May 6, 2007

San Miguel Allende is the city that Tony Cohan brings to life in his wonderful memoir, On Mexican Time.

The book - a must read for any visitor to Mexico's colonial cities - is to Mexico what Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence is to France and Frances Mayes' Under The Tuscan Sun is to Italy.

San Miguel also has another literary connection: it is where Neal Cassady, who was the basis for the Dean Moriarty character in Jack Kerouac's classic, On the Road, was found dead beside the train tracks in 1968, four days short of his 42nd birthday.

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We had driven to San Miguel Allende, about 100 kilometers east of Guanajuato, for the weekend.

The Hotel Siesta Trailer Park, where we camped, is about a 15-minute bus ride from el centro.

We were the only campers there but we didn’t get much sleep.

We should have known we were in trouble when we heard the “hola, hola, hola, una, dos, tres ” loud and clear during the sound system check. Damn wedding parties.

Unlike Guanajuato, San Miguel Allende is firmly on the gringo map, and we had read that up to 10 per cent of San Miguel’s permanent population is ex-pats.

In fact, one of our teachers at Escuela Mexicana in Guanajuato had said, derisively, that while Guanajuato is known for producing minerals, San Miguel is known for producing gringos.

But this southern migration didn’t stop us from enjoying what is truly an architecturally stunning colonial city, and one that is not as overrun with US fast food franchises as we had been led to believe.

The neo-gothic La Parroquia parish church, the Templo de la Concepcion, and the Teatro Angela Peralto are each terrifically impressive buildings.

The selection of English language books in the Libros El Tecolote bookstore is also impressive, easily one of the best we saw in Mexico.

And love was in the air in San Miguel.

In addition to the wedding at the campsite, we were part of an adoring crowd that gathered in Plaza Allende to watch a traditionally dressed bride and groom leave La Parroquia and drive off in a horse drawn carriage.

Key Facts & Figures:

-Hotel Siesta Trailer Park: $15/night