Journey to Patzcuaro

Buenos tardes de Patzcuaro!

I`ve just spent ten minutes trying to work out how to type the @ sign. It shares a key with Q and in order to get it, I ended up having to ask the Internet headmistress here at the town library. She wasn`t so impressed by my keyboard skills. You press the ALT key followed by the number 6, then 4 - in that order or it won`t work. Simple, hey? Don`t know what all the fuss was about! As you can guess, there is no wireless to be had so its internet cafe time.

We arrived here yesterday after getting a bus from Mexico City to Morelia, followed by another to Patzcuaro. I had geared myself up for the first leg, a 5 hour journey and came fully prepared with three freshly downloaded episodes of Hugh Laurie, playing that well known American doctor. Hardly acting like a serious traveller, I know. But we`re lugging this laptop around, so why not?! Anyway, after successfully negotiating the Metro with 200 odd litres of backpack between us, we arrived at the terminal and boarded the bus. We had first class tickets but I wasn`t prepared for just how nice this bus was. The seats were leather and fully reclining, which meant you could actually go to sleep if you wanted. They were pretty much first class airline seats -not that I know much about first class airline seats! The bus was air conditioned of course and they provided us with a packed lunch, which was very nice of them. And critically they had toilets, both ladies and gents, that were odour free. So, hats off to Mexico´s bus system!

The bus from Morelia to Patzcuaro was more interesting however, as we had stepped down to second class. The first bus didnt show and the second certainly wasn`t odour free! But this was only supposed to be an hour journey, so suck it up, I thought. (Not literally!)

About ten minutes into the ride, we stopped at a bus stop and as the driver pulled in, another bus pulled in front and side-swiped our bus taking the wing mirror off. I knew this had to happen at some point with all this crazy driving. A wing mirror on a bus here is about as essential as having at least four wheels. But this wasn`t going to stop our bus driver. Once we got going again, we made regular pit stops at garages where our driver would run out and ask if he could buy a wing mirror -or any mirror- I assumed he must have some masking tape or something. Sadly, they were all out of stock, so we continued on with no wing mirror and a prayer! Thankfully the journey only cost us $1.50 each (pounds, im not searching for the sterling sign!)

Having arrived in Patzcuaro, we took turns to check out hotel prices while the other guarded the bags. There are some really luxurious hotels here, all done in the colonial style of building. However, on a budget we must be frugal. Frugal is the word we tell ourselves everyday. So, we found what appeared to be an acceptable hotel for 250 pesos (12 pounds) per night for a room. On the outside it looked fine. But unfortunately, the inside was a little less than fine. And that`s me being very kind. The first thing I thought was, has the rat checked out of this room, or is he staying another night? Actually, I was fully prepared to be brave about it, but it wasn´t secure, there was no window and it just wasn´t cheap enough for that.

So, time becoming an issue, we checked into the Hotel Refugio del Angel which was twice the price but ten times as nice! Here was a seriously nice room, with double height ceiling, walk in shower and HUGE bed. Its been a long day, we´ll treat ourselves for one night.

But frugal being the word, today we found a 250 pesos hotel that is perfectly reasonable, and where I´m sure rats aren´t welcome!

Patzcuaro is a charming little town with many picturesque plazas surrounded by brown and white colonial buildings. The locals smile and are very happy to talk to you - and they even stop their cars if you want to cross the road.