If you’re fascinated by any sort of archaeology or anthropology, come to Mexico.  There are so many fun options for experiencing history here.  This time, for us, it was the Tzintzuntzan (good luck) Archaeological Zone, just off Lake Pátzcuaro.  Instead of driving directly from Morelia to the town of Pátzcuaro, we took a detour to see the site.  I won’t begin to do history justice by trying to explain further, but you can read more here, and it is worth a read in my opinion.  The short story is that it was still an inhabited site when the Spaniards arrived.  The emperor surrendered to the Spanish and the mix of cultures even managed to co-exist for some time until the Spanish burned the emperor at the stake anyway.  The population of the site slowly declined thereafter.

We had a beautiful, sunny day to leisurely walk around on our own.  Next time we’ll pack a picnic lunch, a blanket for a nap, and stay a few hours.

Many artifacts were uncovered at the site, including decorated stones, sculptures, pottery, and even metal tools for farming, cooking, & sewing.

-Ryan

Our last full day in Morelia was a rainy one, but we took a shot at the zoo anyway.  It was a wonderful zoo, even in the rain!

I’m torn on zoos.  It breaks my heart to see beautiful birds with nowhere to fly, huge elephants with hardly any space to roam, and polar bears with not much more than a pool for a home.  On the other hand, if it weren’t for zoos, I’d likely have much less appreciation for these gorgeous animals.  Seeing them in person makes me start thinking about what a beautiful earth we get to live on, which then leads me to think about how I can do my part to protect it.  Maybe enough people have this same experience that it’s worth the cause of awareness to keep the animals confined for our viewing pleasure.  I don’t know for sure.

The polar bear was a show-off!  She was having fun interacting with the visitors.

-Ryan

The main reason we left for Michoacán was to visit the monarch butterfly reserve.  Every winter, monarchs from east of the Rocky Mountains travel to Mexico on a months-long journey from Canada.  The science of all this is largely still a mystery.  The butterflies heading to Mexico have never been there; they were born up north.  Even their parents weren’t ever in Mexico.  The journey north in the spring and occupation of the US & Canada is done multiple generations before the generation that travels to Mexico in the fall.

We traveled a little over two hours by car to the east of Morelia to El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary.  The drive was gorgeous & at times, scary.  Curves on high mountain roads with no guard rails meant if you went over…that would be it.  At one point locals pulled up a rope crossing the road to block our passage.  They can spot a gringo from a mile away.  They gave us an official “car permit” and said it was 40 pesos to travel on the road to the butterfly reserve.  I paid with a smile and they lowered the rope to let us proceed.  I strongly suspected and later confirmed it: these people are acting in no official function; they’re essentially charging for nothing because they have nothing to do with maintaining the road.  But, they’re surviving how they can and as Carrie pointed out, the alternative might be them deforesting the mountain in order to make a living, destroying the butterfly habitat altogether.

It was 45 pesos per adult to enter the sanctuary; iola was free.  We hiked with an included guide (I gave a 50 peso tip) up to approximately 10,000 feet above sea level.  I had iola on my back and Carrie is eight months pregnant…we were both huffing and puffing in the thin air.  It took us about 45 minutes to reach the butterflies toward the top of the mountain.  I would have walked right past them had the guide not said something.  When the sun is shining the monarchs are flying all around, but on a cloudy day like during our visit, they huddle together in the pine trees.  They’re so densely packed that you can’t see their vibrant colors.  Instead they look like dark moss or thick brush in the trees.  A big clue though is all the wings of dead butterflies on the ground.  Certain birds eat the monarchs’ bodies but leave the wings.  The guides told us not to even pick up the wings because a theory is that the butterflies migrating to Mexico choose the same spot each year because of the monarch wings on the ground from the previous year.

Below are the butterflies crammed in the trees.  There must be 100,000’s per tree, maybe per branch?

Look at the tree branches to the left to see what the pines would normally look like, then at the tree in the middle of the picture where the butterflies are packed in.

In the video you can hear a rain-like white noise in the background in between iola’s commentary.  That is the sound of butterflies!

-Ryan

We’re staying in Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacán.  Morelia was originally named Valladolid but was renamed in honor of José María Morelos after the Mexican revolution.  It’s a gorgeous city with a very European colonial feel.

Our hotel in the historic center only has eight rooms, each named after and containing art from a different famous artist.  We’re in the Alfredo Zalce suite, named for the Mexican muralist, a less-famous contemporary of Diego Rivera.

This is the birthplace home of José María Morelos, hero of the war for Mexican independence (and executed by firing squad for treason against the royal crown of Spain). Note the individually placed small rocks in the mortar between the large stones.

Look closely and you’ll see this gal is carrying an infant in a baby carrier on the back of the bike.  Gives true meaning to Motorcycle Mama (in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico).

-Ryan

Carrie had been looking for a circus to go to & happened to read about one in Ajijic, 25 minutes away from our house, on an online forum for the area.  They don’t do traditional advertising as we might think of it; it’s mostly by word of mouth.  They asked us at the end of the show if we could please tell people the circus is in town.  Carrie read that last year when it was in town they hired a small airplane to fly around with a loudspeaker to announce the circus, which wouldn’t surprise me because they love loudspeakers here.  In fact, as I’m writing this I hear the local store blasting out what food they’re going to have on sale tomorrow.  It’s 8 PM and we’re a mile away from the store.

The circus wasn’t at all what I imagined, but it was really fun!  Here’s the rundown.  There were no animals.  Mexico outlawed using animals in circus acts (which has led to a problem of what to do with elephants & tigers that are expensive to feed and the circus no longer wants them).  Three camels were moved from the performance arts to the marketing department and stood tied-up out front (that’s still legal evidently).  It was about $23 total for the three of us to sit in the cheap seats; for $6 more we could have sat 10 rows closer, and thank goodness we didn’t do that.  The speakers, like most places playing music in Mexico, were LOUD.  The capacity of the bleachers was at least 1,000 people I’d estimate; Carrie counted 47 of us in the audience.  They are doing two shows a day at 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM for a couple weeks.  From what it looked like when we were leaving, there was going to be an audience of maybe 15 people at the 8:30 show (see the line pictured below).

Unfortunately no pictures or video were allowed of the performances, so you’ll have to use your imaginations.  There were Cirque du Soleil-style acts with people dancing in the air on rings, flying around on giant red ribbons hanging from the ceiling, and swinging around on ropes.  There were no nets and it made me nervous to watch.  There was a juggler & a magician.  Everyone’s talent was top-notch, I was pretty impressed.  Here’s a big difference from the US:  some of the same people did multiple things throughout the show.  Two brothers did the following: take our tickets at the entrance, play trumpets (really well), sing, do comic clown acts throughout, do Olympic-style trampoline jumping, sell cotton candy and light toys during intermission, and last, but certainly not least, ride dirt bikes around in a metal sphere of death (see picture below).  These guys were incredibly talented, athletic, and well-rehearsed, just like all the other performers.  It broke my heart a bit to see the place almost empty, although they even laughed at that.  At one point they were trying to get everyone to make noise and they shined the spotlight on a completely empty section and told them to make more noise.

Carrie and I were way more entertained than iola was.  Our favorite part: knife throwing!  First a professional knife thrower came out with two girls and he threw knives around them with unbelievable accuracy, even while spinning on a big wheel contraption.  But that part made us wince.  After the pro got finished one of the clown brothers came out and tried throwing the knives; they’d just bounce off the wood backboard, part of his shtick.  He came and picked out an American guy from the audience, tied him to the knife throwing board so he couldn’t move, and blindfolded him.  So he’d countdown to the knife throw & would hand the knife to an assistant who would just stab the knife into the board nearby the guy’s head, for example, without actually throwing it, but the guy didn’t know that of course.  So they’d un-blindfold him and he’d cringe at where the knife had stuck.  At one point the poor American guy said in Spanish, “No más!” and the clown replied, “Sí, más!”, and this went on and on.  They finally put a balloon between his legs and the clown took out a huge machete-like knife to pop it.  I’ve never heard Carrie laugh so much, it was music to my ears.

Wow, enough of my rambling, I must be trying to make up for my lack of guts to break the rules and capture the moments!  Enjoy what pictures we did get.

Note iola’s “party hat”.  It was Carrie & iola’s craft project that day and iola wanted to wear it everywhere.  It was a good venue for it!  We suggested leaving it in the car and she exclaimed, “Party hat with!”

The brothers rode dirt bikes around in this sphere at ridiculous speeds.  Remember the scene in the Simpson’s movie where Homer wins a truck by doing this?

-Ryan

Dale Carnegie said a man cares more about his toothache than a famine in China.  Well, for me it’s hard to understand a snow storm up north when it’s so consistently beautiful here.  Warm, but not too hot.  Cool at night for great sleeping.  I can really see why lots of gringo’s are here.

It’s fun to see how a gorgeous place like this, with lots of palm trees, celebrates the holidays.  Here’s a taste.

Chapala’s nativity scene contains way more animals than I ever remember seeing in a nativity scene.  Rabbits, squirrels, deer, elephants, horses, etc.  It looks like someone went and stole all the yard ornaments they could find from a retired person’s front lawn…minus the elephant and horse maybe.

-RF

As one last hurrah before Grandpa Gary left, we visited the nearby town of Mezcala.  For 300 pesos (not quite $20 total, not per person) they’ll give you a boat ride out to Mezcala Island in Lake Chapala, wait for you for one hour, then deliver you back to the mainland.  The lake is big enough it feels like an ocean looking across it, especially when hazy.  It’s about a 20 minute ride to the island depending on the waves.  Six of us would have been fighting for two life jackets had they been necessary.  We declined to have a guide come with us but he came anyway.  He was a young guy, a “kid” would be a better word, but he was interested in history & architecture and knew all sorts of facts & dates related to the island, so I tipped him anyway despite having passed on his services.

The island played an interesting role in the war for Mexican independence from Spain.  The short story is that Mexican rebels fighting Spain fortified themselves on the island and held out for four years without being overtaken by the mighty Spanish forces.  Eventually Spain gave up and signed a treaty with them.  Here’s a more detailed account that’s worth a read: http://www.chapala.com/chapala/june2000.htm.  The island was later used as a military fort (seen in pictures below, complete with a moat) and a prison.  The ruins you see in the pictures were part of the original fortification by the Mexican rebels fighting against Spain via their stronghold on the island.  Very interesting stuff and a great day.

It’s actually two islands; the bigger one from where I’m taking the picture from atop the fort, and the other little guy.

A black cat lives on the island and followed us around the whole time when he wasn’t hunting & eating lizards.

Here’s the guide answering my questions.

-Ryan

Every Sunday we’ve been at the Chapala house we hear loud music coming from the town of San Nicolás starting at about 3:00 PM and continuing well into the night.  One Sunday afternoon we grew curious & walked down the road, through town, and found the source.  They have bull “fights” at the Plaza de Toros and about a 20 piece band assisted by a 20 piece speaker system provides accompaniment.  The music is loud at our house about a mile away and the speakers, as we now know, are facing the opposite direction!

We took Grandpa to this grand event last Sunday and had a grand ol’ time.  The music actually is pretty good, I’ll admit; the way it sounds in the video below doesn’t do it justice.  Most of the band members are young.  I find it very fun that seemingly a large portion of younger people here have music in their souls, whereas I get the impression in the US most young guys are too cool for playing a clarinet in a band.  Not these guys, and they rocked it!

As for the bull part of the event, I can’t really say, because I don’t know what the hell was going on.  It was much more like an American rodeo than a Spanish bull fight.  One immediately noticeable difference was the fate of the bull.  In Spain the bulls are killed by the fighter.  In Mexico they’re lassoed (with impressive skill) and rounded back into their pins to do it all again next week.  It’s not really a fight to begin with.  A bunch of guys go out on horses, many holding beers in their hands, and a bull is let out to chase them around.  The bulls appear to have almost grown bored of the whole thing and at times just stand there as if to say, “Really, this crap again?!”  Then once in awhile a young buck hops on a bull and tries to ride it using no hands, which from what we saw lasts no more than four seconds.  The whole event is very haphazard.  I think I could have just jumped in the ring for a bit and no one would have said a thing (many boys were jumping in and out of the ring at seemingly random times, and there’s nothing but a small chain as a guard rail).

Vendors walk around selling a whole variety of things.  We ate fire-roasted peanuts, a generous cup of mango slices, and another with papaya.  Delicious.  iola got m&m’s from a 12 year old vendor who was also selling cigarettes.  I suspected I got charged the “gringo price” for the m&m’s, but didn’t really care.  The kid made the sign of the cross with the bill I had just given him in his hand, not sure what to make of that.

Need a single cigarette? This kid has you covered.

As Carrie put it, “We know why that guy wears a hat.”

These rodeo clown guys were entertaining.  They danced to the music for good entertainment even when the bulls weren’t out.

-Ryan

Next stop: Manzanillo.  On the way we stopped by Cuyutlán, our favorite little ocean town.  Carrie tried octopus and loved it.

We stayed at an oceanfront hotel on a peninsula overlooking Manzanillo Bay.  The views were captivating.  We spent our days swimming in pools and oceans.  Just like last time we were in Manzanillo, we weren’t ready to leave so we booked an extra night.  Hotels just keep amazing us.  We paid $75/night for a room with three beds, a kitchenette, a great made-to-order breakfast included and those incredible views.  Can’t beat it.

Shitty view.

We bought iola an awesome pool floatie that lasted 10 minutes before the  plastic built-in seat holding her up broke.  It had a squeaker built in to its tail and we weren’t ready to give it up.  Pink duct tape to the rescue!  My first fix job lasted another 10 minutes only.  I got serious for my next fix and that lasted the rest of the time.  Note the increasing amount of duct tape.

iola was painting Grandpa’s toenails.  We thought they were just playing pretend until he walked over to us.  That’s a good buddy right there, although I think he thought it’d wash off easily.  I’ve been laughing ever since every time I see his feet.

iola commandeered my ice cream cone.  She had her own, then claimed mine.

We headed back to Chapala after a great week on the road.

-Ryan

Next stop on our trip: Colima (capital city of the state of Colima).  We stayed at a great hotel located right on a city park next to a church & plaza area.  We were also just a short drive from some ruins (La Campana Ruins) leftover from pre-hispanic civilizations.  What an interesting place that was!  Did you know human sacrifices were common in these civilizations?

We were pleasantly surprised by a showcase of Mexican dance in the plaza by the hotel that night.

We did a side trip to the town of Comala, a short drive from Colima.  Comala is the fictional setting of the novel Pedro Páramo by Mexican author Juan Rulfo.  I took a class my senior year of college completely dedicated to Rulfo’s work, which was small.  He only wrote one novel and a collection of short stories called El Llano en Llamas (The Burning Plains).  Too bad I was mentally checked out of college by that point!  Otherwise I’d fill you in on some more details.  Here’s a statue instead.

The view of the volcano was great from the town.  It was blowing smoke off and on all day.  It’s amazing how quickly the plume dissipates when not blowing out.

The church was still decorated for the Virgen of Guadalupe.  They really admire that gal.

We stopped by a “magic zone” where you put your car in neutral and it rolls what appears to be uphill.  I thought I wouldn’t be fooled, but sure enough, it really did look like the car was rolling against gravity!  Of course a picture provides no proof of this so you’ll have to take my word for it.  Why the water bottle?  Professor Grandpa was doing some science experiments.

Grandpa Gary didn’t want to leave the hotel pool, so we promised him if we left Colima to go to the beach and he wasn’t pleased, we would return to Colima (it didn’t happen).

On the way out of town we stopped by a free zoo.

The only camel at this zoo causes cancer.

Here’s a tongue-twister for you: iola loves inanimate animals.

My favorite animals weren’t in cages.

-Ryan