Sleepy San Miguel

A pink cathedral stands in the middle of the city of San Miguel De Allende, the heart of this vibrant yet  tranquil town just outside of Queretaro. Home to many expats and Mexicans alike, the colourful buildings and steep, narrow streets transcend time and remind me of a an old colonial city, VW's in all colours still trying to make their way up the cobble roads that wind along the cliffs in view of the beautiful city center below, charming Mexican musicians playing in the center with older couples dancing to their old time favourites among the perfectly trimmed hedges surrounding the square and the sound of the mass echoing in the distance. San Miguel for me, more than anything is like a breath of fresh air, a city that does not try to overpower you with its grandeur or bustling streets, no San Miguel is modest and this makes it all the more beautiful. Hopefully the following photos can speak for themselves.

This heavenly delight cost me less than one dollar! I love mexico.

Devoted until death.

Mexicans love their coke and Americans love Mexican coce.

Forget streets of gold- streets of rainbow colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again enjoying a snack- homemade ice-cream.

 He excused himself and began asking where we were from, I think he may have been around 60 or so years old. Grey hair and a tattered shirt, with a big grin and eyes that seemed a thousand years old. He proceeded to tell us that we were as beautiful as flowers and that it made him incredibly happy that we chose to visit his town. With that he asked for a dance, and with no hesitation I simply replied "porque no" -why not. 

This is another great thing about Mexicans, they know how to dance, how to twirl and spin you and move to the music so distinct to their part of the world. And how great it was for me to dance with this old man, with a grin so wide I was almost sure he was going to tear his face apart. He laughed and smiled as he twirled me and the old couple next to me gave me smiles of approval as I attempted to follow his steps. I laughed with him as we danced in the square and the twirling colours of the dark green trees, shapes of the onlookers and the bright blue uniforms of the musicians all blurred into one beautiful scene and yet another beautiful moment.

After walking ample steps through the city we made our way up tiny winding streets that proved relentless on the calves but more than rewarding enough for the eyes when we reached the top. From here we could see the colourful city, that looked more like someone had construed a massive canvas in front of our eyes and painted the ideal city we saw in reality before us.

Taking a break from admiring concrete and stone, we made our way to a botanical garden. But not the typical kind I expected. I never realised how many different type of cactus there really were, but in this garden I certainly had a bit of a wake up call- there are hundreds upon hundreds. Making our way through the park was like walking on the scene of a sci-fi movie, a single dirt road winding its way through the weird and the wonderful, the plants we saw here could easily have come from the imagination of a 5-year-old or as my friend put it, maybe America dropped nuclear waste in this part of the world and the end product was the growth of the weird, the ugly and the truly Mexican desert plants. We also made our way to a beautiful canyon from where we were once again provided with a last look of the picturesque city.