Sunday, August 18
8 –10 a.m. OK, what’s a “botarga”?
I’ll tell you: It is a full-body costume often of a cute animal, vegetable, or a sports team mascot — or Spiderman and Deadpool. Put yours on, zip it up, and join the first Botargas Race at Plaza La Luciérnaga. Be your anthropomorphic best as you “Run, jump, and laugh.” Those are the rules. That’s all we’ve got. Registration is $100 pesos.
Sunday, Aug. 11
10:30 a.m. – Noon — Ecstatic dancing
San Miguel’s longest-running ecstatic dance community Danza de Alma meets at The Nautilus Chamber with the music of DJ Grandpa setting the swirling dervishes in motion. Here’s a map to Nautilus.
Danza del Alma is a scent free zone. Suggested donation is $150-$400 pesos ($8-$20 usd). paypal.me/JoanElenaGoldberg.Can’t make it in person? Zoom in: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6777780270 (Zoom Passcode: Danza, Meeting ID: 677 778 0270)
Sunday, August 4
10-5 p.m. Raising the bazaar on shopping
Bazar Nativa brings together merchants of second-hand and new clothing, antiques, costume jewelry, oriental, ecological and artisanal products, stones, toys, food, and even micheladas and live music on the first Sunday of each month in the Los Pinos Hall.
Bazar Nativa is also a space that provides an opportunity for local artists to make themselves known. Yesenia Múñoz stressed that although most of the exhibitors are local they currently also have merchants from Celaya, Dolores Hidalgo, and Querétaro.
This Sunday, organizers expect more than 70 exhibitors and they have room for more. The exhibition hall is located at Salida Real a Queretaro #173.
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The San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival heads into its 20th year with a diverse and impressive lineup of keynote speakers, led by “Cider House Rules” author John Irving. The literary festival takes place February 12–16, 2025, at the Hotel Real de Minas.
There are two components to the weeklong festival — the keynote speaker series and the actual writers’ conference which is a jaw-dropping series of workshops for writers of all sorts, aspirations, and interests.
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Sometimes, the best thing you can do is just get out and take a hike. Especially now, while the rains have turned the region into an emerald dreamscape. Sure, the roads and trails can be a bit muddy (OK, a lot in some places). These photos, taken on Saturday, were from a walk near the north end of Pressa Allende.
There is a photo below of the extraordinary power of the Obraje stream as it courses and tumbles through the canyon in El Charco del Ingenio, the botanical gardens. See it before the rains slow down and it returns to a trickle!
Continue readingSunday, July 21
8 a.m. — Doggie day out
Elsewhere it may be the Dog Days of summer but not in San Miguel! Plaza La Luciérnaga is celebrating a happier Dog Day by inviting you and your pooch out to the shopping mall for a day of activities, prizes and lots of fun. Bring your pet.
10 a.m.–5 p.m. Artisan fairs popping up
In the Plaza de los Insurgentes, popularly known as “Plaza Garibaldi,” you can find products for the home, decoration and gifts such as mirrors, lamps, rugs and hearts, even high-quality jewelry and great designs, all made by San Miguel families from a wide variety of communities, neighborhoods, and colonias.
From July 24 to 28, a new edition of the “San Miguel de Allende Artisan Fair 2024” will be held around the esplanade of the Jardine Principal. It will offer “maximum face-to-face exhibition of the color and beauty of local crafts and labor, before thousands of local and foreign visitors.”
DiscoverSMA has the details!
Sunday, July 14
8 a.m — 4 p.m. Bomberos Flea Market
After 40 years of protecting San Miguel de Allende, the local fire department still counts on this monthly flea market to make ends meet. Crazy, huh? But this is our life! You will find new and second-hand clothes, glasses, perfumes, lingerie, toys and collectibles, and much more.
Where? At the firehouse on Salida a Queretaro, next to Real de Conde plaza.
10 a.m. — Play ball!
Baseball game between the San Miguel Paric and the San Miguel Pirates this Sunday at the Stirling Dickinson Stadium. The Pirates will try to break the undefeated record of the green-feathered Pericos De San Miguel De Allende. This is quality baseball, up-close, on the region’s finest baseball field. Located at Avenida Las Américas #113.
Within a month’s time, I have taken two driver’s license tests in two countries and passed both. But not exactly “with flying colors.”
My California driver’s license expired on April 10 and I tried unsuccessfully to line up an appointment to renew it in person. I just turned 74 and needed to take a new photo and the written test (and I incorrectly assumed that I’d need the driving one, too).
The problem was two-fold: My phone number is from Mexico and the DMV will not allow foreign numbers when you try to sign into the system. After repeated attempts and working with a human (I think) who promised to send me an access form to fill out and send back – he/it didn’t — I lost interest.
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Sorry if things look a little abbreviated this week. There are two major football/soccer tournaments going on and even if all my favorites — across the world — have been knocked out of contention, the playing has been superb. Copa America and Euro Cup — check them out. The style of playing in each tournament could not be more different from the other.
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Miss me? Sure you did. I’ve had fun these past few weeks but now I’m ready to have fun in San Miguel de Allende. Here is a sampling of some of the great events coming your way.
What off-season? Nobody takes a seasonal break in San Miguel anymore!
As always, this is just the tip of the tortilla. Check out the several events sites devoted to keeping you busy and entertained in San Miguel.
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Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 