Dotty Vidargas: An unconventional life
By Sam Decker February 8, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

One night in 1948 at the Cucaracha, a San Miguel institution then located in the center of town, a young art student from Chicago with striking blond hair got herself into trouble.

Dotty Vidargas was most likely the only woman in the establishment wearing pants. This alone would have been enough to turn heads, but by declaring that her skill on horseback matched that of any picador in town, she caused such a commotion that a group of local men challenged her to participate in the bullfight the following day. She accepted, and after receiving minimal instruction, she and her horse were shoved into the ring amidst a roaring crowd.

“They told me not to go to the middle of the ring, to let the bull come to me,” remembers Mrs. Vidargas, who has ridden horses all her life. “Well of course, I did the opposite. I went straight into the middle of the ring.” Evidently she survived. She received further training and went on to become a talented picador, earning the title Coneja, after the famous bullfighter, Conejo.

Like many others after her and a few before, Mrs. Vidargas was an artist who came to San Miguel intending only to stay for a short while and never left. What sets her apart is her remarkable story and the incredible impact she has had on the town. She and her husband designed, built and decorated many San Miguel houses. Today she owns the interior design business, Casa Coloniales, and a real estate company, both located on Canal 36. 

“There are so many stories. There are just so many stories, I really don’t know where to begin,” reflects Mrs. Vidargas, as she sits behind her desk. Her hair is an elegant whirl of bright white, but her eyes are brighter. They retain the vitality of a young woman—a vitality that makes her otherwise unbelievable stories quite effortless to believe. 

It would be difficult to put it more aptly than Susan Cordelli, owner of Casa Schuck and Casa Cordelli, who has known Mrs. Vidargas since she was a child. “Dotty was this real brassy, ballsy American girl who came to San Miguel and fell in love.”

Mrs. Vidargas was raised in Aster Place on the North Shore of Chicago, where her father owned two metallurgical companies. She left Wellesley College in her sophomore year to join the army. Following her service, she was accepted into the American Academy of Art in Chicago. “That was what I wanted to do. I wanted to paint,” she explains.

Mrs. Vidargas, already an unconventional young woman, was reluctantly preparing to begin a conventional career in advertising. Then on the day of graduation a good friend told her about San Miguel. He convinced her to go with him to study at the Escuela de Bellas Artes under the GI bill.

When her friend missed the train, Mrs. Vidargas set out alone. 

After a few snags at the border involving lost luggage, a marriage proposal and a narrow escape, she was on her way to San Miguel on the Pullman train. After her two-day journey across a foreign country she felt exhausted and lonely, a feeling that was enhanced when the train left her literally alone with her luggage at 1:30am, almost three kilometers from town. She was able to catch one of the two or three cabs working at the time of her arrival in San Miguel. It was a warm June night in 1947.

Ricardo Vidargas, her youngest son, animatedly recalls the story of his mother’s first night in a hotel on Correo, opposite the post office—a story that he has heard more times, and in greater detail, than anyone else. “This guy with a serape and a hat opens the door, and in the dark all she could see were his eyes. The room was horrendous. No blankets and a hard mattress.”

Of her first impressions of San Miguel, Mrs. Vidargas utters with polite restraint: “I was really not very happy with the whole thing.”

Her situation improved when she moved to where the rest of the GIs were staying at the slightly less primitive Casa Arias on Mesones. 

Studying at Bellas Artes, then under the direction of Stirling Dickinson, an artist also from Chicago, she quickly joined the small crowd of expatriate artists associated with the school. David Alfaro Siqueiros, the great Mexican muralist, was painting the walls at the time. 

“We were crazy gringos,” says Mrs. Vidargas. “But at the same time we were all serious about our art and about learning Spanish.”

Bullfighting was only one expression of Mrs. Vidargas’ youthful defiance. “I was always a rebel, I was always an athlete and so forth. I was used to a lot of independence in the States. So when I got here I acted the same way. I was doing things that nice Mexican women never did. Men would stare. They weren’t used to American girls.”

Then she met a local man named Pepe Vidargas at a bowling match at the Fronton Club, which was located on Hidalgo and Insurgentes. When they were married in 1948, Mrs. Vidargas adopted San Miguel as her permanent home.

“She gave up a style of life that she was used to in Chicago by moving to San Miguel,” observes Ricardo. “The love must have been great.” 

Mrs. Vidargas fondly remembers the simplicity of her early days in San Miguel. “In the beginning we didn’t have any telephones. We had a boy called a Mandadero who would take notes to everybody. That was the only way we could really communicate. And then when we got a few telephones there was an operator who always knew everything about everybody. I’d call her and she’d say, ‘Are you looking for Pepe?’ and I’d say, ‘Yes,’ and she’d say, ‘He’s at the Franton club.’ And lots of times she wouldn’t pick up and we’d have to send someone over and tell her to please answer the phone.” In the decades that followed, the couple nurtured four children and three businesses. In the early 1950’s they opened a dairy called Lecheria Victoria, where the Banamex now stands on the corner of Hidalgo and Canal. With the help of a dairy engineer from Wisconsin and some equipment from Sears Roebuck, they became the first people in San Miguel to pasteurize milk. They sold Olay butter, ice cream, frozen chickens and turkeys. 

“We were about thirty years ahead of our time, we really were,” says Mrs. Vidargas. “We used to have a man in a white jacket delivering milk in bottles.”

As a child, Ricardo was mesmerized by the technology used at the store. “We would stop by and there would be all these electronics. The pasteurizers were just these cans with a few lights, but that was good enough for us to think that it was a space ship or something.”

In 1965, they opened an antique shop across the street. Mrs. Vidargas drew from her art background to create her own interior design work. Eventually, they closed the dairy to give all their time to running the business that continues to exist as Casa Coloniales. “All the early foreigners that came here knew Dotty and worked with her because she was the person in town that did the building, and she was the one that had the resources for furniture.” 

Dotty Vidargas is still a mainstay in San Miguel. Not only does she head both her interior design and real estate businesses, but she is actively involved in a number of community organizations. For years, she and a handful of others have been in the process of restoring Atotonilco, an international historical monument located near San Miguel. She is a member of Va Por San Miguel, a group working to protect the town from the damage of irresponsible development, and among other things, she still retains her position as treasurer of the Kennel Club.

“I was supposed to be here for six months and now I’ve been here for 60 years,” says Mrs. Vidargas. 

Sam Decker is a recent graduate of Oberlin College, currently interning in the editorial department of Atención.

Gala benefit for Hospice San Miguel
By Mark Baker

Gala Benefit
“Have a Heart for Hospice”
Tue, Feb 12, 6–9pm
William Martin Gallery
Fábrica la Aurora

Hospice San Miguel invites you to celebrate the opening of Mexico’s first bicultural hospice at our first annual “Have a Heart for Hospice” benefit. This gala event features the work of 30 artists and designers who have donated their affordable, heart-themed work. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this exhibition and sale is the place to find a special gift and, at the same time, help Hospice raise funds to provide services to the community.

Since its opening in mid-November, Hospice has been serving both the Mexican and foreign communities. Through its staff and over 60 trained volunteers, Hospice provides in-home physical, emotional, social and spiritual care and support to individuals who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. Its goal is to help create a satisfying end-of-life experience for both the patient and family members.

Modeled after hospices in the US, Canada and England, provision of adequate pain control and symptom management is an essential part of Hospice’s individualized plan of care for each patient. In addition to professional nursing and medical supervision, plus assistance and training (if needed) to the primary caregiver, Hospice social workers, chaplains and volunteers provide counseling and support. Volunteers shop, run errands, provide transportation and stay with the patient while the caregiver takes a break from his or her duties. Bereavement Support Groups are offered to families and caregivers of the patient for one year after the patient’s passing. The groups are open to all members of the community whether or not they are involved with Hospice. All of the above services are available in Spanish or English.

Fundraising is an essential component of our community activities.

Follow your heart to this new annual event—and support Hospice! Call 154-4287 for more information or visit: www.hospicesma.org.  

Mark Baker is the Administrative Director of Hospice San Miguel. He is a graduate of Pomona College, where he received bachelor’s degrees in history and theater. Mark has lived in San Miguel for two years.

Aztec fashion show benefit 

Aztec Concert & Fashion Show
Sat, Feb 9, 7pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos

That’s right! An Aztec fashion show. The Aztecs who ruled central Mexico at the time of the arrival of the Spanish probably never staged a fashion show. But if we were curious about what the Aztecs wore, attending an Aztec fashion show could educate one on the subject.

Several illustrated post-conquest books made by Aztecs reveal that they had a definite ‘dress code.”

Professor Guillermo Méndez, Biblioteca lecturer on the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica designed the show

The show features various attire: for the common man a loincloth and mantel; women wore a huipil and skirt. Warriors in a jaguar outfit and the traditional cotton quilt “armor” which could stop an arrow follow. A judge and noble- woman are next, then an Aztec priest-who never had a “bad hair day” because subsequent to becoming priests they never cut, washed or combed their hair. The sacred is followed by the profane: a courtesan and military comandantes. Professor Méndez narrates the show with live pre-Hispanic music and digital big screen images.

The show benefits the Biblioteca’s Workshop in Pre-Hispanic Music for Young People. This free program teaches Mexican children to play the musical instruments of their ancestors. The proceeds of this benefit will be used to fund the program which like all Biblioteca programs is offered to Mexican children free of charge. Tickets are on sale at the theater box office. 

San Miguel housing developments win national awards

A San Miguel housing development wins yet again in the National Housing Awards. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of Mexico, awarded local developer Raúl Araiza Torres and the development Casas San Miguelito, the 2007 Executed Project Award.

In 2004, Araiza’s development “Rincón del Cielo” was also an award winner.

Audubon fundraiser tickets on sale

Audubon Fundraiser
Sun, Feb 17, 12–4pm
Hyder House
Quebrada 85
US$100
044 415-153-3333

Sociedad Audubon de Mexico, A.C. (SAM) has been active in San Miguel for nearly 40 years. Over the years Audubon has been involved in many community improvement programs including the renovation of Juarez Park, establishment of the Save the Laja program, reforestation of Parque Landeta, several “Water Awareness” lecture series, establishment of the Santa Rosa Reserve and support of PEASMA (Program for Environmental Education of School Children in San Miguel).

Audubon will host a fundraiser for PEASMA at the Hyder House at Quebrada 85 on Sunday February 17 12–4pm. This Sunday champagne brunch, lox bagels, fruit Danish, mimosas, will feature exciting fashion by Barbara Porter Designs and live jazz by the Bobby Kaplan Trio. Tickets are on sale at the Audubon table in Juarez Park and weekends in the Jardín. For more information or to reserve a table call Bob Haas at 152 0804 or 044 415 153 3333.

US$100 includes one year membership for Audubon Mexico.

Mujeres en Cambio Raffle

Photo Credit–Chuck Jones

The ¡Viva San Miguel! wall hanging (45” x 56”), donated by San Miguel Quilters, will be raffled to support Mujeres en Cambio work. The quilt is valued at US$2,000, but tickets are only 50 pesos at Casa de Papel (Mesones 57A). For more information, contact Pat Donahue at 152-6945.