Picture potpourri

March 14, 2012

Lots to take in this day.  After our visit to the lost church, we took back roads through mountain villages and experienced a sense of being far removed from the modern world.

 

This outdoor oven in Angahuan looks as if it is still in use.

The cool boys outside the school high-fived me as we drove by.  Just a few kilometers down the road, this church and the women sitting outside could have been from a different century.

 The baskets and metates in the market opposite the church were outnumbered by the  stalls selling running shoes  and pirated  CDs and videos.

Cemeteries are nothing like home.  Monuments and mini-chapels are standard.  The dead are greatly revered and families spare no expense to honour them.  

The church that was swallowed by a volcano

March 14, 2012
Mexico is covered with mountains whose distinctive shape reveals their volcanic origin. Some of them have been dormant for eons while others still smoulder.

In 1943 the Paricutin volcano erupted in an agricultural region north of Uruapan.  The progression of the lava was slow, but over the next two years the villages of  San Juan Parangaricutiro and San Salvador Paricutín eventually had to be abandoned.  Visitors today travel to tiny Angahuan, which was saved due to its location high above the valley where the lava flowed.  From there it is possible to reach the lava fields on foot or on horseback.

The church at centre is our destination.

It was an easy downhill hike through a network of paths and unpaved roads, leading us through woods and past wildflowers.  As the route levelled out we encountered the hard black lava.  Soon the one remaining church steeple could be seen standing proud. 

Access was via primitive paths worn in the lava.  We climbed all around this extraordinary site.

The main altar was spared.  Each day fresh flowers appear and there are often small offerings and messages left at the base.
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In some areas, flowers and shrubs are starting to take over.

We've admired dozens of beautiful, well-maintained churches all over Mexico.  None of our other visits was quite as moving as the experience of climbing through these ruins.









For more information on the lost San Juan church, see
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1116-paricut%C3%ADn-the-volcano-michoac%C3%A1n

Weddings everywhere

March 10, 2012

The basilica was ready for a wedding and as we ate lunch a little cafe on the square I hoped the wedding party might pass by.  I was caught off-guard when two petite flower girls emerged from inside the restaurant and were guided to a different church down the hill.

Soon it became clear that the more prestigious wedding of the day was not at the basilica but at the yellow church (whose name I never learned).  Elegantly clad guests arrived by taxi or struggled to find a parking space.  A few paused for refreshments along the way.  Another indication of the importance of this event was the unsettling presence of trucks of armed soldiers stationed outside.  A shopkeeper told us it was rumoured that the governor of Jalisco state was attending. There had been a violent act by drug cartel members in Guadalajara the day before; hence, the high security.  I mention this episode due to its rarity, contrary to the media image of Mexico as a place where one is constantly confronted by the threat of violence.  We didn't want to be obvious in photographing the soldiers (is there a protocol?), so Jim took a picture of me with the military pickup at left.

At the Plaza Grande, another wedding party was taking photos.

Across the plaza, the traditional Danza de Viejitos, Dance of the Old Men.  The group included individuals ranging in age from pre-schoolers to genuine old guys.  

Yet another wedding party (all this was just one day) came from another ancient church as we moved through town.  

This was a day of near misses.  Four weddings and not a single good picture.  I kept waiting for the bride to appear and join the woman in a deep turquoise gown, whom I thought must be the bridesmaid.  Wrong!  It was the bride herself and she eventually folded her full skirts into the front seat of a sub-compact car.  Her attendants and other guests piled into the back of a pickup whose colour was perfectly coordinated with the bridal gown. 

The only shot I like of this wedding is the groom and company in a black pickup that matched their tuxedos. 

The Patzcuaro Basilica

March 10, 2012


We set out to amend a great oversight.  In previous visits to Patzcuaro we had missed the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Our Lady of Health).  This is a country where it's possible to become blasé about seeing yet another 16th century church, but we try not to give in.  

The exterior, showing 19th century updates

The church was built by Vasco de Quiroga, a Spanish lawyer and judge who became the first bishop of Michoacan.  His vision was the organization of indigenous people in a manner based on Thomas Moore's Utopia.  He promoted the organization of small towns, each of which specialized in the production of a different craft, and operating on cooperative principles. The craft specialization exists to this day, so that you can visit the copper town, the pottery town, the woodcarving village and so on.

 The church was filled with fresh flowers in preparation for a wedding.

The church yard was crowded with craft stalls and its plaza was ringed by small shops selling locally made goods.

Patzcuaro is a great places to buy textiles - and we did.

I bought a sweater from this woman for about $15.

Morelia Part 2

March 8 is International Women's Day and there was a special mercado (market) and other activities to mark the event.

We had lunch at a restaurant in the arcades that surround the central plaza.

Got a glimpse of the university's magnificent library.

We were attracted by Las Rosas, a music conservatory, temple (church) and garden.  The Domincan sisters established the complex in the mid-1700s as a convent school for girls.  

Not having done our homework, we almost walked away after viewing the conservatory without visiting the church.  What a loss that would have been!  When we stepped inside it literally took our breath away.  Three sides of the church consist of gold altarpieces.

The church entrance is at the side.  The rear of the chapel has a gold grill that was used to separate the nuns and their students from the rest of the congregation. 

Morelia Part 1

Our Lonely Planet Guide describes Morelia as "the coolest city you've never heard of".  I wouldn't doubt that. One thing it lacks is an RV park, so we took the bus from Patzcuaro.  RVs are not meant to travel through this city of about 600,000.  We once drove straight through, including the downtown, with the dubious assistance of our GPS.  It was not a happy adventure, but the 500-year-old architecture was so appealing we resolved to return deliberately some day.

The largest attraction downtown is the catedral (Spanish spelling) and it's a stunner.  It took over 100 years to build and saw a few changes in architectural design along the way.

Not well focused but look at that marble floor.

I worry about the confessionals.  Do you really kneel there, out in the open, and tell your sins to the priest who is safely ensconced in his cubicle?

We saw many churches in Morelia!

Altar draped in Lenten purple.

Moving along

Sadly, it's still only the two of us.  We were offered a life companion to take with us and it was hard to say no.  Air Canada helped the decision by declining to allow a pet on our flight.

On our way to Patzcuaro we drove through an area that specializes in brick-making.  You can see both the quarries and the stacks of finished bricks in the yards.

This scene could be Canada in October -- see how the leaves have turned colour and are dropping.

Before reaching Patzcuaro we stopped at the famous craft markets of Quiroga.

This small chapel offered a cool break from the heat.  Note the unusual ceiling artwork.