MARKET DAY IN PATZCUARO

Thursday, is MARKET DAY in Patzcuaro. 

There is a market everyday but come Thursday it becomes a market with a capital M.

So - the three of us hit the town.

I don't think there is anything you CAN'T get at the market! And row upon row of produce vendors.

We passed these fruit cups - looked at each other and said - we'll come back for them for dessert. Remember where they are - akin to - remember where we parked!

Later in the day we bought some fruit and veggies to take home. Have I mentioned how nice it is to be eating such fresh produce at such good prices in the winter!

My wish would be for everyone to experience a large Mexican market in their lifetime. It is an AMAZING experience - the sights, the sounds and smells. I find it takes a bit of inner strength to take on such a market day - it is a bit on the overwhelming side - so much to see and so many people in a small space. I wouldn't trade it for anything though.

Lots and lots of clothes. Here are traditional clothes however most of the vendors sell regular clothing - jeans, shirts, jackets, socks etc. Being winter there is a large selection of sweaters, hats, mittens and scarves - as the three of us walk around in our t shirts! And SHOES - I notice that I missed taking pictures of all the shoe stores and vendors. Shoes and boots are HUGE here.

We WERE tempted but again where would we put him? Strapped to Caballito's roof!

VERY popular in Mexico - near as I can tell - fruit flavoured gelatine in vanilla/cream gelatine - my best guess.

No shortage of sweets - from this stand Derek bought a jar of Cajeta de Celaya . We first saw it as a flavour of ice cream - when we looked it up in our handy dandy new food dictionary - Derek figured that it was something he HAD to try.

Hmmmm - not sure - but they looked good!

And pastries - we doubled back here later in the day and picked a few out to take home.

Something we hadn't seen before - and everyone seemed to be selling them. 

Cocadas - coco, leche, azucar and miel - yum!

Santuario de Guadalupe.

 After all that looking around lunch was in order. We walked around and looked at ALL the food stands - which to choose?! We are still a bit on the cautious side when it comes to eating at stands - we do NOT want to repeat our Montezuma experience now do we?! As we were walking along one of the vendor men started to speak to us in English. When we said we wanted tacos he pointed us to the 'guys in the blue shirts'. Boy we sure appreciated the advice.

 With our bit of Spanish and one of the guys bit of English we got the job done. You can sit and order taco after taco until you are done - then you get the price. For us - 3 tacos each and 1 sprite for $46 pesos. 

Front row seats watching the food being cooked.

One of the things on our list was boots for Cassia. Here we are trying some on. We ended up purchasing them - you'll see them a little later on.

A bit later Derek struck up a conversation with a vendor who does or used to live in San Diego - she spoke some English. Cassia is fascinated by the little girls and vice versa.

If you can believe we found our fruit cup ladies back after all that - no small feat - we had made our way to the opposite end of the market. It was worth it though! Chopped up fruit with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Sorry - another price - I just cannot get over the price of some things - both for less than $2.

During our first tour of centro Patzcuaro I neglected to take photos of the smaller plaza - Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra. I fixed that today - here it is.

It sure seems like we spent the day eating - and we DID! Here's Cassia with her new boots! and a pastry. 

Ok - so we were down at the plaza and market area for about six hours so even though it looks like we were eating a lot there were a few minutes here and there when we weren't! By five, we either had to head home and make dinner or visit another stand. Gee - tough decision!

Hi our names are Derek and Teresa -- we are Mexican food'aholics!

This time we got much larger meals - Derek the chicken enchiladas and me the chicken taco dorado. For the life of us neither of us could finish our plates. We also tried Horchata for the first time.

After dinner we walked back over to the larger plaza - Plaza Vasco de Quiroga - finishing the day off with a small cup of iced fruit was in order. Cassia got the usual - fresa while Derek decided to try something new - guanabana.

We had by this time also added to Cassia wardrobe one more time. Since she is still learning to keep her dress DOWN we decided to by her some leotards

By the time we got back to the RV Park shortly after six we were all pooped! With all the eating good thing it is quite the hike from here to the Plazas and back.

A nice way to end our stay here in Patzcuaro. 

Tomorrow is moving day! After 25 days in the interior of Mexico we are headed back down to the beach. We have really enjoyed our time in Villa Corona, Hacienda Contreras, Uruapan and Patzcuaro but it has been cool - we are looking forward to some warmer temps and our beach walks.

If you come to Mexico - put Patzcuaro and Isla de Janitzio on the list!

It should be a good trip, 257 kms on the cuota straight down to the coast which I see from our route map will cost $226 pesos. We will be at a small beach community for a few nights and I have no idea if we'll get wifi for even if the telcel will work. 

If not then we'll see you in Zihuatanejo.

Teresa

TODAY'S INTERESTING LINK: We didn't shoot a movie at the Patzcuaro Market but I wish we had. I did find this one on YouTube though, if you would like to see more of the market and all sights and sounds.

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