San Miguel FAQ

Robert J. Hawkins wrote:

We don’t do fireworks in San Miguel de Allende any more.

The hot-air balloons drifting slowly over the city at dawn are gone.

Parades and processions are put on hold.

Concerts under the trees have been muted.

Chalk-art festivals, Mariachi bands, street singers, horse riders,

First Friday art and ego struts, sundown wine divines,

street hawkers, weddings, random events of unexpected joy,

All have vanished. Peacockish pageantry has molted away. ...

Continue reading and see the photographs at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: In the absence of art and pageantry by agile minds and clever hands, Nature fills the void. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Text by Hermann Hesse: “Trees,” from “Wandering: Notes and Sketches”
Photographs by Robert J. Hawkins @Robert Hawkins

For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves.

And even more, I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs, the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.

When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow. ...

Continue reading and see the photographs at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Sequestration meditation: Walk among the trees, with the thoughts of Hermann Hesse. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: Last night, Rose and I watched the streaming performance of “Romeo and Juliet” by the English National Ballet. It was an exuberant performance of the Rudolf Nureyev production with the music of Sergei Prokofiev.

Alina Cojocaru and Isaac Hernández are the young lovers of Verona. The ballet was filmed in October 2015 at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Quite by coincidence, it was exactly 10 years ago — to the day — that we attended a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” by the San Francisco Ballet at the stately War Memorial Opera House.

Like I said, to the day. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: That time Romeo proposed to Juliet? Well, yes, but it wasn’t quite as we remembered. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: I hope you will find a little peace and a little escape here in these photos.

And maybe, when this is all over, you can come to sit in our garden and perhaps read a book, meditate, do yoga, sip a glass of wine, talk to the angels. ...

Let’s take a quick walk around the grounds. Then I’ll introduce you to some of the statues. ...

They watch over you while you are here.

No harm comes to anyone in the garden. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Come, walk with me, through the magical door and into the garden of stone angels. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: When I opened my computer this morning, I was presented as a very long list of quotations, mostly by famous people, extolling the virtue of patience.

Patience.

I stopped reading midway through the list and scrolled to the bottom to see how long the list was. “No time for this, “I thought. “I’ll get back to it later.”

Now I can’t find it. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: O God, give us all the patience to read this. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: Can there be any symbol of resiliency more endearing that a single strand of climbing cactus with a full bloom up where the air and light are free? This one on Calle 28 de Abril Norte in Colonia San Antonio makes me smile whenever I pass by.

~ ~ ~

What do we need? HOPE!
When do we need it? NOW!
Who are we going to get it from? NOT FACEBOOK!
Then from who? (Or “whom” or “what”?) WINE!

OK! But are there any other vehicles of hope,
ones that we can remember in the morning? ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Reasons to be cheerful before 10:30 a.m. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: From Ray Bradbury’s ”Dandelion Wine” …

“He brought out a yellow nickel tablet. He brought out a yellow Ticonderoga pencil. He opened the tablet. He licked the pencil.

“Tom,” he said, “you and your statistics gave me an idea. I’m going to do the same, keep track of things. For instance: you realize that every summer we do things over and over we did the whole darn summer before?”

“Like what, Doug?” ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Things we do all the time and things we do for the first time ever. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote:

Lurking in the dark corner of the far left tabs

on my computer, for two weeks now,

Concerto for flute, no. 1 in G-Major, K. 313 (1778)

By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and performed

By the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

I imagine that Mozart and the ISO have

Survived so much. An Iceland orchestra must

Be composed of hardy creatures, impervious to

Cold, dark — Or is permanently lit? I forget.– winters

And barren landscapes that cry out

For a Mozart concerto to bring warmth and brighten

life and the endless day — or is it the night?

...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins and see the great pics at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Grateful on this cool, preternaturally calm Sunday morning, I ask myself, isn’t this just enough, for now? More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote:

A man and his wife and their dog go for a walk.

There is no punchline.

Stepping outside feels alien enough

Without turning it into something else.

San Miguel is pared to its essentials

A careful early morning walk,

Welcoming empty streets,

Determinedly beautiful flowers.

...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins and see the great pics at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: The almost-empty museum of beautiful flowers and cobblestone streets. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote:

Enough. Stop.

Let the outrage machine simmer.

Turn off the echo chamber.

Take a breath. Exhale.

Invest six minutes in some simple joy.

Maybe a memory or a YouTube video

Search for something like:

“Crazy good dancing”

And see what comes up.

...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Remembering to dance like nothing else matters. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: # 1 Friday is laundry day and the day to strip beds and do sheets. I actually like folding laundry, something I have been doing since I was a very little kid. We are a family of eight sons and a daughter. The division of labor was a means of survival. My father was an engineer and a big fan of early efficiency-expert Frank Gilbreth, whose son Frank Jr. wrote a memoir in 1948, titled “Cheaper by the Dozen.” I read the book several times before I was 12 years old.

# 2 Chekov: Think your times are hard? Read some of his short stories. First, the one above is NOT “The Postman.”That was a 1997 dystopian movie starring Kevin Kostner. The correct title is “At the Post Office.” It is silly … until the very last line, the implications of which, turn this light and slight tale into a potential novel.

But one Chekov tale is never enough!

# 3 I found a PDF of a book with 30 Chekov short stories, spanning his whole career. It comes with an insightful introduction and hot-linked annotations. So far, I’ve read “The Huntsman,” “The Death of a Clerk,” and “Small Fry.”

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: The Log: April 17 — Laundry, Chekov, and a new podcast to check out: ‘Rabbit Hole’. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: On March 27 I began logging my day’s activities into my now-useless appointment calendar. For the time being, there would be no luncheon dates, no concerts, no coffee meetups, no flights to visit grandchildren, no weddings, no visit to Mexico City with friends.

But how was I filling my days? They seemed to be drifting — without recollection of where I’d been, what I’d accomplished, where I was headed — from one gray fog-bound sea to the next.

“Naps,” seemed to be the only achievement that I recalled with any clarity. That, and pointlessly angry and condescending posts on Facebook. I had to be doing more than clicking “Like,” “Angry, “and “Love” buttons, right? Oh, and “HaHa.” ..

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: April 16: The ‘Luminous’ Log … now with 100 percent more annotation! More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins wrote: So, Mexico entered Phase 2 on Tuesday. While the president still hugs and kisses the babies and young girls, his Health secretary has called for restaurants and casinos to be closed, for public gatherings to disperse — you know, the same stuff we have been doing in San Miguel for a couple of weeks now.

Only, a lot less.

Phase 2 is clinically called the “community transmission phase.”

Phase 2 feels like Mom calling the kids inside to safety — after it starts raining. The kids have been playing outside, conscious of the dark clouds building. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Entering Phase 2 of the coronavirus with the help of the Camino, history, humor, and Garrison Keillor & Randy Rainbow. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: We walk this same path over and over, Moppit and I.

The pattern is unchanging.

Open the front door at 7 a.m.

Glance up into the sky and count the hot air balloons.

Or remark on their absence.

Today was a day to note their absence.

The air was crisp, the sky was blue. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Something is different: A morning walk in San Miguel in the Age of Pandemia. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: San Miguel de Allende is not yet a ghost town, but it is awfully quiet.

On Saturday there were five hot air balloons crossing the sky as I took Moppit out for her morning walk. Today, there were none.

San Miguel’s edgiest T-shirt shop (“Any design you want, in black and white only”) has had a “Pinche Trump” T-shirt in the window for as long as I can remember. Today, a new shirt reigns: “Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands.”

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: We settle in, as an edgy quiet descends upon San Miguel de Allende, like freshly fallen snow. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: Walking up the well-worn switchback trail of Peña de Bernal I had the oddest feeling that I’d been here before.

I hadn’t, of course. Which is why we were hiking this trail on Friday.

And yet …

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Day-tripping: Feel the Bernal. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: Just before 4 p.m. on a brilliant and blazing Sunday afternoon in San Miguel de Allende the sound of a boombox rose above the usual bustle and cacophony of the Jardin Principal.

As if on cue, the several venders with their bright balloons and bouncing pencils were swept away like neon flotsam and jetsam on the shore.

A lone, tall, leggy blonde in jeans and a black top stepped to center stage and began to dance. She got the attention of the milling crowd. A second woman, all in black, bounded into the open space and the two danced as one. (Full disclosure: Woman No. 2 was my wife, Rose Alcantara.)

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Dancing for the lives of all women. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: From deep within the Hidalgo Mountains, voluminous thermal rivers rise up to the surface above the Tolantongo box canyon. The warm waters cascade down the canyon sides and pour through vents into the grottos and caves.

The canyon walls are dotted with about 40 manmade semicircular pools called chapoteaderos into which are collected the warm waters rushing down the hillside. Water overflows from the upper pools and cascades into the lower pools. All the pools are connected by stairways.

No matter how many pools are built to trap the water, it is never enough. Water finds its way around the pools, over them, under them, into spontaneous rivulets and streams. The sensation is of being surrounded by the roar and rumble of rushing water.

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Road trip: Taking a deep dive into the thermal waters of Gruta Tolantongo. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: It is no revelation that San Miguel de Allende is awash in beauty. A photographer’s playground, a selfie’s sandbox, a dilettante’s garden of earthly delights.

Like shooting into a herd of buffalo. Aim your camera in any direction and you will hit the mark, as often as not.

How many people arrive in San Miguel and launch into the uber project — snapping photos of every attractive doorway, every brass knocker, with the objective of creating the perfect coffeetable book?

Continue reading and see the pics at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Shadowboxing and other enchanting things that catch the eye in San Miguel de Allende. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.

Robert J Hawkins: What’s a mojiganga, you might ask.

They are giant paper mache and fabric figures mounted on the shoulders of a person who twirls, whirls, bows, and bobs and weaves and dances the puppet to life. They can tower as high as 18 feet and still dazzle you with the lightness of their feet.

A really good mojiganga puppeteer will bring their character to life with a spry step, whirling arms, and surprising dance moves. Yes, the person inside the suit becomes the character.

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Up against the wall, Mojigangas! More #MusingsMagicSMA.

More in the category Art, Literature, Museums, Music, and Theaters.

Sign up for our daily newsletter.