It’s only been few hours since I published a rant about San Miguel de Allende on my Polish blog. I wrote about my troubles sleeping in a hostile night environment, full of barking dogs, crowing roosters, loud cars and festive neighbors singing melancholic songs well into the night. Now, it’s six in the morning and I’m up already, woken up by… a cannonade of fireworks and church bells.
Mexico likes to party, there is no question about it. But who in a civilized World would start fireworks at 6.00 am on a Sunday morning…?!? I guess, this has something to do with the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the whole town was already celebrating yesterday and the day before. Reading properly the signs, they’ll also celebrate today, and since there is no school on Monday, the festivities will prolong well into next week.
And this weekend isn’t really that much different from the other ones. Looking at the official calendar of events, there are more holidays and festivals here in San Miguel de Allende, then there is weeks in a year. And that gives yet another opportunity to party!
I won’t even pretend to understand what’s going on around us, but there are people singing and dancing in different parts of town at various times of the day, almost every day of a week. No wonder this town draws in tourists in hundreds of thousands every year. No wonder so many Americans, Canadians and Europeans decide to retire or move their lives here. This city is alive, it’s heart constantly (and loudly) beating…
The cannonade of fireworks and the church bells are done waking people up. But I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep. The bulb in the street lamp hanging right in front of our bedroom window, which (fortunately) had been broken for the past three weeks just yesterday got replaced with a new one boosting several thousands watt of lighting. Now, that the shooting is over, there is some real loud folk music mixing in with thousands of rooster crows all around us. Our neighbor, like every morning has been already up for a few hours watching television and cutting jalapeno peppers for his breakfast burrito…
God, how I hate San Miguel de Allende! And I love it here…