September 05, 2008, Finally you can find it!, By Andy Baltimore and Rick Wendling, DIF’s Queen of the Elderly

Finally you can find it!
By Andy Baltimore and Rick Wendling
September 5, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

All of us in San Miguel have had the frustrating experience of trying to find the location of a printer, a list of hardware stores or the address of a restaurant in the local directories—from Juarde to Conexiones to the San Miguel phone directory. All, to different degrees, are spotty and inconsistent, with gaps big enough to fall into.

Maybe you’ll find the phone number of a printer, but no address (and your Spanish isn’t good enough to get information over the phone); there may be a couple of hardware stores listed in each directory (with or without address); and your favorite restaurant isn’t listed in any directory, so you resort to paging through Atención, hoping they’ve run an ad this week.

Even expats who have been in San Miguel for some time seem to embrace the custom of their adopted country and become muy Mexicano on the concept of addresses and directions. So when someone tells you about a great little restaurant in colonia San Antonio called Cha Cha Cha, they’ll say something like, “Turn off the Ancha onto the street across from the Instituto. Go down a couple blocks until you come of one of those streets with a date, you know 5 de mayo or 20 de enero or something. Turn right and go two blocks, maybe less, and it’s on your right. I think it’s a yellow building. You can’t miss it! Aaarrggh!

SMAmap to the rescue

To the rescue comes SMAmap.com, an interactive online map that allows you to search by name of the establishment, address, or by type of business or service. Simply type in all (or part) of the name of a street, restaurant, gallery or any type of business.

For example, your search for Cha Cha Cha will take you immediately to a map with the restaurant location highlighted. You will see that it is on the corner of 28 de Abril Norte and Rosales. Zoom in as close as you choose and print out the map; you can also send a copy to the friends you’re meeting. When you get there, try the albondigas.

Andy Baltimore, formerly a computer consultant for Fortune 100 companies, and Rick Wendling, who was the voice and data network manager for a multinational insurance company, developed SMAmap.com. SMAmap offered them the opportunity to pursue their interests in information technology, while providing a much-needed service to their new community. The map currently covers almost all San Miguel city streets, and roads in some parts of the campo. Over time the map will be expanded to include the entire municipio.

A community collaboration

The great advantage of an online map, of course, is that it can be changed and updated as San Miguel changes—and as we’re all aware, the city is changing fast. Baltimore and Wendling think of their project as a collaboration with San Miguel’s residents and visitors, who are invited to add their own businesses or studios, their favorite restaurants or shops, simply by clicking “Add new location.” All listings are free. New contributions will be added during the weekly update.

One of their goals is to promote local artists and businesses, especially those that make San Miguel so special but do not have the resources to advertise. They are also encouraging sanmiguelenses who are interested in finally having a complete directory of our town to “adopt a block” and ferret out all the possible listings on their block or street and post them to the site.

More to come

Baltimore and Wendling have lots of ideas for expanding their map and related services. There is already a real local weather page (Did you know that weather.com’s information comes from a weather station in Querétaro?) and a directory of other San Miguel websites, including links to sites for Events and Festivals, Classes and Workshops, Artists, Galleries, Restaurants, Hotels and more. A Spanish-language version will be available in September at SMAmapa.com.

One planned enhancement is a Green Map, where you’ll be able to locate anything related to environmentally friendly businesses, services and sustainable living—maps and directions to organic farms and restaurants, recycling centers, green builders and more.

So check out SMAmap.com next time you’re looking for something in San Miguel. And if your favorite hang-out—or your own business or service or studio—is not on the map yet, just click on “Add new location” and fill out the form. Questions? Suggestions? Contact Andy Baltimore or Rick Wendling at webmaster@SMAmap.com.

The Department for Family Integration, DIF, crowned the Queen of the Elderly on August 27. The queen will represent San Miguel's senior citizens at the Fiestas Patrias. The former queen, Fulgencia Ragoytia, 79, was born in Xichú but lived more than 50 years in San Miguel.

“I will continue being queen of my home," she said. “Because I live alone, I make my own decisions,” said Fulgencia.

Adela Estrada Flores, 68, the new queen, was elected from among six other candidates, wining 54 of 110 votes. Adela has taught literacy to the elderly at DIF for five years. She was born in Mexico City but has lived for 11 years in San Miguel. She said she feels very satisfied having been elected queen since “it shows the affection people feel for me. It is very gratifying.”

Another 26 queens were elected within their own rural communities.