Richard's Travel Blog

I’m about three quarters through a New York Times bestseller called The Geography of Bliss by former (US) National Public Radio correspondent Eric Weiner. It’s about the author’s travels to several countries to see if and why they are happy or unhappy. Some of the time he has enough experience in the country to have insight, and sometimes he is just an average bloke with a contact or two, and enough money to venture around for a couple of weeks picking up some of the culture. He did study up on the science of what makes people happy, and picked his destinations based on what he learned. His observations make a lot of sense. It got me to thinking why I feel differently about this place or that. In particular, it is making me think about why I decided to stay in Antigua for a while.

Some of the components of a happy life I have, sometimes in spades. Some things, particularly regarding this place, are lacking. Without going into it all, suffice it to say my psychology and situation with Myung makes it good to be here now. What is less than great about my experience of  Antigua and Guatemala is made up for by my “having seen it all” and internalizing some of life’s lessons that make for happiness. Some people might not associate me with contentedness, but it’s there. There’s a close connection between happiness and contentedness. That’s why I’m good to go here. I’m really enjoying that book. The Bhutan and Thailand chapters resonated with me. I haven’t gotten to India yet, but I suspect it will also. That’s one place Eric Weiner and I have spent a lot of time.

For me now, being able to be happy means being able to kick back and not feel like I have to do anything. Being an American, aversion to emptiness is bred into me. It’s taken decades to be able embrace “things are fine, you don’t have to do anything”, to live in the present without being in such a hurry to get more whatever. Actually, the long term backpacking hasn’t been all restlessness, inquisitiveness or impatience. Quite the opposite, I think. There is a lot of detachment in wandering. With detachment comes perspective, and with perspective comes equanimity, a well known path to contentment and happiness. I am finding, so far, that this place and this situation let me settle into a comfortable mental space.

That’s not to say we’ll stay here permanently, whatever permanent is. A few components of happiness are missing so far. A sense of community, i.e. friends and connections, is still nearly absent. Some issues with Guatemalan culture, like the horrible crime rate, aren’t going away. I have to balance that with the truism that the grass is often not that much greener on the other side.

We’ve rented a room in the home of a British/Guatemalan couple, Felix and Annie.

There’s their dog, Biscuit. They live in the main part of the house with another renter, Norm. Norm’s a 78 year old American, about as retired as it gets. He seemed reluctant to have his picture taken, so maybe next time. We live around the corner of the house and behind, down there at the end.

From the spot that picture is taken, here is the view to the left, over the neighbor’s house.

Here’s the inside.

We all seem to be getting along fine. Myung and I like to cook. Annie cooks with Felix, who has spent much of his 14 years in Antigua and Guatemala City as a chef. Best about this is he has all this great cooking stuff. What a treat to have good pots, pans and tools of the trade! He’s also got commercial gas burners. The sink isn’t optimal, but this is Guatemala. That thing in the last picture is called a pila. You run cold water from the tank on the roof into the middle section and collect it there. At least Guatemalans do, because city water may get interrupted and the tank may go dry. Then you wash your dishes, clothes, dog, whatever on the left, scooping water from the center. If there’s water, you make a last clean rinse from the tap.

Oh, just now I went inside from where Biscuit and I are doing this blog entry….

… and there was Myung making pesto. The thing about the sink is if you are making something that requires frequent use of water, you can either go back and forth and back and forth, or do it in the pila.

One of the really good things about Guatemala is the fresh fruits and vegetables. The basil she’s using was probably picked this morning and brought to the market where we just bought it, a huge bouquet for about 40 US cents.

So, the place is good, the company is good, and the rent is very good. A half block behind us is a nice wooded hill. Up the road about 300 meters we found this ruin in the trees.

Our days here are pretty simple. They are as I described last time. We usually go to the market in the morning and for some kind of walk in the afternoon or evening. Yesterday was Sunday. That’s a good time to be out and about. Guatemala, like Mexico, is liveliest on Sundays after church. We walked to the next village, San Felipe, really only a couple of kilometers north of here and barely disconnected to Antigua. Sometimes we just blunder into things. Turns out that a famous resort is there, Filadelfia. We saw signs all over Antigua about it, but didn’t know where it was till we were walking around the outskirts of San Felipe, waiting for church to get out so we could get some lunch at the street stalls. And there it was. It’s a nice resorty place, with a faux high-end restaurant, horsey-back rides through the coffee plantation, tours, and so on. It’s mostly for upscale package tourists. We have a few pictures, but they aren’t worth uploading. What was nice, though, was taking ourselves through the plantation. Here, in the mountainous western part of Guatemala, coffee is the big industry. There are more coffee shops per capita in Antigua than in Seattle, by far. Ah, you can get very nice, high elevation shade grown coffee here, roasted today if you want.

So, then we went back to the central plaza and got some grub. She had pepian Guatemala’s answer to Mexico’s mole, chicken with sweet, peppery/chocolate sauce though served up more like a soup. I had clear veggie soup and chicken with a side of roasted squash.

Myung was across the table, of course. I like this picture of her over there.

That’s going to do it for now. There will be more from here, of course. I can tell when I think I’m going too stay, when I buy something I definitely wouldn’t carry in my pack, like a hair clipper so I can save money on barbers.

Be well, all of you, and I hope you Americans had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Just a short one this time to show the procession that came in front of our place the evening of Nov 2. This went all around town for several hours. We only watched as it went by our place. There was a novena last night and the ceremony when they burn the kites at the cemetery we didn’t go to either. It was explained to me that the basic meaning of this is to pay special attention to the Holy Spirit in the bodies of Jesus and Mary that died but live among the saved in heaven.

Time flies sometimes. I guess we’ve been busy, sort of. We walk around, go to the market, take care of some stuff and, voila’, it’s a week and a hundred pictures later.

Yesterday, we went to the nearby town of Santiago Sacatepeques to see the 114th annual Festival of Giant Kites, which happens on Nov. 1, All Souls Day, the Day of the Dead.

I’m going to lift what all this is about straight from the local what’s happening magazine, Revue.

On November 1 and 2, Guatemalan markets are filled with marigolds, chrysanthemums and copal—a pre-Columbian incense made from pine resin. People clean family graves and adorn them with cut tissue paper called papel picado, flowers, and candles. They also honor the dead with festive foods such as candied fruits, tamales, and fiambre (a cold meat and vegetable dish prepared only at this time of year). These dates mark the celebration of El Día de los Difuntos or “the Day of the Dead,” a very important festival throughout Guatemala, especially in the predominantly Kakchiquel town of Santiago Sacatépequez, where a colorful kite-flying ritual takes place.

Preparations for Day of the Dead begin 40 days before November 1, when youths begin the construction of the kites, a tradition dating back at least 110 years. Customarily, men did most of the work, but today women join them in creating the intricately designed kites, which may have political, religious, or cultural themes. There is now a female kite-making contingency in Sacatepéquez that competes in the annual kite-making competitions.

Before the kites can be made, the unmarried men of the village travel to the coast to hunt for bamboo for the frames. In the eyes of the town, this journey marks males’ passage from boys to men. The trip to the coast is difficult and the work of cutting the thick bamboo is laborious. They return from the coast to find the townspeople awaiting them, eager to hear of their adventures. The bamboo is distributed to the kite-making groups to begin making frames, a process that continues every day until the Day of the Dead.

Women’s role in the celebration has historically been less public than that of men, but crucial. They participate in the measurement, design, and construction of the kites, prepare the glue ingredients and kite materials, and help decide on colors and designs. Women also do the bulk of the festival food preparation, as well as the decorating of churches and public squares.

All kite materials are natural.  The glue is made from yucca flour mixed with pieces of lemon peel and water. Ropes used for kite strings are made from maguey, the plant from which tequila is extracted. Kite tails are made from woven cloth (to which people often attach hand-written messages to the spirits). Woven stalks of castilla, a plant similar to wheat, form the frames of smaller kites, while the largest frames are made from bamboo.

At this point let me say that the giant kites are not entirely natural. The frames are bamboo, but most of the ropes are nylon and the patchwork is taped together with probably a couple hundred meters of packing tape. That said, an enormous amount of effort was made to put these, which are basically giant quilts, together.

The kites display three main styles: “Crown” kites measure from three to five meters in diameter and have a circular frame around an empty center, like a donut. The inner and outer circles are connected with four bamboo stalks.

On November 1, people in Santiago begin to fill the cemetery at 4:00 a.m. While cleaning, repainting, and decorating their family tombs, neighbors fondly reminisce about the deceased, and catch up on the latest news. Community bonds are renewed and strengthened as people work side by side, sharing paint, tools, and brushes to refurbish tombs, while they water flowers, pray, and picnic together. It is a happy time.

Here’s a kite being hoisted up.

Young people await a strong wind to raise their giant kites to the skies, beckoning the traveling spirits until 4:00 p.m., when the kites are lowered and the townspeople return home to await the arrival of the souls.

Of course, these kites can’t fly. And unfortunately, the strong wind made raising them successfully sometimes unsuccessful. All that work, and about half of them blew apart as they attempted to get them upright. It made the raising exciting, and sad when it ended badly.

Here it goes, starting at the top. Everybody run!

Back to the Revue text…

People may set up home altars in honor of deceased family members, and relatives and neighbors visit each other to pay their respects. Visitors are offered boiled güisquiles (a green vegetable), sweet corn, and chilacayote (sweet squash), along with chicha, a hot fermented corn beverage.

Eventually, there is a procession through the streets, with residents playing the harp and accordion to the delight of the public. The townspeople travel with the procession from house to house throughout the night, sharing traditional foods and alcohol along the way.

At 4:00 a.m. on November 2, the procession moves toward the cemetery with candles. The townspeople raise the giant kites one last time to guide the spirits back to heaven. Later that evening, kites torn by the winds are burned inside the cemetery, the smoke guiding vagabond spirits to the skies. The surviving kites are exhibited in the local Catholic church during a novena for the deceased, after which they are burned and the ashes buried in the cemetery, completing the annual ritual for the Day of the Dead in Santiago Sacatepéquez.

So, all that is culturally interesting. For the most part, though, this appears to be mostly a secular event. A popular theme on the giant kites was to have foreign flags. America was popular on some of the littler kites that actually can fly.

Here are cute pandas on a vaguely Chinese-themed giant kite.

Fittingly, I guess, this traditionally religious event on All Souls Day is held at the town cemetery. To me, it seemed possible disrespectful for thousands of people to walk all over the graves, throwing their beer cans and food waste all around. For them, I guess it isn’t so. Maybe the feeling of communing with your dearly departed feels more real if they are included in the party.

So, what you’ll see in the following pictures is the general scene around there. The mounds are graves and the monuments are funerary, and the people are having a good time partying and flying every kind of kite. Some of the littler kites were made the old-fashioned way.

Myung says they used to dye chicks in Korea when she was little.

That’ll do it for now. Likely, I’ll post more in the coming week. Be well, all of you.

Sometimes Myung is SO cute!

I showed you the church next door.

It’s the Church of San Francisco. the part that looks decent was originally built in 1542, which makes it the oldest functioning church in Antigua. It’s been rebuilt several times over the centuries after earthquakes. As you can see, there are ruins to the right. The attached monastery was severely damaged in 1565, 1717, 1751 and 1773. They never rebuilt it after the 1773 quake. The ruins remain, little restored. We walked through there this morning.

In the first picture, you can see the side of the “new” church. The rest of it is a step back in time.

We’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves, but really, it’s pretty easy to imagine staying here another month, and another month. I’m kinda allergic to herd mentality, but there’s good reason why the herd stops in Antigua. I haven’t even gotten into the things to do. There are all kinds of music venues, lectures and tours, social activism (Remember, this is a very poor country and about 1% live like we do.), and dining/food options.

Some of the people here, especially the expats, can REALLY live it up. Alas, we have to actually make our own food most of the time. Our dining options tend toward the cheaper options, like a 10 cent papaya-cicle.

Be well, all of you. Until next time…

Some people speak with disdain about Antigua. They say it’s too touristy. Yeah, you don’t need to know Spanish, and many expats have not bothered. Yes, it does seem overrun. I can concede these points, but it cannot be denied that this is a fascinating city. It has got to be one of the most photogenic cities in the world. And the good part about it being touristy is that if you are starved for American influence, you can find it here. Nowhere, even in San Francisco or New York, are you going to find a gourmet ghetto like this is such a small space. Americans are not nearly all of who are here, anyway, so at least there is an international vibe. It doesn’t matter. We like it here and our opinion is all that matters to us.                       We rented a place for a month. The downside of this being such a popular place is the prices if many things like rent are full American price. No matter. We’re used to hostel style, so a room with a bathroom is something of a luxury. Here is the garden in front of our room.

Here is in front of our room. Our door is to her right. The communal kitchen for the six people living here is right in front of her.

Out the front door to the right, 50 meters away is this.

Antigua was founded in 1527. Some of the buildings are from that time and are ruins now. Some have been rebuilt several times, usually due to the many strong earthquakes Guatemala has endured over the centuries. Many have been completely restored, even converted for modern uses. I gotta show you this 5-star hotel down the street we walked around in today. It incorporated the ruins of a 16th century convent beautifully.

The thing about Antigua, for me, is how I seem to see something new or some new detail every time I go anywhere. Sometimes it’s yet another ancient building, usually in some state of disrepair. Sometimes it’s part of a facade. I like looking at plant life and flowers growing out of the ruins or near ruins as to dust they do return. No doubt, there will be many more photos to follow but, for now, here are some of what we have after five days. I’ll let them speak for themselves and say why we plunked down here.

This goes on and on, I’m tellin’ ya.

By the way, Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes, a couple of which are active. One glows frequently. This first picture is from a different angle of the arch in the above picture.

Here’s another one from the roof terrace of the first place we stayed in. It is one of the ones that glows. If it glows some night, I’ll try to get a picture.

And a couple of others in another direction.

I think you’ve probably had it with pictures. I’m going to quit for now. Life this month isn’t going to be too fast paced, so expect more posts in fairly rapid order. My impression of Antigua should mature as time goes on. I’ll probably have something more interesting than “Wow, what a place” to say. Well, maybe.

From Palenque we went to over a little used river border crossing, Frontera Corozal, to Guatemala, with the intention of visiting the ruins of Yaxchilan. They’re described as charming, sweet and a hidden treasure, situated on a loop of the river. The pictures indicate they are nice, but when we got there it was quite hot, Myung was wilting and wanted to get out of there, and the boat ride upriver was a 30 USD rip-off, EACH! So we bagged it, took a few pictures of the river, spent the night, and went to Flores the next day. There’s nothing much at this border. There are so many boats to take people up to Yaxchilan and across to Guatemala, but I seriously doubt they ever use more than a few of them at a time. The Chol Mayan people of the area have big dollar signs in their eyes and it just isn’t really happening for them. It’s pretty nice around there, though, if you don’t mind the jungle heat. The trees are alive with howler monkeys, birds and cicadas at night.

Flores is nothing special itself, just an island tourist ghetto on Peten Lake across a causeway from Santa Elena. The ride through that part of northern Guatemala is lovely, with long stretches of pretty marsh. It’s serious mosquito country. No wonder they have malaria and dengue down here. I don’t have any pictures. We went straight to Flores on the public bus from the Guatemala side of the river, stopping only at the one-man immigration post in Bethel, an hour from the river. You might say the Mexico/Guatemala border is juuuuust a little porous.

Tikal is by far the most magnificent Mayan complex I’ve seen. It was one of the three most significant cities of it’s era. It’s heyday was 600-900 AD, after which it was quickly abandoned for reasons we don’t know. You can read about it if you want. I’ll just show you some pictures.

First off, you can see it’s in the middle of nowhere jungle about 60 km north of Flores.

But in the trees are 60 sq km of ruins. Many have been restored, many have not. You can enjoy it the way it has been for hundreds of years, or how it’s being restored and the restored places. The above picture is taken from the top of one of the temples which was the tallest structure in mesoamerica for over a thousand years. This temple is not only on high ground, but something like 68 meters high. There’s no good angle to take a good picture of it, but it looks like the temples you’ll see in a minute. Climbing up there isn’t like scaling the huge blocks of the pyramids of Giza. There’s an easy stairway. Then you just chill out at the top and take that overview photo. By the way, like many if not most Koreans, Myung wears a face mask to protect her skin from the sun.

So, map in hand, you walk through the trees and sometimes semi-suddenly come across ruins. That alone is worth the price of admission (which is 20 bucks, by the way).

This is a coati. They are very tame.

This is some kind of wild turkey.

Even the central group of structures kind of sneaks up on you after you’ve walked a half hour or so from somewhere.

I think that’s plenty of Mayan ruins pictures and all I have to say about Tikal.

From there, we spent 12 hours going all the way to Antigua. It is the original colonial capital founded in 1527. It is such an amazing place, with many restored, partially restored and unrestored buildings over many square kilometers. I am surprised how big the historical center is. It dwarfs the others I’ve been to so far. It’s the kind of place where there are many interesting routes to where you want to go, and has so many interesting things that you will almost certainly see something you didn’t notice, even if you’ve been that way several times before.

It’s the kind of place that can keep our interest for a while. So, we decided to plunk down here for at least a month and took a room in a long term hostel type place.  You’ll be hearing all about it soon. Meanwhile, you can Google “Antigua”. Likely, you will see why we think this is a good place to hang out for a while.

Be well, all of you.

Well, we didn’t waste a lot of time getting out of Mexico. We went to the Palenque ruins and checked out the falls and cascades of Misol-Ha and Agua Azul, then booked it to the border with Guatemala yesterday. Then we went to Flores, the gateway to Tikal. It’s looking like we might just find a place to rent for a month. Myung had one hot walk with her stuff in this hot, muggy area and has already had it with hot. We’ve been going pretty steady and we’re aren’t in that big a hurry, so I’m inclined to be alright with a break. After this, maybe we’ll go to Antigua. If we like it there, maybe we’ll rent a place for a while. There will surely be more on this subject in the next couple of posts.

A lot of the pictures of Palenque and the places around there are much like those in the previous posts, so I’m not going to put many here, just a few of the nice ones that are good as photography. You may remember the ruins.

I don’t remember if I posted one of this nice fall in the archaeological area.

Speaking of falls, you would hardly recognize Misol-Ha and Agua Azul from just before the rainy season and now, at the end of the rainy season. Here are some before and after pics. There was no walking behind Misol-Ha now unless you want to get drenched and maybe lose your footing.

There was definitely no swimming in about 90% of the areas you could swim before. There were some tranquil areas, though.

As I said, that was it for Mexico, at least for now. I did almost all of this post several days ago and forgot to  finish up and publish it. We’ve been to Tikal and are in Antigua now. I’m going to get the Tikal post up straight away, maybe even tonight.

Here we are with the family at that same Hostal Erni I stayed in before in San Cristobal de las Casas. Myung really likes the little girl, Wibke. I just like the place in general. Arturo and Erika are very nice.

A few days ago I blogged about Mexico City. Now I’ll get caught up far as Oaxaca City and San Cristobal.

Oaxaca was kind of blah for me, but fresh enough for Myung. She took lots of food photos. I hardly took any, as I’ve got most of the stuff worth photographing in my previous post and I just didn’t bother pulling out my camera any other times. We chilled out, not going on any of the excursions. If I had thought they were that great, we’d have gone. Myung is just going where I take her at this point, trusting that if it was worth seeing, I’d tell her. She isn’t up for seeing everything, so I’m culling the list pretty harshly. I did upload a few of the pictures she took. Here they are.

I like the random pattern the boys set up their chess pieces.

We didn’t go anywhere in Oaxaca except Oaxaca City. Myung isn’t into the beach scene and  has seen as much shoreline and surf as anybody. We went directly from Oaxaca City to San Cristobal, splitting up the long ride and sleeping in Juchitan. In San Cristobal, we saw to the usual places there. Again, you can type San Cristobal in the search box and see my photos from there. Here’s one like you may have looked at before.

One interesting different thing was going to Camula on Sunday, which is market day. I went there on a weekday before and it was dead as a doornail.

This time it was entirely different. There was even some kind of Tzotzil festival going on.

Other than that, we just hung out in relatively urbane San Cristobal. Myung was comfortable there, as was I. We could both hang out there if we had to, so it’s on out list of places we may crash at least for a while someday. I know what Myung liked. She liked that the Chedraui supermarket there has imported Korean ramen.

Right now, we are in Palenque. We went to Agua Azul and Misol Ha yesterday, and the ruins today. It’s hot again, so I haven’t minded hanging out in the air conditioned hotel room for the afternoon, getting this post up. Tomorrow, we will go to the Guatemala border town of Frontera Corozal and have a look at some ruins upriver from there, Yaxchilan. From there we will head into northern Guatemala and check out Tikal. Likely, I’ll blog about Palenque and Yaxchilan from there. Until then, be well, all of you.

I think this is going to be a short post. Myung took a bizillion photos in the Anthropology Museum, and most of the the other photos we have are near duplicates of ones I already posted in my previous Mexico City entry. You may remember Teotihuacan, above.

Besides the usual stuff, we have some photos of the skeletons in the museum store. They are kinda cute, and for sale to anyone who would like to look at this all the time. Day of the Dead is coming. They celebrate Day of the Dead in Guatemala, which is where I think we will be during the night of Nov. 1-2. It should be interesting. If we were in Mexico City, I saw where they will block off Paseo de la Reforma to auto traffic and let bicyclists have it. I assume people will be in costume, and maybe this item in the store will sell.

As long as I’m posting cute skeleton pics…

Enough of that! Still, that Anthropology Museum is loads of fun, as well as informative. It’s all about the connection between people, past and present, who make up the Mexican cultural kaleidoscope. For all the attitude non-indigenous people sometimes have toward indigenous campesinos, they are proud of them, too.

Speaking of kaleidoscope, there’s a Koreatown in Mexico City. Some of the stores sell homemade kimchi and kimbap, not to mention doenjang and sesame oil. We couldn’t wait to get home before digging into that on a bench.

Everywhere you go, Mexicans celebrate their heritage, past and present. You often see modern pseudo-Aztec (or whatever) stuff being performed, even if it’s the vendors using the schtick to sell stuff.

I think this dude was actually staring at the sun. Not good.

That’s going to be it for now. We’ve actually been to Oaxaca City and are now in San Cristobal de las Casas again. A post from there will come along shortly, maybe tomorrow. Until then….

I’m getting a little behind. Myung and I are in Oaxaca now, after spending 8 days in Mexico City and maybe 8 or 9 in Michoacan. This post is to catch up as far as Michoacan, and hopefully I’ll get a post up about Mexico City in the next couple of days. Time flies when you’re having fun. I used to have a lot of time on my hands. Now, when I have had my fill of sightseeing for the day or whatever, I can play with Myung.

Okay, so, Michoacan. As you know, I was here before, so many pictures of Morelia are on my blog already. Myung took many photos of basically the same stuff. We went to just about all the same places as before. It’s been fun to share what I consider highlights from a couple of months ago. I have nothing to add about Morelia. We stayed at the same place I stayed before and, for me, it was about enjoying her company again. For her, I’m thinking she is all about the food. I didn’t think she would like it so much, but she loves eating here and takes many, many pictures. I don’t know what people might like to look at on this blog. Maybe it’s the food? Well, here are some food pictures. they aren’t all taken in Morelia, but they were all taken in Morelia, Patzcuaro, or Quiroga.

You know tacos. Squash flowers and Oaxaca cheese works well.

… and menudo (tripe). Myung really loves this. It’s expensive in Korea, here about 2 dollars with all the tortillas you can eat.

Carnitas, braised, chopped pig parts, have always been a favorite of mine, though in the US you have to go to a pretty authentic place to get snout, ears, cheeks and such. Near Patzcuaro in Quiroga is a plaza famously known for it’s carnitas stands.

Oh, there are many food pictures. I think I’ll leave it there for now.
Like I said, I don’t have much to add about Morelia, so let’s move on to around Lake Patzcuaro. Here’s a photo of a map of Michoacan. You can see the Patzcuaro area and Uruapan are southeast of Morelia. The monarch butterfly area is there, though the butterflies don’t arrive till November when the place is thick with them like around Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz, California when they go there.

Patzcuaro town is another World Heritage site and a very popular tourist destination particularly for Mexicans, particularly for people from Morelia on weekends. It’s very mellow, pretty, historical, and all that. The most well known place is this 18th century church and former convent.

Patzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan and Quiroga are all around Patzcuaro Lake. it’s a lovely walk up to the viewpoint from Patzcuaro.

Quiroga is best known for it’s big market and those carnitas. Tzintzuntzan is most famous for being the capital of the Tarascans who were a regional power from about 1000 to 1400. There are ruins there we didn’t go in. We did go in a former convent established by the much venerated Father Vasco de Quiroga. He was sent by Spain as a replacement for his particularly heinous predecessor, and by all accounts was just the opposite. Here are nice photos from in there, including the olive trees he planted himself in the 16th century. They are the oldest olive trees in the Americas.




Farther down the road from Patzcuaro is Uruapan. The best and only thing there is a fantastic urban park, right in the middle of the city. I can’t remember a park like this in the middle of a city anywhere else. It’s really special. An underground river bursts out and runs through a big ravine and on out to sea. Most places would have paved this over.

So, that’s what we did up there in Michoacan. From there we went to Mexico City. I’ll post about that soon. Meanwhile, be well, all of you.

Check out the mosquito bites on my neck. I have always been a mosquito magnet. Those ones in Morelia are brutal.