Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We spent 4 days at the campground and it took us that long to get all the work done on our website. We had six weeks to write and hundreds of photos
to sort through. In between we did some washing, a few repairs on Winnie, cleaning, and , of course, Kirsten had to do some sun bathing because she
was losing her tan!!
The campground is too far out of town to walk in and it was too far to walk to get a bus. But it was very nice and quiet. On the last day, we had
to move Winnie to a different spot so we could clean him. We had been parked under a tree that was obviously a favourite for local bird life - they
literally bombarded Winnie!
Bird sh-- everywhere! Helen got up onto the roof to try and blast most of it off using the hose! It took us about an hour to get the rest of
Winnie clean.
On Friday, we drove towards the town centre of San Miguel de Allende and found somewhere to park. Then we walked into town. San Miguel is a charming colonial
town in a beautiful setting. The Mexican government declared it a national monument to preserve its charm, the lovely old buildings and the quaint
cobbled streets.
For this reason, and probably because of a good climate, there are a large number of Americans who have retired here. So English is widely spoken.
This means that there are a large number of real estate agencies, some of which have lovely courtyards.
Unfortunately the large cathedral in the centre is surrounded by scaffolding and doesn't look very good in photos! But we managed to get ourselves
a map and wandered around the streets for a while.
We knew that there was some kind of festival which takes place on the first Friday in March every year. We found out that it would start around
5pm. Neither of us knew what to expect, but we had definitely not expected what we actually saw!!
It is called the "Cristo de la Conquista" where numerous groups of dancers gather all around the square and dance to their drums. They are all
dressed in pre-hispanic costumes with superb plumed headdresses. They also wear "gaiters" made out of nuts strung together, and which rattle when
they move.
At 5 pm there was only one group out and we watched and videoed for a while. Then we went to a vegetarian restaurant for an excellent meal before
returning to the square. By the time we got back, there were at least 20 different dancing groups, each with their own sets of drummers, all
beating out a different rhythm. The noise level was astounding.
The dancers were really giving it what for and putting a lot of effort into their dancing. Amongst all the drums there was even a Mexican bass
band trying to compete for everyones ears!! We stayed for about an hour and a half, but then it was getting dark, so we made our way back to Winnie.
On Saturday, Kirsten wrote her birthday week on the computer and downloaded everything onto the USB so that we could do a long awaited update to
our website. Then we walked up steep streets to go to the Orchid garden. Unfortunately it had already closed!! After all that effort!
So we walked back down into the town for a meal. Then we wandered around various churches all full with wedding parties and along the cobblestone
streets enjoying the sights.
On Sunday we drove out to the Santuario de Atotonilco which was established in 1740 as a spiritual retreat. Today a journey to Atotonilco is a goal
of pilgrims and penitents from all over Mexico. Inside, the sanctuary has 6 chapels and is vibrant with statues, folk murals and other paintings.
When we got there we had to drive through a large religious market selling crosses, candles and other religious artefacts. Once we found a place
to park we found the santuario was full - there was a christening ceremony taking place.
We drove back to San Miguel and, after stocking up on supplies, we stopped off at a scenic viewpoint, to look down onto the town. Then we drove
back to the campground outside of town.
