Dia

[Enlarge] The bells toll for the beginning of the parade.

Between my two trips to Philadelphia this month, I visited San Miguel de Allende for the Dia de Los Locos and the annual parade that goes with it. The parade is unique to San Miguel and rooted in local traditions. There are several different stories around why the parade was started, but at this point it hardly matters. The opportunity for a parade and the fiestas that follow are loved across Mexico. This year’s Los Locos parade in San Miguel was no exception.

The foto of the bells of the Parrochia that leads this entry was taken the morning of the parade as it kicked off in the San Antonio district of the town. What interested me is how the bells are rung. If you look closely you can see men are in the belfry, hand turning the bells. I freely admit I don’t know much about cathedral bells, but I didn’t realize they were ever mounted for this type of ringing. If nothing else, it must be a noisy job – these are big bells.

[Enlarge] The parade reaches the Jardine Principal after hours of marching, and the marchers are still going strong.

For the Los Locos parade, all the participants wear costumes and masks. All sorts of characters are used. The most unique are the hand made paper mache masks that depict everything from pirates to creatures from outer space, but every other kind of mask and costume you can imagine also appear. There are bands, floats, contingents from the local schools and a sprinkling of people from all over the world. The parade wanders through the narrow cobblestone streets of San Miguel for several hours on its way to the Jardin Principal in the center of town.

We watched most of the parade on the street just outside the restaurant, Tio Lucas. At this point, the street is quite narrow and the crowd on the sidewalks was five people deep. The trucks carrying sound equipment for the marchers were barely able to pass. It didn’t matter. Everyone was there to have fun. Take a look at the fotos in the gallery to see what you missed! One thing to notice, because the streets were so crowded, almost all the pictures were taken from the vantage point of an outstretched arm over the crowd. I couldn’t get to a vantage point where I could line up shots, so I adopted a news photographer’s trick of pointing the camera in the direction of the action and taking lots of shots. In the end, I got plenty of good fotos, but the editing took a lot more time with so much to select from.

After the parade, we stopped at Harry’s New Orleans Cafe near the jardine. It normally wouldn’t have been my choice – but, the streets were still crowded from the parade and we wanted something cool and a place to relax for a moment.

The typical image of a “Harry’s Bar” usually has a small combo playing and San Miguel is no exception. You never know quite what to expect, the combo is made up of a variety of locals and in San Miguel that can include people from all over the world. We took a table near the combo and soon met Bob January, a saxophone player from New York who has had a long and illustrious career. Like many people, Bob and his wife are settling down in San Miguel to enjoy the slower pace and the artistic community. Of course, for Bob, relaxing still means playing his music and there are several places here for him to do it. Bob and his wife work on many local causes and have gradually built a rich life here. I won’t try to tell his story, instead I encourage you to read it for yourself on his website.

So, this weekend, I will finally be home again in Cueramaro to relax and wind down. At least that is my plan. Mexico has a way of making its own plans for me, so we will just have to see how that works out.

wp:thumb src=”2005-06-19-59.jpg” cap=”Bob January and the combo at Harry’s is a cool place to wind down on a hot San Miguel afternoon.”—> ->

Rainstorm

[Enlarge] Out the window of the bus on the way to Celaya

A week ago, I was riding the Primera Plus bus into Celaya from Morelia on my way to San Miguel de Allende. The weather is changing now and a dramatic thunderstorm was forming as we traveled around the lakes in our route. I enjoy these rides, they are my window into Mexico. I don’t have to worry about the trucks or traffic – I just sit back, listen to podcasts, watch movies, or “rest my eyes” for a few hours as we wind our way through the mountains and fields of the Bajio.

I see a lot of beautiful things, but on a bus you can’t stop and capture them like you might in a car. But, truth be told, there aren’t a lot of places to pull off the roads either. I didn’t expect much of these fotos. The lighting was bad, the bus was jerking along the road – a 40 mph or so behind a truck and 60 or so ahead of them. Somehow my little Pentax digital managed to capture a great range of scale under the worst of conditions and some fotos that reflect the moment as I saw it flashing by me.

The detail in these is a little hard to grasp at the scale I use for my gallery and fotoblog – but I think I will have to consider getting them nicely printed one of these days. Nice to know you can get something interesting when the opportunity comes. You will find the whole set in the Commuting pages of the gallery.

wp:thumb src=”IMGP1209.jpg” cap=”Some young friends join me for a few minutes on the local bus from Celeya to San Miguel de Allende.”—> ->

Ketchup

[Enlarge] Family fotos in the front room are on order as Rey’s sister Maria and her daughters come to visit.

As I write this I’m in the middle of a period of a lot of travel. Beyond my normal trips between Morelia and Cueramaro on weekends, I have flown to Philadelphia and taken a couple of trips to San Miguel de Allende. This week I will leave for Philadelphia again on Wednesday.

All of that is an excuse of course for not being able to put some of the many fotos I have taken over the past few weeks up for friends and family. It was with some surprise I realized I had more than 100 fotos to review, edit and consider for putting online. So, I’ve buckled down and gotten some of it done and maybe over the next few days in odd moments, I will get caught up.

[Enlarge] Maria and her nieces enjoying some time together.

A little more than a week ago now, Maria, Rey’s sister from Texas and her daughters, Gabby and Luisa, came home to Cueramaro. Luckily, I was home for the weekend and got to meet a a part of the family I have kept in contact with for years through the Internet. It was a lot of fun and one of the many moments when I am happy to be here and to be able to know this wonderful family. The little house in Cueramaro was alive with music, conversations, and food the whole weekend – as it should be. There are some welcome additions to the family gallery now for everyone to see.

Daisy and her puppies are also a point of interest and yes, I have been able to add some pictures of that part of our extended family too. It is getting to the point when they are getting old enough to leave for new homes so I want to get these memories together while I still can. You will find those in the Mascotas part of the gallery. With so many fotos on line, I need to give people a map! jej

I have some more serious pictures of my travels and some fun ones too. Soon.. Soon.

wp:thumb src=”IMGP1162.jpg” cap=”One of Daisy’s puppies enjoying a quiet moment on the lawn.”—> ->

A

[Enlarge] Two ladies in their traditional rebozos chat in the doorway of a artist’s shop in San Miguel de Allende.

I was invited to visit San Miguel de Allende this past weekend by a friend who moved there from New York. It was a wonderful introduction to a town of many contrasts. San Miguel de Allende is a historical landmark in the state of Guanajuato, a respected artisan colony, and a vacation destination for tourists from Mexico and around the world.

A colonial village sitting on the side of a hill, San Miguel is crossed by a web of narrow cobblestone streets that run at steep angles up to the jardin and Parrochia. Colonial haciendas, with their classic atrium gardens now serve as hotels and restaurants. There are many important artists’ studios and showrooms to visit, side by side with the small grocery stores, butchers and pharmacies of a working Mexican town. It is an interesting play of shape and shadow – the bright colors of Mexico reflecting the sun on buildings built of basalt blocks over the past 500 years. The residents are an eclectic mix of ordinary Mexicans, international artists, foreign citizens – the rich and the poor side by side.

[Enlarge] The Parrochia

San Miguel itself has no Walmarts, Costcos, or modern malls like the larger towns in Mexico. It is at least 45 minutes from those kinds of amenities. But still, it manages to have world-class restaurants, theater, and art that attracts much attention. It has the charms that Mexican life has for many of us. The Jardin Principal is well kept and loved as the center of life. There are cathedrals, the central mercado, and an energetic bustle around the center of the town even in what is called the “off season.”

My friend, Delilah Henry, is a respected interior designer and art consultant from New York who decided it was time to escape the life in “Metropolis.” For now, she is renting a nice two-bedroom apartment not too far from the center of town, which she has lovingly decorated. She has quickly come to love Mexico and the people here but for now the heat is hard for her to adjust to. This is the hottest time of the year in Guanajuato, with temperature in the high 90’s during the day and in the high 70’s and low 80’s at night. In contrast, in Morelia we have a short period of mid 90’s that quickly gives way to breezes and cooling in the evenings when it is nice to have temperatures in the 60’s for sleeping. We are all telling her to hold on, we will all get a respite from the heat at the end of the month when the regular rains come.

Delilah was nice enough to take me to some of the special restaurants and places in the city during my visit. You can’t begin to scratch the surface in a weekend, but I got a feel for the town and its people and I am sure I will go back. You can join me on a walk through the city in my gallery and see what a New York designer can do with an apartment in San Miguel. Saludos!
wp:thumb src=”2005-06-05-29.jpg” cap=”Delilah Henry’s apartment in San Miguel brings New York sensibilities to colonial Mexico.”—> ->