Patzcuaro – Zihuathyme

It was a good trip toPatzcuaro, but we know we have only scratched the surface of this beautiful town and we will go again. We loved the little 5 table restaurant that was across theGertrudisBocanegra Square from our hotel. We had great interesting breakfasts, and a wonderful trout dinner there. We found both food and hotels to be very budget friendly. I really got to use my limited spanish, sometimes successfully, sometime not so. I became quite good a reading signs, directions, menus and such.

loosely translate the dogs are not of the street but of the people

But this sign was our favorite and I was able to tell the lady so. We had already noticed the street dogs in Patzcuaro didn’t seem” happy”, certainly not friendly, and very wary, quite unlike the street dogs we see in Zihuatanejo. I never saw anyone feed one or offer any kindness. And there is a large number of them.

I loved traveling in the upper deck of the bus, the front window seat is amazing although the fact that double yellow lines on the highway appear to be just a warning or a suggestion that this might not

be the best place to pass because our buss passed anywhere anytime he wanted to and oncoming traffic could just move over what I would normally call the fog line onto the shoulder. I don’t know how many times we were 3 abreast on a 2 lane road. As you board you are handed a “survival pack” your choice of water or bottled fruit drinks, an “empanada” sandwich and earphones for the video console that is directly in front of you that plays music, games or movies of many types. Of course they are all in Spanish. The seats are roomy, they lean back, it’s far more comfortable than the airlines.

the countryside was lovely everything from agricultural crops to avocado orchards to long needled pine trees reminiscent of the California mountains pines. We drove past this prison, I’ve seen a documentary on it and it wasn’t pretty,ours compared to this are resorts. I’m always impressed with how the Mexicans will make do and use what is available. But after driving through 3 other toll plazza that were manned by regular staff was was this on manned by a group of young people behaving rudely and collecting money.

I guess this road work crew ran out of orange cones. I do so enjoy mexico, everyday is an adventure. 2 14 15 Signing off KO

Our double decker bus was fantastic, a little scary in town on tight corners, but this is the only way I want to travel Mexico. And I do want to travel more. It is so much fun, so much amazement and so many “only in Mexico ” moments. We arrived at the bus station in Urupan and had no problem getting a bus to Patzcuaro. But literally it was the “chicken bus” as the folks across from us were traveling with “El gallo” in a box, whom I assume was a fighting cock. But a very well behaved rooster, we never heard a peep out of him. Dramamin, possibly??

We had preselected our hotel LA Parroguia

from a previous visit and thought it was on the main square, but the main square was a block or so away. While we liked the hotel, the young woman at the desk was less than accommodating as she had no patience with my limited spanish. There is no heat in the hotel, but wonderful heavy blankets we found in a drawer that kept us from being to cold. Nights and morings are COLD, daytime very pleasant. We tried to arrange the tour we wanted at the front desk and gave up and went to the tourist office at the main square. Very, very helpful, especially since he spoke perfect english and helped us arrange a tour. The guide we wanted was already booked, But he came and met us at the office and offered us us son and daughter. The son spoke no english, but his sister spoke quite well. We kindly accepted his offer appreciating the excellant customer service. We enjoyed the tour very much, saw a lot even though it wasn’t quite what I anticipated. We saw lots of very ancient churches, towns with very narrow, rough, cobble stone streets,

pyramids dating back to the 8th century, 2 funerals,one rich, one poor. Saw horses and cattle grazing loose, but none of the local craftsmen at work. Missed the pictureof the cart pulled by 2 ox. Nonetheless it was a great day.

Church

I’ve been using my limited spanish a lot here as not many speak english. I do the reading of menus and the ordering of meals for the Senor and myself . I’m a much more adventurous eater than the Senor. He needs to know what is in everything before taking a chance. So far everything I’ve eaten has been an adventure and a good one at that. Can’t wait for dinner.

I’m in a bit of computer hell here, I can only get the tablet to work which won’t let me caption pictures, or move them to the right place so please bear with me

chicken box. Signing off KO

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