San Miguel de Allende - Highlights

It seems long overdue that we put together a post about the highlights of our time in San Miguel de Allende.

For starters, we had fun adjusting to life without a car.  We were fortunate that we had lots of little shops nearby: tortilla shop next door, a handful of little corner shops, a paper supplies (papeleria) across the street, 2 bakeries within 5-10 minute walk, a fruit and veggie shop around the corner, as well as a butcher.  If we wanted organic and artisan goodies, there was a shop with farm to table café about 10 minutes away.  A big market and a neighboring premium butcher shop was closer to a 20-30 minute walk, but still manageable.  (For the whole month we were in SMA, we only visited a big box grocery store once, because it was next door to the movie theater, where we had gone to watch the latest Star Wars episode.)  Since this on foot lifestyle also meant carrying everything to feed 6+ back home on foot, we generally bought fresh every day (or near every day).  But it was also quite freeing to buy in smaller quantities, based on the day’s menu. 

Our choice to adopt a pedestrian lifestyle was also due to the fact that in a colonial city like San Miguel, traffic and parking can be an absolute nightmare, especially if one wants to go downtown.  And most cars that fit a big group like ours, don’t always squeeze nicely into small spaces.  So frankly, it was often faster to hike into downtown on foot (20-30 minutes, with kids in tow) and we didn’t have to waste any time getting to where we wanted to go.  The added bonus was that we could pop in to the many little shops and cafés along the way, as we explored our neighborhood.

One such place we’d discovered during our last trip to SMA and made a point to revisit, is the “Museo del Jugete Mexicano” or Mexican Toy Museum.  It is a wonderful museum full of artistic children’s toys from the various regions of Mexico.  They are made from whatever resources are prevalent in the area; whether clay, straw, wood, ceramic, recycled soda bottles, cloth, and so on.  Since children’s toys are also often a representation of the life they are living every day, they also serve as a wonderful opportunity to peek into the daily lives of children of different regions and different means.  Doll houses range from a traditional colonial style home to a one-room adobe home.  Cooking utensils often include a molcajete, metate, tortilla press, comal, and many other instruments that are much less common in a US kitchen.  The toy variations of fruits and vegetables include various chilis, chayotes, jicamas, papayas, mamay, guayavas, mangos, incredible variations of squash, corn and beans of all colors under the sun, tortillas, sweet bread conchas, and so on.  Again, not the things you find in your typical Michigan big-box grocery store, but the things that every child here would recognize from their own kitchen and neighborhood market.

Another place on our “must revisit” list was the local botanical garden, El Charco del Ingenio.  We came here several times to enjoy the fresh air, sunshine, and the variety of flora and fauna.  It is a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and just be.  The botanical garden includes a greenhouse that provides a more controlled environment for tiny succulents and water plants.  And the expansive outside areas include both sides of a dam that you can walk across.  There is also a ravine that we explored, with the kids and Alex’s parents, just because we could.  It was a really great place for the kids to run and play and explore.

Of course, downtown San Miguel de Allende is a playground in and of itself.  It is chock full of beautiful architecture.  What makes it incredibly special are it’s old buildings, cobble stone streets, parks and plazas. During the holiday season and weekends, more of the streets downtown are closed off to cars, and frankly it becomes much nicer for us pedestrians.  (If we lived here and had our say, we would work hard to develop a more robust non-motorized plan for the city, so that vehicle traffic and non-vehicle traffic can both flourish.)  There are some beautiful parks that extend multiple city blocks and are full of walking paths, playgrounds, basketball courts, fountains, and trees. 

And what colonial city would be complete without copious street vendors of food, toys, arts and crafts, and so on.  One of the kids’ favorites were the guys selling hats.  You could spot them from afar with dozens of hats stacked high upon their heads.  There were also the ladies making dried flower crowns.  This seems to be traditional and specific to San Miguel, as we’d seen them on our previous trip, and had not encountered them anywhere else.  San Miguel is also full of street musicians as well.  At every hour of the day or night, there was always music and entertainment to be found in the main square; whether an organized event or a more ad hoc performance.

 San Miguel is so full of artists and artisans that it is hard to get away without bringing something beautiful along.  Our home happened to also be across the street from Fabrica Aurora, an old textile factory which has been turned into a wide variety of artist galleries, studios, and shops.  Everything sold here is pretty high quality, and high end.  It is a wonderful place to browse (and drool). 

Behind its expansive terrain, is another pedestrian walk that extends well over half a mile, filled with little stands of “artesanias”.  You can find a treasure trove of silver jewelry, Huichol style beaded jewelry, wool rugs, talavera style pottery, colorful hand painted alebrijes, blown glass dishes, embroidered clothing, wall hangings, tablecloths, and anything else one could imagine.  It was fun to watch as the artisans created their handiwork and hawked their wares. And it was good that each kid had their own money to spend on those beautiful items they just couldn’t resist.