PICTURED SITES ARE DESCRIBED IN THIS TEXT.

Vantage describes Mexico as a surprisingly complex nation of many cultures, ancient civilizations, and friendly people which we explored ranging from charming Spanish-colonial towns with cobbled plazas and vast complexes of pre-Columbian ruins to sophisticated cities full of culture, baroque architecture and the arts. We learned of the people's traditions through music and dance performances and museum visits.

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San Miguel de Allende was named for a revolutionary hero who helped free Mexico from Spain. It has a free-spirited and colorful atmosphere with its bohemian reputation attracting foreigners since the 1940's. Many former Americans and expatriates from other countries have winter or permanent homes here.

The city was declared a national monument in the mid-1920's by the Mexican government. Eighteenth-century mansions, fountains, monuments, and churches are reminders of the city's illustrious and sometimes notorious past. It gained fame as an art colony in the early 1950's. Its comfortable climate and beautiful setting make it quite appealing. Its location at more than a mile high takes a little adjustment time when exploring the city.

San Miguel's main plaza is known as El Jardin or "the Garden." Wrought-iron benches encourage people to sit and enjoy the sunshine and share some gossip. The parish church is across the street and its bells ring every 15 minutes and at dusk. In the evening thousands of grackles return to their roosts in the Garden's laurel trees. Musicians fill the square late in the day as school kids play and teenagers stroll around the square. Although we stayed in the area of the square until about 7:00 P.M., we did not see or hear a lot of activity. Apparently 9:00 P.M. is usually the start of the activities.

San Miguel is a main shopping town with two markets: a traditional Mexican covered market with a jumble of stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, fresh meat, plastic toys, foods of all varieties, and inexpensive household items and an artisans' market where items of glass, woven material, tin and paper-mache are available as well as silver jewelry.

San Miguel is best seen on a walk as cobblestone streets are extremely narrow with only room enough for a small car and pedestrians. Traffic usually moves quite slow, and it is fun to peak into the buildings and courtyards while walking.

In San Francisco Square there is a large equestrian statue of Ignacio Allende for whom the town is named. His birthplace is on the main square with a lighted statue of the man considered as one of the country's great independence heroes. He was a Creole aristocrat who plotted with Father Miguel Hidalgo in the early 1800's to overthrow the Spanish regime. Spanish Royalists learned of the plot and began arresting conspirators in September 1810. The two men hurried up their plans and on September 16 they made their cry for independence. Fighting began, and Allende was captured and executed by the Royalists in 1811. As a tribute to his brave efforts, San Miguel El Grande was renamed San Miguel de Allende in the 20th century.

By 1900, the silver mines were no longer prosperous, and the town itself was in danger of dying out. The city had been declared a national monument in 1926 with no neon signs nor modern buildings allowed so the old center of the city still had its colonial style elegance of its wealthy past.

After World War II San Miguel began to revive as a tourist attraction, as many GI's discovered that their education grants stretched further in Mexico at the U.S. accredited art school, the Instituto Allende, founded in 1950. Thousands of students from around the world have come to San Miguel to learn Spanish and take art classes. Since 1938 Bellas Artes has been a school for the study of music, dance and the visual arts. The school is housed in the building where the Royal Convent of the Conception was located. The city became popular As the mineral wealth waned, San Miguel was popular as both a quiet, beautiful place to live and an attraction for the wealthy for its natural hot springs. The world famous Mexican comic actor, Cantinflas frequented San Miguel in the 1950's and 1960's, bringing with him an entourage of film stars, singers and hangers-on.

San Miguel de Allende is now world famous for its mild climate, colonial architecture, and large expatriate population, estimated to be about 7,000 out of San Miguels total population of about 85,000. Most are Americans with a lot of Canadians and some from Europe and other countries. Many people have decided to retire here, as the large community of foreigners has brought many conveniences to San Miguel that would normally not be available in a town of this size.