Patzcuaro Area Mexico Central

The bus from Barra De Navidad to Manzanillo takes about an hour and costs $52 pesos. The bus to Morilia from Manzanillo costs $480 pesos and the bus to Patzcuaro cost $32 pesos.I took an ENT bus and they are great! The seats go all the way back so you are almost lying down and there is a real foot rest and tons of leg room. They also show movies in Spanish.

Info on bus Stations Manzanillo - No Internet - No lockers but you can leave your stuff with the bus company you are will be taking.

Morelia - Internet Cafe - Did not see any lockers

My first stop was the shops in Centro, Patzcuaro is an artisan town and almost everything is made by hand. There are some incredible craftsman here, you can watch while they are working. Patzcuara is very well know for their day of the dead ceremonies, 1 of the largest in Mexico. They have dolls called Catrina's that are skeletons dressed in elaborate outfits. Next off to the ruins, Tzintzutzuntzan. These are incredible and they are still rebuilding much of it. There were only a few other people around and none in the same area so it felt like I had the place to myself.

I then headed to the village and checked out the market and the Tempo. Most of the locals dress the same way their ancestors did, the modern world of jeans and T shirts seems to have passed these folks by. The entire region is very conservative you don't see anyone in shorts or 1/2 tops. Then it was off to Tupataro to check out a very funky Tupataro Church. An old wood building but a fantastic mural on the ceiling and an incredible amount of gold on the alter. The second day was a 2 hour trip to the Paricutin volcano. We went to see the parts of the church that the volcano left standing. It actually took out the entire town over the span of a few years. To get there we took an hour long horseback ride, the church ruins are in the middle of the forest. It is a strange and magical place, the lava goes right up to the altar and stops. The locals think it is a sign from god and make pilgrimages to it and leave gifts on the alter, I don't know how they reach it, it is over 16 feet high; one of life's little mysteries. Once you arrive you have to climb mountains of lava rock to get to the church.

After that we headed back to the to Patzcuaro with a quick stop in a small town called Paracho that specializes in making guitars. It is a famous town where may musicians from all over the world come to have a guitar custom made.

Janitzio Island is in the lake by Patzcuaro. You need to take a boat to get there, the cost is $40 pesos return. The boat ride took about 40 minutes and was packed with locals heading over to sell their wares along with musician who played all the way over. All in all a very festive ride. The Island is tiny but very high, the buildings hang on to the side of it and it looks like they may all slide off at any moment. There are 6 million stairs (okay a bit of an exageration) all of them crooked and sloped and they wind and twist their way up to the top. There are shops all along the route the whole way up most of them on crazy angles. The shops carry some strange merchandise, they sell everything from hand made high quality products to mugs in the shape of boobs and soft porn art. A little something for everyone it would seem. There is a hotel with an Internet cafe on the island, proof that the Internet is everywhere. I did make it to the top of the island, there is a statue which I declined to purchase a ticket to go inside of it and climb the other million stairs to get to the top. The walk down was much easier but a little more scary, tuck and roll.  During the day of the dead festival (Día de los Muertos) the entire island is lit up with candles, I was told that it is a spectacular sight. The boat ride back was great, we managed to catch the party boat. There was a band that had 4 members including a drummer and they were very good. Our fellow passengers were totally into partying and they danced the whole trip back. The boat has long bench seats down the sides and island seating in the middle. Everyone including us joined in on a Congo line that went around the boat.