I just enjoyed my first travel day after a good night sleep. The little town of Patzcuoro has a brightness, lightness and feels animated and fresh. Local folks are active, and busy with their tasks, yet never too busy to offer a smile or a few words.
Sylvene and I walked in the market
which was so huge we had to find an escape route to get to the route with all
the colonial buildings. (what a lovely 2 hour wander)
Ivan read in the cool but sunny
Zocalo. We found our favourite restaurant near our Hotel " Refugio del
Angel" (a refuge for angels like us:). They served the best coffee,
terrific “desayunu” and a great salad with spinach, goat cheese, orange slices
and bacon. Many of the choices were served decoratively with care and we had most
of our meals in this warm little place by the Gran Hotel.
There are few tourists this time of
year as it is very cold and few hotels have heating. We only saw about 8
gringos. During Santa Semana and the warmer seasons many people do visit
Patzcuora. Both Mexicans and Gringos. This is a tough time of year for
sales, and hotels are cheap but freezing! But we saw the town in a very
natural state with Mexicans and Indigenous folk mixed together. Michoacan is so
friendly and pretty, I let go of my brainwashed negative views of that state as
at times it is on the advisory as a place NOT TO VISIT. (due to cartel wars
etc.) But the people are gentle, caring, helpful and we never felt
worried or spooked. Everyone in the market was honest, and in fact the deals
were too cheap. Luckily most things were too big to consider buying. I chose to
photograph things rather than purchaseJ But we all brought
home a few treasures. The clay cookware is practical and aesthetic. Sylvene
found a lovely large pottery baking dish for paella which she managed to fit
into her carry on today, her departure day.
We enjoyed the nearby night markets,
the crafts were different than anything we had seen in other parts of Mexico,
and the ambiance and warmth of the people was delightful. Although the weather
was cloudy, with a view of the lake through the fog, it was great weather for
walking.
We visited Santa Clara del Cobre, the
metal workers town. This town specializes in metal and copper work. The
extensive variety of innovative creations from huge urns to colourful enamel
plates was overwhelming. The town is small with many interesting shops
displaying colourful vases decorated using copper enamel, or plates hammered
with fantastic textures, some of the jewelry was made with a mix of metals (copper,
silver, bronze).
When our eyes were fatigued from
admiring all these very different but beautiful masterpieces, we stopped at an
unpretentious hot soup kiosque. We were served chicken soup by gracious staff,
and enjoyed sitting on a rough bench with the locals and warming up while
sipping this steaming broth accompanied by piles of tortillas.
Four days isn’t long enough to see
everything, but it was great to experience another
town with so much character.
town with so much character.
The winding road through “El Bosque”
the local forest at 7000 ft was pretty for the first two hours when leaving
Patzcuoro but a good part of the journey was on roads with lots of industrial areas producing building
materials.
We are glad to be back in Roca Azul,
enjoying our cozy Casa. I have resumed Spanish lessons and Ivan is doing some
writing. Although this year’s weather is more variable, today was gorgeous. And
any day here is spectacular compared to our long BC rainy wintersJ
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