WOW, what a wonderful trip!!! Where do I even begin??? We headed out on Tuesday morning early as we had decided we would make the drive in 1 day, 9 hours to Patzcuaro. As we headed away from the coast, the climate became cooler and dryer. Our destination was in the mountains in the interior part of the Mexico state of Michoacan.
Within just a couple hours of driving the hillsides were covered in lava rock and there were cinder cones visible everywhere.
We passed the city of Tequila......field after field of Blue Agave....
We used the Periferico (peripheral road) to drive around Guadalajara.....didn't want to get into the big city traffic.........SOOO different from the states.......you are lucky to get 1 sign telling you where to get on and get off the highway, so you better be paying attention and you better know where you are going before you even start off on your journey!!! a lot of these roads have no shoulder to pull off and turn arounds are non-existent......If you miss a turn or an off-ramp, you are gonna be stuck for awhile.......And I thought driving in Southern California was bad......NOPE!!!!!
Once thru Gadalajara we could breathe a little easier.........we were about half way......we stayed on the cuota roads (the toll roads) so not many little towns to see.....then onto the last stretch into Patzcuaro.
I thought it was very neat that all the buildings throughout this whole town look exactly the same.....from the outside. As you drove up and down the tiny streets, the buildings are all brownish red on the bottom and white on the top with the name of the business written above the doorway, all in the same script. Behind every door is either someones house or a business or both. What you find behind the doors can be as different as night and day...
We decided to stay at La Casa Encantada, recommended by some friends. This is what awaited us behind those BIG SOLID wood doors.......
The Front Patio
The kitchen.....Oy My!!!!! Beautiful!!!
The back patio
The first day we found outselves wanting to get some exercize so we decided to walk the 3.5km up to a lookout point called El Estribo. There were incredible views of the town and the lake.
Once we were at the lookout point, we decided to head up the stairs........even higher!!! There were 417 steps....WE COUNTED THEM!!!!
The views were cut off by trees at the very top, but it was quite amazing to realize how long ago these steps were built.
Once we got back into town, we decided to check out some of the wonderful old buildings. This is a mural at the back of the biblioteca (library). It gives the history of the town. Absolutely Beautiful!!!
A little bit of history about this area:
Patzcuaro was the capital of the Tarasco people from about 1325AD to 1400. After the death of the king (Tariacuri) the state became a three-part league comprising Patzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan and Ihuatzio. The league was friendly to the Spanish at first, but then they were taken over in 1529 by Nuno Guzman , a conquistator of legendary cruelty. He was soo inhumane to the indigenous people that he was sent back to Spain to be punished for his crimes and the Catholic Church and colonial government sent Bishop Vasco de Quiroga to clean up the mess. Quiroga established and pioneered village cooperatives to avoid dependence of Spanish mining lords and landowners. He successfully encouraged education and helped each village develop its own craft specialty. Those craft tradtions continue to this day.
A couple of the crafts still made in the town of Patzcuaro are finely painted lacquered boxes, tables and other wooden pieces. There are also alot of hand loomed fabric tablecloths, napkins, curtains, etc. There are some copper pieces made here as well, but the town of Santa Clara del Cobre is the main town to go to for copper ware.
The Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Salud
This building is awesome....no picture can do it justice......The ceilings inside were incredible.....
This is part of the Templo de la Compania. This temple is from the 16th century......
Amazing!!!
Inside one of the courtyards....classes were being taught in 2 of the rooms...
All through the town the walkways are made with pieces of lava rock.
I could go on forever about this great town. We were only here for 2 full days, but I could easily stay for 2 months and still not see it all.
We headed out to see a couple of the surrounding towns.
Santa Clara del Cobre
A copper mining town since 1553.
We met Elisa who owns a gallery here and she introduced us to Caesar, one of the artisans who works with copper. He showed us how they start with a lump of copper and form it into different pieces like bowls, pitchers, sinks, etc. It was amazing to watch him and you can definitely see the talent that is required to make these beautiful pieces. We saw a mask on the wall that we really liked and then found out it was one of Caesars pieces. He was working on them in another room. We were able to go into his workshop to watch him and we bought one of his masks..... soo cool
This is Caesar with "Wilson" - they named him
Caesar is unraveling his hair.....he is packed away for now, but I will post a better picture later.....you get the idea.......
The gallery owner was excited to be able to say they have a Wilson'' in California... hee hee
We headed to Tzintzuntzan -(pronounced Tseen-tzoon-tsahn) to see the archiological site and some of the ceramics, stone carvings and straw goods that are made here.
Tzintzuntzan is a Purepecha name meaning "Place of Hummingbirds".......I was so hoping to find a hummingbird here.
We had no idea this was a holiday weekend, and we found most of the stores and buildings closed. We did get to see the archilological site which was amazing in itself. They are in the process of restoring it, but it is going to take a long time!!!!
We took a stroll thru the grounds of the Ex-Convento de San Francisco.
This building was constructed party with the stones from the archiological site.....which helped in its destruction......around the grounds of this churchyard are olive trees that are said to have come from Spain and planted by Vasco de Quiroga. They are believed to be the oldest olive trees in the Americas.
I saw this beautiful red bird flying around, and kept trying to get a picture..... the photo isn't good, but you can see his gorgeous color!!!
Since the town was celebrating, we were not able to see much else so we headed back to Patzcuaro.
On Thursday we were heading towards home and wanted to check out Uruapan. (pronounced: oo-roo-ah-pahn). This region is known for its avocados. A funny article in one of the travel books is that the word avocado comes from "ahuacatl" which is the Nahuatl word for testicle.....The fruit do hang down in pairs and the aztec considered them to have an aphrodisiac quality and would ban young women from strolling outdoors when avocados were being harvested!!!! Hee hee
Uruapan is known for it hand painted lacquered boxes and trays and there is an old textile factory that used to make bedspreads, tablecloths, curtains etc. It is in disrepair now, but there are still some artisans working in an old building out back that seem to be trying to keep the art alive.
When we left the mill we drove over to Parque Nacional Barranca Del Cupatitzio. This is a beautiful park with the Rio (river) Cupatitzio running thru it. The river starts at the north end of the park, from an underground spring. Legend has it that the devil knelt here and left the mark of his knee. That is where the water begins. There are lots of waterfalls and the plants are soo lush and tropical. There are many species of plants, birds, insects, etc that make this park their home. You could easily spend an entire day wandering thru all the cobbled paths in this piece of paradise!!!
We stayed for only a few hours and then headed to Paracho. This little town in known for its guitars. There are many, many artisans making all kinds of guitars and other string instruments. We got to talk with a couple of them and see their works. BEAUTIFUL!!!!! We didn't stay here long as again, it was a holiday, so not many shops open.
Onward to Zamora. This was not really a destination that we had planned on, but we wanted to get a little closer to home so the drive the next day wouldn't be quite so long. Zamora is knows for it's Strawberries and Potatoes. It is quite a large city. We made our way in and found a room for the night and then went wandering to see what we could find. A beautiful cathedral!!!!
Catedral Inconclusa.......with the most gorgeous stained glass I have ever seen!!!!!
All lit up at night.....again the picture does not do it justice.
We wandered around a bit after finding something to eat and ran into this great plaza with another church.
I love all the plazas in Mexico..... such nice, quiet places to hang out and just rest and be at peace. We do not have anything like this at home. I will miss this.......
Back on the road early the next morning..... found this great road side restaurant to get some breakfast.
They made us Huevos Rancheros that were soo yummy..... I ordered coffee with milk and sugar and they had to send one of the kids across the street to a little abarrote (store) to get some milk.......you wouldn't find that kind of service in the states!!!! They were a great family!!!!
Now with tummys full, we were ready for the 6 hour drive back to Lo de Marcos........
As much as I loved the trip I was very glad to be back on the beach in warmer weather. I hope to be able to spend time in that area again some day.
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