I am sorry that I haven’t continued my travelogue sooner, but not too surprisingly we have been out seeing the countryside. As you may well know, I don’t really need any content for my babbling. Still, it helps.
On Thursday, we did the recommended tourist loop of museums, cathedrals, and centers of crafts. The museums are regional ones, where minor collections of artifacts are arranged in stunning colonial buildings. All of the really great pre-Columbian, Spanish and Mexican materials have been hauled off to Mexico City, whose museums are absolutely fantastic. Indeed, I would strongly recommend that someone coming to Mexico for the first time go to Mexico City just to see the treasures which have been stolen from the states. In some senses, the looting of the states, coupled with a certain distain for the provinces, reminds me of the plundering of Mexico by the Spanish. In this case, of course, the Mexican federal government is not melting down the treasures to finance wars, as did the Spanish kings, but it does leave the states somewhat bereft of their heritage.
On the other hand, we saw a fantastic exhibition of Amazonian material culture, in particular feathered headdresses and other adornments made of bright red and yellow feathers that must have appeared like an LSD trip in the green jungle. These headdresses were created for chiefs to demonstrate their lofty position and for witch doctors to show their communication with the world of the spirits. Marvelous, except from the birds’ point of view.
Yesterday, we drove to Pátzcuaro, which is one of our favorite towns in all of Mexico. When we were living in Mexico, we used to drag people to Pátzcuaro just to see the beauty of a village of white buildings with bands of dark red along the bottoms of the walls. There are two large plazas in the center of the town. These are formal areas with stone benches and large trees. In one of the plazas, the town had paid a dance company to perform the “Danza de los Viejitos,” where the dancers wear masks and use canes to portray old men. The town is also a major center for crafts, with lots of opportunities to buy embroidered blouses, painted plates, toys, weavings, pictures of the Virgin of Guadalupe, carved furniture, etc., etc. Pátzcuaro makes much of its living as a tourist destination, but it caters more to Mexican tourists than American ones. For example, I didn’t see a single Elvis on black velvet.
After comida (the Mexican main meal of the day which is eaten at 2 pm), we went off to Tzintzuntzan, a place that we first went during our honeymoon year in Mexico. It is famous for its painted pottery and has a very large pyramid. We bought a set of plates there, which were distinctive because of their scenes of fish painted in green. Unfortunately, the ceramics is all low fire stuff, which didn’t last too long.
Another big draw was the fact that Tzintzuntzan has a nice cemetery, surprise, surprise. Visiting Tzintzuntzan either fits with Toni’s series of photograph or is a subtle hint as to what I can do with myself. Here are a few of Toni’s pictures:
By the way, someone suggested that I just post the photos on Facebook and then refer you to Toni’s page. However, this would require all of you to join Facebook, which seemed a bit much. Also, I think that we would have to issue invitations for you to become our “friends.”
From the picture above, it looks like it is a lot of fun to be dead in Tzintzuntzan. If you wonder how to pronounce Tzintzuntzan, just remember, the tees are silent and the name sounds like a hummingbird in motion.
The one above could be entitled, “The Party’s Over.” And last but not least:
