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san miguel adventure fun time part six of six- para concluir I have no brain power any more today so I’m going to finish up this bloglet listicle style.  ( ¿qué? ) Here are some random final thoughts, random images, and a few places worth checking out if you are ever in the neighborhood. San Miguel is a tourist trap you WANT to be in!   It is a fantastic, safe place to visit in Mexico. Coming from a much rougher part of the country, I can’t find big negative things to say. Some have tried. They come off as incredibly spoiled. At times the level of hospitality made me want to cry. We stopped into the hotel next door to check out their cafe/bakery situation. We sat up on the roof and our server would walk up several flights of stairs every 20(?) minutes to see if we needed anything!  Travel light. Passport cards alone seem acceptable for domestic fights, but don’t press your luck. If you travel in the summer, be prepared for all the sun and some rain.  I cannot stress enough that you we

san miguel adventure fun time part five of six- siesta The major   take-aways: Pace yourself   Stay hydrated   TV is educational Around the 20th latitude, below the tropic of cancer, the summer sun is brutal. Even if there are clouds in the sky. (Don't you be fooled by those clouds!) When you get to the hottest part of the day, you just need to retreat somewhere cool. I did anyway.  As I am still trying to understand what being in good health means for me these days, I did not want to push my limits too far. I always kept a water bottle on me and reminded myself it was OK to say no to doing more. It's OK to do less . It is possible to while away bright hours in one of the many coffee shops in the historic center. Some are even located on rooftop terraces! Terraces are a ‘thing’ in San Miguel. The views are quite lovely. But I wouldn’t be up on the rooftops for very long in the middle of the day. Indoors, under the protection of stone is so much better. I hate to say it, but we

san miguel adventure fun time part four of six-    recorrido The major take-aways: do your homework and take a tour or two Guided, unguided- whatever you choose get out and tour around San Miguel. If you are able to deal with cobble stones and comically narrow sidewalks, walking ultimately is the best way to see the city.   You never know what you will find when out on foot.     Within a few days we got to see several wedding parties in El Parque Benito Juarez. A place which seemed to be the epicenter of all boda -dom, of all wedding-ness. These festive events are called callejonadas . The ones at the parque would be something like this: At an appointed time people would gather at this one particular gazebo. There would be wedding party guests dressed in white clothing with small clay drinking cups hanging at their necks, a mariachi band, a man with a festive donkey bearing tequila, two sturdy people wearing the appropriate mojigangas , and at least one professional photographer.   The

san miguel adventure fun time part three of six- festival de cine  The major take-aways: talk to strangers sometimes if you still have your hearing, always keep earplugs handy partying is difficult for 20% of the population a good thunderstorm should never be ignored Onto the film festival! The Guanajuato International Film Festival - GIFF is essentially three film festivals happening back to back in three different locations in Guanajuato. Films are shown first in Leon, then San Miguel De Allende and finally Irapuato. Theoretically, we could have driven out and seen our film in the three different locations, but that would have been, shall we say, over-doing it. In San Miguel, our film was showing on a Monday evening in this building that had a few lives before becoming a cultural center named after a fellow with the nickname “El Nigromante.” As a writer, poet, journalist, lawyer, and politician Juan Ignacio Paulino Ramírez Calzada was an important voice in the shaping of Mexico in