El fin está cerca!

Our new room's door was a tad short for me.

The last couple nights of our stay were very laid back. On Saturday night we went to a huge art gallery and roamed about rubbing elbows with the rich gringos. It was the place to be and we only stayed for about an hour.  There were some very beautiful art pieces that we were able to view but we didn't have an extra $10000, so we passed.

Linda and I came home early and started our packing.  Daren and Marcy were not far behind.

Oferenda at the art gallery.

Hobbit house that we found in the base of a tree.

I have never seen a pomegranate tree. There you go!

On Sunday we all walked to the big cemetery in San Miguel. Hundreds of people were visiting the resting place of friends and loved ones. The mood in the cemetery was a mixture of somber and happy. It is a little hard to explain. There were flowers everywhere and almost every grave was adorned is some fashion. Music was playing and at the same time Mariachi were playing songs a various graves. People were digging and cleaning up grave sites. Children were fetching water for plants and flowers. Priests were sitting, available for a blessing or simply to chat. Many families were sitting eating and chatting at their loved ones resting place. We were struck by the friendly open feeling throughout the grave yard.

After we walked through the area we went out and had some lunch. Linda and I went and did some final shopping and Daren and Marcy went the the Jardin and watched people. All of us returned to the casa and did our final packing for tomorrows long day of traveling.

Walking to lay flowers in the cemetery.

Marcy and Linda at lunch.

Halloween in the Jardin

Throughout the past three days the town has been gearing up for Oct. 31, Nov.1 and Nov.2. Ofrendas have been set up everywhere. We walk the city and are amazed by the creativity of these alters of respect and honor. Every display is unique, but after reading about these Ofrendas we found they contain many of the same types of items. If you want to know a bit more about Day of the Dead Ofrendas visit this page here.

Sonic Butterfly, a performance by Andra Brook was the center of the action on Friday night. The three days prior stainless steel wires were run from the cathedral down to the Jardin and connected to Sonic Butterfly.  A huge sound system was erected Friday and then at 9:15 PM we got to watch a very interesting performance. If you are interested you can see a performance she did at Burning Man, or you can see a couple of clips I made here.

Andrea Brook readies Sonic Butterfly for evening performance.

A face painters paradise!

Parade of the Catrinas and Catrines.

Sonic Butterfly performs.

Another fire dance during Sonic Butterfly.

Just one of the elaborate costumes from the night.

The Night Before

Ofrenda at the library.

To say that the town was getting excited today was a bit of an understatement. The children were all decked out in their Day of the Dead costumes and were hustling about the main square getting ready for the weekend. We walked around and did a bit of shopping.

Evening rolled around and we walked to the park where we heard there was going to be a gathering which would symbolize the welcoming of the weekend and celebrations. There were quite a few gringos there and a few Mexicans. They held a bit of a prayer ceremony and had some fire dancers perform.  It was interesting but looked like an event put on by gringos for gringos using some of the indigenous peoples rituals as the basis to start their weekend. To me it felt forced and not real natural.

Young boy in his best Day of Dead costume. 

After a bit we walked up to the main square and watched people. The first night of celebrating was fun to see and we are looking forward to the rest of our stay.

Stainless steel wires with the sun reflecting off them.

Ofrenda at the entrance to the park.

Large gringo Ofrenda at park. 

Blessing the Ofrenda. 

Fire dance.

Ladies of the Dead.

A New Part of Town

We walked to a different part of San Miguel today and I got some very good shots. Linda got two pairs of San Miguel Shoes, which are to die for.

It's a bull market, RUN!

Man's worst nightmare. Shopping for shoes.

Jacob could fix this one up, with my help, of course.

Day of the Dead dog walking.

Great bar entry.

I found an easier Mexico history lesson.

A Lot of History in a Walking Tour

Corner of the Allende House with a statue of Ignacio Allende.

San Miguel history in short. First there were the natives and then Cortes came into the picture with a Spanish conquest, somewhere around 1521. San Miguel was established by Fray San Juan, but the water source for the town dried up; later the town was moved  to where it is today near some water springs. This period of Mexico was called New Spain and it lasted from 1521-1821. There was prosperity in San Miguel and those Spanish born in Mexico, the Creole families, wanted to be able to have the same stature as the Spanish born in Spain. So in 1810 the start of the War of Independence happened. This lasted from 1810 to 1821. In 1910 to about 1920 they had the “La Revolution.” 

You toss in the war where France tried to keep control of Mexico but got their butts kicked and a few more prestigious battles and there you have it, Mexico's history!

Our walking tour of the old San Miguel area was very good and we learned quite a bit about the history of this area and Mexico in general.  The tour was to be about 2 and a half hours but ended up about three hours long.  We were hungry when we finished thus the last photo in the gallery below lets you know where we ended our down town visit.

Inside the Parish Church ( La Parroquia) of San Miguel.

One of the priests painted murals throughout the church; very bad murals. 

This crucifix weighs 8 kilos and is made of corn husks. 

Above you can see a doorway to one of the many churches. We were told that they are built so that you must look down and step over the frame at the bottom so that you are showing reverence as you enter the church. Interesting!

Sugar candies all created to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Only reason I took this was because the priest had glasses on.

Mural in the Angela Peralta Theater.

Courtyard of the Centro Cultural with the dome of the Church of the Nuns in the background.

The series of photos below are of the unfinished and recently restored mural by Davíd Alfaro Siqueiros.

Looking from inside the room toward entry. 

Looking from the other corner of the room toward entry.

From entry looking into the room.

Note the floor at very bottom right.

Looking into room at ceiling.

Same painting as above but from opposite direction.

Much needed food after very long history lesson.