The view from my seat in the courtyard of Bellas Arts, San Miguel de Allende. That the coffee and tarts are delicious is merely a plus for this lovely setting.
The other day I posted a picture on Facebook of a fruit tart and coffee at Zenteno’s Bellas Artes cafe. A good-sized chunk of the tart was missing.
Not missing, actually.
I know exactly where it went. Continue reading
The current contents of the Cobblestone Museum pouch.
Welcome to Cobblestone Pocket Museum, the traveling collection of tiny found objects which may or may not have magical properties.
The museum is housed in a gray felt pouch big enough to hold one pair of sunglasses. It does not because sunglasses even if found would never qualify as “tiny.”
The bag has a zipper at one end and the rubber tab on the zipper says “Jet Blue,” which I used to fly whenever possible when the airline first launched. Continue reading
A piece of birthday cake from the staff at Hank’s in Centro, San Miguel de Allende.
Well, the Rose Alcantara Birthday Season has closed the books on another year.
Whew.
Since the day she was born — on Sept. 7, mumble … mumble– the world has often felt a rather frenzied uptick in activity and happiness in the week’s preceding this event.
Long before I met Rose, her birthday season was filled with road rallies, theatrical skits and dancing, scavenger hunts, magical enterprises and most importantly, lots of friends and family.
My idea of a birthday celebration is the sound of the escaping hiss from a single can of beer in an otherwise vacant and monastically enshrouded livingroom. Or on an empty beach. It is in April and usually, that means a cold and rainy and empty beach. Continue reading
Since finding the teacup, the cobblestones have yielded other treasures — an anchor from a small fairy boat, a tiny pawn which may have been used as a coat rack, and the remnant of a fairy’s full-length mirror. They all stay in my change purse, should their owners ever wish to reclaim them.
There is an old tradition, which I am just now making up, that says when you find a fairy’s unbroken teacup on a cobblestone street, good luck will follow you around — as long as the cup remains intact.
For you see, anything that survives unbroken on a cobblestone street must be very, very lucky, indeed.
The fairies live in the oldest trees of San Miguel de Allende. When the trees are cut down to make way for more buildings, the fairies must flee and take with them the good luck, kind feelings, and benevolent outlook which they share with the city.
And the few possessions they can salvage ahead of the developers.
“Have I tumbled out of reality or into it?” — Robert Cooksey, on Facebook.
Great question, Bob.
I think I know where he is coming from. My friend Bob lives here in San Miguel de Allende. Like him, I can not believe our good fortune to be living in such a place.
The flip side of that expression of gratitude is that we’ve both very happy to no longer be living in the United States. (I speak for Bob — up to a point — because he is so outspoken on Facebook about his dismay over the direction the country has taken since, oh, since November 2016 at least.)
But now I’m getting off-topic.
Well, OK, I’m going to say it: This is a magical city.
The couple sat down at the next table as I dipped my second churro into a piping hot Chocolate Mexicano.
“I’ll sit right next to my darling sweetheart,” said the man brightly. And a little loudly.
“Who talks like that?” I wondered.
I was especially curious because I happened to be reading a NOVA report on the theory that the Big Bang created a mirrored universe that runs in reverse of ours. Mind you, not for one moment did I think that I’d slipped through the portal and landed in 1947.
It was just, you know, quaint. And a tad patriarchial. But then, she looked like the sort who thought a line like that might be charming, under some circumstances. Continue reading
The Deportivo San Miguel Liones scrimmage fiercely on a recent Sunday. (Photo by John Bohnel)
Don’t let your handicap limit you. Don’t let your disability define you. You are everything you want to be and nothing that others think they see.
The footballers of Deportivo San Miguel know this. They believe this.
They live this.
They are the mighty Leones of the State of Guanajuato and in their four short years together playing on the national stage of Mexico, they have the hardware to prove it. Continue reading
All it takes is to miss a turn and you end up on a quiet country road like this one, which leads to the long-ago abandoned hacienda Las Trancas, about midway into the first section of the trail and a fabulous spot from which to engage the river.
We did it! We found the off-road, Rio Laja trail from San Miguel de Allende to Antotonilco. Several weeks ago, when we walked to Antotonilco along the old highway it was pleasant enough but the road is narrow and pretty busy.
Here and there we’d catch glimpses of the chalky gray Rio Laja which flows south into the sprawling reservoir called La Pressa Allende. And here and there was evidence of a trail!
We’re still new at this hiking/walking thing and lacked the confidence to jump off the road and into the brush along a river we hardly knew. Who knew where we might end up? Continue reading
Beside the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel today, a stunning Mexican senorita stood regally, poised between a mule skinner and a cowboy. Her flowing crimson gown was equally a match to her own beauty and that of the Parroquia.
Had we stepped back in time? Was there a movie being shot?
A fashion shoot, at the least. Maybe the cover of a glossy magazine extolling tourists to visit old Mexico, through magical San Miguel de Allende. Continue reading
This little guy was sitting all alone this morning on Calle Hiernandez Macias, or so it seemed. Half a block down was his mother, sitting against a wall in the shade offering Chiclets to tourists.
He was bored enough to topple off the curb and into a pigeon pose in the street, before switching to an updog pose. Our little yoga master!
Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 