A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl
We were up again at dawn – this time for a 5-hour bus ride from San Miguel to Patzcuaro in the cool wooded highlands of Michoacán. We love many places in Mexico, but Patzcuaro is a special favorite.
We always stay at Los Escudos, a comfortable and economical hotel on the beautiful Plaza Quiroga – one of the oldest and finest public spaces in the Americas. We also like to eat breakfast at the nearby Mansión Iturbe Hotel (another venerable hotel located in a former colonial mansion). It offers lots of hot coffee, wonderful fresh fruit, local specialties like “corundas,” and an accompanying assortment of pastries including old-fashioned “rosettes” like your aunt or grandmother used to make.
Today, we stopped at our hotel just long enough to check in. Then we walked to the intersection near the edge of the downtown, where we caught the bus for the copper village of Santa Clara del Cobre. Six pesos (less than 50 cents at today’s exchange rate) will take you the 15 miles or so to Santa Clara.
The annual Copper Fair is in full swing in Santa Clara. The plaza in front of the church is festooned with bright paper banners (“papel picado” like you see in Chiripa). A hundred colorfully-dressed dancers (some armed with little bows and arrows) ward off a scary array of costumed evil spirits -- all to the oompah sound of a brass band.
At the local Copper Museum, there is a stunning display of hand-hammered copper. These are works of the highest art – easily qualified for display in the world’s best museums. But they are all produced right here in Santa Clara, by artisans who devote months of labor to each piece. The artisans are competing against their friends and neighbors, and the rivalry is fierce. A first-place award is a great honor.
Most of the displayed works were far out of our price range, but we bought a number of other fine pieces from the Castro Hernandez family, which captured 2 of 5 prestigious first-place awards at this year’s show. You will soon be able to find these elegant pieces at Chiripa, at very reasonable prices.
We returned to Santa Clara the next morning. But today the Copper Fair was interrupted by rain. Not just the usual gentle mist – but a fearful deluge. At this altitude (Santa Clara sits at over 7,000 feet), the lightening and thunder make your hair stand on end. The rain hammered down, and torrents of water poured down the cobbled streets like mountain rivers. A woman swept at the tide rising over the curb, trying to keep it out of her shop.
Fortunately, the curbs are high, and many sidewalks are sheltered by deep overhanging roofs. For the most part, the people just took the deluge in stride.
To all appearances, Mexico is the same beautiful place as ever. But there are some storms raging, and some dark currents flowing beneath the surface. The state of Michoacán faces serious economic difficulties, and young men have emigrated in droves. Some of those who remain have been drawn into gangs and drug violence. We felt completely safe, and saw no evidence of the violence portrayed in the news media. But it is on the minds of many people here.
Over coffee, one business owner confided to us that she is careful about what she says at parties, because “you never know for sure who is involved in what.” Neither she nor her family have ever received any threats, but she hears rumors of extortion and “protection money” schemes. Even legitimate business success can cause resentment in hard-pressed communities. And in today’s climate, businesses are forced to lay off workers who have no safety net. Job losses are making everything worse.
Back in Patzcuaro, another deluge hit in the late afternoon. Waterfalls leaped from the overhanging roofs, slid down big banana leaves in interior courtyards, and splashed on the stone pavement. But melancholy Patzcuaro, with its 400-year-old adobe walls and red tile roofs, has endured many storms. It just hunkers down and waits. -JM August 12 and 13, 2009
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