By Brigham Golden
Part I
We in San Miguel de Allende are blessed — and I’ve never felt more certain of that than during the COVID pandemic. Bathed in the warm sun and cool mountain air of “eternal spring”, our pueblo abounds with beautiful open-air spaces for our impressive community of restaurants and markets, shops and galleries, artisans, artists, designers, builders, architects, musicians, dancers, performers, traditionalists, producers, farmers, writers, and teachers.
It is this large and diverse ‘Community of Culture’ I’d like to honor in this first article for Atencion — not only because it sustained me through the pandemic, but because it is nothing less than the key to San Miguel’s past, present and future. More than anything, this community created the San Miguel I Love, is responsible for it’s rapidly growing fame, and offers solutions to the challenges our “Worlds Best” pueblo faces as the hype accelerates its growth. Simply put, our “Community of Culture” must always be the social and economic foundation of San Miguel.
We are two years into the pandemic, and while nearly every other nation has enacted border controls and limited public activities, Mexico has almost uniquely elected to welcome visitors and stay open with minimal restrictions. That might seem foolish, but it is also true that the Mexican government has been very successful in universalizing safety protocols like mask-wearing, vaccination and temperature-recording for contract tracing. Indeed, Mexico is largely free of the contentious civil wars over these protocols that are roiling countries like the United States. Here wearing a mask is largely a matter of following the rules and being respectful in public.
Of course Mexicans also tend to be cynical about their government and its rules, often viewing regulations more as obligatory theater than beneficent policy. And why wouldn’t they? Recall that for nearly two years we all passed through mysterious inflatable “disinfectant-misting” portals into the Jardin. What were they spraying on us anyway? We might be able to laugh at that, but less humorous are Mexico’s confusing and sometimes misleading official infection and mortality statistics – especially since we all know from personal experience that there is plenty of Covid here. I for one have had it. Yet still, despite all their doubts, Mexicans have been willing to wear masks and respectfully co-create public spaces where people can feel safe. That is a lot more than we can say about much of the United States.
One area where the Mexican government has been quite strict has been in closing public spaces and government supported cultural institutions. For more than a year even open-air public spaces like the Jardin’s kiosk-garden and the patios of Bellas Artes and Casa de Cultura were limited or closed. Similarly, large public festivals like La Alborada and Dia de Los Locos were curtailed…
Brigham Golden is an anthropologist, event producer, DJ, and 16-year resident of San Miguel.
