After the butterflies we spent a night on the outskirts of Morelia, then headed out early to spend the afternoon in nearby Patzcuaro, one of our favorite towns in central Mexico.
Ali’s poncho circa 1977.
One of the biggest reasons for stopping in Patzcuaro is for the Pasta Ice Cream. So good. Our kids begged us for two scoops, got denied, then barely finished the top quarter of the smallest size they had.
“Too sweet,” Lowe said.
“I’m full,” said Ouest.
Our kids were late to the sweets game, and despite their enthusiasm on the subject, we never have to worry about them overindulging. Lowe has never even finished a sucker.
Hanging out in the huge plaza is about all we really do when we’re there.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen one of these cobblestone roads being built before. That would have made a cool time-lapse video.
From Patzcuaro we carried on to Uruapan for the night. Another town, another plaza. It’s where everyone congregates. I don’t know why we don’t have this in the States. Cities just don’t seem to have a central gathering spot. Maybe they did a couple of generations back when small towns, and town squares, still thrived. But these days who knows where everyone is hanging out? Down here in Mexico you never have to wonder where the action is when you arrive in a new town. Every generation is on display in the plazas.
These nice ladies made us dinner. Felt a bit like being in Grandma’s kitchen. If Grandma was Mexican, and was making enchiladas, chilaquiles, and steak in salsa verde.
A train ride around the plaza. Such simple fun.
Speaking of simple fun.
11 Comments on “Town Plazas”
Plazas. Yesterday in Dolores Hidalgo I exclaimed the same thing. We don’t have them in Canada either. Everyone just hangs out at the shopping mall. Here, especially on Sunday the plaza is a wonderful gathering place.
Town plazas truly give a one a sense of community. In the states, most of us don’t even know our neighbors any more.
I live in Southport, NC recently voted by Coastal Living magazine as the “Happiest Seaside Town in America”. We don’t have plazas. We have porches. Same result!
I would have thought it would have made more sense to start building the cobblestone road at the bottom of the hill rather than the top. Gravity would hold the rocks tighter together, no?
You guys are raising 2 maladapted kids.
How are they going to fit in with the texting-on-the-escalators crowds at the King of Prussia Mall? They dont even know what a playstation is. Just saying…
It’s sad, right? Someone call child welfare.
Love your eye for photos, Pat. The empty instruments shot is awesome.
You guys look cold!! Time to head back to the coast?
Thanks, Mark. And might I add that Ali deserves a lot of credit, too. I usually carry the cameras around, but she’s always pointing shots out to me. I’m usually too busy looking for tacos to notice.
And yeah, it was cold inland. Everything is at elevation in Central Mexico. You don’t notice it looking at a map, but it seems like the whole country is sitting at 5,000+ feet.
We’re already back on the beach and in the water. 🙂
Pat, I was wondering how camping/RVing in Europe compares with Central America, and why not Europe? Is it costs mainly?
I noticed you guys didn’t archive that period expenses, or I cant find it in this new format. Was it just a bad experience overall? 🙂 Was thinking of doing it in europe myself.
Camping/RVing in Europe is basically the same as it is in the U.S. We’re just personally not that interested in Europe (I assume you mean Western Europe) right now. It doesn’t hold that same sort of sense of adventure for us. It feels tame, and kind of sterile to us. We’re not saying that’s a bad thing overall, but just that it isn’t what we’re looking for at this point in our lives. Cost is also a consideration, though not nearly as much as when we were last there and the Euro was at $1.57 US. It’s now closer to parity, but everything is still more expensive.
Costs for the VW trip are here, https://www.bumfuzzle.com/2009/06/30/cost-to-drive-the-americas/, you can find all our cost links on the Adventures page.
Thanks for the link/details.