We had one last stop for the morning and we headed north of the Mercado de Artesanías. It was getting pretty warm and we took our time, checking out various sights along the way.
There seemed to be quite a bit of construction going on with new houses popping up. From what we'd seen; SMA seemed to be pretty popular with Ex-Pats.
After crossing Arroyo de Las Cachinches we arrived at Fabrica la Aurora.
Formerly a textile factory and one of the largest employers in SMA, the mill closed in 1991 after the markets were flooded with imports and the old factory was converted into a warehouse. After artists displayed interest in renting and converting various rooms into studios and work spaces the factory was converted and reopened in 2001.
There are still artifacts and photos from the textile factory.
And there are over 30 studio and shops on the premises. It was a fun time checking things out.
As much as we enjoyed browsing, the highlight of our visit had nothing to do with all the arts and crafts.
The Missus and I decided to take a break, rather it happened when we decided to take a coffee break at the Café de la Aurora.
The Missus got some espresso and I a cold brew and we had a seat at a table.
While enjoying our break, I saw one of what I assume is an artist riding up the alleyway in his bike, along his side was his faithful pooch. The Missus had Her back to this so She didn't notice when the gentleman parked his bike and walked into his shop, his pooch decided to head into the café.
This mutt walked past us and up to one of the tables on the other side of the café. He politely sat and stared at the folks who were having lunch. He sat so perfectly, with total focus on the couple eating that the Missus thought he was their dog! After getting no response, he turned around, walked past us and went to the table behind us and did the same thing!
That's when I figured out his "game"! This little fellow only went to tables with food on it! He ignored folks just having drinks! After getting no response, he saw the Server coming out with food and followed her to the next table. Amazing! The Missus and I were cracking up! Much like I did with "Tripod", I gave him a name; Juan. And this time I remembered to take a photo of the smart little guy. Why "Juan" you may ask? Well, I told the Missus that this little fellow believes he is the "chosen Juan"! She cracked up. Eventually his owner peeked out of his shop and saw Juan doing his thing and came with a leash and it was game over for the little guy....for now. It's moments like these that really make our travels fun.
We took the fairly long walk back to our accommodation. We stopped at a few shops along the way, but the Missus really didn't see anything She was interested in. And it seemed like the prices here were quite high.
As we got back to our B&B, I mentioned being somewhat hungry to the Missus. Right around the corner from our accommodation was a food court/hall named Mercado del Carmen. We decided to pop in for a look.
There were a number of stands in the food hall, featuring Mexican, French, Burgers, Pizza, and even Korean/Japanese....
And Peruvian.....
The Missus was craving rice; so we got a Bi Bim Bap and I went with some Cebiche from the Peruvian stand.
The Cebiche wasn't very good, the leche de tigre was very mild, watery, and this didn't have enough flavor overall.
The Bi Bim Bap was not bad.
As expected, the rice wasn't very good; but the kimchi was surprisingly decent, the cho-jang was legit, and that egg was a perfect sunny-side up. We were pleasantly surprised and the Missus got Her "rice fix" which would hold Her for the rest of the trip.
Mercado Del Carmen
Calle Pila Seca 19
San Miguel de Allende, 37700, Mexico
After the meal it was a short stroll around the corner to our room and an escape from the afternoon heat.
Thanks for stopping by!
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