Wind chill in Mexico?

 I got up this morning in San Miguel de Allende and discovered that we were exactly the same temperature as back home in Okotoks. It was zero Celsius with a wind chill. Yikes! For the first couple of hours, my fingers feel quite cold and look a bit blue.  I’m not complaining as I know by midday it will feel like a pleasant summer day and I will need to strip off a layer.

While Heather worked on her writing, I retraced my steps from the previous day, wanting to pop in and say hello to Roberto.  Without looking at Google Maps, I ended up exactly where I needed to be and enjoyed another conversation with this gentle and talented artist as he worked on embellishing a canvas print of his portrait of Frida Kahlo.

Along the way, I intentionally captured as many doors as caught my eye. I have an idea for a project when we get home.  They truly are amazing and I discovered that doors and doorways are favourites of many world travellers after posting about it on Facebook.

I am drawn to the birds, always. No matter the breed, I stop and appreciate them and try to get their picture with my telephoto lens. After enjoying an ice cream cone, I started feeding bits of the cone to the very appreciative pigeons. 

After meandering back up the hill to our rental house, I discovered that Heather was ready to head out for our special lunch. She had several places in mind that she wanted to take me.

We stopped at a number of galleries along the way.

I was smitten by this incredible painting by Daniel Rueffert (www.danielrueffert.com). 

We loved visiting with acclaimed photographer Ted Davis in his galleria. Born in Trinidad, raised in Texas, he now makes his home in San Miguel de Allende.  He shared with us the story of how this was a largely abandoned city in the 1920s when two hikers stumbled upon it. Those two gentleman returns several years later and saw the opportunity of the place to transform into an artists’ haven. 

I was taken by several of Ted’s photographs, but this is the one I can’t get out of my head.  The man walking down the street seems absolutely oblivious to the torrential rain storm. 

You can check out Ted’s photography here: https://www.teddavisgaleria.com/. 

We lunched at the rooftop restaurant at the famous Rosewood Hotel, complete with its panoramic view of the city.

The food was great, but as we were seated in the shade it was a little chilly, even with the early afternoon sun. The waiter kindly brought over a portable heater to make us more comfortable. This cost to stay at this particular hotel is $1,000 a night.

We saw some murals on our return walk, some dating as far back as the 1950s. 

After another 16,000 steps I was ready to put my feet up. I’m getting a lot of reading done on this holiday.

And the award for the creepiest photo of the day goes to….

This guy was just inside the door of one of the businesses near the city centre.