The Jacarandas are Beginning to Bloom!

San Miguel de Allende is a beautiful town year-round, but in the Spring it is over-the-top beautiful as the purple hue of the blooming Jacarandas covers the cityscape. We're beginning to see the transformation, and in a couple of weeks the trees will be in full bloom. Get your cameras ready!

Travel Magazine helps to Demystify Mexico City

Those of you that will be coming to San Miguel de Allende via "el D.F." will be interested in this article that was recently published in Budget Travel, one of our favorite travel magazines.

The view of Centro's Palacio de Bellas Artes from Torre Latinoamericana

Here are a couple of other reason why you might want to go to Mexico City on your way to San Miguel de Allende:

1. More airlines fly to MEX offering less expensive flights from places like the San Francisco Bay Area and New York than the closer Leon Airport.

2. If you're considering a flight with a connection in Houston or Dallas, consider a direct flight to MEX with a bus ride to San Miguel de Allende instead. Getting to San Miguel de Allende from Mexico City is cheap and much more comfortable on the ETN and Primera Plus bus lines than the express flights out of Houston and Dallas to Leon on the tiny ERJ-145 aircrafts.

Don't want to pay $15 to see a movie? Watch it in San Miguel de Allende!

Remember when the price of a movie was $6? When was that? In San Francisco, we paid six bucks for a movie in 1988.

Guess what? We just spent $6USD to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D at the MM Cinemas, a state-of-the-art movie complex with stadium seating located in the new-ish Luciernaga mall. The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles that seemed to float in front of the screen.

The price of food is also a fraction of what you would pay in the States. A combo, which includes 2 hot dogs, two large drinks and a large box of popcorn costs around $9USD.

The price of a regular 2-D movie is right around $3.25USD.

Nuestro Señor de la Columna arrives in San Miguel de Allende

Once a year for nearly 200 years, the faithful have gathered at the shrine of Atotoniclo at midnight two Sundays before Easter. They remove images of Nuestro Señor de la Columna, Saint John and Mary and place them on platforms to be carried approximately 7 miles to the San Juan de Dios Church in San Miguel de Allende. Nuestro Señor de la Columna is a life-size image of a bleeding Christ leaning heavily on a column. His ribs are exposed from flogging and his cheek bears the scar of the Judas kiss.


The fireworks that awoke us at 5 o’clock on the morning of Sunday March 21, 2010 signaled another arrival of Nuestro Señor de la Columna.


This year, instead of ignoring the fireworks, we decided to get up and head to Avenida Independencia to welcome the three images as they arrived from their night-long journey.


We made it to the avenue at 7 AM just in time to see the chamomile flowers and sawdust carpets that covered the road for several blocks.

A few minutes later, the three images could be seen arriving in the distance.


The avenue filled with thousands of people as they followed the images to the San Juan de Dios Church.

4th Annual Burro Festival in nearby Town of Jalpa

If you're looking for something completely different, visit the nearby village of Jalpa on March 20th for their 4th annual Burrito Festival.

You'll enjoy a parade and burro races, tour the Jalpa Church and the 18th Century Vicarage ruins, sample locally made food, listen to live music and have an opportunity to purchase local artisan work. All proceeds go to FINO, an organization that fosters leadership and learning in rural children in Jalpa and the state of Guanajuato.

Tickets are available in San Miguel de Allende at the Jardin from 11AM to 4PM on March 19 or at Solutions (Recreo #11) & Casa de Papel (Hidalgo 21A). Tickets are $395 pesos and include transportation from Saint Paul’s Church and Festival events.

An Opportunity to Taste Some Local Artisan Beer in San Miguel de Allende

On Sunday March 21, 2010 our friend and craft brewer Mark Taylor will be serving a few of his ales at the Burrito Bistro on Correo #45 at the 2nd annual Artisan Ale and Food Paring event. Mark will introduce three very distinctive beers, an Imperial IPA, a Honey Red Ale made with honey form the Tuesday market and a Weizenbock, a strong German style wheat beer.

Is there a better way to spend the first day of spring?

The event is limited to 60 people. Seating times are 2:00, 4:30 and 7:00 pm. The cost is $250 pesos per person. There is only enough beer for 60, so you must reserve your spot. You can reserve at 415-154-8956 or email at elburritobistro@yahoo.com.mx