May, 2008
At an altitude of 6500 feet, the climate of San Miguel offers cool evenings and warm balmy days. It was my first time to San Miguel, and what surprises and delights this tiny place, located at the center of Mexico, would provide!
San Miguel is served by flights from Leon, which is a fairly short distance away, or Mexico City, which is three hours away. It is the revolutionary center of Mexico, for it was at Dolores where Hidalgo started the revolution, and it then spread quickly to Guanajuato, San Miguel and the beautiful Queretaro.
The area is often referred to as “colonial Mexico” because of the strong architectural influence from Spain.The main plaza in San Miguel is one of the most remarkable sights you can behold. San Miguel is built on a steep hill, and our hotel provided a perfect place at the end of the day to watch the sunset.
Early morning and early evening are times of wonder in this town. The marketplace, which is covered to protect from the sun, sees its fair mix of the local population and tourists wandering through with their cameras, curious about the local fare. Silver and tin abound in this part of the world, and great prices are to be had.
As in every Spanish town, the focal point is the main plaza. In San Miguel the Plaza Principal, known as el jardin, is a sight like no other. This is the heart of the city, and in the evening the lights of San Miguel’s landmark, the Parroquia, transform the square into a lightshow, and the mariachi players provide music on four corners of the square while people sit and kids play around and about the elevated central part. Just outside the square are the ever-present balloon guys and an ice cream truck drawn by a horse that rests around the corner of the church during the busy part of the day.
As the sun sets across the square, the colors that bounce off the clock tower remind me of Italian sunsets in Rome, with the lush pinks and reds of bougainvillea. The smell of food drifts into the evening air as day changes into night and the temperature drops to reflect this town’s beautiful mountain setting.
Not far away, maybe fifteen minutes at most, are hot water spas that provide fun and escape on cool winter days. Shopping is phenomenal here, and bargains are everywhere. Just remember to buy an extra suitcase to pack it all up to go home!
San Miguel has a fair US presence of artists and writers and Spanish schools abound. What better place to spend a week or two to brush up on your Spanish than this town? I was enchanted by it, and there are plenty of things to do nearby.
Guanajuato is an exceptional city, much bigger than San Miguel and built around the rich silver mines discovered in the 16th Century. It is the birthplace of Diego Rivera, the painter whose personal life became as dramatic as his artwork. The city has a vast tunnel system that now transports much of the traffic throughout town. These towns that are clustered around San Miguel – Guanajuato, Dolores, Queretaro, Pozos – are all within jumping distance of each other.
I could’ve spent a month in San Miguel and would never have tired of the evenings passed in the Plaza, the mariachi bands and the colors as the sunset changed the light from afternoon until evening when the illuminated church took over.
See you out there somewhere.
Peter Jones
President and Co-Founder, ACIS
