We arrived at the campsite in plenty of time to set up. Thanks to our lovely escort, hazard lights flashing, but I suppose we were a hazard to the San Miguel community when we followed the sat nav into the old towns narrow streets.
Its a beautiful town full of gringos, but that was ok, I can see why they like to stay/visit here.
The ice creams in the square were so cheap and delicious we ate far too many of them. One of our favs mango and chilli.
We hopped on what was a bilingual Trolley tour of the town but the guides English was so fast we could only understand about a quarter of it. The ride took us around town, the parks and up the hill to see the view.
We did manage to catch some of the history of SMdA, and filled the rest in with google.
The city is named after two people:
16th-century friar Juan de San Miguel, and a martyr of Mexican Independence, Ignacio Allende, who was born in a house facing the city's central plaza.
The town has a long history from Prehispanic Toltecs, who settled mainly along the banks of the Rio Laja, farming the soil, but by 1200 A.D, they had moved further south and the place was abandoned.
Then the Spaniards arrived, and where the conquistadores went, the priests followed, a monk name Fray Juan de San Miguel headed up an expedition to explore the area. When he arrived at the valley of the Rio Laja, it seemed like a good place to build a mission.
In 1779, the prominent local Allende family had a son, Ignacio
On September 16, 1810, the Mexican War of Independence began, Allende was one of its chief lieutenants, he led the rebels to several military victories and got himself named a hero, but he was captured by the Spanish and beheaded before the war was over.
In 1826, in honour of their heroic favourite son, San Miguel was given its new name.
San Miguel de Allende is now a hub for artists and writer thanks to Stirling Dickinson who rode into SMdA on his donkey in 1938.
Another reason it became so popular with gringos is that after World War II, U.S. GIs, realized their GI benefit checks would stretch a lot farther in Mexico than back home, and San Miguel was the perfect place to heal from the horrors of war.
Today San Miguel de Allende has a foreign population of about 10%, plenty of art, artists, good food, and it is still relatively cheap.
