Through the power of Facebook I found an animal shelter in San Miguel that needs volunteers to help with dog walking.
I figured as a destination for our morning walk we could walk to the shelter. Just to check it out.
The shelter was a 30 minute walk, downhill, from our Airbnb.
The long and the short of it, our last week in San Miguel we were walking shelter dogs every morning.
Those daily walks gave us so much pleasure and were "The Highlight of the Day".
It is a colonial-era city in Mexico’s central highlands.
It is known for its baroque Spanish architecture, thriving arts scene and festivals.
It has a population of about 150,000.
San Miguel de Allende is widely regarded as one of the cultural capitals of Mexico.
In the city’s historic center is the stunning neo-Gothic church, Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, with dramatic pink towers.
I am not one for people watching.
I am usually too shy to stare at people because I think I am invading their space and their privacy.
And I am definitely too mortified to ask if I can take their picture.
But every once in a while I will stop and look at the people and surreptitiously take photos of them.
So invariably my photos are not very good.
Here is a selection of my best efforts at People Watching in San Miguel, in no particular order.
The markets reflect the rich art, culture and gastronomy of the city.
‘Tianguis’ means an open air market.
Tianguis de los Martes is one of the weekly markets that takes place every Tuesday just outside of the center of San Miguel de Allende.
The city’s historical centre has restrictions protecting the buildings.
But outside the centro, out in “the burbs”, facades and
walls can be decorated more dramatically with less restrictions.
San Miguel by night is just as interesting as it is by day.
Between the stunning lighting of beautiful buildings and the cultural events there is always something to see or do at night.
The show stopper is the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel church which dominates the city’s skyline.
There has often been free cultural performances in front of it in the evenings while we have been in San Miguel de Allende.
The civil war began in 1910 to end the struggle against the President and Dictator Porfirio Diaz.
Under his rule, the gap between the rich and poor widened and political freedom was suppressed.
The revolution lasted for 10 years.
San Miguel celebrates the landmark day with a parade.
Another challenge is that we do not have the basic cooking ingredients in our non-existent pantry.
So when we do cook supper, it is generally a very basic meal.
When I found an opportunity to take a Mexican cooking class I was pretty excited.
It sits at an elevation of about 1,900 m (6,200 ft).
For those of you that are not familiar with elevation, let me put this in perspective.
Vancouver, Halifax, New York City, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam and Tokyo, are all basically at sea level, with 0 elevation in both metric and imperial measures.
Denver is nicknamed the Mile High City, because its official elevation is exactly one mile (1609 meters or 5280 feet) above sea level.
So that puts San Miguel de Allende at a higher elevation than Denver.