| Patzcuaro is nestled in the mountains at the side of a lake, a very hilly town with cobblestone streets, many quite narrow and filled with flaws. When we first arrived, our first order of business was to find a residence, as we could easily spend a month’s rent at a hotel in less than a week. We had a few leads, and moving from one encounter to another we managed to get in touch with Monica Grey, who owns a number of apartments and duplexes in town. She set us up in our current home, essentially a one-room apartment on a hillside, pictures of which you can see here. When I heard “one room apartment” I was obviously doubtful, but when we saw how big that one room is – plus the fact that it also was fully furnished, has a full kitchen, a bathroom, a huge loft and plenty of storage space- we deemed it quite adequate for our needs. Best of all, it fit our budget at $300 a month, water and trash pick-up included. For the practical minded among you, I’ll add that we pay for electricity, which looks like it will run about $20 a month (heavily subsidized by the government). The stove and water heater are gas which is supplied by two tanks at the back of the house. The gas people prowl the town with these canisters and drive by our house two to five days out of the week, blaring announcements underscored by tacky music. A tank runs about $30 and they seem to last us 3-4 weeks. To round out the utilities, everyone here uses bottled water for drinking and cooking, and the water guys come by twice a week. For less than $2, they haul in one of those big jugs of water which fit on a dispenser unit in our kitchen (actually we run through about three of these a week). The next essential to explore was stocking the kitchen with food. There are plenty of places to eat around here, of course, running from nice sit-down restaurants to sidewalk cafés around the Plaza Grandé to little stands in the marketplace or along the perimetro (the road running around the town). Many of these stands are absolutely portable, often simply a table with a tarp strung up as shelter. It’s sometimes difficult to find satisfying fare for picky little girls around here, plus we have been warned that indeed, as has been often reported, some of these small stands are questionable in their standards, and we’ve heard first-hand experience of people who have gotten ill from eating there, a few with typhoid (though we THINK we were innoculated for that before we left the US!). Still, we knew we wanted to have most of our meals at home, so we had to get used to the idea of shopping around here. First, there are a number of supermarkets around here. The largest we’ve found is probably the closest to an American grocery store, the Super Cadallos. The first time I shopped there, I ran in while everyone else waited in the car. It was a bit maddening, though, as they don’t arrange their foods according to the same type of marketing plan I’m accustomed to. Typically now, we all tromp into the Super Cadallos and can pretty much go right to where we need. There are many things they don’t have here that we would probably get at home – some that come to mind are pepperoni, deli turkey, lemons or lemon juice (they do have lemons, but they are very small green things, smaller than a golf ball). I’ve had a hard time with spices as well, as there’s not a huge selection and I’m just not familiar with all the Spanish names. I’ve also been frustrated at trying to find canned whole or chopped tomatoes – all they seem to have is tomato sauce, and in order to make a decent spaghetti sauce I have to start with the real thing, which is surely better but it’s a big pain to peel, seed and chop them for cooking! The second part of food is the mercado, or the marketplace, downtown. This place could be an essay in itself, and if I can’t find any photos in my collection I’ll have to remember to take some. There are essentially two parts of the mercado, part in a permanent structure and part along two streets alongside that. Along the front at the Plaza Chica, there are a few people selling baskets and knick-knacks and such, and behind them a variety of food vendors. There are four narrow corridors running back through a variety of booths, running from blankets and serapes to clothing (very much American casual style stuff). Buried back in all this is a meat section, with separate booths for chicken or pork or beef or fish, cheese, and huge piles of barbecued meats. And there are a number of each of these specialties. Back here is definitely the place to buy meat – I’m not thrilled with the selection at the Super Cadallos. A kilo of hamburger is about $8 – they grind it right in front of you and it is very lean. A chicken will run from $4-7, depending on the size, and these ladies will cut the thing up in front of you. It’s fun to watch them hack the birds apart so expertly. Same thing with fish – they slice and gut them with two swift strokes, chop off the head and then slice out the fillets. The fish is by far the cheapest, as we can get enough for everyone for about $2-3. Outside on the streets are the vegetable stands, interspersed with a variety of other goods – curious to me are the ones who simple have a table piled with socks. You can get bootleg movies here as well, if you’re comfortable with stiffing the filmmakers and don’t mind seeing someone get up for popcorn in front of the camera. Anyway, fruits and vegetables are quite inexpensive and enough of good quality. You can find nuts, flours, rice, dog and cat food, all kinds of stuff. Here is where I get my tomatoes – all of them are those long, oval ones. But the really challenging part about shopping here is figuring out where they might have the item you need. Where do you find sheets of tissue paper (the gift wrap type)? Why, what appears to be a hardware store, of course. What about printer cartridges? The internet café... and apparently only one internet café seems to have a decent selection of these. Socks? Well, don’t go to the shoe store! Try one of those tables with the piles of socks, if you don’t mind really cheap socks that are probably too small for your boat-sized feet. When we first moved in, I asked the landlady where to get sheets, and she directed me to a little shop about three block off the Plaza Grande. She said it was next to a pet store, and when we got there we couldn’t find the place, so we went to the pet store and, in my broken Spanish, I told them I was looking for sheets. The lady managed to communicate that indeed the shop next door sold them but wouldn’t be open ‘til 4. We came back after four, and again I managed in my broken Spanish that we needed Queen sized sheets. I surmised I would have to come back the next day for them, so I bought some pillows, then we picked up the sheets the next day, having been in our sleeping bags for the previous two nights. Now, one would think that perhaps I could get a shower curtain at this same store, but upon inquiry I was sent to yet another store – a tiny place that was so full of stuff piled from floor to rafter, hanging from the ceiling, backpacks, kitchen gadgetry, mops, buckets, crayons. The smiling family behind the counter was able to produce several shower curtains. I selected one and paid my twenty pesos or so, discovering only later that it was really too short for the shower ... but I JUST DON’T CARE! Ah, well, I’m starting to get used to finding what I need. And if really want something and can’t find it ... put it on the list for the next trip to Morelia and maybe we can find it at Walmart! Though Walmart has its differences as well and should perhaps be left to another day ... # # # |
Quest for a Shower Curtain
| The girls at the Basilica - you can see some of those tarp-covered stands in the background. |
Pen's Essays - 7
| Finding a birthday cake for Abi was a chore in itself - the bakery we wanted to use was closed and we ended up getting one at the Super Cadallos - which turned out to be quite delicious! |
| Dave usually makes the coffee - of course we've found a good supplier of Mexican beans! |
