March 30-April 6: Colonial Towns

March 30-April 2: We left the water park, much to the demise of the kids, to check out some highly recommended Colonial towns.  The first stop, after a very long day of stressful driving (curving roads, narrow city streets and unexpected speed bumps), was Patzcuaro.   We really enjoyed this small city.  We stayed for 4 nights in a small RV Park/Hotel on the edge of the city.  From here we took the short bus ride each day to go into town to eat, shop and see the sights.   There are many restaurants, cafes and street food to choose from including ice cream stands with tons of flavours and delicious looking cakes!  There are also trendy clothing stores where Carrie got some nice duds for reasonable prices.  Everything stays open late and the town is busier in the evening.  There is often traditional entertainment in the streets with various groups singing and dancing.  It could of been that it was the upcoming Easter weekend.  The town square was buzzing throughout our stay. 

Patzcuaro has two large plazas (park like squares surrounded on all sides by stores and venders).  There is also a large  market (small by Mexican standards) with fabric, clothes, pottery, toys, shoes, furniture…of varying quality.  This town is popular for copper and baskets.  There are beautiful cooper sinks, bath-tubs bowls and even copper toilets.  There are also many artisan stores.  We purchased a unique painting created on tiles from a local artist.  You can also purchase on of the many crucifixes in any size that you desire! 

Patzcuaro is a very religious town and there are several large and historic churches.   We ventured into a few and were marvelled at the architecture.  We visited the town square for Good Friday, and we stayed to watch the silent procession in the evening.  There were hundreds of people walking along the streets carrying candles and various  statues of Jesus on the crucifix and Mother Mary.   There were so many people gathered in town that they had to redirect traffic and we couldn’t find our bus so we had to walk back to our RV. park (45min.), Trevor carrying his own bundle (sleeping Trae) in his arms.

April 3 &4: Our next stop was San Miguel de Allende.  Again we needed to stay just outside the city and take a short bus ride into town.   The streets in the city were much to narrow and busy to attempt to drive an RV in.  We spent 2 days touring the centre of this town.  Shortly after we arrived in downtown on the first day, a Mariachi band paraded through the streets with  a gathering of following spectators.  It was a exciting sight, and we saw everyone’s heads pop out of the stores to see and hear them play. 

San Miguel is a popular town with North American expats and there is much more affluence here then in other Mexican tourist towns.  It is noticeable in the way people dress, the cleaner streets and the beautifully maintained buildings.   Of course, as a result, the prices are much higher.   For example a wooden box we purchased at the market in Patzcuaro, cost us $140 pesos ($11.67 dollars), the same box retailed in a San Miguel store for $420 pesos ($35 dollars).  However, we did find that in the markets of San Miguel the prices aren’t as badly inflated as in their stores.  We loved the beautiful wool rugs and almost purchased one, but we weren’t sure of what size or design to get.

There are many expensive hotels and restaurants with beautiful courtyards and terraces in San Miguel.  Trevor took pictures of the beautiful elegant and rustic doors which opened to the lush courtyards of homes and hotels in the center of the city.  We think that it could be a very romantic place to go when your not on a budget, not that it would be overwhelmingly expensive, only by Mexican standards.    We found a really yummy restaurant for reasonable prices on a side street.  The restaurant was themed to celebrate the Bull Fighter!!!  Quite interesting decor for sure. The four of us ate delicious fajitas and chicken kabobs for around $15.  There are also lots of Mexican food venders and yummy treats, including ice cream!  

The kids really enjoyed seeing that a circus was in town.  They would parade and display the circus animals as they drove them in cages around town.  You would see lions, monkeys, zebras, etc…  The kids found it fascinating as they like that the circus came to them.

April 5 &6 : Our 3rd stop and final colonial town to visit was Guanajuato.  It was recommended by many travelers.  It is a maze of tight,  twisting streets and underground tunnels.  As such, we could not get close to this city with our trailer or even our truck for that matter!  Unfortunately we had to stay at an RV park several kms away from town.  The bus ride took over an hour from our RV site.   It took us a while to figure out how to get to the central plaza area.  Once we got there we enjoyed wandering the streets looking at the old buildings.

Guanajuato has a beautiful central plaza with large lush trees, surrounded by shops, theatres and museums. There are entertainers there making it an

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

enjoyable ambiance.  We decided to eat at a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the plaza.   It was a very enjoyable experience and we felt like we were living it up high class.  The prices were still much cheaper than any similar restaurant in Canada would be.  Here we discovered the finest washroom we’d seen since crossing the border.  You could actually put your toilet paper in the toilet bowl.  Talk about high class! 

The Guanajuato market was a real disappointment.  It was filled with cheap junk and had no artistic pieces.  I believe the draw to the city is the museums and theatres but unfortunately the long commute made us decide to stay only for one day.  We then ventured on toward Tequilla…as Carrie was looking forward to this!!!