tree sculptures on the way to instituto allende.
i woke up early this morning for a walk to the park in search of these tree sculptures as described to me by sally, who told me that they were political and interesting...so i was up for the adventure. it is a winding, very steep hill that descends down what seems forever, past the cultural center and into the beautiful park...it seems the only place one could really run or exercise in town. i ran into lucia on the way down, who was going to spanish class, and she told me about the craziness that had ensued the night before. it was a pleasant walk. the other side of the park is another entire part of san miguel that i had not seen yet. older businesses, galleries, and many shops. even a health food store, complete with comforting health food store smell. it was a great walk. but i didn't find the sculptures. i then had to hurry back for breakfast, and to class. well, it turns out we were going down to the instituto allende anyway to see the galeria pergola. they feature modern mexican masters. it was a top-notch gallery, with some interesting up-and-coming artists, including lupina flores, yolanda marroquin, and alfonso marti. they also had a tamayo piece, which was great to see in person. interestingly, the owners, originally from texas, own a place in pozos...the ghost town. pretty cool. the link to their gallery: http://www.galeriapergola.com/pergola/en/index_home.html
after the gallery, candice offered to take us to the mero gallery. only a few people went, but we were treated to an amazing collection of graphic works including work by several cuban artists who were amazing. several of the pieces were art books, and they were totally inspiring. i'm still looking for my notes on the artist names, but this work was my favorite of all i had seen in san miguel.
all of this art seeing left me hungry, so leah and i got some health food and then took off to do some final shopping. i picked up some fun jewelry and religious art presents. i can't remember much after that until we went out that night...
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i've been trying to balance personal observations and stories so as not to be overly voyeuristic, but this is pretty darn funny, so i thought i'd share. it was our goodbye dinner. libations flowing, though not for me until later in the eve. conversation was lively, and the dinner ended with us finally donning our lucha masks (mexican wrestling)...about 20 of us. we all posed and laughed, and ended our official time together with smiles. from there, we ventured to the berlin bar/restaurant, where i had $50 in free drink coupons. combined with two other people, we were able to get a group of about 10 pretty toasty. don julio reposado and i became reaquainted, and i began telling all kinds of wacky stories about hobbiton and broken down volkswagens in the ghetto of dc, and the van catching on fire. apparently these were highly entertaining, as several people asked me to tell them again later in the trip. from there, a good chunk of us then went to chocolate (i think that's what it was called...i can't remember for sure), which becomes a bar and after hours club at night. more tequila, though not much, and soon we were taking photographs in the bathroom, hiding toilet paper, dancing to uber gay disco, and eventually, i jumped dukes of hazzard style over a couch. twice. oh, and it was gay pride weekend in san miguel, so a lesbian band played iron man in spanish. we laughed a lot, enjoyed ourselves, and then enrique and erika and i grabbed a cab home. erika put on her lucha mask again. when we got to the door of the hotel, the man said, "trick or treat" in spanish. it was hilarious. a fun night all around, and just enough of a party for me.
