Tag Archives: Photos

photography, San Miguel de Allende

A parade breaks out in San Miguel … on a Monday

Yes, those were definitely drums. Not the assertive, muscular, rhythmic pounding that fuels many a procession and parade here in San Miguel de Allende.

These were tentative little thumps, like someone was trying them out for the first time. A test ride. Coming from somewhere near the intersection of Correo and Recreo. Hortus restaurant, on the corner, blocked my view from the Jardin. But you could feel a sort of energy building as the drums grew louder, bolder, more assured, more assertive, rhythmic.

Yes, definitely.

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San Miguel de Allende

Festival of the Arts San Miguel de Allende starts Friday — let the feast begin!

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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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

Our Locos dance to a different beat … lots of different beats

Well, all those umbrellas did not go to waste. The ones people carried to the Locos parade and the ones sold by vendors under threatening skies.

The rains stayed away and thousands of gaily costumed — and bizarrely, quaintly, curiously, delightfully, enchantingly, dreamily, whimsically, scarily, creepily, amusingly and shockingly costumed — paraders strutted, danced, boogied, jumped and jived their way down the Ancha, en route to the Jardin Allende in the civic square.

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

A time for tacos, Locos, and nightly rain in San Miguel de Allende

Such a relief.

It now rains most evenings in San Miguel de Allende, somewhere between 5 and 7 p.m. I could almost set my watch by it, if I had a watch.

We got caught in a downpour last night in Colonia San Antonio as we were leaving a nearby Italian restaurant, Denver’s Los Olivos, with some friends. Juan Miguel (Denver) always delights — a very old-school chef with traditional recipes and a dining-in-the-kitchen feel.

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

A Flamboyant tree grows in Colonia San Antonio

More than five years ago, we lived in a “penthouse” apartment that overlooked this tree from nearly a block away. You could not miss it. You could not turn away. Its color is otherworldly among the beige and brown stucco buildings.

After the splendid jacaranda trees drop their lavender flowers, this one, and more like it in hidden courtyards behind drab walls, spring to life.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende

In San Miguel, a day of dance for El Señor de la Conquista

In front of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arc Angel — all day Friday for the feast day of Señor de La Conquista — hundreds of brightly costumed dancers express the most joyous form of worship imaginable.

And exhausting.

Long before noon, it was hot out there. Really hot. I’ve never seen headdresses come off so quickly and water get consumed so rapidly as today. Can you blame them?

But always there were smiles.

So, what’s this all about?

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photography, San Miguel de Allende

Scentless: Flowers that will last forever

“Bob,” many of you ask me, “are the flowers in San Miguel really that beautiful? And are there really that many?”

I try to manage expectations.

“Yes,” I say. “There are that many flowers. And, yes, they are that beautiful.”

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photography, San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Meet some of the guests of the Wednesday hot lunch program, So Others May Eat

“We are very close sisters, like we live in different ranches, we love to see each other once a week in the feeding program. We eat and talk about our lives and family. Thank you for this opportunity.”
Doña María Teófila López González, 70 years old, lives in Rancho de Huerta.
Doña Margarita López Gónzalez, 73 years old, lives in Rancho de Soria.

Hardly a Wednesday goes by that Frank Thoms and I don’t turn to each other and say, “Man, we are so lucky. We are so blessed.”

We come to that realization early and often.

We’re both volunteers at So Others May Eat, the hot lunch program in an obscure courtyard of the Parroquia de San Miguel de Arc Angel in San Miguel de Allende.

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

Life on the ledge

Everybody is experiencing varying degrees of winter, some harsher than others this year. In northern climes there is a touch of schadenfreude in the air as southern spots like New Orleans try to figure out how to move snow off their streets and sidewalks and in Washington DC, the presidential inauguration was moved inside because it was too cold.

Right now I’m sitting in front of a fireplace shivering but in another hour or so I’ll be down to shorts and T-shirt. That’s just the way winter goes in San Miguel de Allende. Temperatures sink and soar on a whim.

In another week we’ll begin the celebration of Candelaria, which sort of pushes Spring to the forefront. The celebration is part religious and part commercial. Candelaria marks Candlemas, the 40th day after the birth of Christ.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

Sunset San Miguel

We were a few minutes late for our 6:30 p.m. reservation at Antonia Rooftop Bistro but just in time to catch the end of this glorious sunset.

The restaurant is about four heart-pounding flights above the Hotel Palomar at San Francisco #57 and I suspect sunset dinners are in demand. It does have an elevator, by the way.

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