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. …
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
One thing is certain, San Miguel de Allende sunsets will always be there for you. Even if you can’t make all the other stuff that goes on every day and night.
We’re a busy little town. That’s for sure. This week we have Semana Santa and it started while you were probably still in bed. In the photos above, families help dress the streets for the arrival of the Lord of the Columns statue. This is the 201st year that it has been carried to San Miguel from Antotonilco.
More events leading up to Easter are on their way.
Meanwhile, there are two Santana events — a tribute concert and a documentary screening that will be attended by his drummer. There are two events for the Bomberderos, our mighty fire department for the past 40 years. There are also two events that find their inspiration in death — one in not being dead yet and one that faces the inevitability that death is coming. Pick your favorite.
Continue reading
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
– Leonardo da Vinci
Flying like Superman no longer appeals to me the way it did in my youth. You remember, “faster than a speeding bullet,” – and all that leaping tall buildings with a single bound.
It may be an age thing.
These days, I could use “stronger than a locomotive.” But I’d settle for just a stronger cup of coffee.
The apex of my yearning to fly like Superman came as he streaked around the world counterclockwise until he created enough counterforce to slow its rotation. He did do that, right? I could be conflating my own imagination with some comic book or movie scenario.
Continue reading
The story this week is probably what I didn’t get to. Oh, well. There’s something here for everyone, especially the Lord of the Column procession at the end of the week. To repeat what I said below, the procession is moving and wonderful to watch — but — do yourself a favor and walk over to Independencia on Saturday evening and watch as scores of devotees create beautiful murals of colored sawdust in the streets.
In the morning, Roman soldiers, priests, acolytes, processioners and all will walk slowly through the sawdust, sending the art into oblivion. Following behind will be a legion of city sweepers with bags and brooms and within minutes it will all be the stuff of a dream. So, go see the dream being created on Saturday evening.
Continue reading“Tree down’s just another word for nothing left to lose …” — singer unknown.
Well, not much of a tree. More like a very dense collection of termite tunnels encased in a very mulchy tree-like substance.
The tree had been topped long ago. Which is good, because the abbreviated trunk barely grazed the exterior wall of Casa Liza hotel on Bjd. de Chorro # 7 in ZonaCentro. Imagine one of those towering trees in the park doing the same.
There is just enough room by the Casa Liza wall to squeeze by. The very agile can scoot beneath the trunk, as did Moppit the Philosopher dog on this otherwise serene Sunday morning.
Continue reading
Man, I’m exhausted just thinking about what’s ahead this week (March 3-9). As always, these are just some highlights. There are dozens of weekly shows by our own world-class musicians, performers, writers, painters, and the like.
To find out WHAT ELSE is going on, as usual, I recommend the Big 3:
DiscoverSMA: https://discoversma.com/events/events/
Lokkal Events: https://www.lokkal.com/
San Miguel Live: https://sanmiguellive.com/events/
Feel free to share this with your friends. Pick a night. Go out together. Have fun. Get out of my hair. Without further ado, let’s dig in. We’ve got some booking to do. (Click on any image to enlarge it.)
Continue reading
All day today, since sunrise roughly, colorfully costumed dancers, drummers, and musicians have been filing into the central jardin of San Miguel de Allende. They fill the four corners of the park in front of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel with trancelike dances to the steady beat dozens of drums.
For visitors and expats, the pageantry has been extraordinarily colorful and thrilling but there is a deeply religious foundation to it all that goes back 450 years. Centuries ago the statue called the Lord of the Conquest arrived in the region. Señor de la Conquista is a life-sized Christ and one of the most revered images in this World Heritage City, and not only because of its antiquity.
Many of these dancers began their journey on Thursday evening with an all-night vigil of music, ceremony, chanting in preparation for the grueling performances today. I will leave you with these images but if you want to know more, please visit the Facebook page of my good friend Efrain Gonzalez.
He has written extensively on this and the many other cultural events with which San Miguel is blessed.
Be sure to click on any image to expand it.
Continue reading
Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 