Many beautiful towns keep you at bay. A traveler can admire, shop, eat, sleep but never break the surface. San Miguel de Allende, however, takes you in, befriends you. Here, the town is the thing, the promise of community. The streets and sidewalks are narrow. People talk to each other, engage easily. More than likely, you will see a sprinkling of Americans crossing El Jardín or sitting on its benches, but they aren't necessarily tourists. According to Christopher Finkelstein, secretary of the San Miguel City Council, 12,000 to 14,000 of the city's population of 80,000 are expatriates, roughly 70 percent of them from the United States. They don't just reside in San Miguel de Allende -they also own and run small businesses. Americans, Canadians, Italians, and Argentinians have started cafes, bakeries, guesthouses, clothing stores, art galleries, language schools, day spas, and bars. They teach cooking classes, arrange traditional Mexican weddings for non-Mexicans, and lead architectural tours. They write guides and publish a newspaper, an art magazine, and a telephone directory for expatriates. They realize their fantasy of living in a Mexican town by translating it for others. Gradually, over the past 50-odd years, they've turned San Miguel from a quiet historical artifact into a cosmopolitan center with more restaurants, nightlife, and good shops than in much larger cities in the United States.

excerpted from: www.travelandleisure.com/articles/mexico-magico