70th annual Candelaria Fair wraps up
Dozens of vendors from near and far offered a colorful array of flowering plants, including cacti and orchids, shrubs and citrus trees, plus gardening supplies, including seeds, pots, fertilizer and tools.
Daily entertainment for young people and adults made the schedule, with puppet shows near the lake plus informational presentations and live music at the amphitheater. This was the 70th annual Candelaria Fair and the second time it has been held at Parque Zeferino instead of the previous long-time venue of Parque Benito Juárez.
Staying healthy in San Miguel
Since moving to San Miguel about five months ago, naturopath and master herbalist Janet DeVoogd has been busy giving classes and working with those interested in adapting to the higher elevation and improving their general health. People here have questions about dealing with anxiety, digestion, pain and inflammation, she said, and she’s responding by scheduling classes on some of those subjects.
The next one is Saturday, Feb. 14, at 10 a.m. upstairs at Mercado Sano, Ancha de San Antonio 123. The topic is “Happy Digestion, Naturally,” and the cost is 300 pesos. Another class, this time on “Pain and Inflammation: Naturally,” will be presented on Feb. 28, same time, location and cost.
DeVoogd said a common issue around San Miguel is dehydration, which causes fatigue, dry skin, headaches and muscle cramps. While drinking more water will help, she advises people not to simply rely on drinking “naked” water even if it’s filtered.
“If you’re drinking filtered water, which everybody is, the filtration pulls out minerals and electrolytes, so you have to put the minerals and electrolytes back in,” she said.
DeVoogd’s recipe to better hydrate the body is to mix purified warm water, half a fresh-squeezed lime, a pinch of sea salt or Himalayan salt, and, if desired, some raw honey or maple syrup.
For more information, she can be reached at 123beewell@gmail.com or +1 (307) 315-5599. Her health-related articles and recipes are posted on Substack here, and information on a local women’s wellness circle she’s organizing is available here.
Local students win global reading tournament
Students at Secundaria Técnica 42 on Avenida La Luz in Fraccionamiento Insurgentes won global first place by reading for more than 205,000 minutes over three weeks in November. Geoff Drayton of The Great Reading Tournament said about 600 of 900 children at the school took part, and the entire tournament drew roughly 25,000 children from seven different countries.
The San Miguel students celebrated their win by enjoying 10 pizzas from Pizza Guy’s Joe Ruffino. Two outstanding students were given computers and the school now has free licenses to a bilingual reading platform. Drayton said that after the tournament is over, “nearly 25% of the children continue reading on the platform.”
He said fewer than half of the children in Mexico can read at the lowest proficiency level, according to PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment. Also, 60% of schools in Mexico don’t have books or libraries, although a federal plan aims to help by distributing millions of books across Latin America.
Lifelong Learning Program hits record registration
The 21 courses scheduled from January through March in the Instituto Allende’s Lifelong Learning Program hit a record registration this year of more than 1,000 students, according to John Wimberly, program team leader. He said there were about 350 students when he started volunteering with the program four years ago, and that last year set a record at 800.
“San Miguel is a small town, and the best advertising, honestly, is word of mouth and the word on the street,” Wimberly said. “We post our courses by November, and by December, there were five, six, seven sold out.”
Courses take place from 1-3 p.m. in a dedicated room that holds 62 people at the Instituto, Ancha de San Antonio 22 in Centro. He said that remodeling is adding a new theater that can seat 110.
Wimberly’s goals for the program are to include more presenters in math, the sciences and the history of Mexico. He said he would also like to add courses in Spanish at a convenient time for working people.
The current program covers a wide variety of subjects from politics to history to science and culture, and the cost ranges from free to 400 pesos. As of Feb. 10, there were six courses still open in February and five open in March at the program’s sign-up page.
Mardi Gras music is on its way
El Pecado de Afrodita will play high-energy “bourbon funk rock” to celebrate Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”) on Feb. 17, 4 p.m., at Cent’anni Restaurant located at Canal 34 in Centro.
Advance tickets are 250 pesos and 300 pesos at the door. Call +52 (415) 105-5445 for reservations or buy tickets in person at Cent’Anni.
Flamenco show on stage at the Peralta
Flamenco Co. will present “Women of Lorca” at the Teatro Ángela Peralta, Mesones 82, on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. The show is inspired by the women Federico Garcia Lora wrote about in his poems and plays.
Admission is 800 pesos for seats in the platea (orchestra), 600 pesos for box seats in the luneta and palcos and 300 pesos in the galería (balcony). Call +52 (415) 124-1484 for information and reservations or visit here.
Gil Gutiérrez & Friends perform Feb. 21
Local guitar virtuoso and composer Gil Gutiérrez, along with some of his musical partners, will perform in the Teatro Santa Ana at the Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25, on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.
A donation of 550 pesos will get you a ticket at the Biblioteca’s box office, Relox 50A in Centro. More information about the show is available here.
Annual San Antonio Art Walk coming soon
The 16th annual Open Studio San Antonio Art Walk will be held Feb. 21-22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is an opportunity to meet various artists of the colonia who will be opening their studio doors to the public for those two days.
This year’s art walk will feature paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, textile art, rugs, mixed media, fashion and more. Maps are available at the Instituto Allende, Ancha de San Antonio 22, or Galeria Potranca at Potranca 4 in Guadiana. They may also be available at the open studios.
Word of the Week
For those who get a bit nervous on Friday the 13th, steel yourselves because there are three of them in 2026: one in February, one in March and one in November. The fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskevidekatriaphobia, a word supposedly invented in the 1900s to label the superstition. A related word is triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13.
Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.
