New Door!

We have new doors at Suryaluna! well new inner doors actually. its in the front area, where the reception counter is. Its pretty. Green stained wood with glass panels. Kinda feels like an English cafe from the inside for some reason. We had it put up to keep the cold and dust out. Its quieter too. Everything from the outside is kinda muffled...street sounds, dogs, people talking...its nice. The menus are still outside for people to see and there are a few curious passer-bys looking in. The guys who put them up worked all day yesterday. From about 9am to about 7pm. They brought the wood panel and put them up then went for a break, came back and did some painting on it, then the glass panels people came and put them up on the wooden panels The Suryaluna restaurant is a little bare cos we are doing some moving around for inspection...which i hope is really soon so we can get on with business. We got strips put on stairs for safety and extinguishers, oh and evacuation route signs all over the place, as needed..so we should be cool with everything when they come. I dont think the regulations are extreme here in Mexico, and so far from what i have seen in San Miguel de Allende, its prety easy to open and run a business here..provided there are tourists and the locals come out to eat, etc. I heard that business has been dropping since the local governing body here took Pamplonada out. Its the bull run here in Mexico. It used to bring it tonnes of tourists which is what this place needs. Anyways, we have to get some stuff for the door, for safety, light or the outside and also a sign that says: WE ARE OPEN! :) hmmm...am thinking of doing something for Valentine's Day...with the doors, theres lots of potencial...hmmmm

Today - 21 January - Ignacio Allende

We can hear drumbeats, clapping and cheers from Suryaluna. Its sunny today...still a lil cold but sunny. Great day for a parade.
Today, there is a parade in town. We can view it from calle Hernandez Marcias, calle Insurgentes, at the end of calle Mesones and round to the Jardin Principal...which is of course passing calle San Francisco. We get a pretty good view from the Suryaluna balcony too. Lots of people, both the locals and tourists are out in the streets with cameras, their hats and jackets in hand, some with kids in tow. Some run from one street to another trying to catch better pictures of the soldiers on foot, in the cars/jeeps, on horses, even in tanks. They all look really smart in their uniform. Especially impressive were those on horseback. Immaculate uniforms and beautiful horses. Our guests from Suryaluna hostel woke up, had coffee and were out walking, looking for the best spot to take pictures and watch the parade. Its a pretty extensive parade too, as all the schools, from primary to universities are participating in the parade. So, I bet there are many proud parents taking pictures of their kids in their band or official school uniform as they pass. Its interesting the various uniforms of different schools, even how their respective teachers are dressed as they lead their students onward.

What is the parade for? The Mexicans are celebrating the birth of one of their heroes, Ignacio Allende. There are many places named in his honor including the municipality of Allende and town of San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajuato, and the Chihuahua municipality of Allende and its municipal seat, Valle de Allende.

In January 21, 1779, Allende was born to a wealthy Spanish family in San Miguel el Grande, now known as San Miguel de Allende, in Guanajuato. Although he joined the Spanish army in 1802, he started to favor the possibility of independence from Spain a few years after that. He attended conspiratorial meetings, which was actually pretty widely known but which went unsanctioned. A lil after 1809, Allende met Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his captain Juan Aldama and plans were made. Some of their plans were discovered and the rebellion started earlier than agreed upon. It started in the town of Dolores, where with the famous Grito de Dolores by Hidalgo, the revolution was on. The rebel army quickly captured the town and made their way towards San Miguel el Grande (San Miguel de Allende), where Allende obtained the support of his cavalry regiment.
Hidalgo y Costilla was officially made captain general of the Revolutionary army while Allende was made lieutenant general. After the famous capture of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, in Guanajuato, and his victory in the Battle of Monte de las Cruces Allende suggested Hidalgo march toward Mexico City and capture it. They lost the Battle of the Bridge of Calderón and the Revolutionary army demanded that Hidalgo be replaced. Allende took this new responsibility and, with an almost destroyed army, he marched north to the United States, hoping to gather more money, weapons and troops. They were however, ambushed in Acatita de Baján, betraye by Ignacio Elizondo. Allende and several other rebel commanders were captured. Allende's illegitimate child, Indalecio was killed during this ambush and he, Allende was taken to the city of Chihuahua where he was tried for insubordination and executed by firing squad on June 26, 1811. His body was decapitated and his head taken to the Alhóndiga de Granaditas where it was shown to the public inside a cage hung from one corner of the building. In 1824, his remains were buried in the vault reserved for the viceroys and presidents in the cathedral of Mexico. His remains were moved in 1925 to the Independence Column in Mexico City.

Today in History, 21st January...
- The city of Querétaro (the capital of the state of the same name) was founded in 1656.

- Ignacio Allende y Unzaga was born in San Miguel el Grande (today known as San Miguel de Allende) in the state of Guanajuato, in 1779.

- Rubén M. Campos, a well-known Mexican poet, novelist, and composer of folkloric music, was born in Ciudad Manuel Doblado, Guanajuato in 1876.

- Manuel Orozco y Berra (born June 8, 1816) died in Mexico City, in 1881. Orozco y Berra was an agricultural engineer, geologist and archaeologist who was president for many years of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics.

snow...kinda

We have been having cold days these weeks. and lo! we had snow last nite. It was cold and extremely windy all day yesterday. It rained and rained in the afternoon..evening...and nite. People had been saying that if it got colder and it rained, we'll get snow. I have never seen snow in person. It was cold but i was hoping for a lil of it to see. On the ride back from buying stuff we needed for the restaurant, we had hail...a lil not much. Earlier today on the way to work though, later than usual after cleaning at the house, i saw snow on mountain tops too far to get too yet oh so near..in sight i mean. It was beautiful. As i write this my hands are getting a lil frozen and i hope it wont get any colder for the sake of all those people living out in lil shacks and 'broken' homes that we sometimes see around the perimeters of San Miguel de Allende. There are so few people walking around..and yet eating out these days. As much as i would love to see snow..im waiting for warmer days and more people eating out..
which brings me to our plans for the restaurant. We are putting up glass doors to keep the cold out soon. The Carpenter are working on them as we speak and hopefully , it'll be done next week. I cnt wait! Then we can proceed with the rest of our plans :) I'll keep you posted! :)

Cold Again

Today, again is cold, the good thing is that is not as cold as yesterday and finally stopped raining!!! XD

Now i'm having a very nice Jasmine Green Tea with honey... and OMG! is so delicious!!!
Well, maybe i'll write more in the afternoon, it's to earl to tell something about my day XP

Rainy Lovely San Miguel

Now its raining in San Miguel, the weather is not one of my favortites, makes people stay home and that makes the town really quiet. i miss the joy of the people of the past weeks. There was tonnes of people in town. All kinds of different people from other parts of Mexico, families coming to stay with us at Suryaluna. The hostal was full and we didnt have enough tables for people wanting to have dinner. It was really cool. New years eve was magical at the Jardin, live music, fireworks, everything was perfect, and now... well, i guess its a chance to talk to myself, learn how to be in silent and get to write in here more often...

i will be back, with more to say...

Mexican Nites @ Suryaluna - 1st day

Its Mariachi music and smells of mouth-watering BBQ foods at Suryaluna Restaurant & Hostal tonight. Its our first day of Mexican Nites @ Suryaluna. We are turning the front into a Mexican Fiesta area starting this weekend. We are putting up pinata, setting up tables with mocajetes and fresh veges, decorating the walls...the works. We have Carne Asada, Ribs and Chicken BBQ in our special traditional Mexican marinade. We are serving our special asadas with our very special guacamole and salsas, freshly made beans and our very own fresh, hand-made tortilla. We make them from scratch. We buy fresh, season corn, boiling the corn, grinding it and shaping and frying it right at Suryaluna.

The response so far, considering its our first day has been quite good. People walking by are curious, lured in by the music and the wonderful smells. Hopefully it'll be better tomorrow and great as days pass :)

Dia de la Revolucion: 20 Nov

It was a beautiful morning today. Not too cold and with the sun shining, there were literally hundreds of cute lil’ kids marching in a parade to celebrate Dia de Revolucion. The actual day for celebration is actually tomorrow but every year, kindergarten kiddies from schools all around San Miguel de Allende participate in the parade. Students and teachers dress up in ‘traditional revolution-wear’ and walk and dance and shout “Viva Mexico!” It was great fun watching them wave and laugh and poke at each other while they pass. The next blog will have photos we took of the parade, not 5 doors from our Suryaluna Restaurant & Hostal.
Mexicans remember and celebrate the Revolution of 1910 to 1920 every year on the 20th of November. This day is commonly referred to as el veinte de noviembre. On this day, students dress-up as their favourite revolutionist and take part in the parade. The day is marked with parades and civic ceremonies throughout the country. There is a large parade in Mexico City's Zocalo, as well as speeches and official ceremonies. In cities and towns throughout Mexico, just like San Miguel de Allende, school children dressed as revolutionaries participate in local parades.

The Mexican Revolution (Revolucion Mexicana) was a civil movement and then a major armed struggle that started in 1910. The movement was led by writer and revolutionist Francisco I. Madero, against the autocratic president, at the time, Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz Mori. Porfirio Diaz, had been in power for over 30 years. The whole Revolution was characterized by inner movements like socialism, liberalism, anarchy, popularism and agrarianism. So this was, in fact, the beginning of a revolution and not the end as many seem to think. Most people think it had something to do with the Spanish or French occupations that had been in the past.

The 20th of November was a call to arms in a document called the Plan of San Luis Potosi written by Madero in San Antonio Texas and published in San Luis Potosi Mexico. It was plan to raise arms against the dictatorship of President Porfirio Diaz.

In 1911, Madero was elected President of Mexico, by a democratic election. The movement was still in progress, while Porfirio Diaz vanished to Paris. The movement now was in the hands of Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Clemente Orozco, among others. So they can rearrange the distribution of the lands with all the people of the country.

The Revolution was then against Madero. The Zapatistas thought that he was a betrayer when he decided to do the first political instead of the social needs of the people. Later on, the Villistas did the same against the government and in 1917, the Revolution was ended with the publication of the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico (Constitucion Politica de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), which is the very same that is being used today.

While he was not President for long being assassinated in 1913 the revolution he started actually lasted through many years and many battles that included such famous revolutionists as Zapata and Poncho Villa with its official termination in 1924 with the election of President Plutarco Elias Calles succeeding President Alvaro Obregon.