Patzcuaro & Janitzio Island in Michoacan Mexico

Patzcuaro is located outside of Morelia in the state of Michoacan. It was founded sometime in the 1320's and still maintains much of its indigenous and colonial features. For instance, the architecture of the plaza and the church is distinctly Spanish, while the people's houses are mostly made of adobe and/or wood and are decorated by tiled roofs, flowering plants, and herb gardens. During the day, the town center bustles with locals as it serves as the market hub of the region, with smaller villages bringing in their own specialized crafts such as copperware, black pottery, musical instruments, baskets etc. I was also impressed by the mercado's incredible fruit and vegetable selection which was probably the biggest I've seen in Mexico. Quite proudly, Patzcuaro is both a Pueblo Magico of Mexico and one of the 100 Historic World Treasure Cities by the United Nations!!! 


Today, we took a boat to the island of Janitzio which is located in the middle of the brown, soupy Lake Patzcuaro. We were going to paddle board but then thought better of it after considering the horror of falling in (I don't like lakes...Tree keeps telling me that there are some in the world that don't look like big, stagnant stinky puddles, but I'm not sure I believe him). Besides, the boat ride filled with locals and live music was half the fun. (Check the video page to see the boat ride). At the top of the island is a very large but rather unattractive statue of Morelos, a revolutionary hero who still probably haunts the dead artist that made him look more like a stone Pillsbury doughboy than a brave freedom fighter. We climbed to the top, sampled a local tortilla, had a couple beers and then climbed back down. It was good fun. I heard that this island hosts an amazing Dia de Los Muertos celebration which is definitely something to consider in years to come. 

Photo below - Fisherman surrounded the small town as we approached in our boat. They use butterfly nets to catch tiny little white fish, pescado blanco, which they promptly deep fry in the village and serve in paper cups like french fries....

We climbed to the top of the Pillsbury doughboy Statue to scope the view. It was magnificent...

Ready to take on... ummm... the Spanish invaders? 

We got lucky on the boat ride when the guy next to us slipped the band 100 pesos. They played in the back of the boat from then on. (Note, we were the only foreigners on the boat. Matter of fact, we didn't see another gringo on the entire Island).

Yummy, home made tortillas

Now we're off to the butterfly sanctuary. We'll probably be offline for a couple days because we'll be in the mountains, so don't worry. STEVIE