Mexico 2012 - un viaje mas grande - Day 8 January 3 Guanajuato to San Miguel de Allende

We traveled 50 miles today and it only took 1-1/2 hours! The road was very narrow, curvy, and NO shoulders!
We arrived in San Miguel de Allende and parked at the Mega Store and decided to walk into town to check out the two RV parks listed in the Traveler’s Guide to Mexican Camping. I’m glad we did! The first one we thought we might camp at, La Siesta Hotel, is for sale, had construction going on in the camping area, and is no longer allowing RV parking. Further into town, we located Weber’s San Miguel RV Park & Tennis Courts. The streets are VERY narrow and the gate into the RV park required a sharp right turn. The owner assured us he could help us negotiate the turn and he had one spot left, so we took it.

It required a few times backing up and pulling forward, but we got in and plan to stay a couple days.
San Miguel de Allende, is located in the mountainous central region of Mexico, part of what is referred to as the "Bajio,” or low region, of the state of Guanajuato. Originally known as San Miguel El Grande, it was founded by a Franciscan monk named Juan de San Miguel in 1542. It was an important stop over on the Antigua Camino Real, part of the silver route from Zacatecas. As the mineral wealth waned, the many caravans ceased, and by 1900, San Miguel de Allende was in danger of dying out. Having been declared a national monument in 1926 (no neon signs, no new style buildings), the old Centro district still has the colonial style elegance of its wealthy past. Starting in the 1950s, many Americans, Canadians, and Europeans began moving to the area and it has become somewhat of an artists’ colony. Today, there is a large American expat community here and the city has grown to about 140,000 population.

Many of the streets are cobblestone and the city is built on hills.

With map in hand, we headed out to explore. We arrived in the historic district and went into La Parroquia, on the south side of the plaza. The church is made of sandstone and was designed in the late 19th century by self-trained Indian mason, Ceferino Gutierrez. It is said he sketched his designs in the sand with a stick!  Inside the church it was quite ornate – and the alter was decorated with Christmas lights, something we are not used to seeing at home!
 
Just north of the church is The Jardin, the main plaza. It has interestingly manicured trees and benches to relax and people watch.

 

Our walk took us all around the Centro where there are several churches. We enjoyed seeing them and marveled at their ornate beauty.

At the end of the afternoon, we stopped at Bugambilia Restaurant for my birthday dinner. It was just around the block from La Parroquia and the food was fantastic!

So with stuffed tummies we walked back to our RV and thought we were in for the night, but Tobey looked out to the west and spotted one more church we needed to go back out to see! It is only one block from our RV, located on Plaza de San Antonio and a beautiful way to end our day! 
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