Nuestro Señor de la Columna

At exactly midnight of the fifth Sunday of Lent, a solemn lamp and torch-lit procession leaves the town of Atotonilco and makes a 7 mile journey bearing the statue of Nuestro Señor de la Columna, shrouded in multiple layers of beautiful scarves, into San Miguel de Allende. I know it is midnight because we can hear the first of the fireworks which accompany the procession in the distance.
This morning, amid even more fireworks, we arrived at Ave. Independencia before light to meet the crowds streaming into town. Many residents of the neighborhoods had been up all night spreading fragrant sprays of fennel and chamomile on the streets and decorating the walls, trees and street with multi-colored fresh and paper flowers, purple and white balloons and crepe paper streamers.
Detailed religious images were created with colored sawdust in the middle of the street for the procession to walk on.
These beautiful columns, erected by one neighborhood, were made of stiffened cheesecloth with wood frames.
Arriving at the outskirts of town, the statue of the suffering Jesus and the accompanying statues of St. John and the Virgen of Dolores (Sorrowful Virgin Mary) are carefully unwrapped from their protective shrouds and carried through the streets, accompanied by Roman Centurions.
The pole on the right in the photo is actually a paint roller rod with an extension used to raise any low-strung streamers so the statures can pass underneath. They end up at the church of San Juan de Dios where the statues remain until Easter Wednesday when another procession returns them to their glass cases in the Shrine of Atotonilco.
This procession began in 1812 in an effort to stop a plague that threatened San Miguel's population. In 1823, the statue of Nuestro Señor de la Columna was commissioned to request a miracle and has been carried nearly every year since.

Spring has Sprung in SMA

You know it is Spring because the children are converging on the center of town waiting for the Spring Parade. Every little bee, butterfly, elf, fairy, farmer and, yes, scarecrow, is out and about.
Makeup is applied,
last minute adjustments are made,
and straight lines are attempted with the help of holding a rope.
They're off...


I'm not sure what medieval ladies and knights have to do with spring but this couple seem content.
I think this little guy is the Twittering bluebird
Sorry, that's all of the sweetness until next spring.

Fun with Trasteros

Last week we drove to a particularly handicrafty grouping of towns around Lake Pátzcuaro in the state of Michoacan. Our goal was to buy two carved wooden shelves, or trasteros, in the traditional Mexican style. These shelves are used for storage in the kitchen or dining room.

Entering the woodworking village of Cuanajo, we saw several being loaded into a truck. The charming driver, who was on his way to a larger town to sell them, insisted on unloading some for our perusal. Here are Yoli and Bryan supervising.

We bought two but Yoli wanted a different style. The driver left his loading crew by the road while he drove with us around town to peer into sawdusty workshops trying to locate one with a fish motif.

We were successful but the search took nearly an hour. When we asked the young man why he was being so helpful, he explained that he had lived and worked in Texas for several years and really appreciated the help he got from Americans there.


Here are our two purchases with their legs cut off, painted to go with our house, and hung to display some of my plates. Are we in Mexico yet?

Mardi Gras in San Miguel

Our lovely neighbors, Maria Luisa and Jacinto, spend the two months leading up to Mardi Gras making clowns and paper flowers to sell in the Jardin. They have been making these traditional items for over 20 years and their work is detailed and imaginative. Here they are in their workshop with some of their clowns.









And here are some of their flowers ready to head to the main square.

Vendors of clowns and flowers line the square in front of the Parroquia for the days leading up to Lent.

Their young daughter helps them sell as well.Mardi Gras is a family celebration; no parades, floats, costumes or trading beads here. Blown eggs are filled with confetti or powder, sold by the bag, and cracked over the heads of friends and unsuspecting strangers alike. On Saturday night anyone is fair game and by dark the ground is littered with eggshells and confetti.
We went down on Friday night and discovered that Jacinto had a night job as well, that of burro handler for a troubadour group. The decorated "bar" on the back of the burro holds liquor for the singers who follow the troubadours around.
Once Lent begins on Wednesday February 25th, the the religious tone of the town becomes more serious culminating with the end of Holy Week (Semana Santa) and Easter. Of course there is always the Cuban Festival and the Indian Dancers and the Children's First Day of Spring parade so there is still plenty to do in San Miguel de Allende in March.

Hot Air Balloon Surprise

I opened my eyes yesterday morning and this is what I saw from bed...a hot air balloon peering in our window.

I went to the roof and shot this photo of the balloon sinking over the central square for a spectacular view of the Parroquia, the pink spires in the middle left of the photo below. (Click the photo to enlarge it for a better view.)
Speaking of good views, for the time being we have this splendid and newly improved view of the city. Our neighbor was having a boundary dispute and ended up removing a large tree which blocked our view of the church spires and the second domed church in a direct line behind it. We just learned that the property has been sold and will most likely soon sprout a big house to block our city view, but for the time being we are enjoying it.

This is what the Parroquia looks like from ground level.

To the Beach - Oaxaca style

No, that isn't a photo of us; it is Yoli and Victor our traveling companions enjoying the beach below our house.

Here we are.
We rented a casa on the Costa Chica of Oaxaca near Huatulco. I had to look it up on a map, too.
If you want to see where it really is, try Google Earth or Google Maps and search Salchi, Mexico. Lots of tiny beaches carved into miles of rocky cliffs. Our community turned out to be about a dozen homes owned and developed by Canadians down 8 km of really rough dirt road.

We have spent the last 5 days exploring the nearby communities of Puerto Angel and Huatulco, eating fresh fish under grass roof palapas on the sand.

One day we drove about 1 1/2 hours to some incredible waterfalls at Llano Grande, a working coffee plantation run out of the original hacienda buildings. I would love to have had Melissa's camera skills to capture the the over 40 waterfalls we could swim under but the light on the water was too much for my point and shoot.

Another day we took a small boat out of Puerto Angel to snorkel and look for whales but only succeeded in seeing beautiful swimming turtles and some ideal nearly deserted snorkel beaches. I wasn't disappointed about the whales because nothing will ever top the experience we had in 2001 in Bahia Magdalena, Baja, out of the tiny town of Puerto Lopez Mateos. We spent over an hour with a mother and calf literally under out boat. The mother lifted her calf to be petted; it was an otherworldly exeprience. I took this photo of the baby at another boat right next to us.
Another day we took an even smaller boat to see crocs. There is a lagoon right behind the behind the beach with dark black water due to the iron in the sand. We cruised in among the mangroves and saw several of these big guys and lots of birds and iguana.
Ultimately, though, it has been a trip about sitting in hammocks. I found this chair hammock in a "hammock factory" overlooking the beach. I liked this one but they didn't actually sell it; it was there for them to enjoy.
This one on our terrace was where we all spent a lot of time, Oaxaca style.

The Moment -- San Miguel Style

I am in awe of this man's intellect and ability to give that moving address extemporaneously. I didn't see a teleprompter, did you? What a beautiful man and an inspirational leader.

San Miguel streets were almost empty at 11am as residents congregated around any place with a large flatscreen. We chose Juan's Cafe Etc and it was a full house.

Mama Mia's had an overflow into the street.
And Milagros was home to the Democrats Abroad and several large screens.
Today I am full of hope for our country and love for the wonderful people who braved the freezing early morning weather on the mall. I'll never hear My Country 'Tis of Thee (or maybe it is called America) again without thinking of Aretha's performance today. She still has it! And hopefully so do we.