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!