MAGICAL: a mysterious quality of enchantment...
What I did on my spring vacation....
a visit to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico
I joined four ladies on a trip to this city the first part of April, never dreaming that I would be charmed and enraptured by its historic and colorful beauty. San Miguel de Allende is located in the east part of Guanajuato in Mexico's mountainous region. History is right!!!! The town was founded in 1542 (before the pilgrims arrived in America). Much of the history has been preserved as the city was named by Unesco as a world heritage site.
I had known of this city's existence from my business partners Darwin and Brent who had gone some years ago and came back to tell all of us here at Stars what a fabulous destination it was. Last fall my friend Carol Kelly invited me to join a group of three other ladies to go to San Miguel for a week and rent a house and casita owned by Portlanders (and Stars shoppers) Carole and Bill Meyer. I did not hesitate and after I checked the house on the web site, CasaCarole,(be sure to go into the website's slide show to get the full effect)I was most excited. (more later about the house)
On April 1, the four of us Carol, myself, Dianne, Sue and Rossie flew into Leone to be picked up by a driver in an immaculate SUV. It is about a 2-hour drive to San Miguel de Allende from the airport.
The city sits like a jewel upon the landscape with the colonial church towers rising above. The streets are very narrow in the city, usually crowded with traffic. I am not an expert, but I felt it had a European look about it with the walled houses and street paved with cobblestones.
...Now picture us entering Casa Carole--five ladies who love interior decorating.....the house was furnished and accessorized to perfection in our eyes. We each had our own lovely bedroom and intricately tiled bath. Every room is filled with Mexican antiques, textiles, furniture, and extraorinary folk art, and many have paintings done by owner, Carol Meyer. I learned that Carole and her husband worked in collaboration with Portland designer Virginia Burney Bach, and this was the product of 14 years of their shopping and remodeling.
We settled in--each of us in our own bedroom with elaborately tiled bath-- explored the house in wonder, and after a bit went out into the streets. The intense colors on windows, doors and walls glowed with vibrancy and everywhere there were blooming vines and flowers.
The photo below is of a typical street on the city (but most of the time there are automobiles parked on the side).
The windows can be especially beautiful framed by iron work and flowers. Burros can be seen on the streets, but one must always ask their owner's permission to take their photo.
Now is where I need to confess that after four days of shooting photos, I lost my camera. My kind fellow travellers are going to send me some of their photos, and I will continue our story next week... hopefully with pictures of some of the wonders we encountered on our now memorable visit....
signing off with yet more to tell.....
Gayle@starsantique.com
