AROUND TOWN
Meetings & Lectures
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting
Ben-Zion Ptashnik, former state senator from Vermont, founder of EarthRight Institute and president of Solar San Miguel, speaks about “Sustainable San Miguel: The Global Challenge” at this Sunday’s meeting.
Sustainable San Miguel is a coalition of businesses, banks, individuals and San Miguel municipal agencies and leaders who have been meeting for seven months to chart a sustainable ecological and economic course for the future of the city. The group’s first project is a November 8–15 conference and expo in the Jardín and the Instituto Allende,
The focus is water and energy conservation, recycling, green lifestyles and green/sustainable economic development. The expo includes a week-long exhibit in the Jardín by companies involved with recycling, water-conservation and energy-saving products such as wind generators, water-catchment and solar systems.
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, September 9, the Rotary Club of San Miguel-Midday welcomes city historian Graciela Cruz Lopez. Her talk on “The Protected City of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesus of Nazareth of Atotonilco” will be based on the recent World Heritage declaration.
Lopez is an historian, philosopher and international lecturer with more than 10 years of expertise in the historical investigation of Guanajuato and particularly in the virreinal (vice-regal) history of San Miguel.
She has worked on anthropological and historical projects for the Pantheon of the Royal Hospital, the Casa de Allende Historical Museum, the Sanctuary of Atotonilco, the property of Las Monjas (nuns), the Temple and Convent of Santo Domingo and the Mercado Hidalgo.
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.
Improv comedy group forming
Like the challenge of thinking on your feet—or maybe walking a tightrope without a net? Attend the first meeting to form a resident improv group, specializing in the rapid-fire wit familiar to audiences of comedy clubs around the world. The meeting is noon, Tuesday, September 9, at Shelter VG4, Vicente Guerrero 4. All interested English-speaking actors, with or without experience, are invited to attend. Contact Norman Araiza at 152-5454 for more information. See Shelter’s website at
www.sheltervg4.com
for directions.
Bereavement Support Groups
Hospice San Miguel is sponsoring two free bereavement support groups for area residents who have lost loved ones. The groups are small, so reservations are necessary.
The first group, lead by Anne Howells who is a board member of Hospice and an experienced counselor, is for English speakers and meets on Mondays, 2–3:30pm at Hospice San Miguel, Manuel Rocha 35 in La Lejona. Contact Anne directly at 185-8218 or email anne_howells@yahoo.com to arrange to attend the group.
The second group is for Spanish speakers and is led by Leticia Gonzales, a Hospice staff member and experienced psychotherapist and thanatologist. This group meets on Thursdays, 5–6:30pm at Hospice San Miguel. Contact Leticia directly at 044 (415) 114-8331 or email lego_2000_mx@yahoo.com.mx to arrange to attend the group.
For more information about the groups or any Hospice service, call the office at 154-4287, email
mail@hospicesma.org or check the website at
www.hospicesma.org.
Classes & Workshops
Chess in three places
Adults meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the north portal of the Biblioteca Pública’s central patio. The library closes at 7pm, but Café Santa Ana lets players carry on 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.
Rancho Los Labradores
The clubhouse at Los Labradores offers classes in painting, yoga and photography for 450 pesos per month. The painting class meets in the gallery at 11am Wednesdays, yoga students gather in the gym Thursdays at 7pm and aspiring photographers assemble on Saturdays at 11am in the workshop. Two weekend workshops meeting in the theater are QuantumTouch (September 6–7, 9am–6pm, 2,000 pesos) and Self-Discovery (September 26–28, 9am–9pm, 2,300 pesos).
For reservations or inquiries about transportation, call Norma Sánchez at (415) 185-2202.
Tours & Excursions
Saturday Adventure Tours
Adventurers go first to Namuh (human spelled backwards) where we find the best of imports from India, Asia and China—antiques, wall hangings, exquisite fabrics, beautiful hand-woven carpets, teakwood furniture, brass lamps and wooden furniture combined with natural woven fibers. You won’t be human if you don’t fall in love with something at Namuh.
At a “movie set” of what we think of as an hacienda, we pull up in front of a long, low stone façade and enter through a wrought iron gate into a formal garden surrounded by tiled corridors. All the bedrooms off the corridors are impeccably decorated, and the entrance way is filled with family heirlooms. Above the dining room fireplace is a collection of European antique plates. Straight forward is a stunning view: a long, blue pool, spreading pepper trees, lots of green grass and an old wooden wagon filled with red geraniums. Lots to see and enjoy here on this modernized hacienda; be sure to take your camera!
This tour leaves from inside the Jardín, across from the Parroquia, at 10:30am.
Botanical Garden tour
El Charco del Ingenio (Jardin Botanico) offers two-hour tours Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10am sharp. A hat, water and good walking shoes are recommended. Fees are 50 pesos for members and 80 pesos for nonmembers. Private tours are available for 150 pesos per person (minimum five).
The easiest way to Jardin Botanico is by taxi. Staff will call for a taxi for the return trip to town.
Reservations are not necessary. If you have any questions, email nzerriffi@yahoo.com.
Performances & Events
Roadshow
St. Paul’s Church on Cardo will be transformed into a version of the PBS Antiques Roadshow on Wednesday, September 10, 5–9pm. If you have treasures or antiques that you want expertly valued, take them there and listen to the advice of the evening’s four appraisers: Joy and Tom Price, Lee Feurestein and Mort Erlick. They evaluate rugs, small antiques, jewelry, crystal, china, bibelots, chandeliers and folk art.
The evening concludes with an auction of collectibles, including a Wedgewood tea set, a Royal Doulton dinner set, six blue crystal goblets, two ceramic urns and a silver tea caddy. The evening’s proceeds are for St. Paul’s outreach program Centro Infantil, a preschool program for needy children in Independencia. The school recently moved into a new building with three classrooms and a Feed the Hungry kitchen.
“Roadshow” tickets at the door are 50 pesos for the reception; another 50 pesos entitles you to three appraisals (please arrive at 5pm for appraisals). For further information, email event chair Adrian Ross at
adrianrossdesigns@hotmail.com
or phone 120-0896.
Films & Videos
Meditation Center: Gangaji videos
The Meditation Center at callejón Blanco 4 presents a new three-part series of videos of Gangaji beginning Thursday, September 11 (free/donation). Gangaji, an American-born teacher and author, speaks with people from all walks of life, responding to the deepest spiritual questions of our time. She extends the invitation to directly discover, within your own heart, the truth of who you are.
Gangaji, a wife, mother and grandmother, is the author of You Are THAT! The collection of conversations explores love and gratitude as fundamental choices inherent to every moment of one’s life.
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.
English Book Committee needs volunteers
The English Book Committee at the Biblioteca Pública needs librarians with an extensive background in children’s and adult literature, and catalogers experienced in using electronic systems. Call Robin Velte at 154-4661.
Red Cross seeks new board members
The Red Cross association of San Miguel seeks new volunteer board members. The association is the vehicle through which the foreign community supports the efforts of the Red Cross and generates revenue through memberships, emergency medical classes, the sale of medic alert bracelets and bingo every Tuesday night (a new feature of bingo is one unannounced large cash game). If you are interested in helping those who are always there to help us, call Barbara Lichter at 152-2303 to discuss volunteer opportunities.
 |