Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hello, travelers.
My name is Grace Simmons, andthis is the Random and Wonderful
podcast.
Settle in and listen tostories of wanderlust and transformation
as you gain tips to inspireyour next travel experience.
The Random and Wonderful isbrought to you by the Amethyst Palava
Hut, llc.
(00:25):
All right, so, Sam, welcome tothe Random and Wonderful podcast.
Thank you again for a greatgoing to be my guest today.
Thank you, Grace.
Happy to be here.
So, a quick intro, and I mayhave mentioned San Miguel.
Sam was the food tour guideand he had these incredible stories
(00:45):
as we're going from all thedifferent locations.
But if you want to hear hisstories, you're going to have to
book a tour with him.
What we're going to talk aboutright now is Sam's experience from
moving from Minneapolis to SanMiguel de Allende.
And I'm just.
I'm curious about that entire journey.
So first, please give us justa brief overview of what you do now,
(01:11):
and then we'll get into howyou got there.
Okay, that sounds good.
Well, right now I'm workingfor a very small food tour company
here in San Miguel.
There's five of us that workfor it, so it's a pretty small organization.
And it's the first time I'mever kind of worked in this field
where I've had to be very social.
(01:33):
I guess that part has been a challenge.
But it's been exciting to seethat I can actually communicate with
humans and I guess in positiveand nice ways versus dictating.
I felt like a dictator beforein my past, in my former life.
So that's what I do.
And I get to tell stories,which is a lot of fun.
(01:53):
And it's all the stuff that Ilove, which is food and history.
That's.
Those are my things.
So it's been exciting.
I don't know what to say.
It's kind of a dream.
Nice.
So why or how did you even endup in San Miguel?
So I learned about San Miguelthrough a friend of mine.
(02:14):
Actually, she and I met eachother in high school, which would
be like over 25 years ago atthis point.
And she came down for asemester abroad and never left.
And so I always knew about San Miguel.
San Miguel was always in theback of my mind.
And it turned out to be aneasier transition for my move to
(02:38):
Mexico because I originallythought, oh, I'm going to live in
the big city.
I'm going to live in MexicoCity, which I had visited many, many,
many, many times over the last25 years.
Number one tour destinationfor myself.
But coming to a small townlike this or a small city, I should
say was an easier transition.
Coming from Minneapolis, whichis my hometown.
(02:58):
What was that transition then like?
Do you just kind of walk awayfrom everything?
Was it a struggle to kind ofdetach from the life that you had
before?
It was absolutely a struggle.
I'm third generation in thesame neighborhood as my parents and
grandparents.
You know, I came from a veryclose, tight knit community where
(03:21):
I knew my neighbors weregener, you know, I was friends with
the grandchildren of mygrandparents friends, you know, so
that was, that in itself was a challenge.
Like was it because I, I knewI'd be giving up a lot, I'd be giving
up a lot of community.
I, I mean I had my contacthere in San Miguel, but that's limiting.
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I can't expect one person, youknow, to fill the, an entire community.
So that was the mostchallenging part was to really, you
know, get the guts to finally,to finally make the plunge, you know,
to do that.
So before you officiallymoved, where did you have like some
(04:02):
scouting trips?
Were you slowly trying toacclimate yourself to this because
what life could be, or was itjust a.
You made the decision and youwent for it?
I think a mix of both.
I mean, I have been comingdown annually to Mexico City, so
I kind of knew that cityfairly well.
So in my original plan wasthere and I kind of knew the neighborhoods
(04:26):
I liked and I had met, I wouldsay acquaintances, not necessarily
friends.
And I've had a connection toMexico that, you know, I'm divorced
now, but I had a spouse, youknow, for 10 years that was from
Mexico City, that had lived inMinneapolis for a while with me.
And we had this long distancekind of marriage, back and forth
(04:49):
kind of a thing for, for overa decade.
So I felt that, that part ofit, I felt I had scouted Mexico City.
I was like, even if I'm notmarried anymore, I felt I could navigate
at least in a survival ratio.
But for a long term, SanMiguel was definitely on the list
for a long term adjustmentjust because it's a smaller place.
(05:12):
But yeah, I guess in the endit really, because I was divorced,
it really was me just beinglike, okay, I'm going to do it, I'm
going to do it on my own.
I mean, I don't need anyoneelse to do it for me or hold my hand.
I need to just do it or not do it.
There's a point in your lifewhere you feel like, at least for
me, I felt like if I Don't doit now.
(05:35):
I probably never will do it.
And I'm not going to haveanyone that's going to just guide
me.
I'm just going to have tofigure it out.
If I fail, I fail.
If I thrive, I thrive.
But at least I tried.
Yeah, I feel like that's oneof the things that I've come across,
especially with speaking withguests, when they make a change to
move out of the US it's thatyes or no decision.
(05:59):
I don't know.
Or maybe the number is reallyfew where people have said maybe,
like, maybe I'll go check itout kind of thing.
Most people are like, no, no, no.
There's something that'shappened in their life and they needed
to make that solid decision of change.
And moving kind of became apart of that process.
Sure.
So tell me about life in SanMiguel, because I know I loved the
(06:24):
food, and I think around thetime that I went there, there were
a lot of events that required fireworks.
So everything was very happyand exciting for me.
But what's it like?
What's it like living in San Miguel?
I think what is interesting.
I'll make this point.
The other day I realized theage of the corner store I go to now.
(06:46):
The business itself is new.
You know, it's a chain forMexico City, but the actual building
is like almost three centuries.
Actually, it is threecenturies old.
And I think that that's.
When you think about what it'slike living in San Miguel, it's like
appreciating longevity, butit's appreciating what.
(07:07):
What others have created.
This beauty that I see aroundmyself every day, you take advantage
of it, looking at it.
But sometimes I like, in thiscase, I kind of took advantage of
it because I only recentlyrealized how old this actual building
was that this corner store is in.
And I feel like that's part ofthe experience.
(07:27):
Living in San Miguel isrealizing the age of things and how
many people lived, how manylifetimes lived and used these buildings
and these streets before I waseven born, before obviously before
I arrived here, but evenbefore I existed on this planet.
And that's one of the thingsabout living in a place that's 500
(07:48):
years old.
That to me is.
It's amazing.
It's quite different than whatI experienced back in Minneapolis
in the US where things areoldest buildings are maybe 100 or
150 years old, and they'vebeen refaced so many times that you
can't even tell.
So that's one thing.
Other thing is it's very exciting.
Like you said about all thefireworks, there's 150 celebrations
(08:11):
here and most of them last twodays or more.
So when you live here, one ofthe first things, especially for
the first year, is gettingused to noise.
Noise that you're notnecessarily used to, you know, because
a lot of those fireworkshappen at 3 o' clock in the morning
or 4 or 5.
But then you start.
Once you start engaging inthose activities.
(08:34):
Now, I can't say I'm engagedin all of them.
No, I mean, I, I do have anormal life, I mean, or a life, I
guess I should say.
But you start appreciating thecontinuity that again, kind of reflects
in the city as for many.
You'll see multi generations.
You'll see like a two year oldcelebrating with an 80 year old at
(08:54):
these celebrations.
And that's part of the life ofliving here, is experiencing that,
the continuity behind things.
That is such a neat perspective.
You mentioned that you likedthe food and the history.
Where did your love of foodcome from growing up?
(09:15):
I mean, and I grew up in avery poor family.
We were working class at best.
And food like, I feel like fora lot of communities that struggle
economically, food becomes a celebration.
And especially when you don'talways have the best food all the
(09:36):
time.
And so there's certain days orcertain times of the year or maybe
paydays when you have thesegreat elaborate meals that you normally
wouldn't have.
And that's where theappreciation came from and from scratch
cooking.
And I was very, very fortunatethat my mother was a very good cook
and a baker and my grandmotherand I mean my great grandma, I mean,
(09:58):
I had all these wonderfulwomen in my family that made amazing
food and very diverse food.
You know, I watch a lot offood videos, you know, where people
kind of talk about people'scuisines and how bland some people's
cuisines could be in the USwhere they're not exposed to things
or maybe they're, you know,it's their, probably their, their
(10:22):
budget or their income level,but it's also just how some, I don't
know how to put it, Somecultures just don't use a lot of
spices or seasonings.
And I, I was fortunate enoughto grow up in a family that did.
And they celebrated when wecould have those things because there
were times when we couldn't.
And so that was where my loveof food came from and being exposed
(10:44):
to.
I live in the neighborhood Igrew up in north Minneapolis is extremely
diverse.
Now granted the Majority areAfrican American.
It's 90% African American.
The other 10% is from everyonearound the world.
So I was exposed to all thosecuisines because my grandmother was
a very social person.
And so all her friends werethese, like, cacophony of cultures.
(11:06):
And she would.
They do recipe sharing andfood sharing.
And so by the time I was inhigh school, I had tried, you know,
more than a dozen cuisinesfrom, like, Southeast Asian to, like,
East African to, you know,typical African American cuisine,
different types of, you know,Nordic and European cuisines, Jewish
(11:27):
food.
I mean, I had tried it all.
So it was.
That's where my love of itcame from, you know.
You worked with food, though.
I did.
I did.
I went to school to be apastry chef.
That was my original idea.
And specialized in laminated doughs.
That's like croissants, likeFrench style croissants, but also
Scandinavian wienerbrood,which is like the Danishes.
(11:51):
And I did that for a while,and that was satisfying.
But then later on, Itransitioned into special diets because
I'd always had this kind ofcommunity aspect that I wanted to
fulfill in my life.
In the last 10 years of mycareer, I worked for a couple of
different nonprofits as akitchen manager.
That's when I was inmanagement positions making food
for people with chronic illnesses.
(12:12):
But because I'm Minneapolis'scharter, they had to be culturally
sensitive.
So I can't just make, like,roast chicken breast and vegetables
for people that are comingthat are, you know, from the Hmong
or Vietnamese communities orpeople from the Somalian communities,
you know, or people from Latin communities.
You had to make food that theywould eat.
(12:33):
Because the basis of theseprograms, all the programs I worked
for, was the people's weight,you know, as part of a.
If you're suffering from HIVor types of cancer, you have to eat.
I mean, because if you end uplosing a lot of weight, you know,
obviously that's going toimpact your health.
So that.
That was fun.
(12:55):
I mean, that was.
It was sad.
Okay.
I shouldn't.
I feel like I was too light on that.
There were a lot of sad moments.
Yeah.
But it was fun because you hadto research recipes from different
communities and then modify itfor medication or for low sodium
or gluten free or dairy freeor anti inflammatories, essentially.
(13:18):
And that was like, I learnedso much in 10 years.
I mean, a lot.
I think it prepared me fornow, dealing with tour tourists.
I got people from all over theworld, so I'm like, I can roll with
the punches, let's put it that way.
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(14:02):
your journey with confidence.
Do you feel like that also inspired?
Because I know at first yousaid that the social aspect or the
social requirements of yourjob now is kind of like something
that you're learning, but theway that you grew up and even working
as a special diet chef, wasthere some sort of practice, I guess,
(14:27):
in the way that you had tosocialize with people and to be able
to get these conversationsgoing, Especially when it comes to
something like food andunderstanding people's culture.
Do you notice ties back to theway that you grew up?
Yes, I do.
I think miscommunication is abig thing.
A lot of timesmiscommunication can go negative.
(14:48):
However, you can learnsomething from that.
You know, when there'ssomething that is either a cultural
value or even just yourcommunication skills in a particular
language, that you can havepatience behind that and then learn
from that mistake so that thenext interaction, or even that interaction,
(15:08):
you can get something positivefrom it.
And humor helps.
Humor is cross cultural.
And if you can, maybe I hateto use the word less sensitive because
it sounds insensitive, but meas a person, I'd have to be less
sensitive about maybe some ofthe criticisms that I would receive
(15:30):
because they can literallyjust be misunderstandings, you know,
and yeah, that's.
I think that has helped me alot and it helped me back then and
it's helped me now.
What are some values thatyou've noticed have either changed
or been strengthened sinceyour move?
(15:51):
Values wise, I think comingfrom again, you know, this is like
where you grow up affects youa lot.
I've always valued my time,you know, like when you, when you
go to work or when youinteract with people, my time has
been the focus of what Ivalued because time is precious.
(16:12):
However, after moving to, youknow, a Latin American country where
time is perceived differentlyand that's, I guess it really is
the case.
I've traveled to Europe andI've traveled to.
Even to South Korea.
Time is perceived differently everywhere.
And that's a value that'schanged me, is to just.
To realize that, yes, mytime's valuable for me, but it may
(16:36):
not be as valuable to someone else.
And that kind of changes.
Like, I guess my attitude.
Like, I can't really be upset.
I already know the drill.
But that takes time to getused to that to someone says, meet
me at 4.
Like, you know, like ourinterview tonight.
That could be 4:15 or 5:15.
(16:57):
I mean, I don't know.
I really don't.
And I just have to roll with it.
So you find things, you know,if you, you know, find coffee shops
that you like in the area orfind whatever you can to kill time
in that area, sometimes that's what.
What it takes.
And that.
That's taken.
That's a value that's changed also.
Just valuing what is really important.
Like, I don't have a car anymore.
(17:19):
I used to think that that wasthe thing.
Like, that was it.
You know, when I lived back inMinneapolis, I always had a decent
car that ran well and woulduse that, you know, for grocery shopping
and.
But for travel, for all thesedifferent things.
And my value here is I don'tneed a car.
(17:39):
I am so happy not to have a car.
I never knew that was going to be.
I never believed that you'dasked me this five years ago.
I'd be like, you're crazy.
But now here I live with novehicle, and I get by by my two legs
or by the buses.
They have great interstate andintercity bus services in Mexico,
but better than us.
It does make it easier, but.
(18:01):
Yeah, that's another value.
Like, what do I really value?
You know, I live in a modest casita.
You know, I'm not trying to,like, live a different.
Like in Minneapolis, I had adifferent lifestyle where as an adult,
because probably because of mychildhood, I wanted to always have
better.
Better things.
Better clothes, better housing.
(18:21):
All these kind of things thatI felt like were maybe milestone
markers.
Those are the values there and here.
No, just some good food, adecent view, walkable stores in my
neighborhood.
That's amazing to me.
I don't need any of the other stuff.
I buy used clothes here.
I never did that back in Minneapolis.
(18:42):
So that's changed.
What's some advice that youwould give someone who's thinking
about moving away from home toanother country?
How do they get started?
I think while the advice Iwould give myself is probably what
I would give them.
Okay, study the languageharder before you arrive.
(19:04):
That was a big mistake on my part.
You know, my Spanish.
Even though being married tosomeone from Latin, it.
It.
You Know here it's a class thing.
So of course my ex was upperclass, so they, his family all spoke
English, so I didn't need Spanish.
It wasn't even valued.
But now that I live here on myown, yeah, it's value.
(19:25):
So I would say wherever you'removing, if they have a language different
than your native tongue, youneed to study that as much as you
can before you arrive becauseyou're always going to learn more
on the ground anyways.
And the other thing isprobably study.
A lot of people don't know howto convert money and the value of
(19:46):
things, you know.
And this is advice for myselfgoing back.
I came here with a savings andI burned through a lot of it because
I would see the price and Ikind of knew what the value was.
But you know, instead ofbuying like one thing, I'd be like,
no, I'll buy two because itjust seems so affordable.
And then once you get yearsdown the road, you realize, no, actually
(20:10):
it's, it's actually expensivewhen you start working in that currency
and you start having to livein that currency and you start realizing
you start seeing the value of things.
So I would say research sothat you can budget better, you know,
so that you're not strugglingor not trying to figure things out
at the last minute becauseyou, you know, you overspent.
(20:31):
And also it's just kind oflike a. I guess it's kind of a value
thing too because it wasn'tlike I was trying to break.
But when you go someplace andyou buy two of something that actually
is technically expensive, itlooks like you're trying to show
off a little bit.
And that's.
Maybe you like to do that, butthat's not something I was trying
to do.
I was just like, wow, I canbuy two of those.
You know, that's great advice.
(20:54):
I like it.
Make sure you study thelanguage and make sure you study
the currency exchange so thatyou can budget better.
Yeah, like it.
So one of my questions that Ialways ask is what is a self care
practice that you use?
Usually I would say in travel,but what's a self care practice that
(21:14):
you do routinely?
Self care practice I use, Itry to get as much outdoor.
I try to balance that outdoorversus indoor.
For me, being outside innature has always been kind of a
reset.
And so that's kind of a selfcare thing that I always do.
(21:35):
You know, every day I go for awalk and that's usually maybe a little.
I live in a city that's verydensely Built up so there's not a
lot of big green space in the center.
But you.
I walk from the different.
Through the differentneighborhoods of the different parks
and gardens.
So that's something that.
That's self care that I do.
I think that I always do, youknow, I mean, I like to say I get
(21:58):
more sleep.
No, that's a lie.
That only happens, you know,when I. I guess I'm motivated to
do that.
So that's the self care isnature or blocking.
Is there anything that Ihaven't asked you yet that you'd
like to include?
No, I think you've done great.
Yeah.
No, I mean, as far as, like,you asked all the things that were
(22:21):
on my mind, like how I gothere and whatnot.
No, I can't.
I'm terrible at this.
This kind of thing.
When people ask me, what.
What would you like that?
I don't know.
Pick my brain.
It's easier because sometimesI find that, like, someone would
tell a story and it goes inone direction, and then I keep asking
(22:46):
questions which take it intoanother direction, and I'm like,
maybe they were trying to tella different story.
So I like.
I want to give you an optionif you remember what it was that
you were trying to share.
Well, Sam, I really appreciate.
Thank you so much.
And thank you for beingwilling to reschedule so that we
could get this conversationgoing first.
I'm glad we met.
And then just listening to theway you kind of walked us through
(23:09):
the city, and I was like,okay, we have to.
I definitely need to have himon the podcast.
So thank you again for your time.
You're welcome.
This was awesome.
No, it was really nice meetingyou and thanks for appreciating my.
My stories.
I really.
I really appreciate having meon here.
It was awesome.
Hey there, Grace.
Here.
(23:29):
I hope you enjoyed today'sepisode and gained some useful takeaways.
Thank you so much forlistening and staying until the end.
Don't forget to rate the showor share it with some friends.
Have a wonderful week.
Take care.
And remember, be bold, Be curious.
Be ready to tell your story.
You never know.
Who needs it?
Bye.
Bye.