Today Rosie is going to introduce you to the rest of the town which is San Miguel de Allende. These are the streets that are adjacent to the Parroquia and Plaza Principle. These are the streets where daily life is lived and the numbers of picture snapping tourists are thinner. We will visit the Markets, Churches and Plazas which give this town its rich diversity and makes it what it is.
From The Mirador at the top of town where I am staying we will walk down the steep street into the Chorro barrio, which is the oldest part of San Miguel de Allande.
This street precariously zigs and zags down the hillside. Colourful and beautifully tiled doorways line the way and the walls on the streets are covered in green ivy and bright pink bougainvillea.
Rosie ducks through and archway and pauses on a landing to take in the view.
We are still so high above the city and with the church bell tower in the picture it likes we are in the heart of Italy and not Mexico.
It is so beautiful, Rosie is snapping away…then she gets stung on the hand….Rosie screams, shaking her hand like a lunatic and jogging up and down in the spot…..she never saw what stung her….just an ominous shadow of ‘some thing’ with a big wing span…..her hand is already starting to swell….
The walls and lane ways are the colour of dried blood and the church of Santa Cruz del Chorro, the oldest church in the city, clings precariously to the hillside.
Halfway down, directly below the church is the beautiful old water tower, which used to supply the town wells with water being the highest point in town. Today it is a house of culture where workshops on dance, literature and music take place.
Friar San Miguel sits by the spring, next to the holy mother, this is the legendary well where the city of San Miguel was founded. The original mission was founded in 1542, 5 km from this spot on a river bank that often ran dry.
The friar Juan San Miguel, who was the founder of the mission, had two beloved hounds who one day went missing, upon searching for them he found them lounging on this spot, by the spring called El Churro….the mission and the town were then transferred to this superior site….hence the naming of the town that sprang from it after the good Friar.
An eagle is perched on a prickly pear cactus, in the picture above, (usually also devouring a rattlesnake) this has been an important symbol of Mexican politics for centuries.
As you descend, The Parque El Chorro is a winding labyrinth of red walls. Overhead a giant tree is full of huge white birds, storks? the noise they make, or lack of is actually surprising.
You only notice they are there because of their shifting white bodies amongst the greenery which catches your eyes….and the bird shit on the ground at your feet makes you look up.
The Lavanderia or city laundry still stands in this area near the well and channels from the water tower lead to this communal gathering place where the woman of this barrio used to congregate…and get the chores done over a nice gossip.
The Park Benito Juarez is in this beautiful, shady, leafy area. It is a beautiful strolling park and on the weekends artists display their works there. Ball courts for the teens and playgrounds for the youngsters are also here.
The streets are quiet here in this area, there is always something to see and there is always something that catches Rosie’s eye.
This tiny bronze fish door knocker, is so small yet satisfying weighty. Looking a little closer at every door now, Rosie has stumbled down a street with a real eclectic collection of knockers.
A cob of corn, a big fat fish set at a crazy angle, a lot of hands…..some holding fruit, some wearing jewelry. Before you know it, Rosie has a great collection of knockers, feeling satisfied with herself she is ready for a flat white at one of her favorite coffee shops El Cafe de la Mancha.
Rosie settles into the corner of the bar for what is normally a solo coffee. Today two guys came in and proceeded to chat….they were in town for two days and wanted to know what was worth seeing. Welllllll tour guide Rosie leapt into action. Next minute we are talking knockers, he has a collection too! I am showing him my knockers and then…..he posts them online. Just like that, we are still chatting and my knockers are on the world wide web for all to see….Rosie feels a little violated.
Before you get into town proper we walk past the Plaza del Torros. The giant red gates were open and Rosie did a double take….she has walked past here many times and never noticed the cities one and only bullfighting ring.
Rosie wandered in and a grounds man was sweeping. Rosie said she was a tourist from New Zealand and wondered if she could have a look around. The Grounds man gestured her in, everything was open. Wow! What an intimate setting, the seating is so close to the action and there wouldn’t be a bad seat in the house! This arena was built-in 1856, for the sport of course, introduced by the Spanish.
Before the arena was built they used to have fights in a fenced off area of the Plaza de Solidad in the middle of town, it was said that town son Ignacio Allende was a fearsome bullfighter. This arena seats 3 thousand people and the bull fighting season is in August and September, this was a throwback from the time when they used to have two weeks of continual bullfighting around the time of the feast day of the city’s patron Saint Miguel Archangel.
It’s still a big thing today…all of the fights are always sold out and the bull, or occasionally, very rarely, the matador always dies at the end. Just out of interest the biggest bullfighting ring in the world is here in Mexico not Spain. Mexico City has the biggest arena in the world, Plaza Mexico holds 50,000 people….and sells out every tournament.
This is the square Rosie catches the bus home from, the Templo de San Francisco.
It’s not really a square, its more like the beautiful sunken courtyard in front of the gorgeous church which is framed around the edges by a shady balcony of beautifully trimmed fiscus bushes and park benches.
A fountain plays (sometimes) in the courtyard and the exterior of the church itself is adorned with beautiful relief carvings. Inside the perfume of flowers is beautiful, there are so many fresh flowers everywhere.
This church is very popular with the locals and there is always a service of some sort emptying out into the beautiful courtyard, where families talk, laugh and congregate in the early morning before heading over the road to San Augustin Cafe for a Mexican breakfast or a hot Chocolate and their specialty churros.
Rosie knows this because she too is a fan of an early morning latte and the occasional breakfast churro at the bar of this predominately Mexican hang out. Sometimes, like today the ques to get in are down the street.
The Templo San Francisco is a corner location and number 8 and 9 bus that heads up the hill to The Mirador trundles past here every couple of minutes picking up any extra passengers that raises their arm and flags them down.
Around the corner, past the ancient town petrol pump that watches over one of the craziest intersections in town, is the Main Civic Plaza where The Templo de la Salud built in the 18th century stands sentinel.
The scalloped shell-like front of this church is lovely to behold and this square to has shady seating around the large concrete meeting space watched over by Ignacio Allende on horseback riding towards his quest for independence.
Finishing the trifecta of churches all positioned within a 150 metre triangular walking distance of each other is the beautifully squat Templo Oratorio de San Felipe Neri.
The solemn statue of the saint stands beseechingly out the front gazing skyward and seemingly to dare the pigeons to sit on his spikey arms. The area in front of this church is a resting spot for families to enjoy a spot of lunch bought from the cluster of street vendors that gather in the plaza and across the road. This is another major bus hub and the traffic is horrendous in the organised chaos that makes for a Mexican road.
Follow the path alongside this church and pop around the corner and you are in front of the bustling markets.
This is a giant undercover local market that sells fruit and vege, fish, meat, clothes, shoes, hats, plastic ware, toys and then morphs into more of a tourist market selling all sorts of massed produced souvenir and trinkets.
Venture further into the warren and it develops into a more Handmade Artisan art market. This market covers three blocks in a narrow stifling hot alley way, Rosie recommends to go early….hold on, I did do that one day and half of them weren’t open yet.
Eleven opening seems to be the norm for these lazy artistas. At the end of the alley, you pop up in Guadalupe, yip, right by the busy intersection that gets you to Rosie’s wee organic supermarket and the mural barrio.
Keep walking another couple of minutes and you cross the river where Rosie walked along its shitty banks taking photos of the murals, on the other side is the Fabrica La Aurora.
This used to be an old textile factory which has long since been closed down and abandoned.
It has since been refurbished into an upper class co-operative workshop and gallery space for all of the international artists that now make San Miguel home.
The space with in is fantastic and so is the art on display. Paintings, sculpture, handmade outdoor furniture and classy boutiques are all housed in this giant factory amongst the original heavy machinery of the mill. It is fabulous, so good for a wander around.
Rosie did fall in love with this particular huge painting and would love to take it home.
Rosie normally catches a taxi home from this part of town as the buses that leave for the Mirador don’t come through this area. Flag a green taxi, you never have to wait long, they are everywhere and pay a flat fee of $50pesos. There is no meter, no matter where you go within the town…that is the fee.
Tonight we are going to watch the sunset from the restaurant rooftop terrace of the Luna Bar at the Rosewood Hotel. This is a posh hotel in San Miguel near the leafy Benito Juarez Park that is highly recommended as a ‘must do thing’ in San Miguel. Rosie and The Operator poshed up and off we went. Lets just say, we waited until sunset….had a few drinks, had a few snacks and then left quick smart.
We should have known better….we were surrounded by loud Americans talking shit and moaning about their small worlds and bragging about their achievements and possessions all evening….kind of took the gloss off the setting sun. Rosie and The Operator vowed to try and avoid in the future all the American haunts.
Tomorrow we are heading out of town on abit of a history pilgrimage to visit the sites where the flame of Mexican Independence was lit and I will introduce you formally to Ignacio Allende and the rebel priest Hidalgo who headed this mission, plus we visit the Mexican Sistine Chapel which is all part of this fascinating story.
PS – That bee sting on Rosies hand….has swollen her whole hand incredibly….my joints are super sore and my skin is super itchy……hope my anti histamines work….or it may be a trip to a Mexican doctor. Yikes.
