Pop-up shrine on Insurgentes, San Miguel de Allende, April 2017
On this Friday, a week before Easter, shopfronts, house doorways and windows suddenly become shrines for the evening. Just as suddenly next morning they are gone, and in this instance on Insurgentes, are a hardware store again.
Scene on Relox, San Miguel, April 2017
A typical sight in San Miguel, particularly on Relox, which runs down from the Jardin, the main square.
Plaza de la Luz, San Miguel de Allende, April 2017
A typical scene in the Plaza de la Luz, also known as the Plaza de la Soledad, at the top of Insurgentes here in San Miguel. We often spend a while here in the early evening watching the world go by. Our local bootblack and our local guitarist – greeting our local picture framer.
Mojigangas, San Francisco, just above the Jardin, SMA, March 2017
Two Mojigangas, giant papier maché puppets, overtake another of our regulars on their way to the Jardin, our main square, to entertain the Saturday evening visitors.
Public bathrooms, San Miguel
Seen at the end of our street, in the little square at the top of Insurgentes.
Women’s Day in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, April 2017
Women’s Day here in San Miguel was characteristically noisy and festive, headed by an all-woman Mariachi band who were all rather better musicians than the guys we normally see here in the Jardin.
Pumpkin seed vendor, San Miguel de Allende, Feb 2017
Immaculately dressed as always, this lady sits for hours waiting for customers for her bags of pumpkin seeds in San Miguel.
Traditional food from the Campesino, Feb 2107
Each day, traditional dishes are brought in on the bus from the campesino for sale in the little square at the end of our street. One wonders how long this traditional food will last as the fast-food chains make constant headway into Mexican culture.
Indigenous features in San MIguel, compared to a 3,000 year-old Olmec carving.
Mexicans are now one of the most racially integrated societies – most Mexicans have inherited genes from all over the globe. But it is wonderful to see some faces that still clearly exhibit features characteristic of the first Mesoamerican cultures like those of the colossal heads carved 3,000 years ago by the Olmec – the first major civilization to appear in what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico.
Madison Square Tower at 45 East 22nd Street. January 2017.
Madison Square Tower on 22nd Street by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) Architects, is a cut above most of the other recent additions to the City skyline. Here it peeks out from behind the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, a fine example of the classic crop of Manhattan skyscrapers. The third boxy residential tower on 23rd Street lacks any of the aspirational qualities of the others and looks particularly pedestrian in comparison.
