Casa Vista del Pájaro: A Casita of Your Own

Olga Garcίa Echeverrίa
*All six word memoirs and poetry excerpts in this blog were written by Alma Cervantes

Up, up, up in the winding cobblestone hills of San Miguel de Allende there is a gem called Casa Vista del Pájaro. It’s a unique place reserved for working class writers and educators. ¿Quién quiere ir? Virginia Woolf wrote about needing a room of her own. For those of us with artistic maῆas y modos who grew up in large families con pocos recursos, we were lucky if we had a bed of our own. Can I get a witness? Still, la Woolf woman’s declaration of the need for physical and creative space rings true, so true, especially for writers/artists of color juggling teaching schedules and/or heavy workloads, and even more so for those who are todo esto and also parents. The struggle (inner and outer) to create is real.

Palabras abandonadas, hechiseras, borrachas, curanderas; lárganse!

How do we find the time to create when the places where we give so much of our time and labor don’t (usually) support us in fundamental or even minimal ways? Without structural support or creative opportunities we begin to doubt ourselves. Those thoughts creep in...

Maybe I stopped being a writer.

I’ve been an educator for over 20 years (mostly a lecturer). During this time, I have given tirelessly to educational institutions, and yet I have mostly had to nurture my own writing, even when that writing has been directly connected to my teaching. In the end, with or without institutional support, we do what we must and what we can muster because of the love for the creative word and our art.

Step one, keep my flowers alive.

Personally, I have an aversion to having to sell myself to get into particular writing circles or spaces. I’m already exhausted. The literary world is full of white heterosexual male privilege and this constantly pisses me off. No tengo tiempo ni ganas to apply and pay more and more fees to exclusive spaces and retreats or to get rejected.  Lo que quiero es escribir, and to do this I need space and time to connect with myself and my work. Necesito tiempo y espacio to silence some of the noise that surrounds me.  I need time to really listen to the Muse (whoever the hell she is), to my Duende (that reckless cabron), and to the stories/poems that are yearning to be born. At a reading a couple of years ago, I heard the great escritora Joy Harjo give the best definition for poetry I have ever heard.  “What is poetry?” She asked. Her simple response resonated with me: “Poetry is listening.” 

We can listen anywhere, of course, because this is ultimately a state of mind, but it definitely helps to get away from the everyday and be immersed in Creative Time / Creative Space / Creative Mode to listen to our own poetry. 

Enter Casa Vista del Pájaro.

Twice now, once in 2018 and more recently at the onset of 2019, I was invited and fortunate enough to visit Casa Vista del Pájaro.  During my visits, I did nothing but eat great food, drink strong coffee, walk, sleep, dream, and write. Although I did not write all day like an obsessed loca at the keyboard (like I imagined I would), I wrote every single day. More than anything, the space reconnected me to my writing projects and creative self, and the creative flow stayed with me long after leaving San Miguel. 

Meet Alma Cervantes and her husband Ken Udas, who have been brainstorming and manifesting Casa Vista del Pájaro for the past couple of years. 

Alma Cervantes and Ken Udas, 2018 at El Charco del Ingenio. 

Amor, canoso y grumpy, I scored!

Casa Vista del Pájaro has three houses on the premises. There is the primary casa where Alma and her canoso dwell. The other two adjacent casitas (known as Las Casitas) are smaller, but they are equally charming and each has its private entrance. What's admirable is that Alma and Ken intentionally set out to share their space with people like me, jaded working class artists/educators who need a damn break and want / need a beautiful place to create sans mierda! Okay that may sound jaded because it’s in my words. 

Here are Alma Cervantes’ own words, “In 2017 we moved from Australia to San Miguel de Allende. Ken and I agreed that sharing the beauty of San Miguel would further contribute to our own happiness. Long story short, we instructed our Real Estate agent to show us homes that had that extra space. We are educators, we wish to welcome dedicated people who fall under the umbrella of Education...As a past writer, I reach out to writers too. One of the greatest challenges I faced as a writer was finding and then protecting my writing time and space. I love the idea of helping to make creative time and space a tangible possibility for a diverse network of writers who are parents, sisters, brothers, educators, healers and artists. It is not uncommon that creative people usually live, survive, thrive on a budget. Renting in San Miguel de Allende is normally not affordable for working writers, educators, artists etc. It is important to us to make the Casitas financially accessible to educators and writers. We also recognize that the funds gathered will allow us to maintain and continue improving the comfort offered to guests each year.”

Alma Cervantes 2019

Alma Cervantes, who has maternal raίces and family in Guanajuato, humbly refers to herself as a “past writer” but I’d like to note that she is an EastLos literary veterana, who alongside other iconic Angelenos (such as Marisela Norte, Luis Alfaro, and Gloria Alvarez, to name just a few), helped foster and define the Chicana/o literary scene in the 1980’s, 1990’s, and beyond. I can’t stress how much of an inspiration authors like these were for those of us who had writer dreams or writer inklings in Los Angeles back in the day.  We rarely (or ever) saw ourselves mirrored in K-12 literature, college English classes, or in the "mainstream” literary scene, so hearing authors such as these read their work live in Los Angeles was food for the starving soul. It still is, but it was even more so then because we did not have the participation / representation in the literary arts that we do now. They made what seemed impossible tangible. "If they can tell/write/share their stories, maybe I can too.” 

Here's one of Alma's timeless poems from the 1990's, published in the anthology Chicana Creativity & Criticism: New Frontiers in American Literature, edited by María Herrera-Sobek and Helena María Viramontes. 

The Roots of Chicana Urban Planners 

Mom took us on walks that moved straight
but turned into spirals.

Our footsteps were like the stitches she sewed,
guiding the tela north, west, south, east, 
again and again. 

We had to keep moving to new yet familiar
neighborhoods, but as time passed
the new ones felt the same as the old ones. 

Her Heart, Gut, Mind united in clamor and motion of 
the machine.
Determined were her hands that guided tela forward, always forward.
Her eyes saw more than stitches, 
things I longed to see.

We continued to take walks, but the road kept turning 'round and
      'round no
matter how far we traveled. 

“Our walks will change when we earn more money,” she 
       reassured me,
but the spiral roads always turned against us. 

She continued to push tela forward, always forward, carefully
        watching each stitch 
take its place. 

One day my spiral walks 
Ended.

I kissed her goodbye and walked away. 
Self guided by the discipline of her hands and
depth of her visions.

Today I cut through old material,
weave through rigid structures
prepare new patterns;
I am a Chicana urban planner. 


What happens when a Chicana urban planner, powered by the lessons of her mother's hands and visions, migrates back to Mexico with her esposo and takes her planning to an international level? Well, you get Casa Vista del Pájaro.

Shared patio area outside Las Casitas:
Where you can write or eat or stare at the sky and daydream.

Let me tell you a bit about the Casitas, which are the two houses reserved for visiting writers. Keep in mind that these Casitas are newborns and that they will continue to develop as more people visit them. They are not designed as fancy resorts.  Also, depending on an individual’s health and mobility, there may be some challenges, as San Miguel de Allende is very hilly and walking the cobblestone streets requires good suela on your zapatos and a certain level of affinity and ability for movimiento. 

Meet rugged cobblestone, a rocky type of foot acupuncture--es gratis! 

Although there is asphalt and plenty of cement banquetas, there is also a good amount of rugged cobblestone. Uno tiene que pisar con awareness and even for someone like me who hikes pretty regularly, I found myself out of breath often and stopping under the shade of a tree or an awning to collect myself. If you’re sensitive to altitude, keep in mind that San Miguel Allende is 6,234 feet above sea level.  To give some perspective, Los Angeles is 285’ and the Bay Area is about 50’. The high altitude makes moving around in San Miguel a little harder on the lungs and body. 

Regular hydration helps. Also, you don’t have to walk everywhere. There are very affordable taxis and they are ubiquitous, but an observation I made about San Miguel de Allende taxis is that they  tend to be “snug” in regards to leg space. If you don’t or can’t walk much and don’t mind small taxis, then adelante! You can also ask to sit in the front passenger seat, which usually has a lot more leg room. Se puede, but having a sense of some of these San Miguel de Allende realities and limitations may help in deciding if this is a place you’d like to plan a retreat to. You may also want to just bunker down in your casita and write, but the museums, boutiques, and mercados are very tempting. 

The casita I stayed in was beautiful and well-equipped with everything I needed for a week-long stay. (The casitas are available for longer stays.) There’s a small kitchen with a mini-fridge, a propane gas stove top for cooking, a large sink, casuelas and cooking utensils, and a coffee maker (¿qué más quieren?) 

There’s a living room / lounge area with a writing desk that can also serve as a kitchen table. This is where I sometimes wrote and where I sometimes ate my chilaquiles and huevos or whatever I bought from the women vendor in the downtown mercado. What do these women in the town plaza cook up and sell? Oh, nothing fancy, just fresh delicious nopales, fluffy arroz, frijoles, tamales, and divine blue corn tortillas and gorditas that will make you chew slowly as you conjure up love hiakus to a Colbalt Blue Corn Goddess. 

Edible cosas from the downtown mercado. Why cook?

I also have a deep love for San Miguel de Allende donuts. They are not all the same, though. But I know an exceptional donut when I see/eat one. Estimadxs Amigxs, les presento a mi amor, Dona Naranja. 

The Best Glazed Dona Ever

Inside the casita, there is an enchanting narrow tile staircase that you shouldn’t try to run up or slide down. I will not share if I tried either or both of these things; just don't do it. 

Picture of stairs leading up to the bedroom and bathroom.
Small table and chair in this picture have been replaced with a writing desk and chair.

The living room is small but very Zen, with limited amount of things. Marie Kondo would approve. The stairs lead up to a bedroom where you can sink into one of those fancy foam mattresses and dream up your writer or teacher dreams. Or just dream. While there, I dreamed my favorite reoccurring dream—empty dark space, endless floating black matter with occasional flickers of glitter. When I dream nothing but darkness, I know I have entered true rest / true creative realm. 

The bedroom has the essential: drawers, a place to hang clothes (if you’re into that kinda thing), extra blankets por si hace frίo, un espejo to admire your badass self, and a small ropero that can serve as a second desk. It did for me. 

My ropero-desk

There is a lovely window that opens up into poetic pieces of San Miguel sky and the bustling city down below. Bird’s eye view. Vista del Pájaro from a window. I don't have a picture of the view, but here's the dreamy window. Those side ladders on the wall should not be climbed. They are not for humans. They are for your Duende to climb up to the roof if he or she is restless and needs moonlight inspiration. 

Large Ventana / Small Balcony in Bedroom 

About the bustling city down below: For the most part the bustle está retirado, but you can hear carros when they drive near and past the street, which is one of the oldest carreteras in town and leads out to the neighboring state of Querétaro. Also audible at times are the downtown church bells, which are quite sensational. They don’t ring often on most days. On Sundays, however, they ring every fifteen minutes. Yes, you read that right. Every. Ring. Fifteen. Ring. Minutes. Ring. 

If you allow it, though, the sound is quite meditative and it conjures up all kinds of literary references in the imagination, like the Hunchback of Notre-Dame (I was looking for him every time I took pictures of the cathedral). Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar also came to mind.  What’s louder—the mad noise in our heads or the ringing of giant church bells? And remember those mysterious bells in Juan Rulfo’s infamous Comala that kept ringing and ringing? The sound was a magnet that brought all kinds of people to town until Comala turned into a huge fiesta (con músicos y hasta con un pinche circo). Speaking of circos, on my first visit to Casa Vista del Pájaro, I got to see El Desfile de Los Locos, an annual parade that features a bunch of people dressed up as crazy clowns. There is probably a lot more to this tradition that I do not understand, so I will simply state that I watched in ignorance and awe, and I leave deeper discussion of Los Locos for another day and another blog. I will share, though, that although I love humor and funny people, I do not like actual clowns (they creep me out for some reason), so this was my most uncomfortable experience during my visit. #ClownTraumas

Crazy Clowns! 

Depending on the time of year, you may also hear quetes! I heard them on my first visit in June but not on my second in January. Quetes are connected to town and church festivals and are pretty popular in San Miguel de Allende. But if you’re from a working class barrio, well, you already know quetes. Quetes translate differently for me depending on setting. In Lincoln Heights, for instance, I may maddog neighbors for setting off 4th of July quetes in May, but in Mexico, I will happily suck on roasted elote as I marvel at the hand built (community built) tower of fireworks or castillos de quetes. 

There is so much to share about Casa Vista del Pájaro and San Miguel de Allende! You will have to come and see the giant puppets and experience some of the magic yourself. 

San Miguel Encanta in All Kinds of Ways

Most likely you have already heard about how San Miguel is a city with lots of pegue. Artists, tourists, and many people from other parts of Mexico and other countries (mostly the US) have come to visit, reside, gentrify, and/or retire. Check out going rates for hotels and Airbnb rentals in the area. Not cheap! A little outrageous if you ask me. This is what makes Casa Vista del Pájaro even more unique. It is so affordable! There are many things I usually can’t afford on my lecturer’s salary; but two retreats (within one year’s time) at Casa Vista del Pájaro was something definitely within my means.  Affordability, as mentioned previously, is actually one of the Casitas' main missions—to offer an affordable retreat in a breathtaking place to working-class writers and educators.

Papel Picado of San Miguel de Allende

Speaking of breathtaking, I want to share with you my favorite place in San Miguel de Allende. The main plaza and town have their charm, vendors, and artistic pull, but during my two visits, the place I most frequented and drew continual inspiration from is a botanical garden and nature reserve that is about 10 minutes walking distance from Casa Vista del Pájaro.  I call it Alma and Ken’s backyard, and it is espectacular. 

El Charco del Ingenio…

For a few dollars entrance fee (which supports the garden and reserve) you can stroll alongside lovely mesquites, huizache, huge cacti, and a variety of native plants. 

Camino lined with cacti trees

Flowering Huizache

My heart in San Miguel de Allende

Depending on the time of year, you can either witness the roaring waters of the reserve...

or the dried up earth patches that await the next rains. 

You can peer down a reddish/brownish canyon into one of the last natural springs in the area, where the spirit of El Chan resides. The entire conservation project, El Charco del Ingenio, is named after this natural spring and in honor of its mythical protector. El Chan is said to be an ancient supernatural being/creature from the inframundo / the underworld who dwells in the waters and likes to show its awe-inspiring powers to those who dare to get a little too close. He is like La Llorona, only he does not cry. He snatches, scares, and laughs. I actually got a little too close on my last visit and watched my cell phone fly into the air and tumble down into the mouth of the canyon. El Chan isn’t messing around, y’all. Visiten con respeto y caminen con cuidado. 

Speaking of respeto,  Casa Vista del Pájaro is a home that's been opened up to offer others a temporary creative home. It is a place that asks its guest to be mindful in several ways. Quietness is cherished. No outside visitors or parties. There's Wifi, so you can play music or lo que sea, but keep the volume down. It's a smoke-free / drug free environment, although you can drink your cold chelas or tragitos here and there as long as you're not making baruyo. I did. 

More from the reserve. Isn't it heavenly?

If after reading this blog about Casa Vista del Pájaro you feel inspired to find out more and/or want to plan yourself a retreat, you can contact Alma and Ken directly: cvistadelpajaro@gmail.com

Alma and Ken will forward you more specific information, but for starters, here are the current prices for 2019:

• 1 to 4 day stay: $35.00 USD per night (maximum 2 guests per Casita)

• 5 to 14 day stay:  $30.00 per night (maximum 2 guests per Casita)

• 15 to 1 month stay: $25 per night (maximum 2 guests per Casita)

Tips:

• The sooner you contact Alma and Ken, the better your chance of blocking your ideal dates.

• They will honor chronological order of date requests or first to request will get their dates reserved based on availability.

• Yes you can reserve both Casitas for you and your family/guests, maximum 2 people per Casita.

• If you are not a friend or a friend of a friend, you may be asked for a reference. This is to assure that the space remains focused on servicing educators and working class writers and that the people who visit the Casitas are mindful and trustworthy individuals.

Los dejo with one more fantastic poem by Alma Cervantes who, like El Charco del Ingenio and Las Casitas, is truly a (hidden) gem in our Latinx literary community. This poem is also from Chicana Creativity & Criticism: New Frontiers in American Literature. It was penned 20 years ago, but it still rings true today. It's a humorous reminder of the continuum of bullshit in politics. Damn, can someone please illustrate this poem? Enjoy! 

In My Dreams

“I'm different, pick me, I 
am a new generation the one
all you mexican pickers 
and pissed off chicanas dreamed of.”

What made you voters think 
they would be any different 
than their men?

Now its over
no more notions of gringa politicians
concerned with immigrant rights, 
forget financial aid and
your jefita can die of cancer 
before she gets her federal 
health benefits.

I day dream of catching those cabronas
on a lucha libre basis:

“In this corner, The masked Feinstein
and her partner, Qué Barbara Boxer!!

The challengers: Refugia de Tijuana 
and her sister Furia de Aguas Calientes."

I could see my mom Juana and I
sitting in the front row seats eating
our higado with onion tortas lightly dipped in 
Grey poupon, washing it all down with té de canela

Calm and confident we'll watch the 
skillful hermanas tire their opponents
Guard techniques, Flag waving, and weak promises
of protecting our human rights, until finally, 
Refugia and her sister Furia
apply their famous Reboso Choke Hold, then 
I and my mom will jump over the ropes, 
position ourselves over their face 
a la rancho style when you got to do caca, 
and in unison let out a paralyzing pedo.

The crowd will stand and roar,
it would be another victory for all the
sick and tired abuelas and madres who 
bust their ass to get a little 
food, respect, and English classes!!

Bird's Eye View of San Miguel de Allende from El Charco del Ingenio