Yes, Michoacán!

After Tapalpa, we continued onto the town of Mazamitla by way of this “Ruta Ecoturista” (dirt road) that goes through a beautiful, mountainous forest. It would have been a nice place to camp but we hadn’t prepared ourselves with any supplies, so we carried on to Mazamitla. It was a surprisingly busy town, with this strange white church. We’ve noticed that the air quality isn’t so good in Mexico mostly due to a lot of automobile pollution, and perhaps the altitude of Mazamitla and Tapalpa (and us sleeping in the van) made it more noticeable.

Then we entered Michoacán and tried to spend a lovely evening camping on Lake Camécuaro, which our friends Ana and Juan Pablo had recommended. As soon as we tried to get in, it started hailing. Did I mention it’s colder up in the mountains? We actually have to use all of our blankets to sleep at night, and even socks and sweats for me. The hail was no joke. We were also very disappointed to see that pets were not allowed into the park. But we had to bring Milo in. He keeps our feet warm at night.

We had originally planned to go to Aguas Calientes for Día de Los Muertos, but amoebas slowed us down too much in Guadalajara that we changed gears and headed to Pátzcuaro. We’d heard the town gets very crowded and rowdy, so we were a little reluctant to park our home in the street. Luckily, we found the BEST place in town to stay: Hotel Shanarani. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but this is pretty typical Pátzcuaro. All the blocks are the same dirty white with the same black-and-red lettering, but many of the drab entryways open onto beautiful hidden courtyards and immaculate interiors. We fell in love with the charming garden at the Hotel Shanarani, and even though the hotel was fully booked, they allowed us to park in the garden during our four nights in town, making it the perfect hideaway during the busy week of Día de Los Muertos. They even had outdoor bathrooms and an indoor shower that we could use. Milo, of course, loved the backyard.

The garden was truly a great find. And it’s funny to stay “at” a nice hotel, rather than “in” it. We can have our hot coffee in the cool morning sunshine and plan our day. The entire town of Pátzcuaro seems to turn into a giant market for this busy week. Of course we’ve visited lots of markets, but this one seems to attract vendors from all over, so there is a great diversity in the goods being sold. But mostly this week, everyone in the city seems to be buying marigolds, for Día de Los Muertos. We’d passed fields of them being harvested on the way into town.

Two signs you’ve been wandering about for several weeks: we forgot about Daylight Savings Time until a few days after the fact. Also, my idea of what is okay to wear in public has changed.

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