64. Los San Patricios

Four and a half days cycling have brought us through the four states of Morelos, Mexico, Queretaro and Guanajuato, climbing up to 3000 metres as we cycled eastwards around Mexico city, through the colonial cities of Toluca, San Juan del Rio and ending up in San Miguel de Allende, stomping ground of the beat writers in the 40s and now wintering ground for North American retirees.

In the dim light of the main church in San Miguel de Allende, amidst crucified messiahs and flickering candles, San Patricio holds up a shamrock and a steady gaze to the empty pews. How did a plastic puppet of Ireland's patron saint end up in the dry cactus highlands of Mexico's Guanajuato state, surrounded by snakes and a population oblivious to his importance for Irish Christians and publicans?

Well, back in the mid 1840s when many Irish were escaping the famine and heading across to the United States of America, Mexico was preparing to do battle with its northern neighbour after the latter had annexed the territory of Texas in 1845. Many of the recently arrived Irish migrants ended up in the US army, either by choice or coercion, and some of them ended up in units preparing to defend the newly expanded southern frontier with Mexico. Desertion rates from the US army were high, however, and attracted by Mexican offers of better pay and land, the Mexican army saw an influx of foreign fighters, mostly recent European migrants from a Roman Catholic background who perhaps were inspired by common religious ties as well as by chances of economic betterment. As a result of the number of Irishmen who joined, the unit became known as St. Patrick's battalion, revered as heroes in Mexican eyes and depised as traitors by the Americans. As a result of their military experience the unit fought well at key battles, though no doubt they were also motivated by the death sentence they faced if captured as prisoners of war. The victorious US army ultimately got their chance for revenge, however, and General Winfield Scott ordered his men to carry out the hanging of thirty San Patricios at Chapultepc, in view of both the US and Mexican soldiers who had fought there, at the precise moment when the US flag was raised.

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Trip distance  42,122 km