San Miguel, Days One and Two

San Miguel de Allende is located in the mountainous region of Central Mexico, in the state of Guanajuato. It is located about a 4 hour drive to Mexico City.

I arrived in Leon on July 14th, was picked up by my friend's parents and was whisked away to San Miguel. My first evening was about walking around with my friend Sqwali.

We went out to dinner and went to bed early. I slept an amazing 11 hours that night. Something about the flight and the weather and the altitude and ... well, Mexico, let me sleep better than I have in at least a year. Maybe more.
















On the 15th, Squali went to Spanish lessons, and I set out to explore the city. Look at how blue the sky is! It was warm, sunny, and colorful.

The funny thing about the city is the sidewalks. Amazingly, I took no close-ups of them. But they are made of rough stone and are just barely large enough for one person to walk on. If anyone comes the other way, somebody has to get in the street. Also, the telephone poles and street lights are built into the middle of the sidewalks. So sometimes, even if you are alone on the sidewalk, you still have to get in the street.


The architecture is beautiful - big arches everywhere, and of course, the colors. These pictures are of the main square.

This is the Parroquia -- the cathedral in the middle of the city. Made of sandstone, it was built in 1689-1880. The master builder, Serefino Gutierrez based the design of the new construction from European postcards.


I also went to the big open market where artist's sell their wares. San Miguel is known for tin, granite, and of course - silver. I was asked not to take pictures there, and I didn't. Directly after this, I went to a gigantic fruit and vegetable market where I forgot to take pictures. Again, the color combinations were dizzying. I ate a mango - a very wonderful mango, and corn on the cob - elotes. My corn was white, not yellow sweet corn, and starchier, if you can imagine. They put lime on the grilled corn, and put chile powder on it. Some of the street vendors were serving it withmayonnaisee and cheese too, but I couldn't deal with mayo that had been sitting in the sun all day.

I met up with Sqwali in the afternoon. We went shopping and then went home and prepared food for a little fiesta she had for her students.

Tomorrow: Days 3-4