Monday, December 30, 2019

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,, el treinta de Deciembre, 209

All I can say is that I love my room.  It’s cozy - I have flannel sheets!  The water in the shower is hot, the bathroom is large and the place is so clean I’m sure I could eat off the floor.  I slept until 7:45 this am - there were no roosters crowing, no bells ringing, no dogs barking.  Yeah!

I’ve got a cold so I feel very sluggish but I did force myself to go out for 2.5 hours this afternoon.  Unfortunately with New Year’s Eve tomorrow, the town was filling up before my eyes.  It’s rich Mexicans from Mexico City who come here to show off and spend outrageous sums for stuff that in the last town was close to half price!  Not a good place to be for a week but I’m not into buying souvenirs and I get most of my groceries at the market.  I did however buy a hat today to keep the sun out of my eyes.  I’m sure I’ll scrunch it in no time.

There is a lot of beautiful street art right in my area.  This one is especially special because it’s a mosaic-



Most are painted and are on 8 - 10 feet high walls and anywhere from 15 - 30 feet long-








I really like the texture that the metal door creates-





An interesting door-


And a pretty home-


Then it was church time!  The Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel is made from pink granite and looks like some kind of spun candy.  The original church was built in the 1600s but eventually collapsed.  The one we see today was built in 1709 but in baroque style.  In 1880, the bishop wanted the facade changed - can you imagine, and so it was to the neo-Gothic style we see today which was the style of the time.  It doesn’t really fit in with the other buildings in El Jardin but because it’s so strange looking, it’s the most visited place in the city-





Next door is the Templo de San Raphael or Santa Escuela-



It’s so interesting how all the churches are so differently decorated.  I continued walking and came to a lovely garden-


beside the Templo de San Francisco.  It was started in 1778 and took 20 years to build. The changing tastes and styles of the times can be seen in its architecture. The facade is churrigueresque, which means excessively ornate.  There are a lot of carved stone figures and columns.  The bell tower is in neo-classical style-


There was a wedding going on so I sat in on it for about 20 minutes but they still hadn’t said their vows or signed the register.  As well, the organ was very loud and it was difficult to hear the voice of the singer so I left-


Nearby is the Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Salud which dates back to the 18th century.  The entrance is crowned by a gigantic carved seashell and in the center is a single eye enclosed in a triangle.  This represents God’s omnipresence-


It’s in the Plaza Civic-


A little further down the street is the Temple of the Oratory of Saint Felipe Neri, begun in 1712.  There are five saints in the cubbyholes and the sculpturing is all vegetation: leaves and flowers-


One of the men living at my house is from Uruguay and is quite peculiar.  He’s very serious and never smiles.  He’s here for a month, trying to get a feel for the place to see if he might live here permanently. He’s a sky diver and has done over 700 dives!  We went down the street to a bar where Edgar, another roomie works. He’s from Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City.  He is a magician nd did some tricks.  So amazing!  Of course he wouldn’t tell me how he did them.  He’s quitting tomorrow at the bar after a year of work.  He says he’s been working for 10 years and now is going to take 3 months off, go home to see his parents and maybe live with them for awhile.  He is a very pleasant and friendly kid.  He sometimes works in expensive bars and restaurants as their entertainment.  He draws in customers and makes a lot in tips.  I could watch him all day.  He did a coin trick as well as a card trick.

Tomorrow will be  another slow day in the sunshine.  Hope I’m feeling better.



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