Janitzio, Mexico

Our bellboy told us places we should see, and Janitzio is one of them. There were these "busvans" (as I called them) that just went all around the city for pennies. So we hopped on one to Lago (Lake) Patzcuaro. From there, we bought a boat ticket to go to the Isla (Island) Janitzio. (I had to steal this photo because for some reason I didn't downsize one of the ones I took).

(Yes, those are houses and people live on this island.)

Janitzio (hah-NEET-zee-oh) is very interesting. We start with the boat ride which is nice and slow across the lake. You can admire all the egrets and I spied a hawk on the lookout atop a skinny tree. The boat takes us all around the lake and comes to a stop. The fishermen show us how they use the butterfly nets to catch the pescado blanco (white fish), and the little fish are fried (called charales) and sold in bags with hot sauce.

The island has famous statue of Jose Maria Morelos, and it was built from 1500 concrete blocks that were brought from Morelia (a larger city east of Patzcuaro). He was a famous hero in the Mexican Independance. You have to hike all the way up the island to the statue. It was quite steep, and filled with vendors selling everything from trinkets to t-shirts to snacks.

So we paid our 6 pesos each (12 pesos was about $1usd) and checked it out. The inside of the statue has a staircase spiraling all the way to his "wrist". All the way up are detailed murals of Mexico's history. No flash photos were allowed, so I didn't take any inside. My vertigo was held at bay while the stairs became very narrow at the top.

After we hiked back down, we didn't see a boat to go back. This was a great opportunity to check out one of the little restaurants and have a beer. There were two burrachos in the back corner at 10am. They were hilarious! He kept changing the radio station to see if we liked the music. There was also a young lady making tortillas and frying them. This is what you usually see at the food vendor spots. Sometimes wood is used, but she had propane. You can see the charales in the cup in the lower right.

Of course the place was decorated for Christmas.

No boats had showed up yet, so we ventured down to the dock. Someone told us the departing boats where at a different dock. Short story long, we made it back across the lago and caught a busvan back to town to have lunch.

Patzcuaro, Mexico

Our taxi driver called the hotel for directions and delivered us safely. We also took his name and phone number for future use. (This is a little foreshadowing...) Here is the Gran Hotel.






Of course the first item on our agenda... find a beer! Success!

Patzcuaro was a busy city! There were many vendors, beggars, cars, taxis, buses, and exhaust. It was also A LOT more chilly than the beach. I didn't need any of my cute tank tops or dresses here. :(

There was a lot of history in Patzcuaro. We filled our first day with as much as we could. We saw the historic theater.

Inside the theater was an old movie projector. The light source was carbon that was lit.

We then walked to the Casa de Once Patios (the House of Eleven Patios). It was really pretty with a lot of shops. I spied this blind fellow playing accordian.

This pretty much filled our day. We had dinner at the restaurant at our hotel. We had an awesome balcony at the end of our hallway. We hung out and took some night pictures while playing with my camera settings.

The adventure continues in the next town over...

Bus Ride to Patzcuaro

Tuesday, December 28 - We saw some awesome scenery on the way to Uruapan. I got to watch "Benjamin Button" in Spanish! HA! Seriously though, there was some pretty scenery.

My favorites parts of this trip were:

1. The driver was texting.
2. He pulled over and stopped the bus to buy lunch at a roadside stand.
3. He was the master of turning a 2 lane road into 3 lanes (even on a bridge).

We arrived in Uruapan with 10 minutes to buy a ticket for a bus to Patzcuaro. In that 10 minutes, Matthew bought two "tortas" (sandwiches). One was potatoes, cheese, and a red sauce, and the other was chicharrones (pig skin) with hot sauce. My potato torta was really good... Matthew couldn't eat his because the fried chicharrones were a little soggy and texturally unpleasant.

Anyhoo... our bus was really headed to the next town of Morelia. So, our stop in Patzcuaro was kind of random. We were literally left on the side of the road. Luckily, Gerado pulled over his taxi to help the gringos. :) Short story long, he took us to the Gran Hotel in downtown Patzcuaro. The adventure continues...

Troncones, Mexico Pt. 2

After Matthew's surfing lesson, he met me at the restaurant (owned by the sister of the oweners of our place). It was Sunday, and a crowd had begun to gather at the water's edge. I had NO idea what was happening. I kind of walked close to check it out, but all I saw was a bunch of kids and two large plastic pans. I walked back to Matthew and said, "I think they might be baptizing kids..." Boy, was I WAY off.

We asked our new friend, Guillermo (the owner's nephew that helped us the first day), "What are they doing on the beach?" He replied, "They are releasing baby sea turtles." Of course I went running with the camera. Soooo cute!

I saw some of the most beautiful sunsets at Troncones.

And Matthew saw some beatiful sunrises. (I never got up that early.)

Tues. Dec. 29 - I was very sad to leave the beach. We took a taxi into Ixtapa (eeks-tap-ah) to catch a bus to Uruapan. The real adventure begins!

Troncones, Mexico Pt. 1

December 24 - After Christmas with the Kings, Matthew and I headed for my sister's house in Charlotte. We stayed up way too late shooting zombies on Wii, but it was a nice little visit before our vacay really got started.

December 25 5:00AM - We get up and dressed. Now, I dress for my destination. I didn't care if it was 40F and raining. I wore my cute new dress and Chacos. At the Charlotte airport AND our connection in Houston... I had to walk out on the tarmac. BRRRR! But I was LOVIN' it when we landing in Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico!!!!!

We found a taxi to take us to Zihuatanejo (zee-wah-tah-nay-ho). It it a tourist town, and there is even a Carnival Cruise port there. We found a yummy lunch and a couple of beers. YAY!

We continued our trip to Playa Troncones. We drove up the road, but our driver did not know Casa Troncones. We drove by it, I recognized it, but we weren't sure. So our driver went back to one of the restaurants and asked someone. He hadn't heard of it either, but Matthew knew the owner's name. The guy recognized the name and said he would call. It turns out this guy is the owner's nephew. (Small town!) Here is Casa Troncones.

This was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The waves were INCREDIBLE!

We found this beach through searching for good surfing spots. Matthew did take a couple of surfing lessons. I was so impressed with how well he did! I would LOVE to try it, but I am a horrible swimmer. I'm better on the beach and reading.

Much Posting...

Matthew and I had a wonderful vacation together. It has been so very long since we've vacationed together. Our trip to Mexico was quite the adventure, and I will have many, many posts coming soon accompanied by many, many pics. Meanwhile, I have been thrust directly back into the working world and musical rehearsals. Until I can tell my adventures in Mexico, I will leave you with this pic. A hammock at the beach is the best!

Frustration!

Yeah, I know, it's the most wonderful time of year... yaddah yaddah yaddah... While the snow sure it pretty, it sure is a bit of a burden. I LOVE my house and it's location, but it's not a ton of fun hiking in the snow a 1/2 mile.

To top it all off, the Christmas shopping needed finishing. Matthew did manage to take me on Sunday, and then yesterday I left him at work and ventured out... along with the other 1,000s of people who needed to fninsh their shopping, too.

Today, I successfully rescued my little truck. I needed to get back out there to get a few more gifts. The ride to town was bumper to bumper, but I expected that. I did get a sweet parking spot close to the first store.

The next spot was a little nerve wracking to exit. A lady saw that I was backing up, so she backed up to take my spot. I'm trying to back up and not hit her, someone else decided to back up at the sametime. I don't have a little car that can turn on a dime, so I needed to pull foward into the "other" lane and the lady makes a beeline for the other spot almost hitting me! CRAZY!!!

OK. So I make it home... well, to the driveway, at least. I'm debating on how far I want to try to go. I don't have 4-wheel drive, which limits my choices. As I'm about to gun it for my last spot, the neighbor is coming up the driveway. She can't go anywhere. I had to back out of the driveway and into the church drive across the street.

After parking it in the old spot, I begin the hike up to the house with a 12 pack and a honeybaked turkey + 2 jars of chutney. I guess it's good training for our trip to Mexico. :)

See that? I managed a smile. I can find the bright side... OK. No more whining! (Unless I can wine... beer works, too!) Christmas shopping is finished, mom & dad are on their way to visit and spend the night, and tomorrow we celebrate with the King family. Then tomorrow night (YIKES!) we'll drive to Charlotte to spend the night.... You won't hear from me again until after January 4! Unbelievable! Sorry I had to vent, there are SO many positive things that outweigh any of the above.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!