Around town


Meetings & Lectures, March 23, 2007

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

This Sunday, Elsmarie Norby and some of her students demonstrate the power of ANYÉL, the nonprofit school of music dedicated to providing free, high-quality, early childhood musical education to the children of San Miguel de Allende.
ANYÉL offers free teacher training workshops and on-going employment opportunities in the field of music. The program’s goal seeks to instill the belief that each child is a musical being, and that music matters in every life.


Norby, the program’s founder, is a Juilliard-trained pianist, teacher and choral director. She has made it her life’s work to give children and their families the inspiration for musical expression.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch. For more information about Mexico’s only chartered UU Fellowship visit portalsanmiguel.com/lifestyle/unitarians/unitarians.html.

Midday Rotary Club

On Tuesday, March 27, our guest speaker is Mark Hill. Hill is the Managing Director of Ecosystem Sciences Foundation in Boise, Idaho, which is involved in water issues in Mexico, particularly in the San Miguel area.

Several years ago, Ecosystem Sciences Foundation completed a comprehensive appraisal of the whole Rio Laja watershed, and has extensive knowledge of this area regarding all aspects of water issues. Currently, they are starting the second phase of a project to bring clean water to villages with wells contaminated with arsenic and fluoride. Contamination is a consequence of pumping so deep into the Independent Aquifer that many village wells are in prehistoric water laced with poisons.

The other project is a PES (Payment for Environmental Services) project. It will improve the water quantity and quality in a tributary from the Pechaco Mountains outside San Miguel that flows into El Charco. They are also working very close with the SMA Department of Ecology and the new director (Don Paterson) on a variety of environmental issues like gravel extraction in the San Marcos river, cleaning up the presa and developing pocket wetlands along the Rio Laja.

Hill is the principal scientist for Foundation projects in Mexico. The Foundation is an official Mexican NGO—Ciencias del Ecosistema, A.C.—and focuses on solving water resource issues in Central Mexico. This foundation initiated an intern program with Brandeis University and has a graduate student working on many of these projects.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at 12:30pm at the Villa Jacaranda Hotel, Aldama 53. Visiting Rotarians and others interested in Rotary are invited to attend. Lunch follows at 1:30 pm in the hotel dining room. For more information, please check our website: www.rotarysma.org.  Thank you!

Globetrotters

On Wednesday, April 4, at 5pm the initial meeting of the local chapter of Globetrotters (a club for independent travelers) presents two speakers in the Sala Quetzal at the Biblioteca Pública on Insurgentes 25. Robert Baines talks and shows pictures from a recent trip, entitled “The Falkland Islands in a Small Plane.” Glenn Barker talks and presents pictures on “Chile: from Tierra del Fuego to the Atacama.” Globetrotters is a mutual support club. There will be an opportunity to obtain and share travel information with other attendees. All are welcome. Admission is 30 pesos, all of which goes to the library.

Classes & Workshops

Mac Users Group

The San Miguel Macintosh Users Group meets Monday, March 26, at 3pm in the Biblioteca’s Sala Quetzal. This month’s meeting marks the start of Mac 101, an extensive tutorial on the fundamentals of the Macintosh OSX interface, invaluable for all levels of users whether you are just beginning or an old hand.

If you long to understand the basic functions of your Mac, this is for you. The class explores the finder, desktop, menu bar, files, folders, applications, and the dock. Learn what they are, how to navigate around them, how to organize your files, and much more. Everyone is welcome, and there is no charge. Bring pencil, paper, and a laptop, if you have one.

The San Miguel Mac Users Group meets monthly in a comfortable learning environment to expand skills, build confidence, and explore the creative possibilities of Mac computers.

For more information, contact Nonni Markeset (nonniem@mac.com ), Chris Stevens (cableguide@gmail.com ) or Jon Sievert (jon@humblepress.com ).

Is your own life holding you back?

Ladies: has your get up and go, got up and left?

Enjoying the easy flow lifestyle, sunshine, and tantalizing social swirl of San Miguel can make it difficult to fulfill long term goals and establish new personal directions. It’s so easy to go with the flow and enjoy all the events and opportunities that Mexico dangles in front of us every day that all too soon days, weeks, and months go by. With them, the promises we made to ourselves and the dreams we had for our futures go unmet.

It’s the “shoulda, woulda, coulda” syndrome. “We all came here with plans to write, paint, get healthier, volunteer, set up a small business, learn Spanish, etc. While the desire remains, with so many appealing distractions, the initiative often goes by the wayside,” points out Lucy Z. Martin, award-winning founder and creative strategist of “Now Is MY Time.”

“Now Is MY Time,” a series of courses and trips presented in the US and Provence but only once a year in Mexico, addresses overcoming inertia as one facet of a three-day workshop March 30-April 1.

Each participant develops a customized game plan for her own life based on her preferences and personal style of operating. “Right-brain strategies for right-brained women. Left-brain strategies for left brainers,” she explains.

The course addresses how to identify a goal or future direction and checks off the steps to attaining it. Equally as important, the course addresses impediments to moving ahead and ways to eliminate the obstacles. The course is taught in a fun, fast-moving format with multiple, helpful handouts.

Workshop subjects include: eliminating procrastination, identifying and altering faulty thought patterns, generating energy and strengthening resolve around ideas, and finding time-saving ways to get things done. A step-by-step format for learning to ask for what you want and easily getting it helps assure success.

The dynamics of a small group adds a roundtable discussion format that stimulates further ideas and innovative strategies to keep each person on track. Course participants become mentors and helpmates to each other, providing ongoing encouragement and support in a network that extends far beyond the weekend spent together.

Lucy Martin operated a marketing communications firm in Portland Oregon for 24 years, Lucy Z. Martin & Associates, where she taught similar strategies to corporate and nonprofit clients winning more than 140 awards for creativity and demonstrated success.

Visit her website www.nowismytime.com  for comments and quotes from previous participants and further details of subjects covered in the workshop.

Call Lucy at 152-4259 to register. Email at lucyz@nowismytime.com.  Payment and further questions should be addressed to Beverly Nelson at LifePath, 154-8465 or Beverly@LifePathRetreats.com 

The 12-hour workshop is presented at the LifePath center, Recreo 80 on Friday, March 30 from 3-7pm. On Saturday and Sunday, March 31 and April 1, the times are 10am to 2 pm.

Tuition is US$150 payable to LifePath by the first day of class. Registrants are asked to bring colored pens and a notebook or journal.

Tours & Excursions

Discover the delights of Pozos

The Mineral de Pozos Turismo and Cultura, A.C. is a nonprofit organization formed to help fund restoration projects in this historical ex-mining town just 38 miles from San Miguel de Allende. The first fundraiser for Mineral de Pozos Turismo & Cultura, A.C. is tomorrow’s House & Garden tour in Pozos.

Tickets are selling well, and we expect a good turnout. If you would like to attend the first Pozos House & Garden Tour, Saturday, March 24 you can purchase tickets at Galería Pérgola (inside Instituto Allende), Dewayne Youts Showroom (inside Fábrica la Aurora) and in Centro area at Galería 19, on Calle Jesús 19.

The price of round-trip transportation and the tour is 250 pesos, or for the tour only the cost is 100 pesos. The bus leaves from the old Gigante parking lot at 10am and returns from Pozos at 5pm. If you are driving to Pozos, meet in front of Hotel Casa Mexicana. Tour departs from the Jardín in Pozos at 11:30am and takes about 1.5–2 hours.

We visit five homes in Pozos, pausing for refreshments at the third house. The tour concludes around 1:30pm giving you time to make plans for lunch, do some shopping, look in the galleries and arts & crafts stores. Lunch reservations at any of the three restaurants are strongly recommended. Los Famosos de Pozos (01-442-293-0112) specializes in typical Mexican cuisine and steaks, with the best prices in town. Casa Montana (01-442-293-0032) has more American choices in their menu. Posada de las Minas (01-442-293-0213) has an excellent menu including continental, Mexican, and American dishes, with the best desserts in town.


The first membership drive for Mineral de Pozos Turismo & Cultura, A.C. is in progress, and we are asking those interested in joining to fill out an application at any of the Pozos hotels and restaurants. Our annual membership fees are 600 pesos. You can be either an Active or Non-active member. Active members have a voice and a vote in this organization and are required to attend the meetings. We meet at Posada de las Minas every first Friday of the month. Our next scheduled meeting is April 6. Non-active members can participate with their ideas and input in their absence, via e-mail.

We are organizing other fundraisers to pay for restoration projects. The first project will be the restoration of the kiosk in the Jardín, which will cost approximately 80,000 pesos. Monetary donations or labor and materials are welcome, and should be routed through David Winslow, our Mineral de Pozos Turismo & Cultura, A.C. treasurer. You can visit with David at Posada de las Minas, if you have any questions, or call him at 01-442-293-0213.

Other events on the agenda for Mineral de Pozos Turismo & Cultura, A.C. are an Easter season outdoor concert a la Boston Pops, with selections from Mozart to the Beatles, and some mariachi favorites thrown in. Look for more information on this April event in Atención.
For further information, please consult our website at www.mineraldepozos.com. 

Saturday Adventurers


This Saturday, the Adventurers are sure to be completely charmed by Casa Encantada, from the moment we enter and our eyes are drawn to the long corridor of arches, and to the green lawn beyond. Reluctantly, leaving this enchanted house, we go out a short distance to Los Frailes, to visit Lizzie Blanco, a well-known sculptress. We marvel at the beauty of the simple lines of her pieces and to tempt the women, there is jewelry to die for, created by Lizzie’s daughter. The home is also a gem, set in an expanse of emerald green grass—lots to admire here!

This tour leaves Saturday, March 24, from inside the Jardín, across from the Parroquia church at 10:30am.

Instituto Allende wraps up winter field trips

Instituto Allende hosts two field trips on Saturday, March 31—one to Querétaro and one to Guanajuato. Both trips leave the Instituto at 9am.

Originally, Querétaro was an Otomi Indian settlement that the Aztecs eventually conquered and then incorporated into their empire. With the expansion of national tourism, Querétaro has become an important Mexican tourist destination due to the city’s recent rise in popularity. Querétaro was a finalist in the competition for the site of the 2010 World’s Fair but lost out by a hair to Shang-Hi, China.

The City has also played a significant historical role in international relations. Maximillan, the one-time French emperor of Mexico, and his wife, Carlota, established a chapel there and the treaty between the US and Mexico, ending the Mexican-American war was negotiated and drawn up in Querétaro.

During the excursion, there are stops at the famous Aqueduct, which was an ambitious feat in engineering in the mid-19th century, the Cementerio de los Hombres Illustres, the Plaza de Armas and Querétaro’s centerpiece, the Villa del Villar del Aquila Fountain.

Querétaro’s popular outdoor market is on the itinerary, as is a walking tour through the typical colonial streets to see the gardens, churches, fountains and the house of La Marquesa, now a luxury hotel. Lastly, there is a visit to the Hill of the Bells where the Benito Juarez Monument stands along with the Chapel of Archduke Maximillan.

The second trip heads to the city of Guanajuato. The daylong outing offers attendants a chance to see the city that has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site by the United Nations. 

During the height of Spanish Colonialism, the silver mining city of Guanajuato was recognized as one of the wealthiest cities in the entire world and the Spanish silver barons built grand houses. On the tour, special attention is given to the preserved architecture of this colonial period in residential areas.

Guanajuato is lovely with lively plazas, a beautiful theater and other points of interest. Its underground tunnel system enables traffic to move beneath the busy city to relieve congestion. Riding beneath these busy streets makes for a unique experience. Above, in the city’s center, makes for a good place to stroll and shop. Time is allotted for all activities.

Other points of interest that are visited include: The University and the stately governmental buildings in Centro, along with a number of museums, including the home of native son and famous painter Diego Rivera. 

Cost for either trip is US$55, all-inclusive. Each Wednesday, at Instituto, at 4pm, there is a free lecture previewing the forthcoming week’s field trips to give those interested an idea of what is on the agenda. All trips are lead by native-speaking, bilingual guides who offer further insight within a secure environment. Reservations are a must and fees must be paid in advance. For more information, visit or call 152-0226.

Lions Club offers day trip

The Lions International Club of San Miguel announces a day trip to two interesting villages just outside San Miguel Allende. In the village of Nuevo Pantoja, we visit the pottery artist Esteban. Esteban’s work is well known in all the Americas and is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian. Although known primarily in San Miguel for his finished ceramics over the years, in recent years he has only featured the ancient terracotta styles with Indian designs. Also on display are whimsical animal designs of his young grandchildren, who are learning the art of pottery.

The next stop is La Huerta, near the Presa Allende Dam. It is an adventure just getting to the village, as we must pass through the original train tunnel and view the ruins of the train station that was in the area. La Huerta is the home of El Sabino—the largest tree of its type in all of North America. The site is a frequent stop for eco-tourist groups that visit San Miguel. A short, steep, but wide walkway with handrails was finished a few years back, making the tree the center of focus. Hopefully, the Jacaranda trees will still be in bloom, as at the tree’s summit, a stunning view of the valley in all its purple glory is quite a seasonal treat. La Huerta village is famous for its basket weaving, and we visit some of the local weavers’ homes and also the church with its historical stone cross and statues. 

We are meeting at 9:45am for a 10am departure on Wednesday, April 11, in front of St. Paul’s Church on Calle Cardo. At the conclusion of the trip we all meet back at Casa Schickel, Calle Jacaranda 56, Colonial Le Lejona for margaritas and sandwiches for lunch. This is a “convoy trip” which means that we are looking for cars and drivers. Those wishing to drive and take passengers need only pay US$5.00 for your lunch. All passengers are asked to pay US$15 in order to assist the Lions Club with expenses at our eye and diabetes clinics.

Please visit www.SMALions.org  for more information about the club and clinics. To sign up for this excursion, please call Jean Schickel at 152-0934 or Debra Sullivan at 154-7193, or email lionsinternationalsma@yahoo.com. 

Performances & Events

Oriental dance performance

Raks Alam is an Arabian dance group formed by dancers from different parts of the country joined together under the umbrella of the Raks Alam Academy. Its purpose is to share the fullness of life through the rich palette of Arabic music. A place where love verses have a devotional connotation and one can nestle in the movements of the universe.

Come enjoy Raks Alam’s special gala presentation at Dila’s on March 24 at 8pm onwards, in honor of the first national intensive training seminar by Al Rachid, one of Mexico’s most acclaimed teachers and dancers, also Director of the Raks Alam Dance Academy in Durango, Mexico.

For more information, visit www.dilas.com.mx. 

Harvard University Choir in concert

A concert of sacred music is presented by the illustrious Harvard University Choir, Tuesday, March 27, at 7pm in the Bellas Artes theater. The concert is free, under the auspices of ACFEA, an international organization which arranges tours for performing arts group all over the world. ANYÉL, the program which gives music classes to hundreds of young children in San Miguel, is the local host for this concert. 

Children from our local choirs at the Biblioteca and Casa Hogar Sta. Julia will sing two pieces with the Harvard choir, a special treat for everyone! Members of the choir will meet with children and teachers in the ANYÉL program for exchanges about the meaning of music in all of our lives.

Concerts given by great choirs and music programs like ANYÉL inspire the community to support music for their children, so that the seeds planted will grow into a healthy crop of future local musicians and young adults with confidence to express themselves intelligently and creatively.

Free tickets will be available at the Bellas Artes office, beginning Monday, March 19.

Seating is limited, so mark your calendars for an experience of breathtakingly beautiful choral music.

Films & Videos

The Way of the Tao film screening

Joseph Goldstein presented a talk, “The Way of the Tao,” when speaking at a retreat in 1985. Joseph is a well known Vipassana Meditation teacher and a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society. In this talk, he explores the meaning of emptiness. We hear how the simplicity of meditation practice helps us experience things just as they are, and why there is no one way to be. In sitting quietly, allowing an active connection to each moment of experience, we are open to the whole range of experience, to the ten thousand joys and the ten thousand sorrows. We are open to the “Suchness” of life.


The video, The Way of the Tao, is shown on Thursday, March 29 at 5:30pm at the Meditation Center of SMA. The meditation center is located at Callejón Blanco 4, off of Quebrada. Arrive early, as space is limited. A 20-peso donation is requested.

Volunteer Opportunities

Library volunteers needed

The Biblioteca Pública needs volunteers in several departments. 

In the Tienda, we need two more people, preferably with retail experience, to work morning and evening shifts during the week (10am to 2pm and 3pm to 6). Volunteers with basic computer skills are needed in the computer center, hours are flexible. The Sunday House & Garden Tour needs a cashier (11am-12:30pm) and always welcomes house and bus guides on Sundays from noon to 2:30pm. The English program needs English teachers who will be here this April and May.

A minimum three-month commitment is requested for these positions. If you are interested in volunteering, please email Judy Boston at volunteers@bibliotecasma.com. 

Atención volunteers needed

Atención seeks volunteer proofreaders. If you are obsessive about grammar, spelling and punctuation and would like to contribute your expertise, contact Atención at edit@atencionsanmiguel.org. 

See you in the funny papers

Mark Saunders, creator of Atención’s “Más o Menos” cartoon, invites suggestions from readers for funny material about living in San Miguel that would lend itself to a cartoon. Selected ideas will be drawn by the cartoonist, and authors will be given credit as well as a signed copy of their cartoon. Please send your “expat” cartoon ideas to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org. 
.