Last Weeks in Arocutin

Hepatic Tanager

Yikes! It's almost time to head back to Vermont.  Today is my last full day here.  Not eager to leave this place and my new friends,, but also looking forward to seeing friends and family back home and experiencing a bit of Vermont's winter (having, hopefully, missed the worst of it).  And I'll be in Vermont for spring!

It's been an amazing experience being here for the past 3 months.  Sometimes - like the other evening, when I was eating a delicious dinner, made with the chard I bought from a farmer in her field that day, with a glass of red wine, out on my terrace, looking out over the meadows, the lake and the mountains bathed in late afternoon sunlight - I'm overwhelmed by how lucky I am to be able to live here and in another beautiful home in VT, at a price I can afford on my meager income. Who would've thought it could happen?

View from my terrace

I had taken a lovely walk that afternoon through the farmlands below San Bartolo and San Pedro, two pueblos between here and Patzcuaro. It was quite warm (80 in the shade) and I was mostly in the sun, but a nice breeze kept me comfortable as I enjoyed the views. Lots of vermilion flycatchers catching bugs and farmers tending their crops. A woman was harvesting Swiss chard in a field and I asked if I could buy a some. She offered to give it to me as a gift, but I asked for a price that was good for her and she charged me about 33 cents for a nice big bunch. I also bought oranges, apples and bananas from the back of a truck in San Bartolo and some green beans from a woman across from the church in San Pedro. Less shopping to do at the market the next day!

Janitzio rising from the morning fog on Feb. 21st

I experienced a first on Feb. 19th: in the combi on the way to Santa Clara del Cobre, the driver had the radio tuned to a classical music station!

When I got to Santa Clara, I first went for a walk out of town on a country lane, which wound among fields and forest:

I turned onto a smaller lane which took me up onto the ridge of a small mountain, where I ate a picnic lunch in a meadow with a view of the peak:

Picnic Meadow

 Back in town, I visited the town museum featuring beautiful copper pieces, which are the town's specialty (Cobre, in the town's name, is Spanish for copper):

I've attended quite a few great free concerts here, but on Feb.21st, for a $14 donation,  I went to quite a different musical event:  a wonderful real "chamber concert" for about 40 people in the sala of a lovely, art-filled French-owned inn in Patzcuaro.  A Russian pianist, from the Morelia Symphony, played Haydn, Schubert and Mendelsohn on an 1890 Steinway. At intermission, herbal tea and almond cookies were served in a courtyard filled with sunlight and sculpted hedges. I got to go because Georgia had received an invitation and invited me to accompany her and Fernando.  Thanks, Georgia!

Late afternoon sunlight on Uricho

And the free concerts continue.  Morelia, the capital of Michoacan State, has their annual International Guitar Festival in late February - and it spills over into Patzcuaro. So on the  27th  I attended a wonderful recital on classical guitar by Daiana Ferreira Da Costa from Paraguay. I'm going to miss all these free concerts - but then again, Windham County VT has its share of free or inexpensive concerts.

On Feb. 22nd, I finally got to use my bathing suit! Went with Georgia, Fernando and friends to hot springs south of Uruapan:

Soaking (pic by Georgia)

We drove down into the tierra caliente (hot lands), where it was indeed hot and dry - except that at the springs water flowed everywhere and it was quite lush and tropical. There were many cement pools of varying temperatures - but my favorite was a natural pool in the forest where I could position myself right over the "ojo de agua" for a really hot soak. We went with a local family and I had fun playing in the water with the kids.

Aideliz & Me

Hot temps, refreshing springs, a couple of beers and I was quite laid back. Slept very well that night!

Uruapan, about an hour's drive from Patzcuaro, is not a pretty city - BUT it has the most wonderful park right near the center of the city, in the gorge carved by the Rio Cupatitzio after it bubbles up from the ground right there.  I took a trip there on the 28th.

Young people doing traditional dances added color to the main plaza

The courtyard of probably the oldest building in Uruapan - set to become a museum.

In the gorge the river cascades down under bridges and over waterfalls

Rapids under another bridge

Trout are raised in crystal-clear pools right in the park

And this is the view from where I ate my very-locally-raised trout dinner!

One of the many man-made water features in the park.

From Uruapan I continued on the the pueblo of Angahuan, known for being the base for visits to the Paricutin Volcano, which I believe is the youngest mountain I've ever seen. It's only 5 years older than I am. (As ancient as that is, it's very young for a mountain!)  On Feb. 20th, 1943, a farmer was working in his field when the ground began to shake and cracks appeared, spewing ash and lava. Within a day, a volcano was growing in his field, eventually reaching a height of about 1,320 feet and covering an area of about 20 square kilometers with lava.

This is a pic of an old photograph of the Paricutin volcano erupting in the 40's, shortly before it stopped growing.

 Two villages were completely buried - except for the church towers in the village of San Juan Parangaricutiro. That's where I hiked to from Arangahuan.

Mosaic mural in Angahuan depicting the eruption of the nearby volcano

Church on the plaza in Angahuan

Detail of carving around church door

Cutting trees into this little "shakes" seems to be a major industry in Angahuan. Hundreds were drying in the sun.

I stayed at Cuartos Familiares, on the outskirts of town.  While I was waiting for my dinner in the restaurant there, a bird flew in the door and landed on a bunch of dry corn hanging from the ceiling. It turned out to be a beautiful Painted Redstart:

I wanted to get an early start for my hike in the morning, but the woman in the restaurant said she wouldn't arrive until 8:30 to cook breakfast.  So when I got up in the morning I went for a walk into town.

Angahuan street in early morning light

I definitely couldn't live in this town!  As I walked, at least 5 loudspeakers were blaring what sounded like varying calls to prayer, all at once.  It was a bit amusing on this one morning, but it would drive me crazy to be subjected to that repeatedly!

It is Lent, so maybe that had something to do with it.  In the church courtyard, a group of women were gathered for a procession through town with a crucifix on this Friday morning (maybe that's where the lady cook from the hostal was):

When I got back to the hostal at about 7:50, I was surprised to see that the restaurant was open. The man of the house had taken over the kitchen and fixed me this tasty breakfast of beans, chopped tomato & onion, avacado and quesadillas made with tasty blue-corn tortillas. The coffee, however, left a bit to be desired...

So I was able to get a pretty early start down to the lava field, before the day heated up.  Many cowboys had approached me about renting their horses to get to the volcano - but I was only going as far as the ruined church and wanted to walk.  It was a pleasant, mostly shady walk downhill to the valley where the lava had flowed.

View of the Paricutin Volcano

The church towers that survived (the left one had never been completed). The volcano is in the background.

It's a bit ironic that probably the nicest church tower I've seen in Mexico is on a church destroyed by a volcano.

The front of the church. The big opening is not the entrance - it's the window in the choir loft!

THIS is the top of the huge front entrance - filled with lava.

Near the the church I was pleased to find a lava tube, with hardened lava curling away from its side. Lava tubes are formed when the outside of a lava flow cools and hardens while the inner still-hot lava flows out, leaving a tunnel.

Lava tube

Church towers in the lava field

Trees and flowers are starting to grow in the lava field. In another 500 years it will probably look much like the Mal Pais area in Arocutin that I enjoy exploring.

A while ago a friend, impressed by how wonderful everything seemed here, asked what I found annoying. Here are what I guess are the 3 biggest annoyances for me here:

1) Barking dogs! Especially in the evening, there can be 2,3 or a dozen dogs barking. Luckily I'm comfortable sleeping with ear plugs in.

2) In the shared-van combis (which I use all the time - they pass by every 10 or 15 minutes), people rarely open a window, even when it's 80 out! I try to position myself strategically by a window I can open

3) Trash! A few of the lanes I regularly walk on have piles of trash along them in sections. I try to look off to a nicer view as I pass by.

But all in all, there's not that much here that gets me perturbed. I feel so very lucky to have been able to spend 3 months here - and I'll probably be back!

Janitzio at Sunrise.  I really haven't minded waking up to this view, which I can see from my pillow.