the Parroquia church, the heart and soul of San Miguel, as well as the rooftops and spires of the old historic San Miguel.

The home includes high-speed internet access and Vonage (Voice-Over-IP)phone line for free calls back to the US and Canada.

The house includes a full time maid/cook who works from 9:30 to 3:30 Mon-Friday and 9:30 to 1 pm on Saturdays. Although the maids primary role is to clean, she is an excellent cook and can work additional hours (for compensation) preparing outstanding meals. The house also includes a gardener who works 20 hours per week keeping the patios clean and the plants well maintained as well as a house manager, who speaks English, and is available to answer any questions and take care of any problems.

Though there is no smoking inside the house there are many outside terraces on the property where you can smoke.

Our home is located in Centro San Miguel and just a short walk to all of the major sites. The city's largest park and major locale for walkers and joggers, Parque Juarez, is one block away. The center of town and the city's cultural center, the Jardin, is two blocks from the house. Right around the corner from the house is an organic food store, many restaurants, one of San Miguel's best cheese shops, a super market, the 24 hour pharmacy/market and a great ice cream shop.

San Miguel, the birthplace of the revolution from Spain, is a center for art and culture in Mexico. A 450-year old Spanish colonial town, located at 6,200 feet in elevation has an ideal climate almost year round. During the first two weeks of August it is home to a world renowned chamber music festival and in late November it is home to one of the longest running Jazz Festivals in Latin America.

San Miguel is a town full of artist, many of whom are excellent teachers. There are an abundance of classes available in all of the arts and for various durations of time. San Miguel is also the home of many excellent spanish language schools as well as cooking schools. There are also many yoga and meditation centers in San Miguel.

San Miguel is located close to two international airports (Leon and Queretaro). Transportation to and from the airports is readily available and it is not necessary to have additional transportation when in San Miguel. Taxi's are abundant and available at the minimual cost of $2.50 per trip. San Miguel is a good walking city and most of the main venues are within a 5 to 15 minute walk from our home.

We are both retired and can travel just about any time of the year. The timing is mostly an issue of weather and crowds. We don't want to go to a location during that time of the year when the weather is typically poor or during those periods of the year when the location is especially crowded.

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The truth is that we are easy and open to many other locations around the world. We have other homes so an exchange does not have to be simultaneous.

We are Dennis and Kathrin and our primary residence is in the middle of the Sonoma vally wine country; Kenwood, California. Since my retirement at the end of 2008 we have been spending more time in San Miguel and Hawaii. Kathrin went to art school in San Miguel in the late 60's, and has spent a lot of time there during the last 15 years leading woman on creative painting retreats. She has always wanted to have a home in San Miguel and in 2005 convinced me, the one who never wanted to buy anything in Mexico, that I should take a look at San Miguel. One four week stay later and we had committed to buying our home. We took possession of the property in mid 2006 and for the next six months Kathrin stayed in San Miguel and worked on her construction spanish. By the end of 2006 the home was remodeled to the point that even the previous owners were impressed with the changes we had made.

Kathrin and I met while traveling in Nepal and traveling is one of our primary passions. Now that we are both retired we are looking forward to experiencing more long term travel and longer stays in various locations. No more of the three day stay and then off to the next village. A home exchange seems perfectly fit for the kind of travel that we want to experience at this point in our lives.

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