Waterfall in Uruapa

Ihuatzio Ruins 900 AD

Our trip inland proved to be extremely interesting. It was a lot of driving but very rewarding.
We left on the Sunday in a very old rental car. We had said as long as it had four wheels! Our journey was to take us up into the Sierra Madres. Pine, cedars and maple trees are surrounded by a ring of mountains. The valleys rich red soil is perfect for growing. The crops vary from semi- tropical to local BC type crops. I was surprised to see apple orchards.
The high mountains have waterfalls, lakes, hot springs, volcanoes and more importantly a lot of culture and history.
This is the land of the Purepecha (poo-ray-pay-cha) indigenous people. The towns are vibrant markets, have monumental ruins of ancient imperial cities, antique churches. (Yes Mike ancient cemeteries. Ken limited me to the number I was allowed to visit. It was great to see the economy thriving here. Their farming practices are still carried out the old way but everyone works and helps to provide for their families. Don’t get me wrong This IS NOT a 3rd world country. The American Embassy “Mc Donald’s” is alive in all the larger cities.
Uruapan is one of the oldest cities in Mexico. Its main natural attraction is the Cupatitzio River (dubbed "the river that sings"). The National Park Eduardo Ruiz is home of "La Rodilla del Diablo", the source of the river which courses through the city and out toward "La Tzaráracua" and "La Tzararacuita", waterfalls on the southern outskirts of the city.
This national park is a tourist attraction but also a great place for the people of this country to take their families for an outing.
Paricutin volcano emerged in the vicinity in 1943, scaring away much of the population. Two towns were basically taken over by the lava and no longer exist. The remains are visible for the tourist and locals to examine.
The following day we traveled higher into the mountains to the town of Patzcuaro (PAHTZ-kwah-roh). It is a small colonial gem in the state of Michoacan, It is 7500’ above sea level. Patzcuaro is founded on hills above one of the lakes; Lake Patzcuaro. Now very polluted and dropping in levels dramatically. Volcanic activity and the state's latitude position help create a setting not unlike Hawaii, The Purepecha people first settled in Pátzcuaro in about 1324. The town retains its ancient atmosphere. It consists of largely one-story adobe or plaster-over-brick buildings with red tile roofs. The streets are dusty cobblestones traveled by horse and car. The Plaza Grande (Big Plaza), is Pátzcuaro's central square. On the east side of downtown is the beautiful Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Basilica of Our Lady of Health), We took a trolley tour to learn about the history. The town dates back to the 1300’s. The mortars in many of the old buildings were made with corn cobs and honey. The buildings have shifted but they are still standing and being used.
We were lucky enough to witness the Dance of the Viejitos (Old Men), one of the best and most widely known native dances of Mexico. The dancers wear wooden masks that depict smiling old men. This dance was performed to mock the Spaniards. T he Indigenous people believed the Spaniards grew old quickly because of the foods they ate and their unhealthy practices.
The people of this area are carvers and there are many furniture manufacturing companies that send their products world wide. All hand crafted.We drove to Ihuatzio located on a remote road that traverses a cow pasture. It is often referred to as the "Place of the Coyote", these strategically located ruins near the shores of the Lago de Pátzcuaro, which were once used for water defense and enemy lookout, are only partially excavated, and therefore only partially open to the public. Ihuatzio is essentially dated (900–1200 AD). These ruins were small in comparison to the ruins we visited in Guatemala but non the less interesting.
Onward we forged to our main destination The Monarch Butterfly Conservation area. (Ken is going to do the blog about this as it was the delight of the trip. Totaly an unforgetable experience. Enough to write an entire blog about.

Onward we forged to our main destination The Monarch Butterfly Conservation area. We decided to head to the small town of Ocampo. This very small indigenous town farms and lives from revenue that the Mariposa butterfly tourist industry creates.

During the summer the monarch lives in the northern US and Canada. At the end of the summer it begins its southward migration and on November 1st punctually all the monarchs arrive in Michoacan. They spend the winter in Michoacan, Mexico and mate and in the spring return north. As these fragile creatures have a lifespan of only a few months the monarchs who came to Mexico from Canada are not the ones who return, but their offspring. So the monarch migrating to Canada in the spring never went there before. And likewise the monarch leaving Canada and the northern US to migrate to Mexico never went there before. Each trip is a new generation, but yet each new generation knows to return to this same mountain range.In its trip south the little butterfly travels about 70 miles per day; it travels over 1,800 miles in about 25 days.And it's only a few inches long. It only flies during the day. During the night they eat. The descendants from last year's trip feed on alkaloid plants commonly called swamp milkweed or cow’s tongue which are poisonous to its preditors. For the monarch this is a form of protection as if a bird would try to eat it the bird would die from an accelerating heart rate. Knowing this all the birds leave the colorful monarch alone.
The best time to observe the butterfly is during the day. In the morning they are motionless with the cool air. Once the afternoon suns arrive they come alive. The sight is incredible.
Ken says it is like walking through a snow storm or a large popular tree loosing all its leaves at one time. Thousand of orange butterflies fill the air. When landing on the trees they cluster together. The swarms turn the trees into a bright orange flora. Looks similar to the Spruce Beetle dead fall in BC.
To arrive at the viewing area from the parking lot at 8600 ‘, you must walk 2 km and rise another 2000’ to almost 11,000’ in elevation.
The journey and exercise is well worth the effort.
If you stand perfectly still they will land on you. They are so light you cannot feel them on you.

Ken with a butterfly on his arm

We spent the night in Ciudad Zitacuaro. We had dinner out and walked around the city square then went back to our room. This city appears very prosperous.
The next morning off we went taking the old highway. Golden has 12 km of very windy roads try 300 km of this! The highways are not marked well and this led to an adventure into a large lake town.
Valle de Bravo is a town and municipality located in Mexico State. It is located on the shore of Lake Avandaro approximately 145 km (95 miles) southwest of Mexico City and west of Touluca on highways. This town was quite beautiful.
When we returned we were welcomed by an infestation of ants. The marina paid to have it fumigated. The next day was spent cleaning. I don’t think this boat has ever had this good of a cleaning done to it.
RJ and Mike have arrived and we will shove off to some anchorages. Until next week.

We are now in Ixtap or Zihuatanejo, the temps here are mid 90's during the day and 70's at night. The locals here think it is cold at night.

We are renting a car and will be traveling inland for a few days to take in ruins that date back to 900 AD, visit volcanoes and much much more.

We left Manzanillo in the State of Colima heading south to the anchorage Cabeza Negra in the State of Michooacan.

It is in the State of Michoacan that the Monarch butterflies come to suntan for the winter.

The Sierra Madre Mountain range steps into the steep, rugged 180 mile shore with deep water close in.

Books report that drug smugglers ply these waters and great caution should be exercised. Unfortunately buddy boating would be the smart thing to do but we are by ourselves.

We arrived at Cabeza Nero with its private gated community of nice homes. Not a single internet wave to pirate! We had dinner and retired for the evening, the swell was reminiscent of Punta Baja on the Baja coast. We opted to weigh anchor and do an all nighter. The seas were fairly benign.

Day break brought us a land mine of floating sea turtles. Hundreds.

By noon Calita de Campos was our new home for 2 days.

Calita de Campos has a population of 3,000.

It contains a navigation and fishing school.

We spent hours with binoculars in hand watching the panuro fleet.

We thought a bout the different methods of fishing we have viewed since arriving in Mexico.

There are no seiners raping the seas. The fishermen all use pangas (similar to a Newfie Dorry) with fast outboards.

The Pacific coast of the Baja saw lobster pots. The pescadoro (fishermen) keep the pots out returning each morning to pick out the lobsters.The fishing communities have a co op and return their catches into a submersed pen . Once a week they are picked up by a larger fishing vessel. Usually these pangas are run by 2 men

In the Sea of Cortes the fishermen use fly fishing and jigging. thay have reels with line they add weights to and jig over pinnicles.

Camarones (shrimp) seem the be harvested everywhere. They are the size of our prawns.

Crossing over to the Mainland longlines are used. These lines are floating lines stretched out for 2 miles. At 50' intervals a plastic pop bottle is used as a float. Some clear others green. Attached at these points are long lines with baited hooks. The swell moves the lines in a perpetual motion attracting tuna, sierra and many other typed. Generally you see the fishermen setting these lines in the morning and picking them up at dusk. These boats have 3 - 4 men in them.

Casting and gill nets seem to be the next type of fishing we encountered.. In Calita de Campos the fishing fleet consisted of aprox. 24 boats with 4 men aboard. They departed in the surf at 1730- 1800 hr staying out all night returning at 0700 -0800 hr.

We watched the ritual of prayer and crossing ones self as they headed out. I am sure these men are probably all blood related or related by marriage. It's a community effort.

The last and final type we have seen are the shell, crab, octopus collectors. The divers and spear fishermen. The divers wear masks and use a compressor with a hose. Not scuba tanks. There are no diving flags so great caution is needed when transversing around the dive boats.

All and all it has been extremely interesting. They take what they need and there are no commercial large seiners.

Foreign countries could take note.

The introduction of shrimp farms are just starting. The verdict is out on them.

Moving on we arrived at Barra de Navidad. This is a little country beach town with incredible history. The town is built on a sand bar. The sand bar is called Navidad (Christmas) due to historical events. On December 25, 1540 a rebellion in Western Mexico threatened to take the area away from Spain. On this day Spain gained controlled and hanged torched or beheaded thousands of Native people. I say very Christian like!
A generation later shipyards were built carrying back the gold and silver that was taken from the mines inland.
We anchored in the lagoon and were able to sea kayak around. The temps remained in the 90’s.
The pangas hum with activity within the lagoon ferrying people around. They would pick us up at our boat and take us into town. The return fare was 50 Pesos.
The fishermen were up bright and early fishing along side the boat. They would first throw a weight ahead of them, then followed the net into the water .The task to gather it back to their panga then commenced. I never saw any fish but there must have been. After thinking about the process, I believe they were catching bait fish for the larger fish out in the ocean.
The lagoon did have crocodiles so no toes or fingers went in the water around the mangroves. We never saw any just warned about them.
The Sands Hotel in Barra encourages cruisers to enjoy their facilities thus we has a swimming pool to our use. The cruisers got together for a jam session that lasted the whole day and night. It is amazing just how much talent there is in this community. Most of the band I say were from California and were in their 60’s. Needless to say we met many wonderful and new couples.
The decision was made to stay at a marina when the starter of the port engine would not start. If you have been following the blog this is the same starter that gave us the adventure at Punta Baja coming down the Baja coast. Ken got the right engine started then took the starter off it and placed it on the left engine. With both engines working we headed south to Manzanillo
We opted to stay at the Marina Las Hadas. It was the location of the very popular movie 10 with Bo Derreck in the 1980’s .
The marina does Med ties. Having never done a med tie we arrived at the fuel dock had Oscar jump on the boat and proceeded to learn how to Med Tie.
The bow line is attached to a central mooring in the darsena floor. (Like a spider web) You then stern tie to the docks that surround the darsena. It was explained to us that there is much less damage to a marina in hurricanes with Med Ties. It makes sense as there are pilings to deal with.
The old saying “It’s a small world” is very true within the cruising world.
Having arrived here we met up with Haida and Alert. Two boats we have been coming down the coast with.
Moored two boats down from us is another Canadian boat. The couple are from Olds Alberta and it turns out we know many of the same people. They invited us to friends that own a beautiful home over looking the bay. It turns out this couple we know from Delta Marina. They too were from Alberta and had their boat moored behind us at the Delta. They also know many people we know including my best friend and her husband. Lea and Terry. Two other gentlemen were in attendance and you guess it they know even more people we know. Everyone knew Wayne and Wendy as they were all Cattlemen. By the way, Wendy and Wayne. The couple on Alert knows you from travelling to Tahsis the first year you went. They were at the dock in San Jose del Cabo we just never really knew them yet.
Anyways, the starter is truly fixed and a new one is bought for the future as a spare.
We took the local bus into downtown Manzanillo. 5 pesos each.
Manzanillo is a very important port town. Large freighters come and go.
It is very interesting to see the different ways that people live. You have many living the way always has been then there are people living more the American way with shopping centers and fast food chains.
We will remain here for a few more days getting the boat cleaned up enjoying the facilities then continue south on our quest to see the Big Kid.
Hasta luego.

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Imagine an ideal tropical paradise; a bay with several bays within with clean white sand, right next to a lovely little coral-bottom cove referred to as “the aquarium”. This describes where we are now…….. sigh.
We spent the first three days in a small bay at Rebalsito. It was a Mexican holiday and the playa (beach) was filled with families enjoying each others company. We were visited by 6 young children and teenagers who thought they could swim out to the boat and back. They miscalculated how far we were anchored out. We heard a bump out front and went to check out the source. To our surprise the young boys wearing lifejackets were holding on to the anchor chain to rest. We invited them aboard and filled them with Pepsi and learnt a little about them and them about us. They were very interested to hear about Canada and wanting to know how we liked their country. After about 45 mins. back into the water they went to swim back. We watched ready with the dinghy if needed. They arrived safely
Beach camping is very popular among middle class Mexican families. The best spots typically have a shady palm grove for camping and a palapa (palm thatched) restaurant. Some palapa beach houses are available for rent. This beach was filled with families from Guadalajara.
The sea kayaks are now seeing water under them. Ken and I enjoy spending hours following the beach looking at the fish beneath us. Once in awhile the fish are being chased by a dorado a little to close for comfort.
The work on the boat has continued and she is looking shiny.
The following 3 days saw us anchored in Playa Boca de Iguanas. There is an all inclusive resort hotel at this location. For $45.00/pp we can go use their pool. I think I will jump in the ocean instead. Free. The beach here is wide and level with firm white sand good for hiking and beachcombing..
A reef and bar breaks outside the mouth of Rio Iguana. This is the jungle river entrance.
This fun self guided tour takes about 1 ½ hrs – 2 hrs to go round trip. We started in the morning with the tide high and lowering. To get over the rock and sand bar, we got out of the dinghy and raised the motor. We walked the dinghy in until we were over the bar and past the shallow entrance. The whole time I am thinking crocodiles. Remember the last jungle cruise we saw big crocs. Anyways walk we did. We jumped back inside the dinghy and used the engine to guide us up the river.
We slowly drifted through mangroves and vine canopies and now know where Disney got their ideas for the Jungle Cruise Ride. we exited into a large lagoon with fish jumping everywhere. We saw some birds but no crocodiles. I read that crocodiles once prized for its meat and hide came close to vanishing in the Pacific coast lagoons. They are now protected and are being raised and re-introduced into their natural habitat. I guess this lagoon has not been effected by the change yet. San Blas had a reproduction sanctuary thereby the crocs are back to levels of yester years.
The little fishing town of La Manzanilla is at the opposite end of the bay. It is a working town that has not seen tourist development like so many of other areas. I hope it stays the way it is now.
Our clothing attire now seems to be bathing suits, and shirts to stop from burning. This should make for light laundry loads.
We bid farewell to Mike and Julie.(Crysalis) They had become very good friends and we enjoyed buddy boating with them. Unfortunately their plans have changed and we wish them well as they head back north.
We are now continuing south to Bahia de Navidad.