Patzcuaro Village
The village has two plazas. One is dedicated to Quiroga, the first bishop of the area and the man responsible for the building of most missions around the lake. The second plaza, Plaza Chica, is dedicated to Gertrudis Bocanegra, who helped the local people during the war for independence from Spanish rule. Bocanegra was shot near the main plaza for her activities. Plaza Chica has a library containing a mural painted by Juan O’Gorman that is considered exceptional. Market day in the village is every Friday and it’s when people from around the lake come to sell and trade their wares. The Casa de Once Patios, an ancient nunnery, is the place to look for local arts and crafts on non-market days. There are only five of the 11 original patios left on that building. Make a point to see the hexagonal tiled bath at the Madrigal de las Altas Torres, two blocks from Plaza Queroga. It is worthwhile seeing. The museum of Popular Art, Calle Quiroga and Lerin, Tuesday to Sat- urday, 9 am-7 pm, is located in the old College of St. Nicholas. It contains pottery and copper works, traditional masks, religious objects, lacquered objects and cornhusk items. Some of the interesting floor tiles in this building contain cattle vertebrae. In the backyard is a wooden cabin and the base remains a Parapecha ceremonial site.Going uphill along Av La Paz from the main plaza is the Basilica of Nuestra Se?ora de la Salud, built in 1543. Quiroga banned holy images dressed in cloth so the Indians wouldn’t put their own idols into Spanish-styled garments and call them Catholic. The people had always made images of their gods,so they complied to the rules and made a corn- and cane-paste Virgin. She sits on the altar of the Basilica and is said to perform miracles. Quiroga’s remains are in the masoleum at the en- trance to the Basilica. The old customs house, the Real Aduana, is on Calle Ponce de Leon, off the main plaza.
Lake Villages
Local buses travel from village to village around the lake. At the eastern end of the lake, 11 miles/18 km from Patzcuaro, is Tzintzuntzan, famous for its pre-Hispanic key-shaped pyramids known as yacatas, one of which was dedicated to the hummingbird. (The name of the town is supposed to sound like the wings of the bird.) The yacatas are near the lake and less than a half-mile from the center of the village. Al- though this was once a huge city of about 100,000 people, the excavated area covers less than a square mile. The oval mounds at the site don’t look like much from a distance, but once you walk around the compound and see how they were constructed, they become impressive. The Great Platform has five yacatas on top of it, plus a few buildings, one of which was the palace. The five yacatas, before the arrival of the Spanish, held up the temple of Curicaueri, a god-king of the Parapecha. The side of the great platform that faces Patzcuaro has been built up and reconstructed. Scientists believe that the lake once came up to the walls of the platform and the two ramps seen below were boat docks. The area is open 10 am-5 pm and the entry fee is $2.50. This includes a visit to the tiny museum. Back in the village of Tzintzuntzan is a Franciscan mission. The mon- astery (part of the mission), built with red and black volcanic rocks, still stands, as does the Convent of Santa Ana that was once the hospital chapel. The windows and archways of the mission are decorated with carved angels and seashells. There is an open chapel at the monastery from where the friars used to preach to Indians. The olive trees in front were supposed to have been planted in 1530 by Vasco de Quiroga, the bishop who founded the mission at Patzcuaro.
Tzintzuntzan is known for the glazed black and white pottery originally designed by Miguel Morales in the 1920s. Many locals have duplicated this art and have it for sale. The village of San Pedro Pareo has a church with early stone carvings that include the sun, moon and animals. Prior to the arrival of Catholi- cism, this spot was dedicated to the Tarascan Indian’s moon goddess Xaratanga. The mission of San Pedro has these ancient carvings beside figures of Peter and Paul. Inside the church is the black Christ of Jaracuaro, a pathetic figure obviously suffering pain and malnutrition. The village of Uricho has a church with a Moorish ceiling and a gilded al- tar. Erongaricuaro is known for its plaza and shops selling cotton fab- rics. The Franciscan monastery in the village has a carved relief similar to the one in Tzintzuntzan. If you’re looking for a guide, contact Francisco Castilleja, 'fr 434-344-0167, who speaks Spanish, English and French. The village of Quiroga sells crafts such as stone carvings that are repli- cas of the mission reliefs, but there is little else of interest. Just up from there is Puacaro, which has a freestanding bell tower and a priest’s home. Zacapu was the home for the highest of Tarascan dieties, Curicaueri. During colonial times, a Franciscan monastery was built here and it has another shell/animal-adorned façade. There is also a statue of Jacobo Daciano wearing his pilgrim’s hat. Religious murals can be seen inside the nunnery beside the church, and the hospital chapel across the street that now houses nuns still has a richly gilded altarpiece. Naranja de Tapia is just up the road from Zacapu and has a church built in 1733. The ceiling is said to contain some of the best paintings in Mexico.
