San Antonio, Mexico's Saint of Romance
by Eleanor S. Morris

Down in the beautiful Colonial city of Morelia in the state of Michoacan, you can wish for your heart's desire, and it may even come true!

The San Miguelito Restaurant here not only serves up such delicious specialties as Filete Pajarito (thinly sliced beef wrapped around mushrooms, fresh cheese and smothered in red pasilla pepper sauce) and Trucha Yucateca (Yucatan style trout served with achiote sauce and red onion), there's a special room set aside just for romantic wish fulfillment.

El Rincon de las Solteranas is a room dedicated to the miraculous Saint Anthony, and highly solicited by lonely hearts fervently wishing for his intervention in order to find the love of their lives. Or having found it, having Saint Anthony make sure it's reciprocated.

More than 250 small statues of Saint Anthony, most of them upside down!, decorate the walls of the room, in which the centerpiece is a larger-than-life statue of the saint, also upside down. The tradition is that you place thirteen coins in the bowl at the entrance to the room. Next, you write down your heart's desire in the book entitled "Petitions, Miracles and Thanksgiving."

Then, you light a candle, say a prayer, and carrying the candle, you circle the large upside-down Saint Anthony in the center of the room thirteen times.

If you should be lucky and get your wish, then you have the honor of turning one of the upside-down Saint Anthonys on the wall right side up!

If nothing else, it's a lot of fun, for both guys and girls. And, the management reports several marriages that have resulted, so who knows, maybe it will work for you?

In addition to Saint Anthony's room, the restaurant is divided into other interesting spaces. The Bar Taurina is a copy of a small bullfight ring, with bullring, barrier, alley and stands. In the dining room, each table is different, with crystal, tableware, chairs and other details all artistic and individual.

The Altar de las Conversacions is a copy of one of the minor altars of the famed church of Santa Prisca in Taxco. It serves as a meeting point where family and friends get together to perform libations with fine wines.

There's also El Salon des Conspiraciones (The Conspiracy Room) for business meetings, civil wedding ceremonies, etc. San Miguelito, restaurant, bar, gallery and museum, gathers crafts from all the states of the Mexican Republic--and says that everything is for sale. Well, almost everything!

San Miguelito, Restaurant and Bazar Galleria Museo, Av. Camelinas contraesquina Centro de Convenciones, Morelia, Michaocan, Mexico. www.sanmiguelito.com.mx.