Patrick Schulte's Blog

We love our saints here in San Miguel de Allende. On this particular night we celebrated La Alborada (The Dawn), in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel, our town’s patron saint. We just missed the 100th anniversary celebration last year, and after seeing the 101st I can only imagine the absolute madness that must have taken place at 100.

This is a celebration that goes all night, culminating with the grand finale at 4 a.m. Setting the alarm clock for 2:30 and dragging myself out the door, alone in my quest, took a monumental effort.

There was a big crowd, though it was a bit smaller than the Independence Day crowd a couple weeks earlier. Honestly, most of the hard core partiers had thrown in the towel and gone home by this point.

It was pretty chill when I first arrived.

But almost instantly the madness began. The fireworks symbolize Saint Michael’s victory over darkness, and of good over evil, as it is believed that Saint Michael led the angels in the battle against Satan. So, launching from the front steps of the cathedral came not hundreds, but thousands of fire bombs over the next hour. Out front of the church the wildest in the crowd danced amongst the screaming balls of fire that exploded all around them. There is absolutely no way that appendages were not lost on this night.

Tequila was flowing.

Every so often one would explode early, or maybe only half of it would explode, and it would alter course and shoot off sideways into the main crowd, just a ball of fire that would explode far louder than any M-80 of my childhood.

At the same time, across the plaza, “normal” fireworks were constantly being launched. These were the more traditional Mexican bottle rockets, and sparkly explosions.

In this one you can see the size of the projectile packed with explosives.

It really was a beautiful scene. Even if you didn’t know what was going on, you would have guessed it was some sort of battle against Satan.

Everything was happening directly overhead. Bottle rocket sticks rained down, usually with some flaming paper still alight. People were constantly swatting other people on the back to put out small fires.

The fire bombing stopped after a full hour’s bombardment.

The cobblestone sidewalk out front of the cathedral, completely buried.

Victory.

The triumph of light over darkness, I suppose. That was an incredible show. I consider San Miguel a small town, and yet everything they do is done full tilt. And everything here revolves around the church, and in particular, around the beautiful Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel.

Headed home, and back to bed.

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Psyched! Only 100 days until Christmas!

We go from a 4.3gmp 12v pump powering our showers on the boat, to this. Actually, the pressure wasn’t terrible, but hey, a few extra horsepower spliced in-line couldn’t hurt. In case you need to power blast a few layers of skin. I originally figured I’d tackle this project myself, but then realized it meant running new wiring three stories up and soldering in some new copper tubing. Eventually you just cave in, look at the quote, and think to yourself, “Why did I even consider doing this myself?”

On the moto ride home after climbing. The rustic, back-in-time beauty of this town hits me at different times. Sometimes I don’t think much of it and other times I look around myself and think wow, this place is really something.

Wild flowers are exploding all over the place right now.

Our neighbors opened a taco stand from mid-morning through lunch. There was never much worry that I wouldn’t get enough tacos in any given week, but now I’m certain to never be hungry. The bistek and chorizo mix is an especially good choice.

Day of the Dead is still a month off, but the marigolds are now available everywhere. Two dollars will buy you a nice pot full of them.

The kids’ school held an open house. We got a picture of Ouest’s locker, and that’s about it. Apparently she scored the best locker in the school. Location, location, location.

We met all the teachers and frankly, it was a little embarrassing hearing how great our kids are. Everyone went on and on about both of them. Outgoing, friendly, smart, interesting, always happy… I mean, get out of here. I know they’re great, but let’s not get carried away.

So how is school going? They’re happy. They’ve got lots of friends, get along great with the teachers, don’t care much for homework, and lunch/recess is their favorite part of the school day. Basically, any worries Ali and I might have had have vanished. The school has been a great fit and an easy transition.

The Teen Connect group held another camping weekend. Last time it was all dry and brown out here. It was beautiful, but completely different this time around at the tail end of the rainy season.

Hot dogs as they should be, smothered and spicy.

Along with the wildflowers have come the grasshoppers. Za catches them, tosses them around, pulls legs off, and leaves them to die. It’s like a horror movie around here lately. Definitely watch where you are walking.

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It’s Independence Day in Mexico. I love the story of Mexico’s independence, and it all revolves around Hidalgo and his Grito de Dolores, which kicked off the War of Independence in 1810. I love the great pride Mexicans take in the story of their uprising and ultimate victory over the Spaniards, leading to their independence.

We’re not really night owls, so with some effort I dragged myself out and made my way up to centro. Ouest was already down there with friends, so I figured I could pop up and see her and the Grito at the same time.

I miscalculated. Should have known it would be a wall of people.

I wasn’t able to see the Grito being delivered, and wasn’t able to catch up to Ouest either, even though I could see that she was just across the plaza from me. Hidalgo made his cry for independence in the nearby town of Dolores Hidalgo in 1810, and Mexico City is only a couple hours from here as well, so San Miguel de Allende is right in the heart of the biggest Independence Day celebrations. In Mexico City this year, at the National Palace, was a historic Grito de Dolores, as it was given by a woman for the first time in history—Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum. Next year, I’m going to make a point of being either in Dolores or Mexico City for the grito.

The next morning was the Independence Day parade right down the street from us.

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There’s always a bug peeking around the corner.

This is actually the driveway up to the indoor pool where Ouest trains. It’s a beautiful place situated on the top of a hill overlooking all this empty land. We’ve only gotten to see the train come by a couple of times, and thought it was really pretty with the dark skies threatening rain all around while the sun was still shining down on us.

First day of school. Ever. The kids are going to a small private school with about a 50/50 mix of locals and expats and bilingual classes. There’s only about 15 kids per grade, so by the time school started they already knew half of them and it was pretty chill. Kind of a weird feeling seeing them go off. This was their choice, so there wasn’t any, “Do I have to go?” Ouest was looking forward to it, and Lowe was basically, whatever. 

A couple of weeks later I asked Lowe if school was what he thought it would be. “It’s easier than I thought it would be, and longer. Honestly, though, I don’t get what everyone has been learning for the last ten years.” His fear had been that he’d be behind his classmates, and he was surprised to find that he wasn’t. I was happy to hear that my view of school, especially the early years, was correct. If you spend time with your kids, explore the world, pursue different interests, and read to them, they won’t be idiots. These two slipped right into 9th and 10th grade without skipping a beat. Feels like they got a ten-year cheat code.

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Matching patina.

The “pickup” 99% of F-150 owners really need.

And the pickup the other 1% need. Selling flowers in style.

I love that this place is right on Ancha de San Antonio, which is a main artery in and out of the center of town. We walk or motorcycle past here every day. The street is filled with trendy restaurants, boutiques, tourist shops and expensive barbershops. And yet every day you’ll find a couple of guys with a car jacked up right in front of here, fixing a flat, or changing oil, or probably just about anything you could possibly ask a mechanic to do. Look it up on Google Maps and there is zero mention of any sort of tire shop or mechanic.

I know, I know, I just love the bugs.

This is how our little pot-bellied pig sits.

Front tire sort of blocked up? Baby crib mattress on the roof? Let’s pull the engine.

I picked up Ouest from a friend’s house one night and as soon as we got on the road back down the hill I saw this guy up ahead of us and told Ouest, “That guy is drunk.” We were stuck behind him unless we risked passing him, which I wasn’t going to do, and when a few cars stacked up behind us I decided to just pull over and let everyone go by. A minute later we got back on the road, no cars in front of or behind us, and yet we caught up to the truck again. Everyone else had gotten by him so I just hung back and watched him. Into the tunnel we went, where the lights must have woken him a bit because he sped up. We trailed behind watching from a safe distance. We came up out of the tunnel and were approaching a light when I turned to Ouest again and said, “There he goes.” Across two lanes he went, and boom. Another ten feet to the left he would have destroyed the lives of the people waiting to turn left. Fortunately, he only destroyed his own truck. I parked and ran over, but he was already falling out of the passenger side. Airbags seemed to have saved him from any harm, but that truck is a goner.

There’s a great Anne Frank exhibition at a museum in town.

This is what kids will be doing with stacks of US dollars soon if we keep it up.

The kids have read the diary and know the story, but seeing the images again, and putting yourself in that space makes for an important reminder of what can happen with blind loyalty to a leader.

I’m sure this barbed wire was put on these drain pipes to keep kids from hanging on them or climbing on them, but a little more thought should have been put into the fact that they are about 5′ 10″ off the ground and would easily scalp me if I wasn’t paying attention.

Finally replaced our door knocker.

Overflowing with color.

They say it’s rained twice the average this year, filling up the reservoirs. I figured that was good news for our water consumption, but turns out the town’s water supply is actually from deep underground wells, not the reservoirs, which are used for things like irrigation, apparently. Regardless, in an area that has seen its share of droughts, the rain has been very welcome.

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Lest you think we bought a house in Mexico to sprawl out with tons of space. Our house is about 7′ narrower than our catamaran. Granted, it is a bit longer, and taller.

A lot of homes here are about as wide as a VW bug.

In Centro they have designated motorcycle parking, and not nearly enough of it, considering how many motos can fit in the same space as one stupid SUV. Space can get a bit tight, but nobody thinks anything of it. Just wedge it in.

Waiting on takeaway tacos.

Also waiting on dinner.

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Aunt Katy and Ouest hanging out on Grandpa’s always impeccable grass.

The neighbor’s passion fruit vine has climbed over the wall and into one of our patios.

Although I’m not sure they are going to last long by the looks of it.

It got all the way down into the high 60’s one day and we were hit with a nice hail storm. About as close to snowfall as we’re ever likely to get here in San Miguel.

Ali and the kids spotted a skink. They remind me of the salamanders we used to go out and catch at will in any basement window well when I was a kid. Must be forty years since I’ve seen either in MN.

Beautiful day to see the Willow Falls at Willow River State Park.

She’s been sitting on my feet since the kids left.

When nobody can leave the airport because the payment system goes down. Welcome home!

No expat ever returns from a Stateside visit without some extra luggage. And yes, we still rock the plastic bins for luggage (drill a few holes around the edge and secure with zip ties). This must be our oldest travel hack. One-tenth the price of a piece of luggage, and can actually serve another use when you’re done. If you don’t need it, just set it on the curb and it’s gone in five minutes. You get some dirty looks from airline gate agents, but it’s well worth it.

The kids came bearing gifts for Za. Not me.

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Not a kangaroo or koala bear in sight for the kids’ Australian friend.

After a couple of days without the rest of the family around, Za basically attached herself to my feet.

Pinning me down to make sure I didn’t try and disappear, too.

My latest package of glass panes. There’s just no escape from Trump news.

Oh my god, heaven on a plastic plate. Alambre al pastor.

Lowe is cleaning up on this birthday.

‘Merican s’mores are the best s’mores.

Time for a new sink.

The sink wouldn’t quite fit because it was hitting this piece of wood. I was standing there with the hacksaw thinking, “This would be so much easier if I could turn the blade sideways.” Then I looked down at the saw and noticed that the saw was in fact designed to be able to do just that. And now I’m left wondering if this has been possible my entire life with every hacksaw I’ve ever used.

Not exactly a major home improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.

I took off for the afternoon just to see what I could find.

All alone I set up the camera to capture this shot as if I am a great explorer forging new paths aboard my trusty 125cc steed.

Beautiful day, fun ride, and lots of vegetation encroaching on the roads.

A minute later I came around the corner to this. Everyone was out of the cars and moving around, luckily, but if I had to guess I’d say that at least one person was staring at a phone and crossed the line to cause that head-on collision (the white car and black SUV hit driver corner to driver corner).

A long unfinished home with a beautiful country view only about 15 minutes out of San Miguel.

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Ali and the kids got to Minnesota just in time to catch the last day of the Washington County Fair. Classic good times.

Little disappointed that they chose to go with a car balancing competition this year, rather than the burnout competition of the past. It was kind of fun watching people do thousands of dollars in damage to their cars for nothing more than a small plastic participation trophy. Nobody damaged their cars at all in the balancing act.

Meanwhile, back in Mexico I started the laborious process of resealing windows. This was the first pane I tried popping out. Fortunately, in our town you are within five minutes of just about anything you can think of. The glass place cut me a new 6mm thick piece to replace this old 4mm piece for $6. At that price I couldn’t help but just replace every single pane. Twenty-four of them on this front window.

I zipped down the road a little ways to Atontonilco, a town I hadn’t visited in probably ten years. I was on the hunt for a gordita stand that I remembered. When I got there I realized it was market day, and also that the town hadn’t changed one bit.

Happy to find what I had come for.

Bistek con Papas quesadilla, and a Pollo en mole gordita for a first course. Bury them in fresh made salsa, wash it all down with horchata, and start to realize how much of this absolute perfection you’ve missed in your life. Then order more.

Next time maybe I’ll try the neighbor’s stand.

Riding home in a delirious food haze.

Back in Minnesota, day two, Lowe’s good friend Charlie, the Australian, arrived from Canada, after having last seen each other in Bora Bora a couple years after first meeting in Mexico. So it goes with boat kids.

A beautiful Minnesota summer day, with all the kids out on the pontoon.

You can’t very well go to Stillwater and not visit Nelson’s. Order the kids size and this is what you get there.

Seeing as I could only replace a couple panes at a time, and I was transporting the glass on the back of a motorcycle, I became a glass shop regular pretty quickly.

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Fourteen. Ali and the kids are making a Minnesota run for jury duty and to visit family, while I hold down the fort here. So Lowe’s birthday festivities kicked off a little early this year. I won’t embarrass him by gushing about him here, but I will say that every time I hear people complain about their teenage boy I am reminded of how lucky I am to have such an awesome kid. I can’t think of a single negative thing I could ever say about him. He’s just an all-around great guy and we’re all fortunate to have him around. Happy Birthday, Lowe.

Being on my own for dinner seemed like a great time to get to know Los Chemas and their parrillada.

Off on a little motorcycle loop outside of town and back in again from the other side.

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