San Miguel de Allende

Last Saturday, a colleague and I headed to San Miguel de Allende for some sight seeing. This town was really a joy to photograph. I felt the urge to posess the whole town through my lens. When I am in a place and I really want to see and experience it, I need my camera with me. It provides a connection and I find myself dwelling on the smallest details one moment and the next trying to figure out how to sum up all the parts into one special photo. Fortunately my colleague was indulgent and let me potter around at my own pace. Normally I can only do the kind of exploring I like alone; most don't have the patience to wait for me.

There were so many inviting courtyards. From the street you felt only like you were in a city but through the doors you could see the oasis waiting inside. This was a hotel we passed by and it took a lot of self control not to wander in. I wonder how they know how to put it together like this?

We happened to be in town for a special weekend of festivities. As part of that, around late afternoon on Saturday October 31, a number of mariachi bands started to arrive and soon enough they started playing their beautiful music, first one band in one corner of the park, then the next, round and round. The people laughed and danced. For even though the following days were for remembering the dead, they were also for remembering the happiness of the lives they lived.

These colorful displays of papers were hanging everywhere. If I understood correctly the different colors represent different months of the year. Mexico is already very colorful but these papers fluttering in the wind over the whole city took it up another notch and created a beautiful effect.

We came upon this lovely shop as we strolled around town. This mobile of glass humingbirds had me tempted as it looked so gorgeous against the sunlit courtyard behind it. The store was also full of tin star and glass lanterns, some so huge they could only belong hanging from a high ceiling in a dramatic entranceway.

The main cathedral in San Miguel. There were many to visit in town and we saw a number of them but this one was magnificent in the setting sun. The stones radiated a rosy warm pink as the sun dipped low and down below the people sat in the shade of the lemon trees listening to the mariachi bands.

Posted from Cuernavaca Mexico