AROUND TOWN

Meetings & Lectures

UU Fellowship Service 

Mike and Kathy Hayes spent two and a half years (2005–07) in Iraq as civilian contractors for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton. During that time, the two got a firsthand look at on-the-ground details of the logistical administration of the war. The couple discusses and answer questions about their experiences at this Sunday’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Service.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. All are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch.

Midday Rotary Club

On Tuesday April 8, we are pleased to have chairman Filip Lein speak about the history, aims and operations of his Siempre Hermoso San Miguel organization, a public-private partnership dedicated to eradicating graffiti, restoring public fountains and developing green areas in the city center. Over the past four years it has removed nearly 30,000 pieces of graffiti.

Born in Belgium, Lein has been a resident of San Miguel since 2004. Previously, he was a managing director at Merrill Lynch, working in New York, London and Tokyo over the course of a 16-year career. He holds a postgraduate licenciat in law degree from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and a master’s degree in international business from Sophia University in Tokyo.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at their new location, the 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. Visiting Rotarians and others interested in Rotary are invited to attend this meeting. Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. For more information, please go to the website: www.rotarysma.org.  

Estate planning, assets management

For those who would like to know about international estate planning and assets management while living in Mexico, US attorney David R. Barrow presents a lecture, “Estate Planning and Assets Management for the Expatriate,” in the Biblioteca Pública’s Sala Quetzal on April 10, 3–4pm.

Barrow, one of the few attorneys in Mexico licensed by the Mexican federal government to practice US law here, talks about off-shore options, including Mexican accounts, wills, trusts, planned giving, lawsuit protection and other topics of interest to the US expatriate. Barrow has over 25 years’ experience practicing international law—specifically estate planning, assets management and international business law.

Barrow offers this lecture free of charge as part of an ongoing series about international law and how it affects the English-speaking expatriate. Other parts of the series are: “Does US Law Protect You in Mexico,” “So You Want to Start a Business,” and “Some Different Ways to Look at Real Estate Purchasing.” Donations to the Biblioteca Pública are encouraged.

Barrow can be reached at 152-6378 or smalawyer@gmail.com. 

Plastic surgery for the twenty-first century

Next Friday, April 11 at 3:30pm in the Sala Quetzal, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a board certified plastic surgeon from Beverly Hills, gives a lecture and presentation titled, “Beyond the Facelift: Plastic Surgery for the Twenty-first Century.” The lecture covers new advancements in the field of plastic surgery, including the use of stem cells to rejuvenate facial skin.

Workshops & Classes

Chess workshops

Free chess workshops for adults meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the central patio of the Biblioteca Pública. The Biblioteca has good chess sets, but bring your own if you like. More than a dozen players occupy the north portal of the patio each week. Some players meet in the patio informally other days of the week.

About 10 players gather at Mama Mia, Umarán 8, on Wednesdays, 5–7pm. Assistant manager Martín opens the rooftop terraces so they can play chess like aristocrats. The restaurant has tournament-class sets, long inlaid tables, attentive waiters and spectacular views of churches, mountains and sunsets.

Adults also play chess at Casa de la Cultura on Chorro, 10am–2pm on Saturdays.

The view is extraordinary and you’ll know you’ve earned it after you climb the last switchback on the road to the top of the hill.

Red Cross holds CPR and Heimlich classes

Open to all residents and visitors, the Red Cross Association of San Miguel offers two-hour classes in English and Spanish for CPR and the Heimlich Method. The first class is held on Thursday, April 10, from 4–6pm at the En Forma Aerobics Studio, Mesones 14 (back patio). Class size is limited to 20 participants and a 100-peso donation is requested. Reservations are required. To register, call 152-2303 or 152-5696. Participants are requested to wear comfortable clothes and no lipstick as mannequins are used in the instructions.

Trips & Tours

Saturday Adventure Tours

On Saturday, April 5, we will visit an artist’s gallery, a true artist who teaches, lectures and loves to paint female nudes. This is the studio-gallery of Eschwan Winding, with a world of talent, as you will see by the great diversity of her works. On some of her canvases, she works hot wax into the painting, giving a batik effect. Her portraits of her daughters are striking, as their eyes seem to sparkle right at you. She also does some religious and modern icons. Now, to “horse” around a bit, out on Carol and Harold Weicker’s beautiful ranch El Encanto, is a place to be enchanted. A home masquerading as a museum, it is filled with wonderful works of art. The surrounding lawns are lush with borders of flowers, all a riot of color. After we have “oooed & aawed,” and nothing could surpass what we have seen, we are brought to the exhibition ring, where we are left speechless by the beauty of the horses. Carol gives a dressage exhibition that would win blue ribbons in any show. Today, please, don’t forget your 
camera! 

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

Botanical garden tour

Every Tuesday morning discover the marvels of cacti and other Mexican plants as well as the history of El Charco del Ingenio with curator Martin Smith. Entrance fee is 30 pesos (waived for members) and the tour is 50 pesos. All proceeds benefit the garden. The English-speaking tour starts at the main entrance at 9am and lasts about two and a half hours. Bring a hat and water. Space is limited, so make a reservation by calling 154-8838 or email charcodelingenio@gmail.com. 

Films & Videos

Oprah & Eckhart Tolle’s huge web event

Eight of the ten chapters of A New Earth (as taught by Oprah and Eckhart Tolle on 90-minute webcast presentations) screens at Villa Jacaranda restaurant’s second-floor viewing room on Aldama 53 (near Parque Juárez). Admission is free, but seating is limited so early arrival is recommended. 

Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egotistic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.

The good news, Tolle tells us, is that there is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egotistic consciousness to an entirely new one.

The 2–3:30pm screenings are as follows: Chapter 1: Saturday, April 5; Chapter 2: Tuesday, April 8; Chapter 3: Thursday, April 10; Chapter 4: Saturday, April 12.

Volunteer Opportunities

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


Field volunteers needed for Patronato Pro Ninos

PPN, one of the oldest and most vibrant charities in SMA, is looking for a selective group of volunteers who would be willing to dedicate two or more mornings per month to go out to the outlying areas of the municipality of San Miguel de Allende to visit schools, talk about the work that PPN is doing to assist children with medical and dental problems, and to invite those children who need medical attention to the office of PPN for evaluation and assistance at little or no cost to the family. The volunteers ideally would either be reasonably fluent in Spanish and/or have a car/truck/SUV which can withstand the back (mostly unpaved) roads of the municipality. If interested, please contact Steve Livingston at steve@stevelivingston.com  with your name and contact information.

Save A Mexican Mutt (SAMM) is a charitable organization that rescues, spays/neuters, provides veterinary care, socializes, and transports highly adoptable Mexican street dogs to the United States for adoption. We need volunteers to foster dogs for up to six weeks and to transport dogs to the United States. If you live here full or part-time and can provide a temporary loving home for one of the many dogs in line to be transported to their forever homes or are traveling to Texas, New Mexico or Colorado by car and can transport one or more dogs with you, please contact Kelly Karger at info@saveamexicanmutt.org  and see our website at www.saveamexicanmutt.org.  (Save A Mexican Mutt is a US 501c3 charitable organization. Donations to SAMM are tax deductible on your US federal tax return.)

Feed the Hungry looking for screening volunteers

Feed the Hungry is looking for volunteers to help with the preventive medical screening of our school children. We are looking for persons with one or more of the following skills: Bilingual persons, drivers with access to vehicle with high ground clearance willing to drive out to the ranchos, computer data input persons. This medical work is being conducted in cooperation with Patronato Pro Niños for the children our organizations serve. For more information please contact us on 152-2402 or contact@feedthehungrysma.org. 

Pro Musica

Pro Musica de San Miguel AC puts on more than 30 classical music concerts throughout the year in the city. We are looking for volunteers to fulfill various roles. These include helping out as ushers at St Paul’s church and other venues during concerts, selling tickets prior to the House and Garden Tour at the Biblioteca on Sunday mornings, helping to organize suppers in private homes after concerts for our musicians and patrons, and assisting with publicity, marketing and fundraising. We are a fun group of people to work with and the music is fantastic! Contact Pro Musica’s President, Michael Pearl, at 152-2688 or email him at mpearl5493@aol.com.
 



Overheard

This week Atención San Miguel opens a new regular section, a small space dedicated to the priceless gems overheard around town. Send your contribution to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org  with “Overheard” in the subject line.


I must be a very bad person because I laughed when I read the article about the guys going to the strip bar.
(two women in their forties)


The transvestite clubs are more fun than the strip bars.
(prominent local hedonist)


I have been cutting, cutting, cutting and I’m starting to hit major arteries, essential organs. This guy’s story is really quite interesting...I think I could manage it in 850 words.
(freelance writer to Atención editor)


But nothing matches!
(overheard on the House & Garden Tour


Is it OK to drink the bottled water?
(asked of a local photographer)


How much is that in real money?
(a Texan to a local shopgirl)