Patzcuaro bills itself as one of Mexico's "pueblas magicas" and the description is very appropriate. This town is an absolute treasure. We arrived on Monday afternoon and set up at a very sweet trailer park, which even has a cute little Mexican kitchen where people can cook their meals. We spent Tuesday wandering around the plazas of this historic 17th century town. Its magic comes in part from the architecture and in part from the amazing variety of handicrafts here. There are beautiful stone churches and fountains and an old convent that has been turned into a maze of handicraft stores. Almost all the adobe buildings are painted a cream and deep reddish-brown. It's a lovely place and full of every kind of craft imaginable. From copper to lacquer ware to ceramics, to wood carving, pewter, and basketwork--it's all here. The variety of crafts is because of the work of Bishop Vasco de Quiroga who in the 16th century helped the surrounding villages develop craft specialties. Quiroga is still revered for his work and the descendants of the Tarascan peoples still carry on the craft traditions.
Patzcuaro celebrates Semana Santa in a big way. Not only with fireworks (thankfully farther away than in Villa Corona) but also with dances and a huge handicraft market set up in the main plaza, as well as numerous altars to “our lady of sorrows” complete with Virgin Marys, candles, flowers, fruit, coloured globes and bunting of pink and mauve. Joanna took over 200 photographs in the past two days and a few are posted here.
Today (Wednesday) we took one of the little passenger boats to Isla Janitzio, along with many Mexican families celebrating the holy week. Janitzio is a small rocky island with a huge statue of Morelos at the top. It's big (like Statue of Liberty big) and you can walk right up inside his arm to get a view of the lake and surrounding villages. Harry and I walked up to the viewpoint at the base of the statue but our knees weren't up to the climb into the arm. On the way back we were serenaded by mariachis (two men and a boy) who played some cheery music for us.
Tonight we're going into an art gallery where a show of wood block prints by a local artist is opening. We met the gallery owner yesterday and were invited to the show. Tomorrow we plan to take the bus into Morelia and spend the day exploring its central zocalo area.
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