My Birthday in San Miguel

Well, this has been birthday like no other. I hope I can summarize.

Friends old and new

September 29th is the fiesta of St. Michael, patron saint of our city. It is celebrated as part of a group of traditions, called La Alborada, which had their origins in San Miguel in 1924. This includes parades, exploding paper mache figures, large puppet-like figures, music, Masses, fireworks and the statue of St. Michel, not necessarily in that order.

The celebration begins early so we set our alarm at 2am and were in the Jardin (or main square) by 2:30, greeted by several bands creating impromptu parades of hundreds of enthusiastic and most likely inebriated followers. The crowd continued to grow as more people marched in carrying large paper mache stars on long poles lit within by candles. Added to this were crowds following traditional giant puppet-like figures.

Among this group were about 100 young men in white shirts with bandanas across their faces. Around 3:45 they went into the main church on the square and received a blessing, then promptly as the church bell chimed 4am, we learned why they needed blessings. They were reenacting a battle between St. Michael and the devil (or devils) because half of the men were inside the church fence heaving live fireworks out at the other half who were dancing and wildly dodging said live fireworks. The ambulances parked outside the square were needed as this craziness lasted for a full hour, with some of those outside removing their protective clothing and simply testing fate. The noise was deafening and sparks were flying everywhere. Seasoned observers brought umbrellas but I used the hood on my parka and loaned Bryan my scarf to cover his nose and head. I wish I had brought ear plugs.

Did I mention that while this was going on there was a full-on fireworks display overhead? This is the largest fireworks event of the year. Once the battle ended with presumably St. Michael the victor, the castillo was lit. This is a spindly wood tower supporting complex pyrotechnics of windmills and spirals. The climax of each castillo is when the top piece is shot into the air, flying saucer like, and lands where it will. The crowd parts where it comes spinning and sparking out of the night sky and crashes to the ground. No OSHA here.

Things calmed down a bit after that so we went home and slept from 5:30 to 10, when we went back down to my favorite breakfast place. By the time I finished my lovely fruit plate and Bryan his poached eggs, the energy level in the Jardin had again reached a high pitch. I really have trouble remembering what happened but at the same time we were watching Los Voladores, the pole flyers from Veracruz spinning upside down around a large central pole with ropes attached to their waists, at least 100 horseback riders came into the square for a Mass and outdoor blessing by a priest.

At some point dozens of young girls came out of the church after their first communion dressed in elaborate white gowns and wandered around town posing for photographs with their families. Oh, I almost forgot the colorful regional dancers in the square, the dance band in the gazebo, Mariachi groups performing around the park, and some exploding figurines on poles which showered sweets and treats to the children underneath. Whew.

Finally, house pictures

When we started this project 3 years ago we had no idea what it would involve; we only knew that we loved being in San Miguel and we wanted a comfortable place to return to each time. We got what we wanted.

It is a 2 bedroom, 3 story home in the colonial style, with a garage for the Suzuki, in an out of the way neighborhood with a view of the city center and the lake and hills beyond. It began as a simple open-air 3 room house on two stories covering the entire lot. We first saw it with our friends, Anna and Milton, and we were a bit overwhelmed.  We brought our friend and a architectural "engineer", Alfredo, up to the highest point and asked him what he thought.  He said definitely and I am so glad he agreed to remodel it for us.  Just because he spoke no English and I had only some words in Spanish at the time didn't mean we couldn't make it work.

I would say we are about 2/3 through with it but basically it is finished. There are walls we want to paint and some more lighting fixtures to put up and a few more pieces of furniture we want. The stairwell glass covering still leaks. Good thing it is a tiny house!

Wildflower walk

This morning we went to the Botanical Garden just out of town for a guided wildflower walk. It was led by Richard Cretcher, one of the co-authors of Flores Silvestres: Pocket Guide to the wild flowers of San Miguel. Last night there was an especially enthusiastic rainstorm which meant the lake was unusually high for this time of year.

This has been an especially wet summer and the flowers were abundant. The yellow one is called pegarropa which, loosely translated, means it sticks to your clothes when you walk by. The red is like our Indian Paintbrush.

Of course we saw plenty of butterflies

The gardens are used as a sacred place, particularly for ceremonies celebrating the full moon and solstice. This particular construction is a súchil or ritual altar elaborately decorated with local plants.

And lastly, my favorite shot from this morning. It is now my desktop graphic. Let me know if you want a larger image for your desktop.

Enjoy

Independence Day Celebration

Imagine the 4th of July and New Year's Eve and you have a Mexican Independence Day celebration. There were more people crowded into the central square than should have been, getting their faces painted with Mexican flags, waving Mexican flags or draped in Mexican flags.



The evening began with an energetic and joyful performance of regional folk dances by a folkloric troupe. It is impossible to watch these dances without a grin on your face.

It is a family oriented night and, although not part of an official program, some parents showed their pride in dressing their children.

At 11pm there was a reenactment by the mayor of an historic call to battle,"The Grito," followed by fireworks. The party lasted into the night but I crashed before midnight. There is more tomorrow night!

The best laid plans...

Monday morning we woke up armed with an agenda. We wanted to apply for the senior discount card which required multiple copies of passports, visas, and even our original birth certificates. But we were prepared, except for 3 very tiny photos each. The cards are issued between 8 and 10 each Monday. Well, the photo place was closed at 8 and when we got to the office at 8:30 the line was closed as they didn't have enough cards today. Oh, well, there is always next Monday.

The big success we had today was signing up for cable and internet. We went to the office at 10:30 when it opened and by 5pm we had speedy wireless internet and basic cable. The affable guy who came to hook us up again was the one who had done our previous two hook-ups and he congratulated us on completing the house. The first time he came we were still sleeping on the inflatable mattress on the floor so that's progress. I will try to get some photos of before and after for the house soon.

Preparations are continuing today for this weekend's big celebration of Mexican Independence which occurred on Sept 16, 1810. A main player in this was Captain Ignacio Allende, the namesake of our town, so most decorations include his likeness. This is the first time we will be in town for this celebration.


This is also a good time to stock up on Mexican flags and sombreros decorated with the word Mexico.

Day one in San Miguel

We were awakened first by the clang of the garbage truck beneath our window sometime before daylight followed shortly by several loud explosions announcing that it was the saint’s day honoring the Virgin of Loreto. Since we live on the corner of Cuesta de Loreto it is an especially auspicious celebration and they wanted to be sure no one in the neighborhood forgets it.

We walked first down the hill to our favorite breakfast, Ruth’s. She has run a B&B since the 30s and must be several hundred years old but she serves a mean 30 peso breakfast. Fill your plate with as much fresh fruit as it will hold, eggs “al gusta” and toast, plus endless coffee served family style so you can chat with mostly interesting people, all for about $2.75. After a quick stroll through town and a check of our email at our mail forwarding service, we took the bus back up the hill.

The plan of the day was to get the Suzuki started and grocery shop at the local Mega supermarket. Everything takes longer than planned, including picking up Sparklets type drinking water bottles.

Around 4 we walked to a favorite middle-eastern restaurant to eat kabob and then wandered into the center of town. We left our camera at home so you are going to have to imagine the gathering in front of the government building featuring the Queen of San Miguel and her court of wanna-be princesses surrounded by government dignitaries. This large gathering circled the central garden square lead by a spiffy military band playing spiffy military music. The band was followed by 6 young women in black miniskirted suits and very high heels (on cobblestones!) marching smartly and carrying a sign identifying the band as the Queen’s guards. After the band came photographers walking backwards, recording the court and dignitaries as they pasted large posters on boards located on each corner of the park announcing the schedule of the city celebrations for the next several months. Following this was another! band playing in a much less disciplined fashion. Did I mention the church bells ringing in the square? A very San Miguel moment.

Around midnight the wedding party at the hotel down the street celebrated with a full-on fireworks display which, fortunately, we were able to enjoy through our window from our bed. Apparently the celebration for the Virgin of Loreto continues into Sunday because from 6-6:30 am we were reminded with explosions, punctuated with puffs of white smoke. But that's another day...

PDX-SMA in a single day...just barely

We were so organized with suitcases by the front door that when the alarm went off at 3:30 we were out the door faster than we expected with the water turned off, pipes drained, “vampires” unplugged and on the way to San Miguel. We walked the empty streets, too early for even the busses to run, and got to the MAX station just as the earlier train pulled in. We had plenty of time to enjoy a breakfast at the Beaverton Bakery concession at the airport and some free wireless. Good ol’ PDX.

The transfer at San Francisco went smoothly, despite waiting 50 minutes on the runway for our turn, and in Mexico we breezed through baggage claim, immigration, customs and maze of hidden staircases that is the Mexico City airport and walked right on to the bus for Queterero.

We’re cool, until we bought the ticket for our last leg, the 10pm bus to San Miguel. When it finally arrived 30 minutes late it was the slow bus that stopped at random dark pulloffs to take on and discharge passengers. By the time we arrived in SMA and got a taxi up the hill it was 11:50 and we had made it in a day.

The one place where our easy progress might have fallen down was the customs inspection. The book I was reading on the plane (The Virgin’s Guide to Mexico by Eric B. Martin) has a great description of this process. A young runaway girl, walking across the Mexican border crossing for the first time, is amazed how easy it is, first getting her visa: … From there she bustles to the next event, a playhouse traffic light at waist level with a button on the side. If the light turns green Mr. Playhouse Guard waves folks free and clear into his waiting country with a disgusted flick of the wrist. She watches as he admits convicts, pimps, bigamists , child molesters and abductors, arms dealers, dope fiends, terrorists. Green green green green. They’re letting everybody in, with everything they got. She starts to fear the law of averages, she fears red and the great unknown, Officer Playhouse snapping his favorite cavity search gloves as she steps up to bat. Pushes the button. Happy happy green. Tax evaders, evangelists, runaways. Ladies and gentlemen: Mexico.

This does seem to sum up our Mexican customs experiences; we’ve been fortunate with happy happy green over the many years we have been visiting Mexico except for once. No cavity search gloves; I had one of those plastic locking ties that TSA uses on my suitcase and after x-raying it they didn’t have any scissors to cut it off to open my suitcase so they just let us go.