Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra

We are nothing if not persistent and eventually we located the small plaza in Pátzcuraro. It is a lively place filled with commercial activity and people selling stuff so you can imagine Layne was ready for the fray. Rusty and I? We hoped we might at least hold our own.

Gertrudis Bocanegra was a revolutionary spirit who died here and got the place named for her. According to Wikipedia:

Gertudis Bocanegra was born in Pátzcuaro in what is now the Mexican state of Michoacán, to Pedro Javier Bocanegra and Feliciana Mendoza (d. 15 November 1783). She married Lieutenant Pedro Advíncula Lazo de la Vega, a soldier in the Spanish provincial forces of Michoacán; they had six children (two sons and four daughters). Unusually for a woman of her time, Bocanegra had read the principal authors of the Age of Enlightenment. When Mexico's War of Independence began, she was quick to take sides. Her husband and eldest son joined the forces of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla when the insurgents passed through Valladolid (now Morelia) in October 1810. Both died at the Battle of the Puente de Calderón. She then served as a messenger for the insurgents in the region of Pátzcuaro and Tacámbaro, helping to form a communications network between the principal locations of the rebellion.^[3]

During the guerrilla war, she was sent to Pátzcuaro to aid the rebels in the capture of the city. However, she was betrayed and taken prisoner by the royal army in 1817. She was subjected to torture to get her to reveal the names of other rebels, but she refused to give information to the Spaniards. Finally she was tried and found guilty of treason.

Sentenced to death, she and one of her fellow insurgents were executed on 11 October 1817 at the Plazuela de San Agustín in Pátzcuaro. Facing the firing squad, she harangued her executioners before she was shot. She was 52 years old.

We started our day at the Folklore Museum which we had been seeking for nearly a week, from before the beginning of carnival. Masks, as you can see are required by all, even the mannequins We saw a similar  display of pre-Spanish art and lifestyles in the museum at Uruapan also discussing the several tribes living in Michoacán who had complex multilevel societies with specialists in various trades and skills.

They have uncovered some ruins in Pátzcuaro, a city founded in the 1300s, two centuries before the Spanish missionaries and conquistadores showed up to wreck everything. Archaeologists believe the marks on the wall are a form of calendar used by the residents.  Rather intimate to see it in person.

The museum is explained in large panels which are in Spanish only, not that we saw any other gabachos wandering through the rooms. It was an all-Mexican audience except us so we had a lot of reading to do. A pretty building, a perfect setting:

A drawing showing all the skills and trades in the tribe:

We walked from room to room reading about farming, use of reeds from the lake, pottery making and so forth.

An elaborate formal dress used to this day in festivals during January:

After all this walking around we came out to find Rusty, tied up to a fence up the street was gone. All that was left was a piece of leash with a neatly cut end covered in dog spit. The little bastard chewed through and took off to look for us. You can imagine how I felt. Suddenly the oxygen-free air was no barrier to me rushing back to the van to look for him. He must have gone back there surely? Nope. I was sure we would get him back, Mexicans don't look twice at dogs, and I couldn't imagine he had gone far. I called Layne and she joined the search. I climbed the hill back to the museum and there she was petting a dog. Was it Rusty? What else could it be. Can you believe he was hiding under a car next to the entrance of the museum and only came out when she showed up. Layne thought he was more worried about me being angry than he was about being abandoned. As she soon as she stepped out he came running up. He leapt up and put his paws on me when I sat down panting with worry feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I hugged him quite tight, then I knotted the line back together with a bowline and clipped him back in. Rusty is way too smart to get lost and next time we are in a museum he will be locked in the van. Looking pretty pleased with himself the little shit.

The plan was to go back to the campground to rest but we both felt we needed to make one last check to see if we could find the small plaza. We had lunch on the sidewalk, and shared two dishes, one of shredded pork parts at which I didn't look to closely but which tasted excellent. WE also ordered a traditional Michoacán quesadilla with sheep cheese. Layne was not too fond of it, but I like the orange sauce made of peppers over the maze tortillas filled with ricotta-like cheese:

We took off after a rich cup of Mexican coffee made with cinnamon and strolled the two blocks to the small plaza.

Does it crack you up to see how much the North American Free Trade Agreement has spread business across the continent? Half of me is surprised and half of me wonders how Mexico is coping with the onslaught.

I think as long as Mexico is a mostly very poor society small stores and businesses will survive as Domino's pizza has to be cheap bend imagining to reach a population with a minimum wage of $10 (200 pesos) a day. The Domino's delivery fleet:

Walking the small square:

We didn't want seafood this far from the sea but Layne ignored me when I thought we had to have some empanadas. She can be cruel that woman:

A church now used as a library:

A church used as a church, which seems to have a collectivo stop in front of it.

She sold us local honey:

I look at the pastries wafting under my nose. Dream on...

Back to the main square, the van and back to the campground.

In the campground we are living now with two German speaking couples, two Canadians and a pair of women in an RV off to one side who seem to speak to no one. I am in their camp. We haven't made any connections but we stay here for the hot shower and the serenity (and the WiFi that makes this many photos uploaded a possibility). The other campground up the hill is my favorite but Layne prefers it down here in town and I'm okay with that. We had pizza delivered last night! We are planning to go to Morelia on Sunday which I am entirely ready to do. Its an hour's drive and I am looking forward to getting on the road properly again. We may actually head south for a bit to check out Oaxaca and I am pushing for a trip the Caribbean coast at Veracruz. We are in no hurry to head north just yet.