Tag Archives: San Miguel de Allende

Reviews, San Miguel de Allende

So much to do this week in San Miguel de Allende, my head is about to burst

Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle will be performed this week in San Miguel (See information below.)

Ah, that special time of the year when you ask yourself, “Why can’t I be in two places at once? Or three?” That time is now.

This is the time when people with money from the north pour across the border unchallenged and settle in for one month or several and begin to madly buy up tickets to a vast number of events – all of which we only see a hint of the rest of the year.

But few and far between though they might have been, you could reasonably trust that an empty seat could be claimed moments before a performance would begin.

You know the Season is here because – even though arts and cultural events have multiplied like sex-crazed rabbits – you will frequently hear that dreaded phrase, “Sorry. Completely sold out,” from a voice that actually sounds quite chuffed and hardly sorry at all.

Facebook, in a marvelous act of undercounting, posts a message to me on Monday morning: “Reminder: You have five events coming up this week.” It didn’t even get the right five.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

How to look at flowers: A bird’s eye view of Candelaria

Today, I realized that I’ve been looking at the flowers all wrong.

The ones that have filled the wood aisles of Parque Juarez for the annual Candelaria Festival. Nearly every pathway is filled with flowers, succulents, cacti, saplings, herbs, seeds, soils, exotics, and verdant things indescribable by a casual traveler like me.

This isn’t my first Candelaria, bucko.

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San Miguel de Allende, Uncategorized

Send in the clowns

Clowns were dancing up the street again today.

I didn’t make the same mistake twice.

Just because clowns are dancing, it doesn’t mean there is a party going on.

I learned this lesson the hard way on a recent weekend.

The recent procession that passed in front of my house from Parroquia San Antonio de Padua was a funeral. Not a celebration.

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

So, what’s passing by your front door today?

This is mine.

The Parroquia San Antonio de Padua is just a block away and you could hear the momentum building all morning — trance-dancing, church services shot out to the courtyard through loudspeakers, cohetes exploding overhead, church bells, primal cheers …

It builds and builds like a head of steam in a boiler until it all bursts out on Callejon San Antonio and dances, trips, oozes, roars, and flips down the street toward the main drag, The Ancha. Like festive lava flowing at a Mardi Gras party.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende

Making the Bohemian scene

Ok, there probably wasn’t a real Bohemian within 10 blocks of this amazing venue. But “La Boheme” was indeed being performed inside.

Mighty lavish surroundings for a tragic tale of starving students and prostitutes. That’s the Italians for you. That’s opera for you.

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

Howlin’ Wolf

This photo has drawn a lot of attention on Facebook. I took it on January 25, from the upper balcony of the home of our friend Lorna Reutner. Lorna, Cat Silver, Rose Alcantara and I had climbed up to this airy perch in her Colonia San Antonio home for dessert and a little post-dinner wine and conversation.

Needless to say, the full Wolf Moon got our attention pretty quickly. All conversation stopped as we stood agape at the spectacle over San Miguel de Allende. What wasn’t lit artificially was set aglow by this moon.

I pulled my iPhone out and whipped off a few shots before returning to the table — shouldn’t be a rude guest, after all.

A photographer friend from the United States had a kindly suggestion: “Nice moonlight shot. Clean your lens well and you won’t get those streaks.”

Well, yes. Sometimes accidents are the best thing about photography. I don’t think it would have had the same impact if the image were nothing more than another iPhone full moon/pin-prick on the horizon.

I’d say this photo, streaks and all — Solar flares? Random refractions? — creates an emotionally accurate tableau. It is not exactly how it looked, but it is exactly how I felt looking at that moon.

But he’s right. I’ll try harder to keep my lens caps squeaky clean.

Future photographic accidents will be on purpose …

Beam me up, Scotty!

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photography, San Miguel de Allende

About a dozen reasons why I like Tuesdays in San Miguel de Allende

Of all the days of the week, I find Tuesdays to be the best. For many reasons.

Number one, of course, they are not Mondays. This isn’t nearly as important as it was when I actually worked for a living. Just the same, Tuesdays give you a chance to accomplish all the things that never got done on Mondays.

Even in so-called retirement, a lot doesn’t get done on Mondays. Some sort of psychological hangover from the days of full and meaningful employment, I imagine.

Tuesdays also seem to be the day on which the most stuff happens to you when you are least expecting it.

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Colonia San Antonio, photography, San Miguel de Allende

Kids and combatants out in force to parade for Allende’s 255th anniversary

The city of San Miguel de Allende came out in force on Sunday to celebrate the 255th anniversary of the birth of Don Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, hero of the Mexican Revolution of 1810.

The city, through its Directorate of Culture and Traditions, has presented a slate of civic and cultural events in honor of the birthday that will culminate in a huge fireworks display tonight.

The most visible of all these events is the traditional Great Military and Civic Parade which started around 10:30 a.m. and marched through Centro, down Zacateros, up the Ancha, and terminated on Cardo.

(Click on any image to enlarge it.)

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San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel’s fledgling Operisima Mexico finds a glamorous new home in a garden of earthly delights

Rogelio Riojas-Nolasco, founder and music director of Operisima Mexico, reflects on the opera studio’s first year in front of Villa Puccini on the morning of their premiere performance here of “La Bohème.” The owners of Villa Puccini, John and Joy Bitner have opened their doors and hearts to the opera troupe.

The modest wooden door in the high garden wall opens into El Rio y La Paloma No. 2 in the distant and dusty San Miguel outpost of Los Frailes. Stepping through the portal feels a bit like Dorothy stepping out of Auntie Em’s farmhouse into Oz.

Behind this wall is indeed another world so unexpected and beautiful as to momentarily throw you off balance.

The path before you leads to a distinguished columned building in the Greek Revival style — now to become an opera house. To the left is a fountain with a sculpture of Hercules riding the back of a dolphin. In the distance, another fountain celebrates Dionysius. To the right is an Italian villa and beside it is a weighty and somber stone Medieval tower.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende

Merry Christmas: Walking in a twinkling wonderland

The crowds fill the public square every night around twilight when the setting sun spreads a golden hue over all of San Miguel de Allende. It is like the streets are paved in gold. Perhaps this is the El Dorado that the Spanish sought and they just didn’t know.

It is a magical time, still a little warm before the cold wind rolls in over the hills and chills the air.

This posting is just to thank you, dear readers, for following me through thick and thin this year. My wish is for a magical season for you and a new year filled with wonder and joy.

Thanks for reading and we’ll catch up again soon!

Merry Christmas!

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