AROUND TOWN


Meetings & Lectures


Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting

Master Spanish teacher Warren Hardy presents his insights on understanding Mexican culture at this week’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting.


The talk is a variation on a theme he delivers in his first-level classes to help extranjeros interact with their Mexican neighbors by understanding Mexico’s rich history, background and social customs.

An educational innovator, Hardy has written seven textbooks and developed a powerful learning system that has helped thousands gain a useful working knowledge of Spanish. His school, which he founded in 1990, draws hundreds of students to San Miguel each year. Hardy is also a founding member of the International Conflict Resolution Institute and an expert on bicultural relations and mediation. He also is a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow, an honor awarded for distinguished international service. 

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

Prominent local dentist Dr. Alma Godinez will be the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of San Miguel-Midday on Tuesday, June 17. She will discuss the national preschool dental program which she coordinates. Thousands of Mexican children have been the beneficiaries of this educational and medical service. Dr. Godinez will talk about the planned second phase of this program.

A graduate of the University of Michoacán in Morelia, Dr. Godinez has dedicated 24 years to her profession. In addition to her service as President of the Federation of Dental Surgeons in the State of Guanajuato (2004-2006), she also has served as an advisor to the Certification Board of the Mexican Dental Association.

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 calle 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.  

Classes & Workshops

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.

Players gather at Mama Mia, Umarán 8, on Wednesdays, 5–7pm. The restaurant has spectacular views of churches, mountains and sunsets from the rooftop terraces.

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.

Tours & Excursions

Saturday Adventure Tours

This Saturday, the Adventurers are being “Enchanted.” To visit Casa Encantada, you will be under a spell the moment you enter and see the arches that seemingly go on forever. We detour to the left to enter the sala, with its huge stone fireplace and a wonderful painting of a horse. Around the corner is the dining room, another cantera fireplace and an unusual wall hanging. The guest bathroom is the first of many all-marble baths. We wander through bedrooms and the studio-office until we come to the Jacuzzi room and the mural of life-size bathing beauties in various stages of undress, a favorite spot for the gentlemen to have their pictures taken. Upstairs are more bedrooms, a different view of the Parroquia and much, much more.

Next we go to San José #2, an ex-vineyard now rented to a company growing lettuce, tons of lettuce, for the biggest Caesar salad ever. They have a machine that will dissolve the hailstones that frequently fall in this area. The engineer will explain the workings of this mystery machine. You can imagine what a hailstorm would do to delicate lettuce!

This tour leaves from inside the Jardín, across from the Parroquia, at 10:30am. Good use of your camera today!

Botanical Garden Tour

Every Tuesday morning discover the marvels of cacti and other Mexican plants as well as the history of El Charco with Martin Smith, curator. 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 and lasts about 2.5 hours. Bring a hat and water. Space is limited, so reserve by calling 154-8838 or email charcodelingenio@gmail.com. 

Tree identification walk in Botanical Garden

On June 20, Fen Taylor will lead a walk through El Charco, focusing on the various kinds of trees, their characteristics, care, problems, etc. Taylor has been gardening in San Miguel for over 30 years and built an environmentally friendly home just outside of town. She led the Audubon bird walks once a month for many years. The tree identification walk will start at the entrance to the Garden at 9:30am. Please arrive by 9:20am. Cost is 70 pesos for members of El Charco and 100 pesos for nonmembers. Reserve a space at nzerriffi@yahoo.com. 

Instituto Allende leads trip to Pozos

Instituto Allende will host a field trip on Saturday, June 21, to what is often referred to as the ghost town of Pozos and the surrounding area. This trip embarks at 8am. Pozos and Victoria are 45 minutes from San Miguel. This adventure is a camera buff’s delight—the scenery is spectacular. Pozos was once a bustling silver-mining center. It has “bottomless” shafts and some of the ruins of the old mines will be explored. Pets and children are not permitted on this trip due to some dangerous areas. Some moderate hiking is necessary to view the ancient petroglyphs. Sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats are suggested. Other highlights of the outing will be touring the remains of giant hearths built by the Jesuits in 1597, plus a concert at the old musical instrument store.

Each Wednesday at 4pm, Instituto provides a free lecture previewing the upcoming weekend’s field trip. Bilingual, native-speaking guides lead all Instituto outings and field trips in a safe environment. Cost for this all-inclusive trip (museum fees, transportation, meal, cocktails, etc.) is US$65. Reservations are a must. Visa and Mastercard accepted. Instituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio 20, 152-0226.

Films & Videos

The Future of Food

On Tuesday, June 17, The Future of Food will open the Bioneers Summer Film Series. Brought back by popular demand, the explosive film offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled our grocery store shelves over the past several years.

Shot on location in the US, Canada and Mexico, The Future of Food examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world’s food system.

Four different Bioneers presenters are featured in this highly acclaimed film. Andrew Kimbrell, the key speaker, is the Director of the Center for Food Safety. He is also on the board of the Turning Point Project, as well as on the board of the International Forum on Globalization. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser is the “David” who took on the “Goliath,” Monsanto. His story is very informative as to the true intentions of the Monsanto giant.

Dr. Ignacio Chapela, a microbial ecologist from UC Berkeley, is the investigator of milpas in Oaxaca where he finds genetically modified strains among the many corn varieties of Oaxaca. Given the 6,000-year history of corn cultivation in Mexico, this is a cultural insult as well as an agricultural tragedy in the making.

The threat looms nearer as Monsanto and other biotechnology companies will be allowed into Mexico legally at the end of 2008. Rest assured that the pertinent question is, “How can this be happening without our knowledge?”.

The film shows at 3pm at Teatro Santa Ana. Tickets are 50 pesos and advance purchase is recommended due to the film’s local acclaim. A discussion follows the film.

Second Eckhart Tolle video at Meditation Center

The Meditation Center of San Miguel will present the second installment of a 13-week series of Eckhart Tolle videos, Touching the Eternal, from a retreat in India in 2002. Each video is about an hour and a half long. They will be shown at the center, Callejon Blanco 4, at 5:30pm consecutive Thursdays, continuing June 19. Please take this opportunity to listen to Tolle’s message and meet others who enjoy what he has to say. The presentation is free, though contributions are gratefully accepted. 

Volunteer Opportunities

The “Summer” Chamber Music Festival (30th Annual Festival de Música de Cámara) needs volunteers for various assignments in housing and transportation, event planning/support, student program help, “asking” and some office assistance for the festival scheduled July 31–August 17. Contact Gloria G. at promocion@festivalsanmiguel.com, or call 154-8722.

Can you be a mentor? Jovenes Adelante seeks mentors for 20 new scholarship recipients beginning their university careers this September. Minimum requirements: some Spanish, ability to meet or communicate with the student once a month, desire to help bright students from mostly rural areas adjust to university challenges. Mentor orientation, July 29. Contact jovenesadelante@gmail.com. 

Audubon Sightings 
By Walter L. Meagher

The American Avocet

Is the beauty of the bird—strongly contrasting black and white colors, a splash of orange on the chest and, like a runway model, long legs—compromised by its upturned bill? It is a “nose” schoolboys would mock.

Standing alert on coastal and inland mudflats, sometimes in groups of 30,000 (as reported at Great Salt Lake), the American Avocet is a quintessential wader, showing us how aquatic invertebrates may be caught. We watch them on the presa. The bill is swished back and forth, the heads moving metronomically, disturbing the hiding places of water bugs and tiny shrimp on the presa bottom. When the water is deeper, they immerse their whole heads, as Audubon observed. This is what avocets do, it is their way of feeding.

But consider this: from time to time you may see 7–12 avocets upended, like dabbler ducks, rotating the perfect circle of their bodies in unison as if they were one organism. They are doing together what each bird cannot do alone. Cooperation produces a new methodology, as it does for Polynesian Islanders, who catch fish by encircling them in the sea. 

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