My friend and one-time newspaper colleague Bill Osborne writes: “You’re definitely not boring, but here’s a suggestion you might address: Why did you decide to make this trek? What did you expect or want to get out of it? Now that the end is in sight, what have you gotten out of it? What have you learned about yourself?”
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This day can only unravel in reverse, because its still getting better and it is only 8:30 pm
Over in the corner, Andrew and Englishman is playing harmonica and another pilgrim is softly strumming a guitar. They are working out a gentle tune of their own making.
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Today was different, for sure.
We walked between a very busy road and a lush, beautiful landscape of forest and streams and grazing fields. Overlaying it all was an elevated freeway.
And all of this stitched it’s way through villages in contrasting states of decay and prosperity, often side-by-side.
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Not much of a headline, but what can you expect on a day off?
I slept in. Folded laundry. Answered old emails. Slept some more. Wandered around old Leon. Grabbed a croissant and coffee.
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I wouldn’t call it a routine day but all went as smoothly as could be expected. Up and out of Terridillos before 7 am. And into Bercianos Del Camino by 1:30 pm
Never saw the rain, just the puddles.
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Today was only a 20-kilometer walk from Hornillos to Castrojeriz, but I still left long before sunrise.
There is something primal about walking alone in darkness, assisted only by a headlamp or the full moon.
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San Miguel de Allende has its own symphony orchestra. Do you know what that means?
It is the central gem in our cultural crown.
The city, for its small size, sparkles with opera, chamber music, writers, painters, and poets. (You know the saying, “If you aren’t an artist when you move to San Miguel, you will soon become one.”)
For the longest time, we’ve gotten by on occasional fly-bys from big-city orchestras and the wonderful youth symphony adventures.
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Showing up late for a party stoned and tipsy wasn’t very original in late-1969, though I was getting damned good at it — and tired of it all — a rudderless college drop-out, dodging the draft, hiding out in Washington D.C. in the shadow of the Selective Service.
I was fast becoming a mess.
Nobody at John and Linda’s party noticed – even when I stumbled back against the bookshelf and slid to the floor while Jenny from West Virginia badgered me with her latest career dilemma: Airline stewardess? Or a psychologist?
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Eduardo Adame’s gigantic sprawling, eclectic, cultural “potluck party” is about to begin.
A “potluck” is how Adame described the third edition of the two-week-long Festival of the Arts San Miguel de Allende (FASMA) in May, when he was pulling together global and homegrown artists, musicians, singers, actors, poets, photographers, craftsmen, and the like for the showcase.
“Everyone is invited to bring the best that they can do – and invite their friends,” he said back then, expanding on the analogy
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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.
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