AROUND TOWN

Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting

In “Culture and How It Relates to International Development and Governance,” Bob Leonard discusses the importance of culture, religion, values, ways of thinking, politics, government and history in the process of international development in a talk at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting on Sunday, August 3. In addition, he will address the elements that cause projects and interventions to fail in the developing world, as well as the necessary ingredients to make them work and keep them sustainable.

Formerly a president of several community banks in the US, Leonard is now an independent consultant specializing in organization and community development. He has trained more than 800 national and regional leaders of developing countries in management, planning and community development, including government ministers, provincial governors, and provincial and district office staff.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15 and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation and gender identity. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch.

Midday Rotary Club 


On Tuesday, August 5, San Miguel painter Henry Vermillion addresses the Rotary Club of San Miguel-Midday on “Art in the World Today.” Vermillion will talk about the changing role of art in today’s world and in the world of the past 100 years, and about the dogmas of art, good and bad.

Born in El Paso and raised in West Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico, Vermillion has a diverse background in social work, teaching and sales. He became actively involved in painting and showing his work beginning about 1970. He was president of the Wake Visual Arts Association in Raleigh for six years, during which time the organization’s membership grew from 125 to 340. In 1980, the city awarded Vermillion the Raleigh Medal of the Arts. In 1991, with his wife Britt Zaist he moved to San Miguel to do art full-time. In 1992, the couple and five other friends founded the artists’ cooperative Galería Izamal in Centro and continue with it today. Vermillion also is involved in local theater with Players’ Workshop and Playreaders.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at Hotel Real de Minas at the intersection of calles Ancha de San Antonio and Stirling Dickinson. Check-in time is 12–12:25pm and the meeting starts promptly at 12:30. For more information, visit www.rotarysma.org. 

Classes & Workshops

Chess: Five days, three locations

Free chess workshops for adults meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the central patio of the Biblioteca Pública. A dozen players occupy the north portal of the patio each week. The library closes at 7pm, but Café Santa Ana lets players continue to slug it out for another hour or two.

Players also gather at Mama Mia, Umarán 8, on Thursdays, 5–7pm.

Chess players meet three times a week at Casa de la Cultura on Chorro: Saturdays, 10am–2pm, Wednesdays and Fridays, 5–8pm.

Tours & Excursions

Saturday Adventure Tours

This Saturday the Adventurers visit a papier-mâché factory of export quality. We are taken to a room hung with many drying objects such as heads of tigers or clowns to be made into rattlers for fiestas. We will be shown how all of these evolve from rolls of toilet paper, newspaper and brown wrapping paper—mushed up with flour, water and glue to a “gooey” mess, which is then put into the specially prepared molds. These are then left to dry before being unmolded and then hung to dry. Once dry, they go to the painters; if it is to be an apple, a coat of red paint is given. Several coats of lacquer and shellac later, it is completed. Next we visit their showroom where all is for sale. You can buy baskets of luscious fruit, wonderful pan dulce that looks good enough to eat but is quite inedible. Napkin holders come in many designs such as quarter of an orange, lemon or even a ripe yellow banana, all at factory prices.

Now off to the sophisticated country home of Alma Cabalero, whose picture-postcard views of the countryside will take your breath away. Insid, the home is a veritable gallery of well-known Mexican artists, as well as artists of other countries. Entering the huge living room, the eye is drawn to the big, black grand piano, then overhead to the giant bóveda ceiling, making an acoustically perfect area for concerts. Don’t be sorry; bring your camera!

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

Botanical Garden tour

For the next few months El Charco del Ingenio (Jardin Botanico) will be trying out some changes in their tour schedule. Rather than only offering one tour a week on Tuesdays, they will be giving the tour three days—Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The start time will be 10am sharp (instead of 9am) and it will last two hours. A hat, water and good walking shoes are recommended.

Tours fees remain the same, 50 pesos for members and 80 pesos for nonmembers. Private tours are available for 150 pesos per person (minimum five persons). 

The easiest way to find the Jardin Botanico is by taking a taxi. Staff will call for a taxi to pick guests up for the return trip to town. On Tuesdays, a short walk takes you to the famous Tuesday Market where one can easily catch a taxi or bus back into town.

Reservations are not necessary. If you have any questions or would like to comment on these changes, email nzerriffi@yahoo.com.  

Instituto Allende trip to Querétaro

Instituto Allende Tours hosts a day-long field trip to Querétaro on Saturday, August 9, at 9am. Querétaro is near what originally was an Otomi Indian settlement that the Aztecs conquered and then fitted into their empire. With the expansion of national tourism and the city’s recent rise in popularity, Querétaro has become an important Mexican tourist destination. The city also has a reputation for embracing the arts.


Querétaro’s indigenous population has further enhanced the spirit of the region. The Spanish converted the settlement to Catholicism, bringing it into the New World. French influence is also apparent with Maximilian having a personal chapel built in Querétaro, a bit of foresight, since it’s the very place where he was executed.

There will be stops at the famous Aqueduct, considered an ambitious feat in engineering during the mid-nineteenth century; Cementerio de los Hombres Illustres; 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 will be a visit to the Hill of the Bells where stands the Benito Juárez Monument along with the chapel of Archduke Maximilian. Cost for this trip is US$65.

Trips are all-inclusive; reservations are a must. Native-speaking, bilingual guides lead all tours and offer further insight within a secure environment. A free lecture previews upcoming weekend field trips each Wednesday at 4pm at the Instituto. Call 152-0226, or visit Instituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio 20.

Performances & Events

Arts and crafts fair

The second Instituto Allende arts and crafts fair for the summer is Saturday and Sunday, August 2–3, 10am–6pm. The fair showcases some of San Miguel’s finest art and crafts people with as many as 100 vendors, plus great food and entertainment. Call 152-0226, or visit Instituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio 20.

Films & Videos

Bioneers Summer Film Series

Nature and nation, forest and spirit are some of the themes touched upon in these two films. In the first film, Jungian therapist Dr. James Hillman speaks about reclaiming the country from the nation. One of the twentieth century’s most original thinkers, Hillman, in one of his most popular books, The Soul’s Code: on Character and Calling, speaks of the soul as both “calling out” and a “calling.” He sees the soul at work in imagination, in myth, in metaphor. This is usually on the individual level. But on the political/soul level, he speaks to the urgency of reclaiming the country (soul) from the nation (politics). A very interesting and timely talk as we stand at the divide between country and nation. And, in this political year, who do you think would be the candidate for country? For nation?

In the second film, Canadian activist, Tzeborah Berman, speaks passionately about her group, ForestEthics, and the changes that have happened over the past few years. These include saving some five million acres of boreal forest from devastation. Sometimes referred to as the Eco-warrior, Berman is a determined woman. As a point woman for ForestEthics, Berman has led the charge into many a boardroom and CEO office. She has brought timber companies, indigenous communities, CEOs and small business to the same roundtable. She has helped convince these disparate groups that, working together, everyone wins. And that includes you and me, because the boreal forests that they are saving in Canada are the lungs of the Northern Hemisphere.

The films are Tuesday, August 5, 3–4pm in Teatro Santa Ana. Admission is 50 pesos. 


Ninth Eckhart Tolle video
The Meditation Center of San Miguel, callejón Blanco 4, presents the ninth installment of a 13-week series of Eckhart Tolle videos, Touching the Eternal, from a 2002 retreat in India. Each video is about an hour and a half long; they show at 5:30pm on consecutive Thursdays continuing August 7. The presentation is free, although contributions are accepted.



Volunteer Opportunities



For a list of nonprofit organizations in San Miguel, visit the Community Connections section of the Atención website at www.atencionsanmiguel.org.  Dozens of organizations in San Miguel assist children and families; promote education and schools; provide food, potable water and medical treatment; and even take care of animals and the environment. This section provides descriptions, contacts and information for donors or volunteers.

Does your nonprofit need some extra help? Send your short requests for volunteers to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org  with “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject line. Maybe you have an event coming up and some extra support would be appreciated.