November 2013: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

San Miguel de Allende is a historic colonial town in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, 170 miles northwest of Mexico City. It was founded in 1542, and many of its buildings date to the 17th and 18th centuries. Originally named San Miguel el Grande, "de Allende" was added in 1826 in honor of local hero Ignacio Allende, an army captain who took part in the early stages of the Mexican War of Independence and was executed by the Spanish in 1811.

After World War II, San Miguel became a center of artistic activity, and a magnet for expatriates from the United States, Canada and other countries. In 2008, San Miguel de Allende was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, it's estimated that residents who have moved to the town from outside Mexico represent 10 to 15 per cent of the town's population of approximately 60,000. 

(Click on any photo to enlarge. All photos © 2013 Tom & Marcia Murray)

One of those expats is Tom's brother, Chris. Here's the story behind his move to San Miguel, in his own words:

In December of 2010 I visited several cities in and around central Mexico. It was my first visit to the country and I was immediately struck by the open friendliness of the people and also by the quantity and quality of the artisanship to be seen everywhere. On subsequent visits I heard about San Miguel de Allende. A three day visit led to a month-long stay later in 2011 which in turn led to my move here. San Miguel is unique in that all of the streets are cobble stoned and this leads, I believe, to its reputation as being "muy tranquillo" or very peaceful or of a slow pace. The arts community is extremely vibrant here, the city is  nestled in the Sierra Madre mountains, and the weather is rarely anything but gorgeous. What with the city's history, the beautiful architecture, so warmly and richly colored inside and out, the delicious food of so many varieties, the low cost of living and especially the friendliness and vitality of the people, what is there not to love about San Miguel?

We have found that Road Scholar's educational travel programs are a great way to get acquainted with a place that's new to us, and we knew that they offered a program in San Miguel. We watched their web site to see when we could work it into our schedule; that opportunity came along in November. It worked particularly well for us because the program had some unscheduled time built in to allow participants to explore the town on their own. This free time would allow Chris to show us some of his favorite places.

We flew to Mexico via Houston, and met our program leader, Haydee de Hoyos, and other participants at Del Bajío International Airport in León, about 90 minutes' driving time from San Miguel de Allende. From there we had a bus ride through the hilly countryside of Guanajuato state to San Miguel, which is at an elevation of just over 6,000 feet. The two-lane road passed through rural farming and grazing areas, and it was an interesting trip with our fearless local driver (including a couple of close calls with other vehicles trying to pass our bus on blind curves).

Once we got past the populated areas around the city of Guanajuato, there weren't many towns, but we did see one, La Sauceda, that had many styles and sizes of deer made from straw or twigs displayed along the road. Every home seemed to be selling them.

Our lodging in San Miguel was at Posada de la Aldea, a lovely hacienda-like hotel, which was full of arts and crafts.

Our program began with a lecture on Mexican history by John Barham, a retired university professor and administrator who lives in Brownsville, Texas, the southernmost city in the state, just across the Rio Grande from Mexico. John was an excellent speaker, thoroughly knowledgeable about every aspect of Mexican history and culture, and prepared to answer any question we might have. 

In most cities and large towns in Latin America, churches are a prominent architectural feature. The most visible of these in San Miguel is La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, the local parish church, which dates to the 17th century but received a new gothic-style facade in the 1880s. The church can be seen from many different angles around the town.

The older commercial and residential buildings in the heart of San Miguel generally don't have the elaborate architecture of the churches, but they are charming.

 

But even some of the otherwise plain buildings have unique artistic details, especially on the corners.

In many places bougainvillea adds a splash of color.

One of the first places that our group visited was a cultural center named for Ignacio Ramírez, an iconoclastic 19th-century writer and political activist. It's in a former convent, and today it houses classrooms for the visual and performing arts. It also features several murals and frescos done in the 1930s and 1940s by politically-inspired painters including Pedro Martínez (whose El Fanatismo del pueblo appears below)...

 ... and David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose abstract work, Mural vida y obra del Generalísimo

Don Ignacio de Allende (The life and work of Generalissimo Don Ignacio de Allende) is seen here; it fills an entire room.

The cultural center also contained some less serious works, such as these whimsical giant dolls, which we saw in several different styles in town, and which are used in various types of public events.

There is art everywhere in San Miguel. One of the common motifs is the human skull, which is portrayed in many ways, including this Volkswagen that we saw in a public park.

Aside from the work of many generations of artists and craftsmen, there is also much natural beauty in and around San Miguel. Our group spent one morning at El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden, a nature reserve in the hills overlooking the town.

The reserve is set in a hillside above a steep canyon, and is dedicated to preserving cacti and other succulents that reflect the horticultural heritage of Mexico.

In addition to the botanical garden's many plants, a variety of other life forms can also be seen there.

Chris took us to another showcase for various plants, the Jardín de Orquideas Los Pocitos, an orchid garden once owned by Stirling Dickinson. He was an American who first arrived in San Miguel in 1937 and established an art school in the town. After serving in the U.S. Navy's intelligence service during World War II, he returned to San Miguel and began to promote the school as a place where U.S. veterans could study under the G.I. Bill. This began San Miguel's emergence as a center of the arts and as a magnet for visitors and long-term residents from other parts of North America. Dickinson died in 1998.

The orchid garden is open by appointment only, and we were fortunate to be given a private tour by Victor, the employee who now maintains it.

As the name implies, the garden contains many orchids...

... but also a variety of other plants.

Aside from what we saw as we toured San Miguel, another memorable aspect of our visit was the food we enjoyed there. The cuisine is much more varied than what we Californians think of as "Mexican food." Yes, there were burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and other familiar fare, but there were many other items on the local menus, like the lunch of peppers stuffed with ground beef, corn and mango that we savored on our first day in the town. The local restaurants also reflected the cosmopolitan makeup of the local community; some specialized in Italian food, others in German cusine, and so forth.

One of our favorites was a tiny restaurant, El Rinconcito, in Chris's neighborhood. It was a true mom-and-pop operation; while the owners prepared the food, their daughter sat nearby doing her schoolwork. The food wasn't fancy or sophisticated, but it was tasty, and the family made us feel as though we were guests in their home.

Our Road Scholar group also visited two historic sites outside San Miguel. One was the Sanctuary of Atotonilco, an 18th-century church complex. It's a few miles outside the town, but it was included in San Miguel's designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The best-known feature of the church is the elaborate mural work throughout the interior, which has led some to call it the "Sistine Chapel of Mexico."

About 25 miles from San Miguel is the town of Dolores Hidalgo. It is considered the birthplace of the Mexican War of Independence. On September 16, 1810, Jesuit priest Miguel Hidalgo gave a speech to a throng of people gathered in the town square at which he urged them to revolt against the Spanish colonial government. His emotional appeal to the townspeople became known as the Grito de Dolores, or the Cry of Dolores, and is considered the moment at which the movement for independence moved from underground plotting to open rebellion. The central feature of the town square today is a statue of Father Hidalgo.

Nearby is a mural depicting Father Hidalgo uttering the Grito, along with other leaders of the War of Independence, which would last until 1821. Hidalgo, however, would be executed by firing squad for his revolutionary activities in July 1811.

The town, originally known as Dolores, was renamed Dolores Hidalgo in his honor after the country won its independence from Spain. This monument, and others like it, were erected in 1960 along the route from Dolores Hidalgo to Chihuahua, where Hidalgo was executed, to mark the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the War of Independence.

Dolores Hidalgo is a center of pottery-making, and our group visited one major pottery factory near the town, operated by Talavera Castillo. We were able to walk through the factory and see pottery at every stage of production. The factory employs roughly 100 workers, and the production processes seemed to be very close to those of a hundred years ago. Here, pots are waiting to be removed from their molds.

It was fun to see the entire process of making pottery, including the finishing and painting. All of the intricate designs were painted by hand. The work area seemed very low-tech; painters sat in a big room with plastic cups of paint, rags and piles of pottery to paint. Some people transferred markings from the paper pattern to the pottery, while others did the painting. Nothing is done by computer here!

We ended up at the shop, where there were many different items for sale at low prices. We have a new respect for the craftsmanship that goes into the intricate, brightly-colored Mexican pottery we see in garden centers in California.

The last day of our Road Scholar program took us to the city of Guanajuato, the capital of Guanajuato state. The city is located in a very hilly area, and underlying many of the hills are tunnels that were once used to carry water during periods of heavy rainfall. A dam project in the 1960s reduced the potential for flooding, and some of the tunnels now serve as roadways.

For the record, the castle-like structure in the foreground above isn't as old as it appears. It's the Castillo de Santa Cecilia, a hotel that opened in 1952. Our group stayed nearby, at the Mexico Plaza Hotel.

The economy of Guanajuato depended for many years on mining, as symbolized by this monument across the street from our hotel. At one time Guanajuato produced more than half of the world's silver. Mining continues today, though not on the same scale as in the 18th or 19th centuries.

The Zona Centro, or central city, has many narrow, winding streets, and includes several notable buildings, whose history spans centuries. They include the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato, constructed between 1671 and 1696...

... the Temple of the Jesuit Order, completed in 1747...

 ... the Legislative Palace, constructed in 1900...

... and the University of Guanajuato, whose main building was constructed in the 1940s.

On the morning of our departure from Mexico, our bus passed Cerro del Cubilete, located between Guanajuato and León. Atop the hill, at an elevation of 8,460 feet, is a 65-foot statue, Cristo Rey (Christ the King), installed in 1950. The site has become a pilgrimage destination, particularly in early January at the time of the Epiphany.

Anyone who knows Tom is aware of his interest in railroads. We passed the San Miguel railway station on our way into town, and again as our bus departed at the end of our stay, but unfortunately we didn't have a chance to visit it on this trip.

 

However, every night, we could hear the sound of Ferromex freight trains rumbling through town. On our next trip to San Miguel, we'll take a closer look at this part of town.