Our Lady of Sorrows

Yesterday Friday of Sorrows ushered in Semana Santa, the Holy Week preceding Easter, with a focus on Our Lady of Sorrows. Over the past week Patzcuarenses were busy preparing altars venerating this manifestation of the Virgin Mary. One can see that the faithful suffer strong mental and emotional anguish, to them real and part of their living present,  as they condole with the grief of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores for the pending crucifixion of her Son. This is a time of dolorous observance.

Rest in Peace – Que en Paz Descanse

Mexicans mock death with the unique catrinas, skulls and skeletons so often featured in folk art. These tombstones make a good complement.

(Photographer  unknown)

Live and play in Patzcuaro.

Hiking Cerro Burro

Another good place to hike is Cerro Burro, not far from Pátzcuaro. The steep road will give you a work-out and the views are beautiful.

Hiking Cerro Blanco

Setting out on the east side of Pátzcuaro through a residential neighborhood, many locals like to hike and run on Cerro Blanco. This good hike offers easy access and one can make it long or short.

Hiking Estribo Grande’s Skirt

For this outing, we hiked the falda on the north side of Estribo Grande, which overlooks Lake Pátzcuaro. The trail is not as steep as when we ascend to the two volcano craters, but this is still a hike at fairly high elevation. We start out at 7200 feet in Pátzcuaro.

Enjoy Patzcuaro.
Patzcuareando

Hiking at Lake Zirahuén

We also like to hike around Lake Zirahuén, a distance of some twenty kilometers. Plan about four hours to take some time to enjoy the beautiful setting. We finished up by eating good quesadillas--the flor de calabaza (squash blossom) and cheese quesadillas I found particularly tasty.

Hiking in Ejido Jamuquén

From time to time, leaving from Patzcuaro, we hike in the large Ejido Jamuquén with the required permission of the Comisariado, who likes to accompany us with the Vigilante. One first passes under the cuota to Morelia, to the south of Pátzcuaro. The Vigilante has spent his whole life in these woods, riding and walking, and as a boy hunted for his father’s lost cattle. He entertains us with endless stories and points out landmarks, springs, plants and wildlife. He is a colorful character, part of a passing era.

Passing under the cuota.

Through the bosque.

The ejidatarios' chapel sheltering Nuestra Señora.

Our companions and guide for this trek.

Hiking Estribo Grande

With friends we recently hiked the south side of Estribo Grande, up to the two volcano craters. One can go to the top and, as an alternative route down, descend to the look-out point on the north side and then return on the road. A nice hike, with good views.

¿Como? How?

é ¿ ão ó à

ñ ç ü à

Recently some people asked in an online forum how to type accents in Spanish. For a number of years I have used the Windows United States-International keyboard function to type a number of languages. I find it simple and now use it without thinking.

In Windows 7, go to Control Panel > Region and Language > Change Keyboard and select United States-International. I always see a small rectangular icon with a squiggle on top displayed on my bottom bar, although at some point the icon appeared at the top of my screen for a while. Occasionally my accents stop working (after some update?) and I click that icon and with one more click reset United States-International. It can also be reset through Control Panel, as above. I know I used this function for three years in Vista and I may also have used it in Windows XP.

Pointers:

For an acute accent, press Ctrl Alt ‘ simultaneously, then type vowel = á

• In English, to get ‘ , type ‘ and it will be a “dead stroke” (you will see nothing), hit the space bar because you are not putting a letter under it and you will then see the single quote mark. This is a minor adjustment for English and I find it well worth gaining the multiple language function.


• Press Ctrl-Alt , (the comma) simultaneously = ç


• You can see the ~ and the ` at the top left of the United States physical keyboard. Pressing the key is a dead stroke. Put the appropriate letter under the mark or press the spacebar and you will get only the mark.

This function works for me in all my Microsoft aps as well as online using Gmail, LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc.

Pátzcuaro or Patzcuaro

Musicians in the Making

Plaza Vasco de Quiroga, aka Plaza Grande, bustled this morning with colorful costumes and a student concert.

Walk to Patzcuaro’s Plaza Grande.

Focaccia

My first hand-made focaccia bread. The high altitude (7200 ft) was not a problem. A superb, succulent success. Soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. It looked and smelled so good that I forgot to take a photo before we were well into it. A bonus: it was whole wheat.

Life is Sweet

Yesterday, in the winter month of January, we bought from a nearby roadside vendor 11 lbs of succulent, ripe juicy tangerines for a cost of US $1.70. The two of us will not have any difficulty in consuming them all. Yes, life is sweet.

Incredible edibles.
Patzcuaro is the place.