Tag Archives: Mexico

Memoirs -- fact and fiction, San Miguel de Allende

Welcome to the Cobblestone Pocket Museum of Tiny Found Objects which might be magical

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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 →

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Camino: Porto to Santiago, Uncategorized

Alpine trails, mountain streams, fresh coffee, and Portela Grande — could there be a better day?

IMG_6205Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes, (18.6 km — feels like 18.6, except on Alto de Portela Grande)

There is a different mood in the air this morning as the clank, and flap, and zip of early risers assembling their backpacks awakened everybody else in the dormitory.

It started at 4 a.m. with the two guys sleeping in the beds next to me. I understand starting early to beat the afternoon heat, but walking three hours on mountain trails in the dark of night with, probably, only a headlamp to guide you?

By 6 a.m. the predawn dorm was an undulating shadow-sea of pilgrims rising up, gathering their scattered clothing, running off to the loo, bundling up their backpacks, and strapping on their boots. Occasionally the door would open and the motion-activated light in the hall would stream in, trapping shadows in the glare, momentarily freezing all like it was some big jailbreak. Continue reading →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

The fairy’s teacup

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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.

Continue reading →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Help! I’ve fallen into reality and I can’t get up

 

 

You step out the door in the morning and look to your right …
… then you look to your left. How can you not be grateful for the simple miracles awaiting you?

“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.

Continue reading →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Before the football season even begins, Deportivo San Miguel Leones faces elimination

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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 →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Hiking the Rio Laja to Antotonilco

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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 →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

The randomness of beauty in San Miguel

IMG_4863Beside 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 →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Curbing his enthusiasm

 

Our little yogi, dep in meditation.
Pigeon pose.
Updog pose.

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!

 

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Haircuts from the heart: A fresh start to the new school year from Hecho Hombre crew

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Hecho Hombre barbers cut a trio of youngsters at the community center Fundación Comunitaria Don Diego at Colonia Presa de la Cantera. Puma is behind him to the left and Nacho in back to the right.

This is how one thing leads to another.

I’m sitting in the barber chair in Hecho Hombre and Puma is warming up to bring my scrappy mange under control, my first haircut in months and it has become an embarrassing comb-over of the worst sort. The kind your uncle, the insurance guy, used to wear until he got that really bad toupe.
At the front desk, manager Nacho, the mustachioed son of Tijuana, is cueing up a song, a really good haunting, brooding, menacing song and I know it but I just can’t nail it down.
“Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,” says Nacho.
“Ah, thanks,” says I. “Why do I know this one?”

Continue reading →

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel: Where ever you may be, there it is

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Let the road lead you to where ever it may.

One sight around San Miguel de Allende that is inescapable — and delightfully so — is the curlicue confection-inspired spires of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel.

No matter where you walk, there it is: the pinkish-salmon spires of the city’s most iconic church. And, there, around it are the half-dozen aspirant church belfries and towers and domes.

The Parroquia is a big reason for San Miguel’s designation as a World Heritage Site and it is one of the most photographed churches in all of Mexico. And that is saying a lot. Churches here are like Starbucks in the United States, on every corner it seems. Continue reading →

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