PATZCUARO!

Imagine my surprise when Derek - just get me to the beach - Wood looked at me this morning and said "Let's go to Patzcuaro today."

WHAT!!!!!

Oh - I LOVE it when a plan that wasn't a plan comes together. You see, I've put Patzcuaro on THE list since we found out about it when we first arrived in Villa Corona. We had stopped to talk to a lady and she mentioned this city. I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd hadn't run across it in my research. 

Anyway, Derek hasn't been completely on board about it as I have been dropping hints about how nice it would be to visit, from time to time. Thus my surprise this morning. 

"We are pretty close so we might as well" he says - yup - we might as well said I - pretty much jumping up and down.

So - off we went to Patzcuaro today. (For those of you that know this area and were trying to figure out where we were going, I suppose it was up between Patzcuaro and the Paricutin Volcano.)

Where we were when we woke up this morning. Yup - we slept in a Soriana's parking lot - in MEXICO! NOT part of MY plan - I had us headed to the Hotel Pie De La Sierra on the north side of town which Derek sailed right by. We WERE in need of groceries and beer. By the time we made our way seemingly clear across town, through HEAVY traffic, at around 6:00 pm - I knew that the odds were pretty small that Derek was going to backtrack. 

I was right. 

Time for plan B.

No plan B.

Derek suggested looking for a hotel to pull into close by.

Instead we wandered over to the security fellow on our way out with our groceries and asked if we could sleep overnight in the parking lot. 

Probably not something he hears very often.

He made a call and a few minutes later what looked like the Manager came along. The first fellow translated our request to which we received a 'si'.

So - we boondocked in a grocery store parking lot in Mexico.

And survived.

After a second trip into Soriana's this morning to get all the stuff we forgot to get the night before, we headed out of Uruapan.

We had two options: highway 14 the free road or to go to the quota (toll road). Although we have enjoyed the cuotas we have been on we are actually getting pretty good at the free roads. Yesterdays' 15 and 37 gave us much confidence.

So - we chose the free road this morning. We knew it wasn't all that far - about 60 kms - so it really didn't matter how long it took.

A nice day for a drive through the forest. Nice that the road looks newly paved.

I like taking shots of the buses passing. The drivers have GUTS that's about all I can say. 

And another thing I've been meaning to mention. The Mexican government should have saved all their pesos by not installing 'NO REBASE' signs. 

NOBODY follows them! 

And then we came across this car. From a distance we weren't sure what was going on. It became pretty clear by this point - an accident had just happened. If you can believe at this point Derek says 'Which way should I go' - and if you can believe again - he went left! Only in Mexico!

A nice short drive today - when this lake came into view we knew we were close to our destination.

And we definitely KNEW we were almost in Patzcuaro when we saw this - the Isla Janitzio. 

Patzcuaro - WoW! Two Pueblo Magico cities in two days!

We were glad that we came into Patzcuaro on the free road because it meant that we should have been able to find the Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park pretty easily from our maps. I was still a bit apprehensive though. I couldn't believe how easy it was to find - one right turn into Patzcuaro Centro and then there were really good signs a short way down for the RV Park.

The Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park. A VERY nice place.

The RV Park is in behind - there are only two other rigs here.

Our spot with a bit of shade from the tree. 

Look familiar Chris and Juan? I think we have your spot from when you were here back in Nov. 2011

Once parked and hooked up we took a look around. This building is just behind us over the bridge. We weren't sure what it was at first. We soon found out that it holds the washrooms and showers plus a kitchen and dining area.

A nicely designed building from an architectural point of view. I mentioned that to Derek. This evening as he was finagling his way to watch movies on the big screen TV (which the owner - Arthur offered) Derek found out that Arthur's brother is an Architect and designed this building. 

I KNEW it!

So - tomorrow I now have a meeting with him to talk architecture - Derek tells me. 

The view looking back to our little Cabillito.

The interior of the communal building.

Carmen preparing our breakfast. As we were looking around we noticed that breakfast is offered for $60 pesos each. We decided to treat ourselves since we didn't have much before we hit the road. 

Although we had most of the same ingredients in our van it was nice to have it prepared for us. Coffee, fruit, toast and a plate of beans, eggs and ham were included in the price.

As we were setting up Cassia quickly found a natural toy - seeds of some sort that had dropped from the tree at our site. It's so nice that she can find so many things in nature to entertain herself.

Then, a trip to the pool. I had felt the temperature earlier. Cold - ICE - cold. When Cassia said she wanted to go swimming I walked her over to try the temperature first. Amazingly, she went up to her knees. So - we went back to put her swimsuit on. Back at the pool, she took off her shoes, grabbed her ring --- and --- only went up to her knees. 

TOO COLD - she says!

Anyway, she had lots of fun getting her hands and feet wet and then making tracks on the stone.

Bouncing on the ring is also great fun I guess.

Right beside us is another little building. It houses this activity room with fire place. ALSO a HUGE book exchange - have I mentioned how much I LOVE book exchanges!

Later, Derek and Cassia hung out a while with Roofous.

Lots of beautiful flowers here at the Hotel.

Tonight's sunset through the trees.

So - here we are in Patzcuaro and so far all we have seen is the way in and the RV Park. After yesterdays busy day we were content to spend the day here at the van. 

We were pretty excited to be able to hook into the Hotel's internet. At first I thought we may have trouble again but in the end all of our computers managed to connect. Yaaaaa - more photos on the blog!

This should be a GREAT week of photos - there is so much to see and do here in Patzcuaro. Tomorrow we are going to head to the central plaza to look around a bit. We are going to stay here a week - at least - so we have lots of time to get a good look around, including taking a boat ride out to the Isla Janitzio.

Coming along!?

Teresa

TODAY'S INTERESTING LINK: So - have you heard of the Pie Lady - as in The World Needs More Pie? Well, neither had I, but Chris from over at Living and Boondocking in Mexico, whom we met last week at Hacienda Contreras, told us about her - Beth. I was able to check her site out today and thought I'd pass it along. What a story! 

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