San Miguel´s “Globo” Skyscape J. K. Hannula San Miguel is routinely acclaimed as the world’s most beautiful -or “most livable” town/small city- by Travel and Leisure magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, and numerous other travel publishers. San Miguel’s popularity is not only because of its Spanish Colonial character and UNESCO’s World Heritage Site designation -Patrimonial Mundial- a recognition for its architecture, history, and culture. Without San Miguel’s geographical setting, however, the town would not be “San Miguel.” Its setting is its roots, the bedrock of its beauty.

Historic San Miguel was built on a mountain slope, steep and inaccessible except for a mountain pass and several arroyos (river drainage ways) that slice into El Sierro de Los C (?); the low mountain forms a ridge to the east. Towards the west, north, and south, lower hills and mountains surround the area to form an undulating valley of farmland, ranchos, woodland -and development. La Presa Allende lies at the bottommost part of this valley, a dam-formed lake visible from much of higher San Miguel. With its mountain-valley setting and many topographical features, the colonial town is exceptional in panoramic vistas and alluring glimpses down narrow cobbled streets. Overall, its beauty hovers around “#10”. One of San Miguel’s overlooked aspects is its skyscape, a part of the scenery that one frequently under-looks, given that so much of San Miguel’s beauty is within its centro historico, a breathtaking historic center. The town’s main attraction is its magical Parroquia, its pink, gingerbread, Gothic church acclaimed worldwide for its unusual beauty and prominent siting. La Parroquia stands as a sentinel at the upper end of the historic center, El Jardín Principal – beauty´s ground zero. In this centermost scenic space, however, much of the dense development obscures and fragments the skyscape. If you disperse from the center and move to open areas - or find a visual refuge at a rooftop bar or restaurant - you’ll see broader swaths of San Miguel’s impressive skyscape. This is especially true if you expand your days and locations to marvel at the sunrises, sunsets, full moons, and varying weather conditions -from azure blue skies to churning, towering, alto-cumulus clouds (during the rainy season). But be not centro-centric and seek only views from there. San Miguel’s varied topography invites views and skyscapes from a multitude of points around town. In this sense, you can view the town’s most prominent focal point, La Parroquia, from above or below, with a backdrop of distant mountains in the direction of Guanajuato or towards the nearby sierra to the east. For skyscapes, there is nothing more magical than los globos, the hot air balloons that rise shortly after the crack of dawn when the air above San Miguel barely stirs except for a slow drifting towards the west. Los globos became a welcoming part of my life after I bought a casa in Colonia Independencia, a neighborhood perched on a ridge a short distance from the historic center. Los globos launch from a field below, often in flocks of a half-dozen. Painted in bright colors and geometric patterns, some Aztec-like los globos appear like gigantic, bloated peacocks. Depending on the weather, I know their launching by the distinct “whoosh” of the gas heaters that fill the balloons with hot air, giving them their slow, graceful rise. My house is under their westerly flight path; they pass nearly directly overhead, only a few hundred feet above. Hearing the heaters from my bedroom (doors open), I often rush to my rooftop terrace to marvel at their beauty - with the rising sun appearing behind them, just above the mountain ridge in the direction of Querétaro. Seeing the globos is, literally, a “morning high.” I can hear “holas!” from passengers in the gondola, the basket-like platform suspended from the balloon. Thus, the skyscape from my roof reveals itself in full view and splendor - with los globos, the rising sun peaking above la sierra; and just a bit to the southeast, the center of San Miguel with its many churches, their bell towers thrusting into the backdropped sky, the backdrop a jumble of casas stepping up the looming sierra. During the night, the moon, Venus, Mars, and a riot of constellations hang in the inked sky above, like jeweled necklaces or earrings. And in my imagination, ghostly globos would rise and float among the stars - in our awesome skyscape.