Readers' Forum
Some favorite things to do in San Miguel de Allende
By Jim Blakley (Mar 24, 2006)

I have only spent a few months in San Miguel de Allende, but already I have discovered a few gems that I thought others might not know about and would be interested in.

Near the corner of Recreo and Bajada del Chorro (a block East of Juárez Park and just down the very steep hill from the Casa de Cultura) is the public laundry (Los Lavaderos Públicos). Here, you can join some local Mexican women (and me) and wash your own clothes by hand. This is much tougher than it looks, but incredibly satisfying (and environmentally friendly). In quite a beautiful little square there are 19 cement tubs, and cool water flows by in a trough above all of the washing tubs. You just scoop out the water that you need with your hands or bring a little plastic container. You use your wet clothing to block the drain at the bottom of the tub. For six pesos you can pick up a large bar of laundry soap at most tiendas. Trust me, this will be the best return on investment that you have ever had on any purchase. One bar can last for a couple of months. I wash my socks and underclothes daily in my room with my laundry bar and save the public laundry for my larger items. 

To wash your clothes you rub on soap, rub them together and, if necessary, on the rough cement bottom of the tub, squeeze out the soap, rinse them, and you are in business. This is much more physically challenging than I had imagined, but it is a great upper-body workout. When you are done, squeeze out the excess water as well as you can, and then just put the wet clothing in plastic bags and dry it at home. The "professionals" seem to leave their clothes in a big pile in the sun for a partial drip-dry. It is so dry here that home drying doesn't take long. If you are in a hurry, try this old traveler's trick: roll up a piece of wet clothing in a towel and then twist the towel tightly and hold it for a few seconds. 

This will extract much of the remaining water for even quicker drying (hey, this is San Miguel, what is the rush?). Air drying your clothes back home will give you a nice smell and, of course, it is much easier on them than using a dryer.

I still use one of the regular laundries occasionally when I get lazy. While they don't iron the clothes unless you request it, they are folded incredibly well and then hermetically sealed in a plastic wrap. The result is better than any ironing job I could do.

Does the hand-washing method get your clothing as clean as using a washing machine? Done properly (the way the experts do it), it probably does a better job. Done the way that I do it, probably not. Still, my clothes seem clean to me and they are saved from the rather harsh treatment of our modern machines.

Of course, walking in San Miguel is always free, always interesting and always exciting (including being on the lookout for obstacles). The other day, while nearly standing still, I twisted my ankle, fell to the ground and rolled into the street (and I am only 55 and I think of myself as very fit). In the United States you walk looking for potential human dangers; here, you walk looking for potential "gringo traps" on the sidewalk or roadway.

Some people say that most gringos stay within three blocks of the Jardín. That may be true for most visitors and newcomers, but I say just go anywhere in the city and beyond its borders. While all of San Miguel may not be beautiful and quaint, it is all fascinating and gives you an insight into the life of the real people of San Miguel (not just those who drive silver SUVs).

The most wonderful thing for me as a newcomer is that no matter where I go, I have never felt unsafe in this city, day or night. Think about walking in a remote or poor area in or near your hometown in the US. You see a person coming toward you, and no one else is around. Back home you might be wondering if this person poses a threat to you. Here, there is a 99% likelihood that the other guy will give you a big smile and a "buenas tardes" or "buenas noches." How incredibly refreshing. 

Here is an idea that is fairly cheap and infinitely satisfying (and another way to spend the money you save doing your own laundry). Pay the Karma Tax! There are a few people in San Miguel who have to live by asking for handouts. Unlike other people whom I have experienced in the US or Canada-people who might be drug addicts or have other serious issues-these are usually very elderly women or parents of young children or blind men who, even in their desperate situations, have a quiet dignity and grace that is astounding. When I first arrived here in early October, I ignored these people, using my American/Canadian defense mechanisms. Then, when I thought about how well-off I am and what great dignity these people have, I realized that I needed to pay the "Karma Tax." A couple of pesos here and there really means nothing to me, but it does to them. They feel good, I feel good, and what goes around, comes around. That's my philosophy, and I am sticking to it.

Jim Blakley is a newcomer to San Miguel who enjoys finding the city's unique and surprising qualities.

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¡¡¡HAGAN SUS APUESTAS!!!

La carrera por la presidencia municipal presenta en realidad una cerrada expectativa, mire, el PAN con Jesús Correa estará apoyado por la inercia de lo bueno que la administración de Villarreal alcanzó y seguramente con recursos económicos que el PAN le ha sacado o pretende sacarle a todos los desarrolladores de fraccionamientos y demás para mantenerse en el poder. Sin embargo, la gente percibe con gran incredulidad el que Correa pueda conseguir un apoyo de la ciudadanía como lo llegó a alcanzar su ex- jefe. Desde luego, Jesús tiene la enorme posibilidad de crecerse al castigo y alcanzar estatura propia. Veremos de que esta hecho el ex - secretario de gobierno quien logró la confianza de parte de la ciudadanía y de algunos de sus compañeros de gabinete. 

El "partidazo", es decir el PRI con Eleazar Romero como candidato de unidad, después de que Baltasar Zavala reconoce la enorme diferencia de conocimientos y de trabajo realizado para su partido y para San Miguel por parte del Chale, le cede los trastes, logrando de esta manera, la unidad partidista requerida para garantizar tranquilidad y renovar el espíritu de lucha del tricolor que anhelaba estar nuevamente en la contienda electoral con un candidato fuerte. Además, los ex-presidentes municipales priístas lo acogen y prometen trabajar en torno a él "sin pedir nada a cambio". El Lic. Eleazar presenta desde un principio una gratísima sorpresa al señalar que, quien lo acompañe en su planilla, tendrá que trabajar duro y comprometer votos para el partido, acabando de un plumazo con la práctica asquerosa de allegarle al candidato tricolor una recua de lidercillos ignorantes, gente oportunista, compadres y amigos que pensaban que por pertenecer a cualquiera de las organizaciones priístas tenían derecho a ser regidores y estar en posibilidades de hacer negocios ó, de simplemente vivir del erario sin trabajar.

Por su parte el PRD encabezado por el popular Luis Manuel Rosas quien va por su tercera oportunidad de arribar a la silla presidencial de San Miguel de Allende, acogido nuevamente por el partido que mantiene hasta este momento las más altas expectativas de triunfo a nivel federal y que puede darle un buen empujón para hacer realidad sus expectativas. Sin embargo, la posibilidad a nivel local ya no se prevé tan fácil para el Lic. Rosas quien, a pesar de haber tomado la delantera por haberse destapado desde hace dos años y medio, pocas veces se le oyó denunciar como verdadera oposición, las actitudes prepotentes e impositivas del presidente municipal panista. Igualmente, resulta difícil entender que con la delantera ganada, no diera a conocer anticipadamente a la aparición de sus adversarios, su plan de gobierno para que, cuando los otros las hagan, fuesen en segundas partes. Parece ser que el Lic. Rosas mantiene el exceso de confianza que lo caracterizó en sus dos últimas oportunidades. Ciertamente lo respalda 
su carisma, sencillez y gran simpatía, pero… hoy día ¿serán atributos suficientes para ganar?

A nivel federal, los candidatos se dan con todo y por más pactos de civilidad que prometan, la lucha por el poder es encarnizada y, mientras no se metan con la familia, casi todo se vale. Mire, seguramente ganará aquel que logre comprometerse formalmente a satisfacer el mayor número de necesidades que las comunidades y las colonias aún tienen. Empiece su lista…..¡ahora!

José Luis de la Hoz.

Editor, 

Amigos de Animales wishes to thank the many people and organizations for the wonderful help they have given us over the past few months. Our first Amigos sales table at the Instituto Allende fair grossed US$1,265 for our programs. 
Many thanks to the organizers and our creative volunteers who made papier mâché animals and aprons, and the sales volunteers who sold them.
To you, the public, for buying those items for your pets and home, which will help lessen the suffering of those less fortunate animals in SMA.
Also we wish to acknowledge Renee Kaplan, Jan Quinn and Mary Elizabeth MacQueen, whose names were left off of our Atención ad thanking the December Sterilization Blitz volunteers.

Kathy Frankel
Amigos de Animales
Board Member, Education and Publications

Editor,

I wish to share with you an incident that I, an American tourist, experienced on Saturday evening, March 11.
My wife and I, together with friends, had been enjoying one of the delicious pastries created by El Petit Four patisserie. I did not realize, until we had arrived back at our residence, that my wallet, containing a considerable amount of cash, credit cards, driver's license, etc., was missing. I phoned Petit Four, after their closing hours, and to my considerable relief, was told that they indeed had my wallet, and that I could pick it up right away, which I did. 
My wallet was securely sealed in plastic, with my driver's license attached for identification. The contents were untouched. Everything was there!
My sincere thanks to the management and employees of El Petit Four for their honesty and kind consideration and, as an aside, for their mouth-watering pastries!

Irving Goodman

Editor,

We celebrated in San Miguel another Cuban Culture Week. I am sure some of you visited the marquee by the Jardín and bought books, music, posters, even drums, so you could play to the beat of the Cuban rhythms of dictatorship and abuse. 
It is amazing that some who call themselves journalists, radio personalities and human rights advocates-even some who claim to be part of this or that UN something or other-can be blind to the dictatorial constraints the Cuban government imposes on the basic freedoms of its people, especially on journalists and artists: freedoms such as the right to express one's opinion without fearing incarceration or worse.
In a country where you can get sentenced to house arrest for carrying a pineapple or coffee, if the amounts you are carrying surpass what you are supposed to get as dictated by the government's ration card, or in a country where Cuban nationals cannot go into hotels or on beaches only for foreigners, and in a country where you cannot freely express your thoughts, there can hardly be a "culture."
Is a country's culture truly that which is imposed by a dictatorship that does not allow freedom of speech, of press, where there is only one political party, where all newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations are government-controlled, where the general population is not allowed access to the Internet, where there is no freedom of movement, and where "culture" is only permitted to be expressed by those who are in line with the government's policies? You probably do not know this (I am being sarcastic), but the moment an artist starts expressing "counter-revolutionary and subversive" ideas, the government's model of culture goes out the window, as in the case of the 75 journalists sentenced, some to up to 30 years, in prison for writing-and let me repeat this and add, writing and of course thinking-differently from those who live comfortably at the expense of the Cuban people. 
Here's a proposition for Gringos-and by this I mean all Americans, Canadians, French, foreigners and even Mexicans who find Cuban revolutionary culture so fascinating: Take the Cuban government model to your own country, with no freedom of expression, movement, business, even religion (remember, Castro only allowed Cubans to celebrate Christmas after 25 years and only at the request of the Pope) and see how it feels and how long you will endure it: a week, two, a year, a dictatorship, a lifetime?
Here I go again, politics or culture: the dilemma of the anti-Castro persona. I will stop when the local radio station dedicates its popular Cuban-music program to Willie Chirino, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan, Sandoval, Paquito d'Rivera, Orishas, specifically to their songs that express the suffering that has resulted from 45 years of dictatorship. 
What am I saying? I even dare to write against the Cuban government and say that I will stop only when Castro's government erases from its blacklist writers such as Zoe Valdes, Mario Vargas Llosa, or when it allows those Cuban artists mentioned above to express in Cuba their side of the Cuban culture.
As Zoe Valdes expressed: nothing more denotes the failure of the Cuban Revolution and its leaders as the capitalistic sale of Che Guevara's face on every t-shirt and gadget possible. 
But what the heck: sit back and enjoy a cigar; who cares: If it doesn't affect me or my compadre … I am free; I can write; I can think. 

Jesús Iturralde Llera

Editor,

Caustic criticism is not defamation. A once stately and historic landmark la Parroquia is being transformed into a garish monstrosity (have you looked closely?) and I am surprised there has not been more of an outcry. Granted, some of the population may be colorblind and others may be too muscle-bound to be able to look upwards. However, anyone who has seen Disneyland will recognize the symbolism and similarity.

Jack Najork


Editor:

From the time the first expats arrived here there has been a focus on giving the children of SMA access to a good education. I tried to count the number of organizations here whose members dedicate their efforts to this goal, but there seemed to be so many I shall not try to name them for fear that I will omit some. I can safely say that many thousands of dollars have been raised to sponsor scholarships, and many hundreds of children have been the beneficiaries of an education.
Have you thought about what happens after the student has the diploma in hand? We offer the education, but what about opportunity to pursue a career? The answer to this question dovetails with the great challenge facing Mexico today: how to stem the tide of emigration to the U.S.
No matter how high a wall is built at the border, or how many immigration agents patrol it, Mexicans will continue to leave their country unless opportunity for their growth and prosperity exists here.
I've just returned from an 8-day car trip to the state of Veracruz. Wherever I went I saw huge (no exaggeration) examples of business development in the suburbs of cities. Mexico is a sleeping giant getting ready to awaken. And now it is happening in SMA, and people react, "No, not to our special town." But if not here, where do you want a child with a diploma to find work? Will she have to leave her city and family, leave the state, leave the country?
The new developments are out-of-town. No one will force you to do business with any of them. You won't have to make them part of your life. But the new development will be a place of opportunities for the most important resource of our loved community.

Miranda Nadel

Editor,

I wanted to thank Lucha Maxwell and the staff at Centro de Crecimiento for all their help on our recent Kids First surgical trip to San Miguel. The surgical trip in September 2005 went very smoothly and we performed approximately 65 operations on 48 needy children.
Our recent follow-up trip in January 2006 was so encouraging. I was able to examine 80% of the children we had treated in September and was so happy to see them doing so well. A major factor in this success was the outstanding postoperative physical therapy they received from therapists at Crecimiento. Being able to examine the children in January with Gaby, the chief therapist, and having access to her extensive and thorough notes was an opportunity we had never before had in all our Kids First trips throughout the world. The postoperative physical therapy provided by the staff at Centro de Crecimiento equals that provided anywhere in our country.
Thank you so much for your help with our project and thank you as well for all the wonderful work your center does for the children of San Miguel and the surrounding areas.

William C. Andrews, Jr. MD, Director, Kids First