Beautiful San Miguel


Advertisement
Published: October 21st 2010
Edit Blog Post

- Sue -

We were lucky and tickets to the Ballet Folklorico were still available. We bought tickets for ourselves and for Alejandra and her 2 year old, Amanda, so they could join us. It's a good thing we got tickets since the free section was packed and overflowing. The show was a wonder to see. And once again, Amanda was a sweetheart. She had the best time and couldn't take her eyes off of either the dancing or the crowd. I think she'll grow up to be an excellent dancer herself.

The show started with the Aztecs and some of their dances and progressed through history with European style dancing of the early Spanish and French settlers. After an intermission, it continued with many of the typical Mexican dances that we see performed at Ballet Folklorico shows in California. I've included a few photos I took during the performance. I'm ever so grateful that we were able to attend.

On Tuesday, Alejandra took us to the Mexican Bicentennial Exhibition near Guanajuato. We spent hours wandering the grounds and various exhibition halls. Most of the buildings were temporary structures of vinyl covered geodesic domes. The exhibition closes sometime in November, so we were glad to have had the opportunity to see it.

Afterwards, we stopped at Alejandra's house before going for a beer and guacamole on the way to the bus station. We met her x husband and her 20 year old daughter while at her house. Then - on to San Miguel de Allende for a short visit with our friend Nancy.

We spent Tues - Thurs night in San Miguel and plan to leave for Puebla tomorrow, Friday, morning. This is our third time in San Miguel, so we no longer act like tourists running around trying to see everything. We leisurely stroll and people-watch as we come and go to get a meal. We did go to a lecture on Balzac on Wednesday. Very interesting. I kept flashing back to "The Music Man", where I think Balzac was mentioned in the song "Trouble in River City" followed by "Trouble, Trouble, Trouble." I found it amusing.

San Miguel is brimming with expatriates who spend a lot of their time meeting to discus a variety of topics - art, music, literature, etc. Quite an interesting city. It also supports a large tourist trade. On our last visit, I ended up surrounded by a group of Americans just off of a tour bus. I guess I pass as a local pretty well. They were disappointed that I couldn't answer their questions about what it was like to live here. Both funny and sad at the same time.

We just returned from going into the central area to buy our bus tickets for tomorrow. As we strolled along the edge of the central plaza, El Jardin, I spied a saddled horse tied up in front of a bank. My mind filled with images of a horse-back bank robbery from the past. Was that it, or was the horse there to make a withdrawal? More likely he was waiting to make a deposit not of the money kind. And for you camera buffs - no, I left my camera behind for this trip into town. After all, we were just running in to buy bus tickets. I once again missed a great photo op.

We're taking Nancy out to dinner tonight and then early to bed and up early so we can catch the bus in the morning.


- Bob -

Well, we moved on to San Miguel. Missed the bus from Guanajuato but got on the next. 90 pesos each. About $7.50. Cab to 5 Valle Maize. $3.00 and we were at Nancy's place. She and Owen were our first hosts some years ago when we started using Hospitality Club and Couch Surfers. Owen passed away in July so this visit had some sad overtones. He was a great person and was an good link into the indigenous peoples. He will be missed.

San Miguel reminds me of Carmel. Many rich, well dressed expatriates. I suppose it is not their fault and if we win the lottery perhaps it could apply to sue and me.

We are familiar with the town due to our previous visits and enjoy wandering about. It has the most bumpy roads and sidewalks. Not a sandal town. The buses we use to get around will beat you to death and the drivers can thread the needle on the streets without scratching the paint. Sue and I got up early this am to get the right lighting for some photo's followed by breakfast. My first mexican bagel and cream cheese. A delight!

We are moving on to Puebla tomorrow where we have an invitation to stay at a couch surfer's place. Buses will be about $100 for the two of us and about 5 hours. We missed Puebla last trip due to the swine flu so we will stay a couple days before moving on to our apartment in Oaxaca for the next month.


Advertisement



Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0557s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb