Catedral Morelia

... to the bus around 5am and barely mustered an uncomfortable two hours sleep before driving on to the nearby town of Patzcuaro. <br><br>Like Morelia, Patzcuaro was somewhere I had visited on my previous trip to Michoacan. But while it had been quiet before, it was now completely transformed by the masses of foreign and domestic tourists who flock here each year to celebrate Mexico's most macabre festival. There was a huge market selling local produce such as "pan de los muertos ...

After my first week of classes I decided to visit the neighbouring state of Michoacan. A couple of Mexican guys called Hugo and Raul were taking a coachload of students to party and see a bit more of the country. I was the sole Englishman but it was a real international group, mostly comprised of Germans, French, Mexicans and Americans.<br><br>We arrived in the state capital Morelia on the Friday night and took a brief tour around the city centre. It was fairly lively as the annual ...

... my Conversation Club on Tuesday I was paired with a couple of young men, and I encouraged them to come to salsa. They did, and Thursday they brought friends, so for the first time we had as many hombres as mujeres, which made it much more fun for the mujeres!<br><br>Got to hear some choirs in a concert on Monday night, including the famous (around here at least) Niños Cantores de Morelia (singing children of Morelia). They were pretty good, but they sang one ...

... restored so you can get an idea of how big they were. They carved inscriptions on the stone, and you can still see these inscriptions on the pyramids and also in the buildings built by the Spanish! (see photos!)<br><br>After the pyramids we went to the town below and visited the monastery and church where Vasco de Quiroga lived. He was the one who set up the system in the 16th century (that still survives today) of each village of indidigenous people ...

... to remember the conjugation. (If only there weren´t so many exceptions!!) But this is only a short respite - subjunctive is coming!<br><br>I´m fighting the gringo tummy bug, but Martha is being really helpful. Made me plain rice (do you know how hard it is to find plain rice in Mexico??) and jello (jelly for my UK readers) yesterday, and fresh chicken broth today - guess it's Mexican penicillin, not just Jewish penicillin! (It took me days to realize that when Martha ...

... altitude & does this every day - you can never get the *******s to slow down enough for normal people to keep up!). The terrain was really difficult becuase the butterflies move around - it had been so cold when I was there they headed to the bottom of the valley down a really steep slope - decided to take a horse to return, despite my nervousness of them, it was a better option than reversing our walk there!

... with fine looking white adobe homes and the local indigenous folk all wonder the streets wearing traditional dress. <br>I spent my first evening looking around the heavily overpriced arts, crafts and antique shops before getting held up in Plaza Vasco de Quiroga (the town's main plaza). There was plenty going on here with three different groups of street entertainers all performing to a different beat and all were enjoyable to watch. <br><br ...

... as well go home. Phil was forty-something from the Bay area of California, and knew Mexico well. He was a 'foodie' with the waistline to show for it. We went to the market for a look around. A porter carried in a huge slab of beef of beef - the dead animal's testicles swung to and fro around the porter's shoulder like a pair of grotesque earrings. Strange aromas filled the air and severed pigs' heads grimaced from butcher's counters. I felt queasy. We left the meat hall and I ...

Tous les matins, le vendeur de gaz passe en camion dans notre rue avec la pub à fond qui crie "Gas del Laga, la marca del confiansa", je me réveille avant les autres, je fais des pancakes et prépare une salade de fruit. Notre voisin de gauche passe l'aspi à 4h du matin et écoute les Clash en boucle, notre voisin d'en face écoute de la musique locale, une sorte de soupe où "mi corazon" ressort toutes les deux phrases environ... Sinon dans le quartier, il fait tellement chaud certains ...

We arrived in Morelia late at night and were picked up by the friend we were staying with, Hugo. We were both starting to feel a little sick after the long ride and too much AC on the bus. My Aussi friend went to bed early and I went out with Hugo and a few other guys to a club in the center. In the next few days the Aussi girl and I both got pretty sick with fevers and all. Hugo and his whole family, I mean the whole family, his mom, brother, grandma, cousins ...