Patzquaro 1 0f 3

 Subject: Patzcuaro 1 of 3

 

Hello,

 

Yep, you read it right.  This is one of three!!!  I couldn't help myself.  Patzcuaro was so cool and I must have taken 500 pictures in the two days we were there.  Anyway, you all know where the delete button is.....

 

It's about 160 or so miles to Patzcuaro, Michoacan from here. Most of the way we traveled on the "quota" (toll) road which is much better highway and way faster than the "libre" (free) road. Now most of you that know me are aware that it takes a lot to scare me but this road did. The drivers here are just nuts!! This highway had a speed limit of 110km (about 70 mph) and it's two lanes with a small shoulder on each side. Not really enough room to pull off entirely but better than most of the free roads that have no shoulder at all..... zip. So, the first picture is one I took showing how traffic is here. And this picture isn't one of the really scary times. During those I'm too scared to do anything but pray!!

 

OK - we made it!  Patzcuaro is really old.  I can't find the little tourist booklet I had on the place (where is that darn thing?) but we were in one place that was built in 1540!  Four hundred years old here is fairly common!  The town has two main squares, one larger called the Vasco de Quiroga and the smaller is the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra.  The two squares are only a couple of blocks apart and all the Iglesia's (churches) and other main historical buildings are within a few blocks of the two squares.  The side streets are narrow and confusing so we parked the BIG truck and walked to the town's center. 

 

After checking at a couple hotels and finding that there was no place to park a vehicle the size of ours, we were fortunate enough to find the tourist bureau. The nice young man gave us a brochure and said that the best place he knew of was the Villa Patzcuaro which is the same place that the smaller RV's use. So we had decided to go there, as per his suggestion, and while walking back to the truck we passed a doorway that opened up into a small and very charming hotel. So we thought, why not at least go ask if they happen to have BIG parking? Well, they did! Amazing because you would never had known it from the side we entered. Parking was huge and free and the room rate was a promotion rate of only 400 pesos a night. That's about $35 US...... cheap. And very nice. There's some photos that will probably show up in Patzcuaro 2 or 3!

 

So we were thrilled to find a home within a five minute walk of the main square because that's where we wanted to be. We got settled and headed out for the square. The booklet we had said that because of the ancient buildings surrounding the plaza, it is considered to be among the most beautiful plazas in the world. The actual central part of the plaza is closed off right now because they are redoing it..... I'll bet it's really something when you can actually walk there among the huge trees and statues.

 

The old lady in the picture is Teresa. She just followed me everywhere asking for money. I think I gave her three pesos. She was funny and kept petting my head like I was a puppy. She had only one tooth as far as I could tell. We made each other laugh. We had an interesting dinner at a place right out on the sidewalk that has long tables where you sit with strangers and everyone gets the same thing. It's a big platter of chicken, enchiladas and lots of vegetables. It was cheap and tasted great.... plus it was entertaining and fun. And, of course, we had Teresa!!

 

In the morning we had breakfast on the sidewalk in the sun, which felt real good since the temperature was cool.  The town is at about 6,500 feet above sea level.  Then we started walking.  The first place we stopped was at "La Casa de los Once Patios" (The House of Eleven Patios) which is a totally interesting place.  It's almost like a maze of, well, patios!  And the local arts and crafts are sold in small shops at every bend.  One of the things that they do in Patzcuaro is make beautiful tableclothes and matching napkins, placemats, etc.  There were lots of looms like the one pictured. 

 

They also sell a lot of copper items here that come from Santa Clara de Cobre about fifteen miles away. Also, many places make furniture and there is a lot of weaving and embroidery..... beautiful stuff. We actually bought a beautiful wool, hum... I'd guess you'd call it a tapestry? Anyway, it's a wall hanging, quite large, that was made by Gabriel who also sold it to us. He said it took five days to make. I wish I'd taken a picture before he wrapped it up. I'll try to remember to do that when we get home in October!! It cost 550 pesos! Less than $50! And it's beautiful! We'd been looking for something to put up on one of our walls - something big. This is perfect.

 

After leaving La Casa de los Once Patios, we walked down a cobblestone street and came to the iglesia called El Sagrario.  This place was built in the 1600's and was amazing.  I took so many photos there, it was hard to choose which ones to include.  It had these huge doors to the sanctuary and then these other gigantic doors that closed over the huge ones!  Mike was super interested in the adobe construction of the walls. 

 

Next we went to the Basilica where there was displays of all sorts of things.  The photos I included were of a toy and another of masks from one of the regions. 

 

I'm going to continue this in another email...... I can only do 15 photos at a time with the program I'm using. Don't ask!

 

More to follow........