Patzcuaro in Forbes Top Ten Culture Areas

The many attractions of Michoacan, Mexico, have been recognized. Forbes has listed Michoacan in its list of the world's top ten culture capitals. See In Pictures: World's Culture Capitals at forbes.com.

URL: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/15/culture-travel-destinations-forbeslife-cx_ls_0115travel_slide_6.html?thisSpeed=15000

You, too, can live in Patzcuaro, Michoacan.

Folk Art on the Plaza Grande

Parvada de Pájaros (Flock of Birds)

Hand-woven wall hanging

Artesanías Selectas, at Sur - Portal de Guerrero, 21, on the Plaza Vasco de Quiroga in Patzcuaro (Plaza Grande) has a wide selection of beautiful, hand-woven wall hangings with a variety of colors and motifs. They will custom weave a wall hanging from a painting for you, if you want a certain subject or combination of colors.

This particular wall-hanging features a simpático flock of birds.

For birders.

Obama in Patzcuaro

With friends, we watched the historic inauguration of the 44th President of the United States on Telecable, and then all ate a pozole on the back portal, accompanied by hummingbirds.

An Abundance of Good Things

I am thankful.

Live in Patzcuaro.

The Economy in El Norte

Yes, times are tough in El Norte.

Live in Patzcuaro.

The Origin of Lake Patzcuaro and the Egret

Bi-lingual text, based on a Purhepecha legend.

See http://birdpatzcuaro.blogspot.com/2008/11/legend-of-egret.html

Yunuen - An Island of Lake Patzcuaro

We head to Yunuen.

Marigold Madness

These two must have been sniffing them.

Wild orchids everywhere.


The cabins beckon.

Lovely Alicia.

We head home at dusk.

We had long wanted to visit the island of Yunuen, and recently picked a day to go. Serendipitously, we had recently met Alma Arias Navarrete. We discovered that she knows a family on the island and has formed the newly fledged Amigos de Yunuén, to assist the Yunuenses in promoting visits. She invited us to make our visit with her.

We leave Pátzcuaro by car through Tzurumútaro, by-passing Cucuchucho. I love this Purhépecha name meaning place of flowers--the syllables drop out of my mouth like ping-pong balls. Now get ready for oral gymnastics. Just beyond Yucazanáztacua (you will be relieved at "Yucas" for short), we turn lakeward at the Pacanda muelle.

Don Chava is our greeter lakeside, and Ivan, son of Alfredo and Alicia, motor-canoes us over. We meet four generations of Alfredo's family, from his father down to his grandchildren. Many Yunuen dwellers have left the island to find work and the remaining population is small. There are five families left, for a total of some forty-five residents.

The island is neat and orderly, and verdant with vegetation. I see not one dog or cat, but there are children, chickens, and carnitas on the hoof. We romp through an inviting field of pungent-smelling zempasúchitl, the untamed three-foot marigolds that the islanders have cultivated for Night of the Dead.

Alfredo walks us through trees and wild orchids to a high point where five cabins have been built. They stand silent, clean and empty, begging for visitors. They have small bedrooms and neat kitchens, and overlook the placid lake.

We have come in the latter part of the afternoon, to see the fabled egrets return to their rookery as evening approaches. Only Yunuen island hosts these snowy-white birds of Purhépecha legend. Alfredo tells us of large snakes with rings of black, white and red that grow plump on eggs and fallen fledglings. They do not kill the snakes, he says, contrary to what we know to be the practice in most of the pueblos of the area. The snakes are harmless, Alfredo continues. They just wind along through bushes and reeds, looking for breakfast.

We wait for Alfredo to have his usual evening meal consisting primarily of fried fish, hand-made tortillas and fierce chile perón salsa. Alicia is embarrassed and offers us food, but we smile and only accept one tortilla. The family did not know we were coming, and anything we eat will be taken from someone's mouth. Alfredo's father and the families of their sons and daughter, which include spouses and children, gather with Alfredo and Alicia for meals. It looks to us like there is one fish per family member in the pile.

At dusk, we glide over the water, past the egrets, and back to the muelle, as we watch the sun drop down through rosy skies to rest behind Janitzio island.

Yunuen is a tranquil place to visit. We think it suits visitors interested in nature and that it is a good place to bird

(http://birdpatzcuaro.blogspot.com/2008/10/yunuen-island-egret-rookery.html).

Take a photo trip to Yunuén

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyzeye/sets/72157608404149031/)

Live in Pátcuaro, Michoacan. (http://novinger.com/patz-homes.htm)

Patzcuaro: Four-Wheeler for Sale

Here is a good way to go Patzcuareando. Glen is selling (NOW SOLD) his Yamaha Four-Wheeler (su cuatrimoto). It is great to zip around town and easy to park.

Specs: Yamaha YFM250 2005. It cost Pesos $51,500.00 new and has been gently and seldomly used to run errands around the Centro. Price Pesos $35,000, or make offer.

Glen is available to show it this week. Contact glen.novinger {at} gmail (dot) com.

My Patzcuaro Dream Ladder

Last week the Friends of the Library (Biblioteca Federal Pública Gertrudis Bocanegra) in Pátzcuaro held a fund-raising Gala at Susana Santiago's Mistongo Restaurant (the menu includes great Argentine Churrasco Chimichurri and Empanadas de Carne, by the way).

The botanas were delicious, the company good and the music moved the participants to dance.

A plethora of fine raffle prizes were donated. Our guests each won a prize and so did we.

We were lucky enough to share in our guests' seven dozen home-baked, rich cookies from the good kitchen of Donna C., the Cookie Chef. They were so tempting that we got into them before it occurred to me to photograph the lovely presentation. Too late.

The Dream Ladder has history. It is an actual ladder used on a local construction site and Pátzcuaro painter Jean A. enriched it with symbols and artistic motifs. It now adorns on our wall at La Jacaranda. I can clamber up it to a higher plane for sweet dreams.

Dia de la Raza

Something is always happening around the trio of plazas in the centro of Patzcuaro. Yesterday around 6:00 pm there was a parade of balloon-festooned vehicles--which must have included every taxi in town. Lots of horns and people having fun. Of course, it made it impossible to drive into the Centro. We intended to go in by car, rather than walk, for the Gala of the Friends of the Library, because we would be returning home "late" (by our and Patzcuaro norms)--after 8:00 pm. So we took a detour, and parked far enough away from our destination that we should have walked in the first place.

A good time was had by all.

Creepy Crawly

At the Eduardo Ruiz National Park in Uruapan, we saw this interesting caterpillar. The park is full of running water, ferns and lush vegetation. This animalito looks as if it has sprouted its own garden on its back. The coin is about the size of a U.S. nickel.

Chicken Foot Soup: Caldo de Pies

At the Buffet Regional on Avenida Camelinas in Morelia, we dined on a picturesque soup. (The buffet featured many other items, in case this did not strike your fancy.)