This is gonna be a looooong one!! I haven't posted since our 2023 summer vacation post. We have done more than just travel in the last year, I promise! I do hope to make a blog post related to some of the non-travel happenings soon.
For the first time in years, we all ended up having the same week of spring break. So, what better way to spend our time than the twins' first trip outside of the country since their first few weeks of life! We decided to find better weather than Evanston and headed to the San Miguel de Allende (you'll see the abbreviation SMA throughout this post!) area of Mexico in the state of Guanajuato.
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| Most folks don't seem to know this amazing part of the country...it's about a 4 hour drive north of Mexico City in central Mexico. |
There weren't any beaches but there was plenty of sunshine! It was mid to high 80s with NO HUMIDITY every day we were there...amazing weather! We flew into a city called Queretaro (at midnight!) and drove about 25 mins in the dark to reach our first stop...the town of Bernal.
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This was our first view in the morning from our hotel looking up at La Pena de Bernal monolith..the world's 3rd tallest (only the Rock of Gibraltar and Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio are larger)!
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| We planned to hike our way up the monolith, so we filled up with some... |
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| ...quesadillas and blue-corn gorditas (which were delicious) before the trek! |
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| These two were ready to hike! |
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It wasn't a difficult hike compared to past vacations...
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| ...but it was definitely a tall rock... |
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| ...and we enjoyed the views of Bernal's Centro that we would soon descend and explore. |
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We made it halfway up the monolith and then headed back down into the Centro.
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| We quickly came to realize why Bernal has the distinction of being a 'Pueblo Magico'...an award Mexico gives to recognize charming, historic cities). |
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| The Centro was small, but packed with beautiful colorful buildings... |
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| ...like the yellow & red Parroquia de San Sebastian... |
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| ...and El Castillo, a principal plaza for the town. |
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| We meandered the small collection of streets in town... |
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| ...which were filled with beautiful buildings and flowers. |
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| We finished our Bernal visit with some lunch at El Mezquite... |
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| ...where the food was great...and the view was even better! |
Next, it was time to drive 1.5 hours to our main destination, San Miguel de Allende. We checked into our Air BnB for the week and wasted no time checking out this special city.
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| We decided to take our first (of many) views of the SMA Centro... |
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| ...from the rooftop bar Luna at the Rosewood Hotel. |
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| As the sun started beginning to fade, the views of the Centro.. |
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| ...only got more picturesque. |
On our first full day in San Miguel (Monday), we
started the day with what would become a twice daily walk down into the center of San Miguel...
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| ...and got closer to the buildings we saw from afar the night before. |
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| We had a little breakfast at the Cafe de La Parroquia (inside a charming courtyard)... |
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| ...and then headed to El Jardin to meet up with a San Miguel historic walking tour. The tour was led by a volunteer named Dali, and all proceeds from the tour went to benefit medical and dental services to thousands of children in the area. |
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| The tour began, appropriately, at the statue of Iganico Allende, who was a prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution, and the namesake of the town. This statue is at the corner of the Allende home and overlooks the entire city center. |
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Next we approached the most beautiful building in town, the pink Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel.
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| I took many, many, many photos of this beautiful parroqia. |
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| The pink sandstone constructing the outside of the building was gorgeous, |
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| and the details inside were awesome too. |
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| Dali told us a lot about SMA's history (including the Mexican Revolution) inside the church. He also shared this crucifix of Jesus weighs only a few pounds, because it is made from corn cobs! |
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| After leaving the church we walked past the entirety of Casa de Allende (and Allende's statue)... |
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| ...and walked a few blocks until we reached... |
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| ...Templo de la Inmaculada Concepcion (or Las Monjas...the house of the nuns). |
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| This building was funded by a teenager with the last name of 'Canal', another prominent San Miguel family. Her parents died very young and she gave ALL of her inheritance to build this religious convent, where she spent the majority of her life serving as a nun. |
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| This dome at the temple was modeled after Les Invalides in Paris. |
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| Truth be told, a lot of the buildings started running together from this point on! |
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Though, we continued to learn history at each site, including the Oratorio San Felipe Neri,
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the Templo de San Francisco,
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| and the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Salud, with its interesting scalloped facade (that once included a symbol from the Illuminati!). |
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Our final stop on the tour was the Plaza Civica...the main meeting (and bus stop) place for locals in San Miguel, including a statue of Allende on horseback!
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| After the tour, we treated the twins to ice cream (some of the flavors were interesting)... |
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| ...which they happily savored by this beautiful fountain. |
The next few days we made excursions outside of San Miguel. On Tuesday, we drove out to the site of the Canada de La Virgen ruins.
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| This sculpture greeted us at the beginning of the tour... |
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| ...and then we began to walk to the protected ruin site. |
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| As we soldiered on, we saw many a cactus... |
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| ...on our way to the ruins. |
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| Our tour was in Spanish, so unfortunately, we didn't learn so much about these ruins... |
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| ...but we sure enjoyed walking around the complex... |
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| ...and then climbing up and down... |
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| ...feet first on the way down... |
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| ...due to some seriously steep steps!! |
On Wednesday, we visited a town a few miles outside of San Miguel called Atotonilco.
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| Atotonilco's main site is this Santuario de Jesus Nazareno... |
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...which played an important role in Mexican Independence as it was the first site Father Miguel Hidalgo and cavalry traveled after declaring war on Spain.
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| After visiting the sanctuary, we headed to La Gruta Spa for the afternoon... |
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| ...where we enjoyed soaking in the various outdoor pools heated by hot springs. |
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| It was some great scenery and a nice way to relax on a beautiful day. |
On Thursday, we drove a little over an hour from San Miguel to the town of Guanajuato.
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| For the record, driving wasn't always easy, especially navigating the EXTREMELY narrow, meandering, cobblestoned streets of San Miguel... |
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| ...but all was good when we reached the highways nearby. |
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| It was clear when we arrived in Guanajuato... |
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| ...that it was going to be a colorful place... |
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| ...though we went 'dark' at the onset of the day, visiting Museo de las Momias (mummies)! |
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| Inside this famous museum lie exhumed (from the 1800s) corpses of more than a hundred bodies that underwent natural mummification (I didn't know this even existed!!)... |
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| ...due to unusual mineral content in the soil of the area. |
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| Some mummies even had intact clothing from when they were buried. While this might make some squeamish, it made our family hungry... |
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| ...and so we headed to the Mercado Hidalgo... |
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| ...where shopping and restaurants filled the space. |
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| The twins enjoyed their freshly squeezed zumo de naranja (orange juice)! |
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| After filling up, we walked the colorful streets of Guanajuato... |
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| ...from plaza to plaza. |
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| We stopped at La Alhondiga de Granaditas, a public granary with historical significance. It was at this site during the Mexican Revolution that many Spanish and Criollo families took refuge to avoid the army led by Miguel Hidalgo (from the sanctuary). The building was well guarded and difficult to penetrate, so a man known as El Pipila (we will see him later!) stormed the building and set it afire, massacring all of the aristocrats inside. |
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| A year later, Hidalgo and Allende were caught and executed... |
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...and decapitated. Their heads were paraded around the country before returning to Guanajuato to be hung on the hooks of the four corners of La Alhondiga (eek!).
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| The rest of the day was a little less dreary and we continued to explore the town...all the while keeping an eye on our final destination...the statue of El Pipila...looming high above the city of Guanajuato. |
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| We also ran into fun scenes like this! |
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| Soon we arrived at the funicular that climbed the steep hill to see amazing views of Guanajuato down below. |
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| These two were impressed (and maybe a little tuckered out)! |
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| And last, but not least, we got up close and personal with El Pipila's statue! |
We were back in San Miguel on Friday, for Good Friday.
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They don't mess around on Viernes Santo in San Miguel. There was a full on processional in the town center with every station of the cross depicted.
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| Several locals played the various roles... |
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| ...while others carried the somber displays, marching at a slow tempo. It was all fascinating and really interesting to observe. |
Our vacation was definitely an adventure, but we still had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the beautiful city of San Miguel.
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| We really enjoyed our comfy condo... |
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| ...even though it was a tough walk up the STEEP street to this bell tower just a few steps from our door... |
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| ...but most trips back were rewarded with a dip in the hot tub/pool. |
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| One of the neatest things about San Miguel was all of the rooftop spaces. |
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| Whether it was taking in views from rooftops... |
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| ...during the... |
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| ...day... |
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...or at...
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...night...
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...we enjoyed the views into Centro and the well manicured rooftops nearby.
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| We also played a lot of Uno!! |
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| The food in San Miguel was amazing! Whether we were having a hearty breakfast... |
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| ...(I mean, look at these chilaquiles!!)... |
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| ...a bowl of 'pozole' soup for lunch... |
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| ...a visit to the taco truck for some... |
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| ...delicious street tacos,... |
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| ...or had dessert sitting in Jardin Allende, the food was fantastic! |
To me, though, the best part of our trip was hanging around the Centro.
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| Walking down the steep hill on the cobblestone streets... |
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| ...there were always amazing views in the distance... |
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| ...which, of course, had to be photographed!! |
