These people are crazy...

Crazy in good way.  Our house is in the historic Centro, a UNESCO world heritage site.  Because of this, the facades of the buildings can only be painted from a select palate of colors.  Sounds boring, but it's anything but.  There are many properties for sale in the area, but they look like nothing special from the outside.  You wonder who in the hell would be crazy enough to buy one of them at the prices they're asking.  Then, you pass through your large, wooden doors into your home's central courtyard.  Suddenly, you're thinking that you're nuts for not having been here before.  Here's a shot from the roof deck of our courtyard.

Graciela is our housekeeper/cook.  She's charming, but doesn't speak a word of English.  Fortunately, I'd spent the last 6 months studying Spanish.  As it turns out, I can make myself understood.  I was crazy, however, to think I could understand more than 50% of what I hear others say.  Graciela greeted us warmly, gave us a tour of the house and its workings and proved that SHE wasn't crazy because she called in the property manager (who manages the boutique hotel next door) to discuss $ with me for food for breakfasts.

San Miguel is incredibly artsy.  Yesterday's artists-of-the-day were mariachis.  Seriously.  It was the Feast of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians.  Here, that means mariachis.  Last night, before dinner, we headed down to El Jardin (the main square/garden-3 blocks from the house) to witness the Battle of the Mariachis.  I'm not sure what it's really called, but that's what it was.  A stage had been set up and mariachi bands would perform.  After their set, they, along with their groupies, would parade through the neighborhood while the next band performed.  This went on all night.  By all night, I mean ALL NIGHT.  They were still playing at 6:30 this morning!  Insane.

As if THAT wasn't enough, it turns out that the people here love fireworks.  Incredible displays continued until we went to bed and turned out to be my wake up call at 6AM this morning. 

After a breakfast out (it's Graciela's day off), we headed to the Ignacio de Allende Museum.  Many consider him to be the father of Mexican independence.  Many others think that that father was Hidalgo.  In either case, we learned more about the fight for independence in Mexico that we'd have thought possible.

We headed into the Parroquia for a quick tour, but ended up staying for mass.  I've been to many churches and attended many masses, but nothing like this.  People moved around, talked, greeted others in the middle of the service...a man with one leg even came in and stood in the center of the church with a huge sign asking for help to buy an orthopaedic shoe and prosthesis.  No one batted an eye...except for us. 

After church, it was off to one of SMA's mercados.  This one was the daily Mercado Ignacio Ramirez.  Their selection of merchandise was limitless.  You could buy fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, underwear, cookware, shoes, hats, blankets, spectacular bouquets of flowers and, of course, pinatas.

Sandwiched among the items for sale are 'fondas', which are little stands selling food.  Each fonda specializes in certain dishes and is named after the woman who cooks the food.

At this point, we needed nourishment and headed to a place for carnitas--Apolo XI.  It's a hole in the wall...literally.  You walk in, tell the proprietor whether you want your pork as a sandwich, as tacos, or simply on a plate with a fork.  Then, you head upstairs to the open air dining room and you hear the guy downstairs chopping your pork and making your meal.  It's delivered and then you scarf down the most tasty, succulent pork you've ever eaten.  With beverages, it was $2.50 a person.  We're saving money by being here.  It is sheer insanity!

Now, it's time for a siesta.  There's nothing crazy about that.