Places To Retire Mexico - Visit San Miguel de Allende

1. Places To Retire Mexico - Visit San Miguel de Allende http://escapist.life/

2. Slide Title San Miguel de Allende has become a cultural whirlwind in the center of Mexico. We share with you six events you might want to witness while traveling through Mexico. San Miguel de Allende is a blooming city in the center of Guanajuato one of the best places to retire in Mexico. It has been steadily growing since the 1990s when several ex-pats made it their home. Businesses and hotels opened, and soon San Miguel was hosting international events. Here, we tell you six reasons you might make plans to visit SMA soon.

3. International GIFF, an Inclusive Movie Festival The Festival Internacional de Cine Guanajuato (GIFF) is the most important movie festival in Latin America for young filmmakers. It started back in 1998. GIFF has continued to bring every year movies, conferences, concerts and more to San Miguel de Allende. Most activities are free of charge. Many famous people in the film industry visit Guanajuato to network during the festival. It also includes a lot of opportunities for young people who want to dedicate their lives to film. The festival is an incubator where several scripts take shape, and many projects come to life. Festival organizers, led by Sarah Hoch, do an amazing job to put together an international program. The festival also helps finance projects. The festival also homages different celebrities around the world. They invite prestigious directors, producers, and actors that have made us love movies. Last year, in 2019, GIFF celebrated director Gus Van Sant who visited San Miguel. YalitziaAparicio, famous for her role in the movie “Roma”, came to the festival to advocate towards women’s rights.

4. Art Walks at La Aurora La Aurora was a textile factory that opened back in 1902. This factory became one of the most important ones in Mexico. Almost a thousand workers made a living there, earning between 25- and 30-peso cents a day. By 1990, it had closed its doors. The English made the beautiful building which has remained in excellent shape. That is why in 2004 it reopened its doors as a huge art gallery that hosts several art workshops as well. Twelve stone arches and huge iron doors welcome the visitors. Francisco Garay, Christopher Fallon, Mary Rapp, Merry Calderoni and Dewayne Youts are the people who made La Aurora as you can see it today. You can visit La Aurora almost every day of the year, but some days it offers amazing art walks. Some galleries present local art, but you will also find important masterpieces. Skot Foreman Art Gallery features works by Andy Warhol and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

5. CrazyPeopleWalk (Dia de Los Locos) Every year, on June 13th, San Miguel inhabitants are free to dress as they wish. They put on makeup or masks, along with wigs, and raise hell through the narrow streets of San Miguel. You can see mockeries of politicians, and animals, superheroes, aliens, and drag queens. Both women and men crossdress and enjoy themselves in this crazy carnival. Creativity is the rule. People use old clothes, crepe paper, masking tape, and garbage to create their characters. Entire families gather to put together amazing creations. They go out to the street, where they have to “pay” the spectators with loads of candy. Some people even take an inverted umbrella to receive all the candy they can collect. The streets are packed with people. Many photographers come from different parts of the world to capture this unusual event. People dance, sing and make jokes. Everyone seems to be happy together. Spectators fill the balconies to film the event.

6. Celebrate the Alborada in Honor of Archangel San Miguel San Miguel gets its name from the archangel. The city celebrates San Miguel as its protector every year during the last days of September and the beginning of October. Every neighborhood in San Miguel prepares for this big party. This is a very old tradition that dates back to prehispanic times. “Alborada” is the name of this celebration. The name means that the party starts well before the sun rises. Around 2:30 am, people from different neighborhoods bring huge stars to the main square. Some stars are so big they have up to 12 points. The party starts with mariachis and other musical bands, who at 4:30 am sing for the city. There is a firework show that ends around 5 am, as the sun is rising. Then everybody sings “Las Mañanitas”, the traditional Mexican birthday song. Several other events are planned for the day. Papantla spinners fly off in the Jardin, some papier-mache figures are burnt. Traditional indigenous dancers arrive. Concheros dance by present their xuchiles, a name for plant offerings. Then the Mojigangas, huge puppets, dance for everyone to enjoy.

7. San Miguel Writers Conference and Literary Festival This event has no precedent in all Mexico. From its very beginning, this festival was born as a bilingual festival for writers. Nobody in San Miguel should be excluded from participating. People come from Australia, Greece or as far as Japan to join in. Mexico has a very low reading level among the general population. Thus, the festival organizers decided to include both Mexican and foreign writers. They wanted people who shared their joy of reading and writing. All conferences are simultaneously translated during the festival, as well as most workshops. This allows the community to mingle and enjoy both the written and spoken word. The festival can dress up to celebrate a theme, for example, migration around the world. Then the organizers plan some of the activities around these topics. Susan Page started this event, which has continued to exist throughout the years. It has grown so much that it hosts more than 100 activities. These include panels, special events, editorial help in both English and Spanish. The scholarships that the program grants to students and emerging authors are a highlight of the festival. The price can be very high for some people (up to 700 USD). So, the festival works to sponsors up to 25 people who enjoy and take part in it.

8. San Miguel International Jazz and Blues Festival The San Miguel International Jazz and Blues Festival has celebrated 25 years of wonderful music, live concerts and homages to musicians and singers. This festival is one of the most important music festivals in all Latin America. The festival celebrates music through several free activities. There is a jazz workshop, a movie festival, and masterclasses. Last year, artists like The Dusha Collection Jazz Trio from Austria, the Simon Wyrsch Jazz Quartet and the Whitney Shays Blues Band made everybody sing and dance! San Miguel de Allende is more than tourism and stores. We hope you can plan your retirement around one of these events and discover Mexico under a different light.

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