Around Town


Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

The Rev. Jeff Jones’ topic for this Sunday’s UU Service is “Speculators, Stockholders, and Stakeholders: The Future of Liberal Religion in San Miguel.”

Rev. Jones speaks about the attraction that Unitarian Universalism has for many people and the great asset that a liberally religious congregation is in the community. He also discusses different levels of involvement by those who attend UU services in San Miguel de Allende, and encourages the congregation to take definitive steps to shape its future using the democratic process, one of the fellowship’s cherished values.

Rev. Jones is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Having served his congregation for six years, this past January, he began a six-month sabbatical with his family in San Miguel de Allende.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. People of all ages, races, religions and sexual orientation are welcome. 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.

Ancient Mexican civilizations on Rotary agenda

Midday Rotary presents Guillermo Mendez as its speaker on Tuesday, May 22. Mr. Mendez is prominent locally and stateside for his considerable knowledge of Mexico’s ancient civilizations.

As a retired Professor of Humanities, Mr. Mendez (known to his friends as “Chic”) has been a San Miguel resident since 1998. Born in New York City, he majored in philosophy at Rutgers University and earned a Masters degree in the Humanities at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. As a professor at Oakland Community College (Oakland County, Michigan ) he taught courses in art, music, literature, and other humanities subjects. He has been a frequent lecturer at the Biblioteca Pública. The Rotary Club talk will be an abbreviated version of his 90-minute lecture Ancient Cultures of Mexico Part I. This lecture introduces the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec and Aztec cultures and focuses on distinguishing between them. For each culture a key idea and characteristic images will be presented. It is possible to distinguish between these ancient cultures of Mexico on the basis of the key ideas and images of art and architecture unique to each culture. Noted Mesoamerican scholar Michael Coe termed these cultures, “th
e four unifying forces” of ancient Mexico. The Midday Rotary Club of San Miguel meets every Tuesday at 12:30pm in the upstairs theater at the Villa Jacaranda Hotel (Aldama 53). Visiting Rotarians and all others are invited to attend. Lunch follows at 1:30pm. For more information, check out the website: www.rotarysma.org. 

Classes & Workshops

San Miguel Mac users

The San Miguel Macintosh Users Group meets Monday, May 21, at 3pm in the Biblioteca’s Sala Quetzal. This month’s meeting continues with 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. Plenty of time is devoted to answering questions regarding any aspect of the Mac. 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 ).

Tours & Excursions

Botanical Garden tour

Every Tuesday morning, discover the marvels of cacti and other Mexican plants as well as the history of El Charco with Mario Mendoza, Assistant Director of the garden. The tour includes a visit to the nursery which contains many rare species and is not usually open to the public.

Entrance fee is 30 pesos (waived for members) and the tour is 50 pesos. All proceeds benefit the garden. The tour is in English and starts at the main entrance at 9am, lasting about 2 hours. Bring a hat and water. Space is limited, so reserve by calling 154-8838 or email charcodelingenio@gmail.com.

Instituto Allende field trip 

Instituto Allende Tours kicks off its weekend, summer-season, field trips. This trip heads to the city of Guanajuato on Saturday, May 26 at 9am. The day-long outing offers goers a chance to see the city that has been deemed a World Heritage site by the United Nations. 

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

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

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 is US$55, all-inclusive.

Bilingual, native-speaking guides, who offer rare insight in a secure environment, lead Instituto Allende tours. There is a free lecture given every Wednesday, at Instituto, at 4pm previewing the upcoming weekend’s field trip. Reservations are a must. Visa and Mastercard accepted. For more information, call Instituto Allende at 152-0226, Instituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio 20.

Volunteer Opportunities

Feed the Hungry volunteers needed

The Feed the Hungry program in San Miguel has need for volunteer drivers to deliver food commodities from our warehouse located in San Miguel to Feed the Hungry kitchens attached to various schools in poor neighborhoods located in and around San Miguel. Volunteer drivers provide their own vehicles for delivery on Tuesday mornings from 8–10am. This opportunity provides a wonderful chance for you to participate in a program providing a free, hot, balanced meal to over 3,000 children per school day. Please contact Duane Eriksmoen, Director Food Distribution at 154-6904 or deriksmoen@aol.com  or Al Kocourek, 152-5576 or penq1@aol.com. 

Volunteering at the Biblioteca

If you would like to volunteer to assist in any of the following departments, please see Elia in the Sala Infantil, Monday-Friday, 4–5pm, or send an email to volunteers@bibliotecasma.com  and Judy Boston will get back to you. The departments with the most need are La Tienda, teaching English to kids, the Book Committee, English conversation with students, the computer room, the Sala Infantil with literacy programs and painting, administration, the Café, the House and Garden Tour, and Atencíon. A minimum commitment of 3 months is requested for most of these positions.

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.