Not a flake of snow in sight...

I arrived after a good flight, in Mexico City and was met by Dan,who is a guide,property manager and driver all rolled into one. We became friends when we first started coming to San Miguel a few years ago. It is a 3-3 1/2 hour drove to SM and a good hour of that is simply getting out of Mexico City. It is the largest city in the world with a population of 30 000 000..yes that is about the total population of Canada!!!

The roads are good but the drivers are fast with numerous transport trucks speeding wildly.The lanes are narrower than what we are used to, and you really feel hemmed in. This main route passes through many small and rather poor looking villages built on both sides of the highway. You are driving along and suddenly you have to slow down as the stretch through the village has many speed bumps..no traffic signs..you just have to know they are there. This is a national highway!! These villages have been there for centuries and the roads disrupted their lives...many children were killed going back and forth, so they put up roadblocks and paralysed the traffic till they got their speed bumps.

The cobbled streets of San Miguel are impossibly steep and narrow . It is a little city without stop signs or traffic lights. You just have to look as if you might be crossing the street and the cars stop, and the driver smiles and waves you on..drivers also extend the same courtesy to each other.

So at 6:30 pm, there I was at 5 Barranca, a very narrow calle(street) with a lot of traffic which surprised me as the agent told us it was a one way quiet little street. The house itself is very charming and you step into the living room from the street. I guess what I am trying to say is the front of the house (which includes my bedroom) is 3 feet 7 inches from the road..

So very NOISY...aieeeeee..what can you do..earplugs..Tequilla..you can hear people walking by...they are practically in bed with you!!! There is a modicum of quiet between 11pm and 5 am..that's it!

We met the owner who lives downstairs(the house is terraced) and she has owned it for only three months..delightful lady and when she bought it, they were working on Barranca higher up, and of course the main traffic was diverted, so she thought it was delightfully tranquil. There is a studio bedroom downstairs which she has offered us if we go nuts...may be going down soon!! She is all hot keen on redecorating. Soundproofing might be the way to start!

I have been revisiting old haunts and soaking up the warm weather. Nothing beats walking down, then inevitably up, the narrow cobblestoned streets .Taxis are in abundance and there is a flat rate anywhere in town for $2.50. That's my ace card!!This is a good month..starts to get hot in April, but now..just perfect.

The town has many visitors, yet somehow the rhythm is not disturbed. You can walk a different route every morning and come out somewhere new, yet all roads lead back to the Jardin(pronounced hardeen), the central historic square, which has been the meeting place of visitors and locals alike since 1737.

It is dominated by the famous Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel church. Its construction was started in 1689 with a purse of 1000 pesos.It was built over many years in an exuberant neogothic style which has made it an internationally recognized landmark.(photo soon).

This weekend starts the Semana Santa Holy Week. Tomorrow is the dancing of the Concheros..these colourfully costumed and exuberant indigenous dancers will entertain for hours in the Jardin and surrounding streets...although these ritualistic dances sprang up after the Spanish conquest,they incorporate many pre Columbian religious symbols. I don't pretend to know much about it, but it is a very important cultural aspect of Mexico.

The cynical side of me suspects these dances and elaborate costumes are underwritten by Canon,Nikon and the like!! Who could resist hauling all one's photo equipment to shoot these costumes of leather,satin,feathers jewels and sequins!! Besides, these flimsy garments adorn oh-so photogenic muscular bronzed bodies!!

The Jardin with rows of people ten deep is the place to be tomorrow!!