Real Madero Morelia

... I took a bus out of town to the Sanctuario de Atotonilco - the goal of pilgrims and penitents from all over Mexico. In addition to the main chamber, with its walls and ceiling covered in folk murals and paintings, it has six chapels, all richly decorated. Despite its interior being under renovation, it was very impressive.
The road from SMA was almost all under construction. The scenery was like a moonscape of wreckage and rebuilding, and the air was heavy with gritty ...

... to the bus around 5am and barely mustered an uncomfortable two hours sleep before driving on to the nearby town of Patzcuaro.

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.

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 ...

... in English (Rutter´s "For the Beauty of the Earth" which I did with my girls at school last spring) and their English was so bad it was funny! I wanted to get up there and correct them, but I behaved myself!

Yesterday afternoon I went to a music workshop for children and adults. They taught guitar, violin and wooden flute in groups and then put them together at the end of the workshop. This takes place twice a week, so I´ll go again next week. I´ve borrowed a ...

... went into the mine - quartz. Was a bit like the mine and
countermine at st. andrews castle only moreso! we descended 50 meters
on foot. the mine is still in production and is many more meters deep.
couldn´t catch the number. am understanding about 50% of what the
guide says, but it´s exhausting. also went up to the high point of gto.
with amazing views and visited the museum of the mummies, which are a ...

... of the church. Today my task: cut out felt people to use for the childrens class on Friday night. Then later tonight I will be joining the womens bible studŭ group. Tomorrow I get to go to the orphanage in town to hold the babies, which Im so excited for and then in the afternoon I will start teaching English to the kids in the neighborhood. That should be quite the experience. Well thanks for checking in and I will keep you posted. :)

... nicely tiled with cable TV and looked to have been recently refurbished. Their advertised rates were 280, 320, 380 and 420 Peso for 1, 2, 3 or 4 persons but without any problems they dropped the single rate to 220 Peso. The Hotel is located one block from the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra, between Alvaro Obregon and Tejerias.

If you are on the tightest of budgets then just around the corner on Tejerias is the friendly owned Posada Janitzio ...

... hence the sanctuary. We parked and were allowed to use the bathrooms before starting the hike. A note about the bathrooms (and I promise not to talk about them too much in the blog), but the going price for using them is 3 pesos. At this particular bathroom you paid a woman at the front, and she rationed you some toilet paper and gave you a ticket. No seats on the toilets (as is common of most of the public rest rooms) and here, there is no running water ...

... at all though... Which will probably be in about two weeks cos the loser is making great progress! There is a plus side to having a guy with ya though, you don´t get hassled by the Latinos at all. Today, when I was climbing up the statue and Collins was nowhere to be seen, I got 8 bullsugar "you´re beautiful blah di blah" comments. That was in half hour so I spose I can suffer him for another while if it means I have more peace! Mexico city tomorrow ...

... are the perfect getaway in the city. The Cities of Morelia , Pátzcuaro, Uruapan and Zitácuaro encourage travelers to follow any direction on the compass to visit any of the state's 137 towns and 17 beach areas that no visitor should miss. A stroll through the network of narrow, cobbled streets of the nearby towns and villages will both enchant and surprise visitors, thanks to the diversity of the mouth-watering cuisine, the ...