CUE vs SMA - Spanish Colonial Hotspots

You might be asking yourself: "Why...why would they trade one cute Spanish Colonial town for another? Where's the adventure in that?" I'd say...good question. This is the thing with home exchange. Sometimes you get offers that are in places you never heard or or thought about as a "destination", but you say to yourself "why not?" That was the case with San Miguel de Allende (officially shortened to SMA). Ironically, both have a church as their claim to fame. So how does one stack up against the other?

Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel

Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción

SMA is a smaller town at a lower altitude. It has also had A LOT more experience with tourism and English speaking foreigners, which makes it easier for non-Spanish speakers and newbie travellers. There is a passion for bougainvillea that makes the whole town bright with colour. Add to that their certain fearlessness with house colour and SMA is a feast for the eyes.  Their familiarity with "expats" has also affected housing prices (not the only factor, I'm sure, but a factor, nonetheless), which you can see in the numerous real estate offices and rental agencies. Housing is definitely more expensive. Restaurants generally are inexpensive (relatively speaking) and grocery shopping will save on your usual North American food bills. Alcohol can be inexpensive, or not, depending on brand etc. If you like tequila or mezcal, you'll die happy and, very possibly, drunk off your ass.

One of the smoother streets in SMA

Definitely more colour in SMA

Cuenca has narrow streets, too

And we can walk by the river in CUE

Culturally, both towns have an active scene, though they are different. There are lots of things going on in the streets, theatres and restaurants. In SMA mariachi bands swarm the main square on weekend evenings, as do the street kids, selling candies and gum. The street entertainment is stronger in SMA, though I've noticed that Cuenca's is going through a fairly rapidly growth, whether because of changes in governance or influx of street entertainers, I don't know.

SMA

CUE

SMA is way more tony. The high end art galleries, shops and other experiences that require fat wallets abound.  Cuenca does have people with money, but they spend it in the shopping malls, not chic little boutiques, or, more accurately, they spend in chic little boutiques in the shopping malls. That doesn't mean there aren't expensive little stores throughout Cuenca, but they're mixed in with mid-range and lower range places to the point that they aren't really obvious.

Fabrica de Aurora, SMA

A story of murder and betrayal @ the Fabrica

This little guy fascinated me in SMA

Traditional ceramics, Cuenca

Metal work by local a Cuencano

Masks, an Ecuadorian specialty

Drivers in SMA are much more patient, letting aimless visitors wend across the little cobbly streets with impugnity. There's a lot less honking and cutting off. The pedestrians are also more mindful, making space or stepping off the curb with way more frequency than Cuenca. I wouldn't want to own a car in SMA, the roads are made of fist sized river stones, which are great for siphoning off heavy rain fall but deadly for your suspension and tires. Don't go there if you have a bad back. Cuenca's roads seem to be smoother, even though they're quite frequently under repair/construction/maintenance.

Click to make larger and note the cobbles

Cuenca streets, cobble, but smoother

Their tourist trade for things like t-shirts, mementos and general money burners are quite similar. Little store fronts that open up into vault like spaces in the back with a myriad of choices. The "stuff" factor can be overwhelming. (Not Morocco overwhelming, but overwhelming, just the same.)

SMA

SMA

SMA

Cuenca

Cuenca

Cuenca

Cuenca

Foodwise, I have to give the win to SMA. Mexico has the whole dining thing down. We didn't have a bad meal. Now, if you don't like Mexican food, you won't starve, as Italian, South and North American choices are available, but you'll miss out on a whole dining experience that you really shouldn't. Nothing we ate was overly spicy, unless you added the variety of salsa provided. The grocery stores have way more selection and it would be pretty easy to cook as you liked there without begging friends and family to bring in specialty items from foreign climes. (I did see a bottle of kombucha in Cuenca yesterday, which shows me that they really are trying to get up to speed.)

Molcajete mixto - Mixed meat volcano pot

Chiles nogados (Chiles stuffed with nuts)

Cuy - Ecuadorian speciatly

Res (beef) a la parrillada (barbeuced)

Cuenca is catching up, and fairly quickly. The difference between our arrival and now is incredible. And, yes, you can get Mexican food here. The two towns are probably equal in home grown optionsm, but Mexican food is Mexican food and Ecuadorian food is, well, Ecuadorian food. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Ecuadorian food, they honour the ingredients and keep things simple, nothing too spicy, sometimes too salty. It's a bit like comparing Szechuan (SMA) to Cantonese (CUE), both delicious in their own way, but appeal to different palates. I don't want too much of either.

SMA Street Art

Cuenca Street Art

Decorated Streets SMA

Cuenca decor

From our roof in Cuenca

From our home exchange roof top

So, what then, is the difference? I think that San Miguel just has a bit more polish. It shows me where Cuenca is headed, for better or for worse. Strangely, we felt that SMA had too many foreigners (meaning us white folk). There's something charming about standing out in the crowd and feeling out of place, in a manner of speaking. It makes you feel like you're actually somewhere that isn't your natural habitat, but that you've embraced wholeheartedly. While Mexico really seems to get the whole "green space" thing, something that Ecuador could take note of for their cityscapes, it doesn't sway our decision. For us, San Miguel de Allende was a lovely place to visit and we're glad to be back in our familiar little city, with all its quirks.

Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Thanks to the movie Coco, this celebration is much better known and (perhaps) understood. I find the concept soothing; the idea that a bridge is built between the land of the living and dead for a bit of time and that we can (at least spiritually) spend some time with our lost loved ones.

Display on a random roundabout

Young man getting kitted up

 In San Miguel de Allende, the town found that the day of the dead was being lost in favour of Halloween. Perhaps due to the influence of US entertainment, or just the excitement of something new or different, but the town decided to do something about it. La Calaca Festival was born. It has been wildly successful and the traditional holiday has morphed into a 5 day celebration that starts with Halloween and ends somewhere on November 3rd or 4th. The character of la Katrina (or el Katrin for men) has steeped into the daily life here and can be seen everywhere.

 

The streets near the main square in town are lined with face painters who will paint you up with a skeleton face, beautifully adorned with swirls of colours, sequins, fake eyelashes and flower crowns. (This apparently stems from certain people not being able to execute the make-up very well, or so the rumour goes. We're looking at you foreigners!) Tons of people run around like this during the whole festival. It really is quite a sight, but the concentration is on the November 1st and 2nd festivities, when the bridge between worlds opens. Marigolds are used (they represent the sun) and light the way for the spirits to come home. The altars are simple or complicated, but will always include candles, photos, food, drinks and marigolds. I shouldn't forget music; almost everything here is accompanied by music.

A specialty is pan de muertos (bread of the dead), a sweet bread loaf (or smaller buns) with extra dough crossed across the top to represent bones. 

A bit like Easter bread without the dried fruit

Families gather to remember loved ones and share stories, passing on the family history to the next generation and spending time together, like most any holiday.

Note the altar, we thought she
might be a family member

 I'd recommend a visit during this time of year. The colours, sounds and sights are amazing and not something you're likely to see anywhere else in the world.

Oh So Quaint San Miguel de Allende

If you love winding little streets, with random paint colours and shopping galore, San Miguel de Allende just might be the place for you. (Especially if you have a good healthy budget for real estate (rental or otherwise) or are lucky enough to get a home exchange, like us.)

If you like lots of restaurants in a compact area, SMA might just be for you, too. 

If you're entranced by bougainvillea,  love church steeples and a slower place of life, you might have found your Utopia.

 

What's my point? San Miguel de Allende has a little something for everyone. There's no shortage of picturesque alleys, gardens or even dilapidated  facades, mysterious terrazzos in sun soaked court yards. Even the roads speak of history, with rounded river rock, instead of asphalt or even cobble stones.

This doesn't even touch on the artwork, for which San Miguel de Allende is best known for. We've been resisting the lure of so many galleries, trying to be mindful of banal things like budgets and debt. We'll leave that to another blog and we will be strong. (Seriously, we have an art addiction that needs a 12 step program...not like Mr. Slim, from our Mexico City blog, of course, but a love of beautiful things, none the less.)

Sure, there's a lot of white folks. And tons of real estate offices. All that doesn't take away the lure of those little streets with who-knows-what behind the high walls or ornate fences.
Nor can it take away from the friendly locals who are more than wiling to offer up a buen dia or hola, to make your day a little friendlier. 

 

You just have to wander to the slight outskirts of the town to find where the locals live. That's not to say that there aren't some really well heeled Mexicans living in sprawling villas, to be sure, but I like to see where the real people live. You know, the ones that have to work really hard, every day, to put food on the table. The ones who know how to fix their car in their front yard and have chickens and children playing around the herb garden. You might even find a goose or two.

We don't know what it is or why it's there

There's a beautiful botanic garden on the edge of the city, called El Charco del Ingenio. So worth a visit for the amazing cacti, indigenous plants, bugs and birds. We spent a good part of the day there, just wandering the paths and enjoying the tranquility.

We haven't really even touched on the markets yet, only stumbling across one, accidentally, during our wandering. That might have to be a whole other post. 

So, is San Miguel de Allende worth a visit? Absolutely. The streets are buzzing, even on a Sunday and there's a surprise around every corner.