Emily and Linda’s Travel Blog

Sunday we visited El Charco, a large botanical garden, nature preserve, and bird refuge on the outskirts of San Miguel. It surrounds a canyon through which runs a fresh water spring. Along its banks are abundant cacti and native trees. It also has a conservatory dedicated to cacti and succulents. 

There were also some dramatic sky scapes. 

It was pretty dry, but there was drama in the skeletons of the dead plants. It made me think about Mary Oliver writing about the whole world in a single leaf. 

Most of the birds were hanging out by the spring and we lacked the long distance lenses to photograph them so sadly I have no pictures of them, but we did see a procession of leaf cutter ants.  In order to get a shot, I would have had to lie on the ground on my stomach  Not that dedicated, but I did crib a pic from the internet  pretty close to what we were seeing:  

Here’s one more shot with Linda showing how tall the cactus was  

I stopped out after a bit and let Linda and Max finish the trail. Meanwhile I rested at the visitor center and sampled some of the fresh limonada (I think it was actually made from limes) and inhaled the enticing aroma of cafe de olla (literally coffee from a pot, but more like a mulled beverage of coffee simmered in a clay pot with cinnamon and cloves). 

After a rest back at our hotel, we headed out to La Posadita, a rooftop restaurant recommended by Gail Mauner and David Braun who had been to San Miguel some years back. It was a chilly evening so we asked the staff to light the heater and the waiter also kindly brought us some wild, but warm blankets. 

My friends Gail and David recommended the “Escamoles”, translated as “Ant Eggs” also known as “Mexican caviar”. It actually is ant larvae, served with a marrow bone and an herb called Epazote. Max wasn’t going near it, but Linda and I decided we were game to try it. . Not bad, but I wouldn’t crave it. 

Once we were warmed up, Linda felt a frozen Margarita was in order. Turned out it also had tamarind in it - a tasty addition. 

Other dishes were Cochinita Pibil (stewed pork served here on banana leaves with tortillas to wrap up the pork) and two kinds of chicken enchiladas - one with a red sauce made with guajillo chiles and the other in a green tomatillo sauce with crema and cheese (usually thought of as Gringo food, but I was in the mood and it was very well prepared)  

As the meal progressed, we were treated to the main attraction here, other than the food- the view of the Parroquia cathedral as the sun set

There were also some wild goings at the next rooftop over - a fellow tightrope-walking in rhythm to disco music Quite the finale to our day.