Mexico - Next We Go To San Miguel (March 23 - 26, 2016)

Mexico - Next We Go To San Miguel de Allende (March 23 - 26, 2016)

So leaving Mexico City we head south for 3 hours and arrive at San Miguel de Allende. 

It is a charming town with a cathedral in the center 

of the old part of town. 

We stayed at my niece's home in a nice gated community that was a 5 minute taxi ride into Old Town. 

We spend our first evening in Old Town and seeing the sights. 

There are many "bands" there. They are not mariachi's in the town. These gentlemen dress in their local colored suits. Some are green, some are purple or navy blue. 

We followed a band that walked the streets of San Miguel and sang local songs and the crowd sang along. It was great fun!

There was a center plaza in town with beautiful trees, 

park benches 

and a gazebo. There were many vendors selling everything from a type of creamed corn and herbs, 

a tortilla with meat and sauce and beans. Yum!

I liked the tall man and woman puppets 

near one of the bands. 

They sold "coronas" which is spanish for "crowns" which were made out of flowers. All the girls were wearing them. They represented the crown of thorns that Jesus wore.

I loved this pub sign called "La Sirena Gorda" which translates to "the fat mermaid". Funny, huh? 

There were many colorful shops and booths.

These are actually raw garbanzo beans.

We saw a procession of the last few days of the life of Jesus Christ. Here, young girls in pretty dresses throw flower petals and stems onto the walkway representing the laying down of palm frowns on the roadway before Christ. 

Here are Roman soldiers marching in the parade.

 

Here are representations of a Roman who flogged Christ. Men were carrying heavy crosses in the parade. Some were barefoot. Many were wearing crowns of thorns. They take this very seriously. I brought down Easter candy and bunnies and chocolate eggs and the children had not seen that before. They do not sell Easter candy in the stores. Easter is a religious experience here. 

 

This, I believe, is a representation of Mary, the mother of Jesus but it might be Mary Magdalene. 

 

Home fronts and stores were decorated 

in purple flowers and ribbons.

 

I have to end with this funny picture. It reminds me of Knotts Berry Farm where you can sit next to a gold miner bronze statue. But in this case, it is a bull!

Next, we are on to Guanajuato.

Off To Mexico! March 22- 23, 2016, (Mexico City, Tultepec)

Off To Mexico! March 22-23, 2016, (Mexico City, Tultepec)

So off I went to Mexico. I have never been to the interior of Mexico before. I have been to a few border towns but that's it. So I flew in to Mexico City, met my niece and her husband and we stayed in a little (and poor) town in the greater metropolitan Mexico City area called Tultepec.

Mexico City is like one of those vines that start in the middle, and spead and spread. It is a massive city with a population of approximately 20 million people!

I was surprised to learn that in many areas, it is the poor people that live in the foothills. I was told that the police don't even like to go up there. The housing is built with no regulations so shacks are kind of "pinned" together with whatever materials and manner that they see fit.

Mexico has lots of speed bumps. Yes, speed bumps! Even on heavily trafficked streets there will be, from time to time, speed bumps. And they are pretty high so you definitely want to slow down.

        Here is a Mercado that we went to and had lamb tacos.
              I had to walk around to get a feel of this place.

                    These are bags of loose potato chips

    These are juices in a bag that you drink through a straw.
                              This is probably mango.

           Here is a stand that sold strawberries and mangos.
                           The mangos were delicious!

There are vendors for everything!  It is very common to see vendors walking between the cars on a busy street near an intersection selling, fruits, ice creams, sodas, electrical equipment, flowers - you name it!

And the food! Of course each new city has its own types of foods. I tried so many new things here that I thought I knew about but a new spin on them here.

We stayed at my niece's place near Mexico City for 1 night. It is a townhouse style unit - small living room and kitchen on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor. Her sister-in-law came over from across the street as soon as we arrived. We soon had another 6 - 8 relatives arrive and we all went out for tacos.

 

I love American tacos, but my niece's husband took us to a place where the tortillas are only about 5 - 6 inches across (smaller than ours)

you get a fresh tortilla, tell them what kind of meat you want on it, what types of toppings, always lime and always salsa with a few other assorted possibilities. They were delicious! He ordered for everyone until we all had what we wanted, including choices of several juice sodas, (the brand name is "Boing") orange, mango, sometimes papaya, or cokes. They were truly gourmet!


The next day we had "breakfast" which consisted of all different kinds of tamales.

I didn't know there was such a thing as a breakfast tamale. It is a colored cornmeal flavored with blueberry or strawberry with a fruit filling. My niece had an unusual local drink for breakfast that I don't think I got a chance to try.

So, we went into Mexico City to "see what we could see". We walked the streets of the commercial district.

We saw many modern shops,

                                the beautiful cathedral,

                                                               beautiful architecture

local pastries

                             the beautiful old post office

and its incredible interior!

And, of course, an assortment of beautiful art!

Then we were off to San Miguel. San Miguel is about a 3 hour drive from Mexico City. It being Easter Week, many people from the city were leaving town to be out in the country for the local festivals. We wanted to get a jump on that. Like with any other major city, with a mass exodus, you want to miss the height of the exodus!