Equipale seating is pretty comfortable

The EQUIPALE,  the traditional Mexican barrel chair,  is extremely comfortable. Pronounced, eck-u-pali, you can find these in private homes and many restaurants around San Miguel de Allende.  The frame is made out of a Mexican cedar, estaca, and tanned pigskin.  Equiplae is the Indian Nahuatl word, Icapalli, meaning "chair for the gods" and it was used by the Aztec higher class society long before the Spaniards arrived to the new world.

I have seen Equiplae painted before but in a rather corny way; howling coyotes, pastel  colors....  The chair above is painted so beautifully with its black ground and hot pink rosebuds.  It could almost glow in the dark.  But what a statement.

This particular Equipale chair was painted in a traditional Mexican pattern and is in the patio of Posada de Las Minas in Mineral de Pozos, an hour drive from San Miguel de Allende.

That artistic route the artists of Mexico seem to take never ceases to amaze me.

There are a few stores in San Miguel that sell good Equipale.

Artes de Mexico at Calzada de la Aurora 47 and Icpalli at Correo 43.