Hola San Miguel de Allende!

We're enjoying a week in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, staying at a beautiful house that we won in a charity silent auction. We're with two other couples so we're able to share expenses. San Miguel is known for its artists and artisans in a beautiful Spanish colonial town. The weather is mild, due to the location: southwest of Mexico City in the central highlands. This time of the year it's warm in the day, cool at night, with chance of daily showers. We've been lucky not to get rained on so far.
One of the main sites is the parish church, La Parroquia de San Miguel de Allende. It has amazing spires and lots of baroque details. It is in the center of town, in El Jardin, the garden square. Great for people watching. At night on Friday, many mariachi bands stroll the park, anxious to play for the tourists. Cafes and stores surround the garden, as well as government offices (there's even a discreet Starbucks), so there's always a lot of action here. Since it's near Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16), the buildings and streets are getting decorated with special banners and medallions in red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag.
We went to the covered market and down a street with many artisans working in their stalls to produce silver jewelry or painted pots or sculptures. There were also fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs, grilled corn on the cob, women making tortillas and sweet breads.
We stopped in at the Biblioteca Publica and had a coffee at the outdoor cafe. The library is the center of the American community and, since it was Saturday, we saw many kids taking classes in reading, music, and art, spread throughout the buildings.
The streets of San Miguel are cobblestoned, with high narrow sidewalks and mucho traffic. Every street is more picturesque than the last, with colorful buildings, interesting doors and windows, and a view of a church steeple or valley. It's also very hilly, and it seems we're always walking uphill. We rented an ATV to zip around the streets and that was fun, but a little scary -- those things can go pretty fast.

We enjoyed a delicious roof-top dinner at La Posadita and lunch at Torta Mundo.
We arranged with Rafa Tours (scroll down)for transportation to and from the airport and to take us on a day trip to Guanajuato later in the week.

Stay tuned for possible updates! Thanks!