San Miguel de Allende, The Week in SMA

SMA events, April 28 – May 4: Flea markets and bazaars, oh my! Fireworks and Derby Day, oy vey! And Doug plays well with others! You want it? We got it

It is a great time to be alive in San Miguel – and rummaging through flea markets, art bazaars, Sunday and Tuesday markets. We have a few of them listed for this week.

Meanwhile, the forecast for fireworks is strong on Friday, May 3, as construction workers get their own religious celebration – not quite a holiday as they still must work – but crosses will be affixed to the highest points on projects, a meal will be served at lunchtime, and  … fireworks!

Speaking of fireworks, musician Doug Robinson brings together an impressive gang of musicians for what has to be the musical event of the week — if not the month. And that’s on May 4.

The horse jumping continues at Otomi and the running of the Kentucky Derby offers another great excuse to gather, bet a few bucks, and drink syrupy cocktails. We have only one fundraiser here, tied to the Derby. But I’ll bet many a sports bar will welcome your patronage. Print out the recipe for Mint julep and bring it with you.

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San Miguel de Allende, The Week in SMA

SMA events April 21-27: Kids and horses and music, too … plenty to do

Tough luck if you are over the age of, let’s say16, but a lot of this week’s events are geared toward children. With good reason: The last Saturday in April is Mexico’s National Day of the Child.

If you have kids or know families with young children, consider being a fairy godmother or godfather for a day and get them to some of these wonderful events. (Cover the cost of the tickets, godmother!)

Meanwhile, of course, there really is a lot going on for the rest of us. There is a prestigious horse jumping event and the 50 Best Bars in North America will be named in a splashy ceremony. Do not try horse jumping and bar hopping at the same time. Leave that to the professionals.

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San Miguel de Allende, The Week in SMA

SMA Events, April 14-20: Let’s get this brunch going!

Let me start the week by saying, dawg, I’m tired. It may be the hyper-awareness of a birthday of a certain age that came and went last week but really drove home the point: I have had way too many birthdays in my life.

And that realization leads to another realization: I’m tired.

All of this is to say that as I was putting this calendar together Saturday night, I reached a point where finishing this thing wasn’t going to happen on deadline. So, on Sunday, I updated this page with a half-dozen more fun things for you to consider.

And as always, send your ideas and events to robertj.hawkins2012@gmail.com. Thanks for playing along!

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

Rites of passage in Colonia San Antonio

Today was an important one at the Parroquia San Antonio de Padua here in Colonia San Antonio.

Families brought their sons and daughters — boys in white suits, girls in white dresses — for the religious rites of first holy communion and confirmation. I am guessing it was for both, given the range of age and height of the children.

Your heart can not help but swell as you watch the families approach the church. The mothers, fathers, grandparents, and siblings surround the child in white — who is practically floating above the ground. They walk quickly toward the steps of the church where the children gather in white clusters as the parents sit on the walls nearby.

I have come to see these affairs as private family moments and am reluctant to run around taking photos — me the stranger, the gringo, in their midst. I no longer take photos unless I am encouraged or invited.

Today, my friend Jim Gramprie and I were walking up the Ancha toward Mercado Sano and this pickup truck pulled up beside us in slow-moving traffic.

How could you not smile?

I shouted “Felicidades!” and clapped my hands in case my Spanish was more horrible than I imagined it to be. They smiled and waved and shouted “Gracias!”

This happened three more times in the stop-and-go traffic and finally, I couldn’t resist.

“Con permiso, una fotografia?”

They were all for it. especially the two young ladies on their high thrones in the back of the family pick-up truck.

Traffic suddenly picked up and they were on their way — to a beautiful family fiesta, I imagine.

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Colonia San Antonio, San Miguel de Allende

UPDATE: No reprieve for Silveyra’s: Building’s ‘manager’ pockets cash, so owners boot all Colonia San Antonio building occupants

Latest update: Despite talks on Monday, April 15, owners held firm that all occupants of Callejon San Antonio #2 must vacate the building. All had been paying rent to an unscrupulous “landlord” who pocketed the cash for nearly a year.

Restauranter Keli Silveyra posted this on Facebook Monday afternoon:

“An end of an era 😢 The family that owns the spot has contacted us. They are looking at selling the location, and or renting it out to higher bidders It sounds like they have offers already. We will be getting our restaurant out as soon as possible. They were very very kind considering, money is money.”

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San Miguel de Allende, The Week in SMA

SMA Events for April 7-13: Eclipse was cool … but wait, there’s more!

It’s a promising week when an eclipse of the sun is not really the best thing happening in San Miguel de Allende. I mean, you can’t even look directly at it unless you are a former president of the U.S. or you have special glasses.

What fun is that?

Well, it could be some fun even though we’re on the “partial” side of the path. Just, you know, take care of your own eyeballs. So you can see what else is coming up this week.

There is a lot to be excited about — boxing, bullfighting, classic movies and plays, crazy good singers and musicians, a Jerry Rife photography exhibition (see photo above), and a burlesque show that includes the Mexican Elvis — El Vez. (Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of El Vez. Oh, come on!) The ones doing all the burlesque are Moscato Sky, Carmen Caliente, and Ruby Mimosa — and with names like that, baby you know you want a front-row seat.

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Memoirs -- fact and fiction, photography, Reviews, San Miguel de Allende

Blows my mind, every year.

I tried my idea for global peace on a few people in the crowd today as we waited for the Exploding Judases to commence.

“What if all across the United States people had a day like this where you could hang effigies of your enemies and other bad people — and watch as they were blown to bits?”

“Just think of the catharsis!”

How to begin to describe the strange looks that I got. …

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San Miguel de Allende, The Week in SMA

Events for March 31 – April 6: Last hurrah for Easter and High Season and then …

If you haven’t been, you owe it to yourself to go see the Exploding Judases, today, Sunday, at noon. Go sooner and get a close-up look at the lifesize papier mache figures that will be blown to smithereens. You may even recognize one or two! You may even want to project a name or two of your own onto the more anonymous ones.

Frankly, the pyrotechnics signal the end of High Season, that semi-sad time of year when the season begins to change, to heat up and get really really dry, and all that money changes course and begins to flow back north to the United States and Canada.

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Reviews, San Miguel de Allende, The Week in SMA

March 24-31: An Easter parade of things happening in San Miguel de Allende this week

What better way to kick off Holy Week than the sacred rivalry U.S.A vs. Mexico in the finals of the Concacaf Cup — again? Ok, there are better ways if soccer isn’t your religion. We’ve got them here! (Photo: Concacaf)

You can attend two magnificent classical performances on the same day, a spooky play reading, a night of expert storytelling, and learn how to read “Ulysses” for pleasure. Watch as the greatest soccer rivalry in the Western Hemisphere fires up again Sunday night. Take to the stage for a Live Mic night, watch an Oscar-winning documentary, or see one of the greatest movies of all time.

The toughest seat in town will be for the re-birth of the guitar-fueled Media Luna’s trio of concerts.

Probably most important of all is that all week long the Catholic faithful will be reliving the Passion of Christ in ceremony, pageantry, prayer, liturgy, and in the end pyrotechnics.

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photography, Reviews, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

Healing art of Bellas Artes: Know them by how they have suffered

On Wednesdays, I have about an hour between appointments, time I would normally spend sitting in the Jardin with a cup of coffee and a pastry, watching people pose in front of the Parroquia, marveling at how easily alliteration springs from my fingertips.

Not today. Something inside me said I didn’t need the coffee. (The previous three cups?) Or the pastry. (The spreading waistline?) As I reached Calle Hernandez Macias a decision needed to be made.

Ahead of me was the pastry, park, Parroquia, and people. To my left was the Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramirez El Nigromante — Belles Arte for the more mellifluously inclined.

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