Another Colonial City

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015--Patzcuaro to Morelia

It was a short bus ride from Patzcuaro to Morelia--about an hour.  Before leaving the terminal, we bought our ticket to get us to Mexico City on Friday.  Then we started determining how to get downtown.  Only taxis seem to be allowed within the terminal area, but we knew if we walked outside we should be able to find a bus of some kind going into town.  Poor people have to have a way to get to the bus station, and taxi fares are not reasonable for them.

As soon as we got out to the street, we saw combis (mini-van buses) saying "Centro."  We didn't get into one, because they were going the wrong direction. Their signs never change, so it could be that the combis were travelling AWAY from downtown rather than about to turn around and head that direction.  Just behind the station, however, we found the combi station where they were all parked at the end of their line.  We got onto the next one leaving for the Centro.  It went back by the front of the bus station and then turned around and headed toward town.  We saved enough by taking the conbi to buy our dinner and a dessert.

The Hotel Meson de los Remedios is smaller than where we have stayed so far on the trip, but it is a nice place in a colonial building about 5 blocks from the cathedral.  That means it is convenient for exploring the colonial center of Morelia.

We headed out immediately to explore.  We went to the Museo de las Artisanias en Exconvento de San Francisco.  It's an old convent that now houses a combination of a museum of artisan products from different sections of Michoacan and a series of small shops selling products by today's artisans.  The museum pieces were wonderful, and most of the work for sale by present-day artisans was of very high quality.  It has a high rating on TripAdvisor, and I would advise anyone stopping in Morelia to visit it.

From there, we headed to toward the Cathedral.  On our way, we saw a nice small church that reminded me of the missions in San Antonio, especially on the inside.  It is Templo de la Cruz and, like the missions in San Antonio, was built before a city existed here in an effort to bring Christianity to the local native people.

From there, we continued to the Cathedral, a great building both inside and out.  It rises above the city with beautiful tiled domes and tall bell towers.  Inside, it is very elegant and pretty.  It's a magnificent structure.

We sat in the park beside the cathedral for a while watching people.  Everything seems to be back to normal now that 3 Kings Day has passed.  Students are back in school, people are at work.  The Christmas decorations are being dismantled, etc.

It was time for us to look for a place for an early dinner, since we had not eaten since having breakfast at the bus station.  As we wandered the side streets looking for a restaurant, we came across the Mercado del Dulce.  It's a market and that has artisan shops, too, but it has many stalls specializing in all kinds of sweets to eat!!

We eventually found a place to eat at the main market in the city.  I was surprised that a restaurant stall would still be open at 17:30, but it was doing a booming business.  We got two plates of food.  One had milanesa (battered and fried beef) and the other had bistek (thin slices of beef cooked on the griddle).  Each plate also had macaroni in sour cream, guacamole, salad, and refried beans topped with crumbled white cheese.  Together, both big plates cost $5 US!

Although we were filled from eating--Wes even helped finish my plate, we stopped at an ice cream shop and had two milk-based palettas (ice cream bars).  I had nuez (pecan) and Wes had chocolate.

We were tired by then and returned to the hotel for the evening.  It's cold here at night, so we were diving under the covers by 20:00!