November 18, 2023. Tzintzuntzan

 November 18, 2023. Tzintzuntzan

We had heard that, on Saturday, there was a big market in Tzintzuntzan, which is another small village near Patzcuaro. We hopped onto a cambio and were whisked away to this very sleepy village….. 

…but not really a market town at all. There was an artisan market of sorts so we perused that a bit.

We walked down the street but the only thing we saw were stray dogs. Michele loves dogs. She stopped to talk to just about every dog she saw wherever we were. In Tzintzuntzan, she even bought a handful of dog food for the poor street dog. Not my thing but compassion is good to see in any form. Just sayin….

About the time we decided to leave, we discovered Iglesia de Francisco de Assis. This is a compound of former churches and a convent from the 16th century. We were lucky to spend a few minutes with a guide who explained the history to us. Back in 1525, the first Franciscan missionaries arrived in Tzintzuntzan to evangelize the Purepechans. At that time, Tzintzuntzan was the capital of the Purepechan nation. Can you imagine!?!—about 100 years before the arrival of the first pilgrims to America, a mission was being built in Michoacán Mexico. Here are some photos…

Whenever we perused a market or shop, Michele looked for some colorful ceramic birds for a mobile that she plans to put together. Birds were hard to find. We saw frogs and skulls and pigs—lots of pigs, —but no birds.

UNTIL!!! we were leaving the mission compound. Michele found some birds. (Meh!)

Today’s entry wouldn’t be complete without a word about Mexican public toilets. They are everywhere. Most of the time, one must pay between 5 and 8 pesos (30-50 cents) to use the “sanitario.” When one pays, one is handed a wad of toilet paper. At these public places, one must remember to put one’s used TP into the trash can. One must not flush it or one will have to serve the consequences. AND, oh lawdy! just pray your “one” doesn’t have to do #2.

Although at most places, one can get an adequate flush, at other places, one must remember to take in a bucket of water to help it along. ‘Nuff said.

After visiting the mission, we grabbed a bite to eat from a street vendor and went to the little park to enjoy it.

Then we decided to return to Patzcuaro….where…

We decided that it would be fun to get something to drink, so we stopped at a coffee shop. I’m not sure I can fully explain what happened at this coffee shop. A young man showed us to a lovely table on a terrace. I ordered first, Mexican hot chocolate. Michele ordered next, a mocha. Finally, Terry ordered a cup of coffee. The young man said to Terry, something like “Is that all you want to order?” and Terry said “Si.” After a reasonable amount of time, the young man brought Terry her coffee. Then we waited and waited and WAITED! I saw the young man sitting by the entrance so I called him up to us. We asked him, “Where is our order?” He seemed confused and asked Terry if she wanted another cup of coffee? “No,” we all said. “Where is our chocolate?” The young man was even more confused and said, ……wait for it……”Chocolate comes from Venezuela.”  Oh, lordy!  Collectively, there is no way that our Spanish could possibly be that bad. Terry lives in Mexico, for goodness sakes. I’m not really sure how we straightened him out but after a few minutes, he brought my hot chocolate.

Eventually he did bring Michele’s mocha and …a good time was had by all????  (Except for the young man.)

November 17, 2023. Patzcuaro, Part 2

 November 17 Patzcuaro Part 2

First, I’ll show you some random photos of our time in Patzcuaro.

Museum of Arts and Crafts

On Friday, we went to a wonderful museum —Museum of Arts and Crafts— which featured the indigenous people, the Purepecha. They were the most prevalent and most successful and most prosperous when the Spaniards came. Instead of trying to wipe out the native populations, in general, the Spaniards subjugated the people by “re-educating” them and making them servants. Here are a couple of photos. One shows the kinds of jobs that they were trained in—agriculture and fishing mostly. The other shows an inventory of goods and servants. (These are from the 1500s!)

This is a photo of a piece of artwork made entirely of feathers!!! The Purepecha created innovative ways to do art with natural things like feathers and corn stalks and guava juice.

Their temples tended to be roundish with terraces. This hut at the top is a true replica.

We saw lots of other things related to the Spaniard lifestyle as well but I don’t have photos of that. Sorry. Sometimes I get carried away and sometimes I don’t.

Cemeteries

One of our adventures involved a cemetery adventure…or two. I love cemeteries in any country; especially the old ones. We walked to this one. It’s interesting because in some ways it looks like a little village with little houses and buildings and stone slabs. The graves of poor people are just mounds.

On Google maps, we saw that there was also a pet cemetery in Patzcuala. We decided to wander over there. We took a route through streets we hadn’t been on before. It took us through ordinary neighborhoods with very clean streets and typical houses. We climbed up stairs and down streets and across little canals and saw a typical Mexican neighborhood. (Notice I said UP and DOWN.)

At one point, when we were so very tired of hills, we happened upon a little Paleteria which turned out to be a room inside of a house with 3 chairs, a rack of snacks and a freezer of popsicles of many varieties. It was such a perfect moment to sit with this young woman, eat a cold treat and talk about homeless people. Yes, this was our first conversation about homelessness in Mexico. I asked “Where are the homeless people?” 

Occasionally we see a beggar on the street but we don’t see tents or shacks of people camped along the roads or in the streets. We don’t even see anyone lying on the streets. We see a few individuals who are mostly disabled—no legs, blind, and I think I saw one crazy man talking to his demons but generally no homeless people. Everyone appears to be working or doing something.  OK. OK. I digress. Back to the young lady in the treat shop.

At first, she didn’t understand the question. (My Spanish isn’t all that great.) She said something like… “when someone can’t live in their house, they live with family.” Her mother, for example, moved in with her family. When we, the three of us, re-explained the question, she told us that they live on the edge of town so we don’t see them. If they are in town, the police tell them to move on. Hmmm. 

After more conversation, we left the store. Here’s a photo of the woman in the doorway of her home / Papeteria.

We continued on our way through the hills of Patzcuaro. 

By the time we got back to a main road…

…we really needed to find el baño. We stopped at a gas station and in the office, the attendant unlocked the door to the women’s room. We entered, did our business, then discovered that we were locked in. Waaaaah! We banged and banged on the door until someone came to let us o-u-t. They we were laughing. We were laughing and we moved on to the “pet cemetery”

When we arrived at the “pet cemetery” (according to Google), my first reaction was that it looked much like the people cemetery on the other side of town. I thought that people’s pets must be pretty big because the graves were large. 

Then we noticed that most of the “pets” were over 50 years old. Ahhh shucks! We were in another people cemetery. There is no “pet cemetery” in Patzcuaro. If you ever go to Patzcuaro, don’t be fooled by Google. 

Back in the square of central Patzcuaro, we decided to try out a fancy schmancy restaurant which appeared to have authentic dishes.