Pátzcuaro
May 24-30, 2013

It felt good to finally settle in to the sweet Pueblo Magico, Pátzcuaro. Coffee in hand, I spent the first morning exploring the town and searching for a new place to stay. I stumbled upon a super sweet and funky little hotel that was filled with cool art and even cooler architectural details. The owner was a kind and interesting man who was happy to have both myself and Luna as his guests. One night he invited me to join him for pizza dinner. It was my first introduction to the super picante salsa macha. I fell in love with that crispy chile sauce!

Luna and I found an incredible park just three kilometers from El Centro where we could go on a proper dog walk. The El Mirador Estribo Grande is rife with steep hiking trails and sets of stairs, and a beautiful pagoda/mirador overlooking la Laguna Pátzcuaro.

In addition to being a cool old town, it was full of interesting art, restaurants, cafes, a bike shop, and beautiful churches. We dined in one restaurant that had an incredible art exhibit – beautiful and fascinating.

Mexico has an interesting history of settling a number of small towns around a main market town, each town with its own specialty – be it rugs, copperwares, black pottery, baskets, textiles, musical instruments, or an agricultural product such as wheat or corn. On market day the artisans bring their wares to the main market town, in this case Pátzcuaro.

We poked around the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Cathedral of Our Lady of Health). It was built on the Indigenous Purépecha pyramid in the 1500s, commissioned by Bishop Vasco de Quiroga who was known as a benefactor of the indigenous peoples.

I loved wandering the little town, but the truth is, I’m way too curious to sit still and enjoy one place for too long. After just two days of kicking around Pátzcuaro I felt I knew the place and headed off on a couple day trips…