Patzcuaro

Patzcuaro is neither as imposing a city as Morelia nor as colourfully situated among hills as Guanajuato, but Barb and I are getting to like it more and more as we wander around it. Our hotel is small and well located for walking to the two main plazas, 'grande' and chico'.  Other means of transport we have used are taxis, 'colectivos' ( vans that are colour-coded and take you all over the city for seven pesos) and 'lanchas' ( motor boats of different sizes that take you to the islands in the 'lago de Patzcuaro').  As this is Semana Santa, which, along with The Day of the Dead, is one of the biggest holidays in Patzcuaro, we have attended a mass to celebrate The Last Supper, watched the 'Procesión De Los Cristos' ( images of Christ on the cross or in a casket that are made from a corn stalk paste, some of which are hundreds of years old) and luckily run into the 'Procesion del Silencio' on Saturday night. Either we were lucky or we are starting to run on Mexican time because when the parade didn't come as scheduled, we went on with our dinner. As we were walking back to our hotel, the parade crossed our path. 

Tomorrow morning we will take a bus to Morelia and then another to Guadalajara, where we plan to spend a couple of days before going to Barb's place in La Penita. 

Tarascan women cooking big deformed corn in a molassas-tasting syrup over open wood fires on Thursday night, the celebration of The Last Supper in most of the churches in town. 

Women carrying a statue of Mary in the Thursday parade that reenacted the Stations of the Cross. 

Some young boys looking for excitement as the participants gather outside the Basilica in preparation for Friday night's 'Processión de los Christos'

Members of the Hermandad de los Encapuchados de la Tercera Orden del Templo de San Francisco ( they include women, although the women in the parade were neither hooded nor barefoot), who were the only participants in the parade. 

Some of the few things we've done that have nothing to do with Easter are visit islands in the 'Lago de Patzcuaro'. This is the island of Janitzio which is topped by a gargantuan statue of Morelos. 

This will probably be my last picture of Hidalgo and Morelos. It's a very small part of a mural that covers the inner walls of the statue of Morelos. We climbed up to his wrist from where we had a good view of the lake and surrounding countryside.