WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS CANADA ANYMORE!
But we are in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico! It is a beautiful, noisy, colourful, sometimes smelly, bustling one day and relaxed the next kind of city, with a party life some people just dream about. Not being a big partier, myself, that aspect of San Miguel doesn't really do it for me, but it does keep life interesting. Imagine you just sense the first dawn's light coming in your window, and then....BAM!! Fireworks start, seemingly under your own roof, but no, they are being shot off near the city's main church called "La Parrochia" or "The Parish" (they don't really go in for fancy names here :) Mexicans, apparently, love their festivals, of which there are at least 65 in a year (more if you count all the little ones in between the big ones), which provide lots of opportunity for getting together with family and having a rootin tootin loud time, walking through the city in a crowd with a donkey and drinking tequila from bottles (!), shooting off fireworks pretty much anywhere and anytime, and having roving mariachi bands appear all over the place. (sometimes under your neighbour's window at midnight...) These are all accompanied by every cathedral in the city (quite a few for a city of 150,000!) ringing their bells. ALOT.
Besides the festivals though, there is a great vibe in the city, of energy and fun, as San Miguel really is the Banff of Mexico. Alot of Mexicans come and holiday here, weekends especially, but being as it is summertime, there are alot around during the week as well. It is surprising how many nice vehicles start showing up on the weekend (I have been told these visitors come from Mexico City, which is 3.5 hrs. drive away). Most of the vehicles in the city regularly are old VW bugs, old pick-up trucks, an assortment of American cars anywhere from the 70's to the present, and the odd foreign compact. AND very noisy ATV's that all seem to like to go down my street after 11 p.m. and before 7 a.m. :) Did I mention the scooter's and motorcycles? Lots of those too. My favourite thing is looking down the street and seeing someone holding their baby on their lap as they drive their motorcycle (no one is wearing helmets, of course) or three guys piled up on a motorcycle. It's quite the image.
Something I really love about the city is the beautiful architecture. It is what San Miguel de Allende is really reknown for - it's preservation of so much colonial architecture has brought it a Unesco Heritage Site status, and is a big draw for tourists.
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| Tower in the Central Jardin |
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| La Parrochia |
