Our First Week in Patzcuaro

The back of the house from the garden

With a beautiful garden and 3 fireplaces, we are very comfortable in the house. It is owned by a couple who appreciate the rich variety of local arts and crafts, and the house is full of beautifully-made objects. Dan and Becky Brawner are artists and designers, and their influence shows in every room. We are still finding lovely new things either in the house or in the garden, including many orchids. One of them is blooming now and another will bloom shortly. There are bougainvilleas, lavender, flowering vines and fruit trees throughout the rather modest outdoor space. The gardener is very dedicated and comes every Wednesday and Saturday.

The little devil who greets us

The master bedroom with fireplace and bath are downstairs, separated from the living-dining-kitchen area by an open-air stairway leading up to the office and second bedroom.  One of the fireplaces is in the office, and we spend most of our time there, either reading or using our computers. Unfortunately the fireplace in the living room smokes badly because the chimney is much too tall to draw properly. Despite Judith (pronounced “WHO-Deet”), the maid, laying a nice stack of wood there, we won’t be using it. So we “make do” with the fireplaces in the office and bedroom.

There are more photos of the house here, and some street views of the town here.

The neighborhood is a little noisy during the daytime, but by about 9 or 10 at night it’s very quiet, and our bedroom is in the back anyway. People are friendly and greet us on the street. For 5 pesos apiece we can ride the combi (van-sized bus) up from the center of town, but it’s also just a 10-minute walk. The combi drops us off right in front of the house, so when I come back from the mercado with several kilos of produce I can hop on and get a ride home.

Los Viejitos

Wednesday was the last day of the Festival of Nuestra Senora de la Salud (Our Lady of Health) at the Basilica, so we went down to observe some of the festivities. There were lots of folkloric dancers, including my favorites, Los Viejitos (the little old men). These are young men who dress as old men, complete with old-man masks and canes, and who begin their dance bent over and limping but soon start whirling and jumping and dancing wildly at great speed. They wear wood-soled sandals that clack on the pavement, so it's a form of tap dancing. It's a traditional dance of the area and a real crowd pleaser. They pass the hat after a few dances, and the crowd is usually pretty generous.

We watched as the bishop from Morelia entered the courtyard, blessing the crowd, preceeded by incense and crosses and a bunch of lesser prelates. He had a lovely twinkle in his eye, I must say. Then the procession entered the Basilica, which was jammed. The entire congregation was singing some sort of repetitive chorus, and the sound of all those voices in that grand vaulted space brought tears to my eyes--it was so beautiful. Despite my personal lack of religion, I find the sincere expression of faith very heartwarming, and I see it every day in Mexico. People cross themselves as they pass a church, for instance, or when they encounter a nun or priest on the street.

Buiding the castillo

At the same time the guys outside were setting off volley after volley of cohetes, aerial rockets. You hear a "whoosh" and a couple of seconds later there's a huge "bang," one for each "whoosh," so you count the number of "whooshes" to know what's coming. The bells were ringing madly at the same time, which made for a real auditory experience.

Along one side of the courtyard a group of men were constructing a castillo, a castle made entirely of fireworks that will be set off tonight. I'm not sure if we'll go back into town to see it. (Mark commented that as they were building it one of the guys was smoking...) They construct the fireworks segments ahead of time and then mount them on wood frames with one piece on top that either rotates or shoots upward (or both). As they complete one frame's worth they jack up the entire structure to put another frame underneath. It's a very elaborate but well thought out. We could hear the cohetes from the basilica at the house, and they fired them off all night. Fortunately they don't bother me anymore. I know some folks hate them, but it’s all part of being in Mexico.

Photos from the celebration here.

One thing we've noticed is that the Mexicans are generous with beggars, like old women and handicapped men, and usually give them a peso or two. It's the gringos who are stingy about it, perhaps from years of developing an impassive "city-face.". We tend to give a few pesos when we have change with us. I have a harder time with the children, who should be in school. Mexico has compulsory education up to a certain grade level, but the financial entry requirements are sometimes too high for poor families, and unfortunately there still is resistance to educating children who could be working to help support the family. It takes time for a society to value education the way more prosperous societies do, and I’m confident that Mexico will catch up one of these days.