Playa Azul

Michoacan is not just the Colonial cities in the highlands or the indigenous arts and crafts of the Patzcuaro area. It also has a long, rugged and beautiful coast line. Playa Azul is in southern Michoacan just north of Lazaro Cardenas and down highway 37 from Uruapan.

This was my second time in Playa Azul and I'm a little more impressed than I was last summer. In the winter there are people there, more businesses are open and they keep the town clean. Last summer it looked abandoned. The beach is long and flat with no protection from the open ocean. We watched a number of fishing pangas struggling to get out over the waves. Had a nice sunset but can't recommend a beach restaurant since our dinner was very average. The food stands in the center of town are good for juice and coffee in the morning.

Main beach intersection

Sunset over hammocks

Fishing boat going out at sunset
Scene downtown Playa Azul

Salvador Tera and sons wood sculpture

Most of the wood carvers around the Patzcuaro area focus on masks but years ago Salvador Tera broke the Tocuaro tradition and started his wood sculpture business and his sons are following in his footsteps. Without knowing the full family history I assume Salvador is related to Felipe Horta Tera, a famous mask maker and son of Juan Horta. Much of Salvador's work is church commission and I've heard he has a piece in the Vatican.

I visited the workshop when Jennifer Rose drove over from Morelia to give me a partial tour of towns and crafts people around the lake. We also visited Jaracuaro and the hat factory.

Family in the Workshop

Where they cut the big stuff

Religious icons

A carver carving a carver

Curanderos of Cucuchucho

Well actually beyond the town of Cucuchucho along the lake road to Tzintzuntzan. This is something you'd miss without a tour or had lived in the area for awhile. This project was originally government funded to continue the knowledge and practice of indigenous medicine and medical practice. They are now mostly on their own.

We went with a tour organized through CELEP, my favorite Spanish school in the Patzcuaro area. The site is a combination of garden (herbs) and small hospital with a man and his mother acting as the "curanderos". Her specialty is helping pregnant women with natural birth and he is closest to a chiropractor (spinal alignment) along with herbs and good healthy advice you'd hear anywhere. They have 5-6 beds in the hospital and a large herbal pharmacy. Interesting tour

Curandero in his garden


Class getting herb lessons


Herbs in the garden


Looking down on the hospital from garden

Magical Patzcuaro, Mexico

Located in the highlands of Mexico, Patzcuaro is a traditional pueblo with a strong Purhépecha Indian presence. Come to visit or to live in this magical town in the heart of the Colonial Circle. By Tracy Novinger,  See novinger.com

El Cumpleaños de Pepita - 1957

(1957) 14m, unknown director. Meant to be shown to students learning Spanish, this film transcends the didactic, and provides a glimpse into the Mexico that has, in many places, all too quickly disappeared. Pepita and her uncle travel to Lake Pátzcuaro, get their pictures taken by an itinerant photographer, see wonderful dancers, and attend a birthday party. A sweet, wonderful film. (In Spanish)

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