Heading to San Miguel de Allende
Most of you have probably heard about the lovely small colonial city, San Miguel de Allende which is in central Mexico. It played a huge part, along with Delores Hildago and Guanajuanto, in the fight for independence of Mexico from Spain in the early part of the 19th century. It is now a well known artists and expatriate community. We have visited several times and this was our destination when we left Mexico City.
Friends, Kim and Steve, have a small home out in the country west of San Miguel, that began its life as a stable! They have made it into a charming artsy home, fitting for two artists. It is off the grid, getting power from solar panels and water from their own well. We stayed parked on their property for several days, visiting them and San Miguel.
Here are some favorite photos of the Parroquia (parish church), Centro Jardin and scenes around San Miguel.
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| The Parroquia with Centro Jardin at right. |
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| Local fountain. |
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| Lovely painted door. |
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| Courtyard garden |
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| Street "painting" made with colored kernels and seeds. |
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A parade with the girls in front in fancy dress and the four in back
dressed as "camp followers" for soldiers during the Reveloution. |
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| A very sweet young face. . . |
Twenty-Four Hours in Guanajuanto
We aren’t sure whose bright idea it was to drive Tracker around the Panoramica Road above the hills of Guanajuanto. “I don’t think this is right!” “We’re fine!” Well, where do you think we are now?” “Maybe here on this map.” “NOW, which way do I turn?” “Beats me!” “Well, where are we?” “I have NO IDEA!!”
We did find our way out of this “easy” one-hour drive, but only after seven (yes, seven) stops to ask directions and 2 ½ hours of frustrated driving. Oh, and the “scenic” part of this trip? Primarily of buildings built up along the way — no sweeping grand panoramas of the city! Oh well. Maybe not scenic, but an adventure, nonetheless.
After that, things were great. We took the Tracker back to the campground, threw some things in a couple of backpacks, called a cab to go the 10 miles in to Centro.
I was delighted with our hotel, the Hotel Posada Santa Fe, a very old and elegant hotel right on the Jardin de la Union’. Our room (with balcony) opened overlooking the laurel trees, trimmed in straight sides, a la Mexicana, surrounded by sidewalk restaurants, hotels and tiendas. Everything happens in this area! Mariachies, street vendors, Mexicans and tourists from many countries stroll the streets. That evening we had a lovely dinner at the hotel sidewalk restaurant, then joined the throng of strollers around the lovely streets and nearby pocket parks.
We rode the Funicular (incline railway) to the top of the mountain both in the daylight and again at nighttime. The next day we walked a lot and visited Alhondiga de Granaditas museum, then the Diego Rivera home, once again. This trip I didn’t go back to the mummy museum again — I found it incredibly fascinating but Mike hated it! We just missed getting to see the interior of the lovely Teatro Juarez. Next time. Walking around here is truly a feast for the eyes.
More photos; these of Guanajuanto.
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| Plaza de la Paz and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuanto. |
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| Colorful hillside houses. |
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| One of the many interesting (old mine; now car) tunnels beneath the city. |
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| Jardin de la Union. Our hotel was at the top of the green area. |
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| Templo de San Diego on the Jardin de la Union |
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| Templo de San Francisco |
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Originally I thought this was a misspelling of "coffee."
I later saw it advertised as the name of the cafe. |
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| A sidewalk cafe on the bridge across a street. |
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| More color! |
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| Plazuela de Baratillo |
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Night view from the Funicular of the Basilica (foreground)
and the University of Guanajuato (white in background). |
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| Our cook at the sidewalk restaurant in front of our hotel. |
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| A fountain and benches in the Jardin de la Union |
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| Little old man playing guitar (badly). |
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| The lovely Teatro Juarez at the corner of the Jardin |
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Several colorful street scenes.
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Two nights in Zacatecas
As we made our way north through Mexico, next up was another colonial city — Zacatecas. It was an old mining town whose mines produced 20 percent of Spain’s silver in the 18th century. We toured the mine with its old steps carved out of tree trunks and other relics of times past. Many thousands of Indians were enslaved and died working mines here.
Parked at a hotel on the edge of the city, we took another cab downtown for a walk about at night. Lovely. The stunning cathedral is well lit and we lucked upon a concert by a school orchestra. It was well attended and fun to watch both the orchestra and the crowd.
One little boy, about 3 years old, was “air playing” the trumpet and drums, and perhaps other instruments. And what perfect timing with the beat! He will, no doubt, be a musician when he gets a little older!!
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| Night photos of the cathedral. |
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| Crowd photo of the concert. |
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| "Air playing" the drums. |
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Pretty girls of whom Mike captured a photo.
(He says he was actually trying to capture the colored lights!) |
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| Depicting workers in the Eden Mine. |
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| Primitive stairway. |
Our last stop of interest was a jaunt to the tiny dusty town of Mata Ortiz (south west of Casa Grande). We had last been there five years ago where I purchased several lovely southwestern pots of great quality for the price. This time I selected four for three friends as gifts, and had a great time doing choosing them from the many available.
Next: the border. Oh dear. A dust storm started about 3 miles south of the border town of Palomas, Mex/Columbus,NM and everything had to be dealt with in a horrific dusty wind. Even the U.S. border patrol didn’t care to do an inspection in that mess. This was on Tuesday, February 24, and we were back in the U.S. Home again.
That’s all for this trip.
