February 23, 2009 San Miguel de Allende - Zocalo
We jumped on the bus after breakfast and headed to nearby San Miguel. As Dave and I disembark the bus, loaded down with our backpacks and our guidebook, we reminisce on our backpacking trip though Europe 12 years ago. It certainly adds a whole new flavour when towing along a 3 year old. What was merely adventure then is now much more nerve-racking, when combined with potty breaks (“Mommy, I have to pee – NOW!”), standard whining (“My legs are tired”, “I’m hungry”, “Are we there yet?”) and occasional meltdowns (no description required). We generally head to a place we’ve picked out from our guidebook and then have to wrestle with deciding whether to settle with our first choice or continue shopping around. We’ve done both and regretted both, so who can say what is right?
This time, we decided to shop around a little and we found a great little hotel (Posada el Majorazgo) that was fully within our budget only a few steps from the zocalo. The most impressive and somewhat startling feature in San Miguel is the cathedral, La Parroquia, which faces the main square. With its steeples and minarets towering above the city below, it seems to cry out “Here I am! Don’t even think of ignoring me!” The church was rebuilt by a self taught Indian stonemason, Zeferino Gutierrez, who supposedly learned about architecture by studying postcards of the great French cathedrals and then drew diagrams in the dust to explain to his workers was he wanted.
The town itself is the most charming I have visited in Mexico. It is built on a slight incline, so the streets all have intriguing angles, while the architecture itself is a feast for the eyes. The buildings, all made of stone, are painted in brilliant hues of ochre, blue and crimson; it’s hard to be anything but cheerful when surrounded by such colour. I’ve seen all kinds of fascinating wooden doors, some ornately carved and others clad with iron ornaments. Stone arches frame every doorway, while the windows are generally adorned with wrought iron grills and stone ledges brimming with flowers.
The city has a distinctly Spanish flavour, although it feels less cosmopolitan than Guanajuato. The main square is filled with outdoor cafés and elegant shops line most of the streets near the zocalo. The streets are filled with tourists and locals alike, and old Volkswagen beetles putter merrily alongside their newer counterparts. The air is crisp here and, even in the full sun, we feel the need to wear full length pants and occasionally light fleece sweaters. We notice other tourists in sleeveless tops and shorts, so we assume the chill we feel is the result of our acclimatisation.
We’ve found a wonderful little vegetarian restaurant and feel relieved to know we’ll actually have vegetables in our meal tonight. In our limited restaurant experience so far, we’ve found them hard to come by, and without our kitchen, we are at the mercy of the chefs. We’d become accustomed to having access to a large selection of fresh vegetables every few days in the campground and it’s been hard to go without.
