Exploring the Area

White Pelican in the wetlands in front of the casita

I had trouble finishing that last post, so I published it and will continue here:

I was delighted on Friday to figure out a way to walk to Eronga via back roads, so I don't have to walk very far along the busy paved road that goes around the lake.  It was a nice breezy day and a kite was flying over the village of Uricho:

Saturday I went in to Patzcuaro.  I did some shopping at Don Chucho's great little family-run store that my neighbor Frances told me about.  I was able to buy roasted peanuts, raisins, pecans and little chocolate chips in bulk.  I then took a combi up to the center of town and wandered through the International Beer Festival - but all I sampled was a little Mezcal - my first - tasty and strong!

Around the corner from the festival I had a great vegetarian pizza with a cerveza Negra at Pizza Mandala, then hung around enjoying the ambiance of one of the courtyards of the House of 11 Patios to pass the time before heading to a free concert at the former Jesuit College.  Turns out I needn't have waited.  The Rock Sinfonia - an intriguing idea of playing rock songs on classical instruments - was pretty amateurish and painful to sit through, so I left after only 2 songs.  Ah, well - you can't win them all!

Anyway, I was rather anxious to get going because I had heard varying reports about when the last combi left Patzcuaro for Arocutin;  most people seemed to think the last one left at about 8:00 but they weren't at all sure.  I caught one about 7:30 and was glad to hear from the driver that the last one leaves La Estacion at a little after 9:00 - which makes it easier for me to attend some evening events in Patzcuaro without having to take a taxi home.

When I did get home, I was very happy to execute a successful experiment.  I had been unable to find natural peanut butter (just ground peanuts) in the area.  But I was able to turn the unsalted roasted peanuts I bought this afternoon into peanut butter - in the blender!  Yahoo!  I celebrated by having a slice of bread with peanut butter and chocolate chips - one of my favorite combinations.

Yesterday (Yup - I'm finally getting to the end of this post) I went for a great hike with my neighbor Frances to some petroglyphs in the area.  We met up with her friends Erica and Kiko (Francisco) and walked out the same trails I had hiked last Thursday - I had walked within a couple hundred feet of the petroglyphs but had had no idea that they were there.  There were quite a few; here's a sampling:

Winged Figure

Face - with hair on end!

Tall Figure

Spirals.  There were lots of spirals.

No one seems to be sure just when they date from or what they mean - but they were impressive.

It was fun to hike and chat with Fraances,  Erica and Kiko.  Conversation was mostly in Spanish, much of which I didn't understand, but it was good to practice and listen - I need to get better at it!  At times, though, I did feel the need to tune out and give my brain a rest.

Happy Hikers - Erica, Kiko and Frances

 I hadn't seen any wild mammals here besides squirrels, though I did hear coyotes one afternoon.  So I was surprised and pleased to see a long-tailed weasel run across the trail as we were walking back from the petroglyphs.  It was too fast to get a pic, but here's what they look like (thank you, whoever posted this on the internet):

And finally, here are a few more pics of  lovely birds I've been seeing here. many of them taken right from my terrace:

Black-Headed Grosbeak

Hummingbird

Hoded Oriole