San Miguel de Allende
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San Miguel de Allende is a small city located in the state of Guanajuato, in Mexico's mountainous bajío region. The bajío (low place) is actually about 2000 m (7000 ft) above sea level, but it is a relatively flat region surrounded by mountains; it is a part of the Mexican altiplano. San Miguel serves as the administrative seat for the surrounding municipality of Allende, Guanajuato.
The city was founded in 1542 by a Franciscan monk as San Miguel El Grande. It was an important stopover on the Antiguo Camino Real, part of the silver route from Zacatecas, Zacatecas.
The town featured prominently in the Mexican War of Independence. General Ignacio Allende, one of San Miguel's native sons, was a leading player in the war against Spain for independence. Allende, captured in battle and beheaded, is a national hero. San Miguel el Grande renamed itself "San Miguel de Allende" in 1826 in honor of his actions.
By 1900, San Miguel de Allende was in danger of becoming a ghost town. Declared a national historic monument in 1926 by the Mexican government, development in the historic district is restricted in order to preserve the town's colonial character.
During the Cristero uprising in Mexico, when clergy and their family were persecuted, the grandchildren of Gen. Mariano Escobedo came to San Miguel de Allende, which was conveniently in a secluded condition while verging on being a ghost town.
The six children of the beloved daughter of Gen. Mariano Escobedo, Donna Maria del Refugio, were Don Anastasio Lopez Escobedo, Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo, Dr Ignacio Lopez Escobedo, and the sisters, Balbina and Isabella Lopez Escobedo. The elder child was a Cura, a charismatic head priest, Don Jose Lopez Escobedo, for whom the family was persecuted. The Cura Jose Lopez is interred at the main altar under St. Peter in the main Parroquia church of San Miguel, with a beautiful dedication to his work restoring the church in the 20th century. Dr. Lopez Escobedo is interred in the Church by the world-famous and miraculous Christ of the Conquest.
The family fled their native home hacienda, Hacienda de los Lopez, to San Miguel Allende, where the Gen. Escobedo had a home, on Calle de Mesones and where a plaque still identifies the house.
Few descendants from this family live in San Miguel, as only Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo had children. The eldest of his grandchildren is Marcela Andre Lopez, an international teacher and designer of jewel garlands now in residence in the historic district in one of Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo's homes. Sr. Ezequiel Lopez Basurto, son of Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo, has presided over many works by the Rotary Club.
In the early 20th Century, the family fortune of the Lopez Escobedo brothers and sisters was largely donated to schools for girls, convents for nuns, or lost to older distant relatives and people helped by the family who falsified papers or discovered hidden treasure after Don Ezequiel's sudden stroke and death. The impoverished barkeeper's assistant who found Don Ezequiel's property deeds and gold kept the find from Don Ezequiel's widow and five children who suffered hardships as orphans. The barkeeper's assistant had leased the store at Calle Relox and San Francisco Street from Don Ezequiel's widow and in the abundant inventory found more than could have been imagined.
In the 1950s, San Miguel de Allende became a destination known for its beautiful colonial architecture and its thermal springs. After World War II San Miguel began to revive as a tourist attraction as many demobilized United States GIs discovered that their education grants stretched further in Mexico at the U.S.-accredited art schools, the privately-owned Instituto Allende, founded in 1950, and the Bellas Artes, a nationally chartered school. In the counterculture years of the 1960's, San Miguel began its career as a center for American expatriatism and was a popular destination for Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, as recorded in Tom Wolfe´s novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Beat writer Neal Cassady died beside the railroad tracks outside San Miguel after a party in town.
Famous worldwide for its mild climate, thermal springs and colonial era architecture, San Miguel de Allende has attracted a large community of foreign residents. Estimations have been disputed (both by Mexican and foreign nationals), a conservative estimate has usually been around 5-15%, though others suggest much higher percentages, closer to 40-50%, of which probably 75% are U.S. expatriates. Neither Mexican nor U.S. authorities keep records of the town's foreign population, and many retirees do not live under an FM3 (temporary residence) or FM2 (permanent residence) status, which are the only statuses for foreigners that Mexican authorities account for in the national census. Moreover, since Medicare, the U.S. public health system, cannot be claimed abroad, many expatriates return regularly to the United States to receive treatment as well as to establish their residence status in their home country. Some of the estimates of the number of Americans of non-Mexican ethnicity that live in San Miguel de Allende and a handful of other Mexican towns is around 250,000 (see third external link).
Literary References
- On Mexican Time: A New Life in San Miguel by Tony Cohan
- Mentioned in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
External links
- [Official site of San Miguel de Allende] (in Spanish)
- [Go South, old man] an article from The Economist on the immigration phenomenon in San Miguel de Allende
- [Tourist Guide to San Miguel de Allende] (in English, Spanish, French, and German)
- [News and Information from San Miguel de Allende] (in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German)
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