Not my birthday

March 2nd, is usually my birthday, but this year my grandson Trent was disappointed that I wouldn't be home to celebrate it, so I have decided to postpone it until after I get home.   I'll let you know when it will be once Trent tells me.

In the meantime, Gerry is accustomed to treated me extra special and letting me have my own way on my birthday, so even though it isn't my birthday, it sure was a nice day.

It started with Gerry bringing me my coffee, and then we went for a walk in Patzcuaro to go out for breakfast.

We had no idea where we were going, but this sign seemed to indicate we would find something to eat as well as something to do if we turned down this street.   So we did, and we did.

There were several shops along the way with life sized wood carvings.   I particularly liked the skeletons on the roof of one shop.    They take their dead seriously in this country.   Gerry really liked the friars.

We found a little restaurant that brought us scrambled eggs and ham....we were quite sure we ordered eggs easy over with bacon...but what the heck.   My Spanish leaves much to be desired, and obviously our hand signals don't work so well either.  lol.   After breakfast we hopped on a ferry to head over to Isla Janitzio.     We even had live music on board, followed by a collection hat. 

The island was interesting.    It is inhabited by  the Purépechan peoples.   They speak their own language on this island with a population of 2,500.   Apparently only about 25% of the folks speak spanish and many of the elders have never left the island.

They gave us a little fishing exhibition, then paddled over to the ferry with a collection dish.

The Island had a little bit of everything, even a live sex show.

At the top of the island, a massive concrete statue of Mexican independence fighter Jose Maria Morelos rises 156 feet towards the sky.    But first you have to get there.   Staircase after staircase winding through shop after shop after restaurant after shop of the indigenous crafts and foods.    We read on Kevin and Ruth's blog that they ate some Iguana at one of the restaurants here.   Too bad we just had breakfast and simply had no room left for Iguana.  

Interesting craft made from spark plugs...somehow I doubt this is from their culture, especially considering there are no cars on the island.

You can climb up the inside of the statue into Jose Maria Morelos hand, but we stopped at the base of the statue.   The view was beautiful from here, and we were winded already.  Heck, we stopped about 10 times just climbing the stairs this high.

The statue was so big, I wasn't able to get far enough away from it at its' base to get a full picture.

They had a playground, restaurants and even a public pay washroom at this level.

We peered up into the statue and snapped a picture...around and around the ramp goes up to the top.    We need to get accustomed to the thin air at this altitude.   I can't believe how winded we were.  Patzcualo is at 6,500 feet above sea level.   That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

There's my honey, looking happy.  I had just told him I didn't want to climb all the way up.  :)

This is one of 3 churches we saw on the island.

Ooops, we made a wrong turn coming down and came upon this cemetery.  

The ferry ride back was uneventful, no music, no fisherman.  There had to 30 ferries at the dock.   We are told it is very busy on weekends and during the summer with Mexican tourists heading to the island. 

By the time we got back to the trailer park we were exhausted.   It was only about 1:00 p.m., but I needed a siesta to get ready to go into town for dinner.  

 Patzcuaro is a beautiful little town, with two town squares, numerous churches, a market that goes on for at least 10 square blocks, and lots of little restaurants.   

 I've never seen a market as big as this one.   I don't think anyone in town would have a need for a grocery store, or a department store here.   Every town should have a market like this one.     

We stopped for dinner and had two amazing dishes.   We shared our entre's and were so full when we left we could hardly move.    This doesn't look like much, but oh my goodness it was delicous.   It is a chicken enchilada, the sauce on the left is a hot chile sauce, the sauce on the right is a chocolate sauce.

This dish blew my mind.   Who would think of filling a hot pepper with chicken and cheese, and then wrapping it in pastry, deep fry it and put it in a pineapple/mango/orange sauce.   This could have been dessert. 

We are back at the trailer park and thought we would take a couple of pics before we call it a day.   They have a big hole in the ground, which they have dug out to make clay bricks.

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All the buildings on the property were built using the bricks they made, including this one.

Myrtle seems quite happy here after yesterdays crazy drive.   We let her rest, but first thing tomorrow morning we are turtling down the road to Angahuan to investigate a nearby inactive volcano called Paricutín.   It is only about 2 hours from here.    We are thinking we will camp overnight, then come back to Patzcuaro the next day for another day before heading to El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary.

I`m really liking inland Mexico.    The days are hot, the nights are cool and the sights are interesting.