And off we go

Trip Start Jan 01, 2008

Trip End Feb 27, 2008

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Flag of Mexico San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Thursday, January 31, 2008

Our last day in San Miguel. They have been setting up the Parque Juarez for Candelaria which officially runs from Feb. 2 to the 12th, but the early birds are already selling plants and flowers from all over Mexico. This annual festival is unique to San Miguel and incorporates some traditional holidays that mark the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the spring. These traditions are a mixture of Christian and pagan celebrations, as is so many of the Mexican traditions. The blessing of the seeds (to ensure a good planting) is combined with taking the baby Jesus dolls from the home nativity scenes to the churchs to be blessed before putting away for next year. The annual flower and plant market sets SMA apart with many free concerts and activities. The basket ball court in the Parque Juarez, where local school and civic teams have been playing all month, is full of vendors setting up their canopies and installing their displays.

Today we walked up to see the bullring since the gate was open in preparation for tomorrow nights bullfights. At $30 a ticket it is well beyond the reach of most of the locals in an economy where the minimum wage is about $6 a day.

The popularity of San Miguel among US and Canadian tourists and second home owners and wealthy Mexicans from other areas is a mixed blessing. It creates a strong local economy for restaurants, the boutique hotels, and b and b's, the many fancy shops, local construction, etc. but it also raises the prices of local goods and services. This region of Mexico is one of two that are the source of much of the illegal workers in the US. It is estimated that some 12 million workers, many illegal, seek the higher wages north of the border and the estimate is that $20 billion a year is remitted from those in the US to their families in Mexico.

The lack of decent job opportunities here puts a strain on traditional family life as so many of the men leave and some, after a while, abandon the families they left behind. With the border crackdowns and the current US hostile attitude to guest workers it will be harder than ever for those without papers to come back to Mexico for the annual visits.

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