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Miguel Palomares

Jan 8, 2006, 8:22 AM

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Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

My achingly lovely wife and I decided to drive around Lake Patzcuaro
yesterday. Hadn't done it in a few months. We were driving north on
the west side when we got to San Jeronimo Purenchecauro, one of the small towns.

Has anybody else, on making that drive at that spot, glanced up to the
left (heading north remember) and noticed what appears to be a wide,
ancient, abandoned rock stairwell going straight up a mountainside?
No? Well, it is there.

Approaching the spot now, you will see (just off the highway) a huge,
archway entrance over a dirt road heading up there. Over the archway
is a big sign that says BIENVENIDOS. That means WELCOME to you Gringos.

Glance way up to the top of the small mountain and you will see a
pretty grand-looking building. New. It sports yet another sign,
ABIERTO. (That means OPEN.) There is no hint as to what is up there.

I urge you to head up there. You circle the mountain a time or two,
but it doesn't take that long. Maybe a kilometer. I meant to measure
coming down, but I forgot.

At the very top is an ancient, circular thing that looks like a
prehistoric ball field. I should have inquired, but ... I forgot.

Next to it is a new restaurant called Sandio. The menu is standard
fare with standard prices. There was one big family eating, and the
stuff looked fine, your usual Mexican country grub.

And next to the restaurant are four cabanas, rentals. All new. One is
small (one bedroom) and the other three are bigger for family stays.

Okay, big deal, you are thinking. What makes this unusual? Well, I
will tell you. The view from this place over Lake Patzcuaro and the
mountains is beyond anything you have seen in this part of the world.
I promise you. My wife and I were standing there with our jaws hanging
limply from their straining connections.

The famed Estribo here in Patzcuaro is lame in comparison. The Big Sur
coast highway in California is a joke in comparison.

I do not know of any other such view available to the public on that
side of Lake Patzcuaro.

The cabanas have big windows offering this view. The restaurant too.

The cabanas rent for $500-$600 pesos. The place opened just last week,
and it is owned by the town of San Jeronimo. Yes, a community-owned
enterprise. Color them smart.

My lovely wife and I definitely will be waking at dawn occasionally in
that smaller cabana. Perhaps we will see you next door. I hope so. But
keep the racket down. Thank you.
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

(This post was edited by Miguel Palomares on Jan 8, 2006, 9:23 AM)

Bubba

Jan 8, 2006, 9:15 AM

Post #2 of 30 (6507 views)

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Re: [Miguel Palomares] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

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Well, Miguel, we will plan to visit this place when we are next in the Patzcuaro area for our annual pilgrimage.However, your comment quoted below:

The Big Sur coast highway in California is a joke in comparison.

Is far and away the single silliest thing you have ever said on these forums.

Miguel Palomares

Jan 8, 2006, 9:22 AM

Post #3 of 30 (6503 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

I am confused. Is this because you think Big Sur is unsurpassable, or just the opposite? That it is over-rated. I am totally confused.

Oh, I say lots of silly stuff. It is even worse in person. You should talk to my wife.

In any event, I have been at both Sandio and on the Big Sur highway. You have not! That simple fact gives more heft to my observation than to yours. Ahem!
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

(This post was edited by Miguel Palomares on Jan 8, 2006, 9:26 AM)

Gringal

Jan 8, 2006, 9:45 AM

Post #4 of 30 (6493 views)

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We will defintely visit that spot someday. However, Bubba also has a point re the hyperbole employed in comparing the Big Sur Coast with it. There are some things offered by the coast that could not be duplicated by any other type of scenery, to wit: Sound: the heart-stopping effect of standing on one of those cliffs and listening to the awesome crashes against the rocks below. Ocean and inland scenery can't really be compared on a scale - so why not say that both places are breathtakingly beautiful and we should go see the one near the Village of the Danged?

(This post was edited by Gringal on Jan 8, 2006, 9:57 AM)

Miguel Palomares

Jan 8, 2006, 10:01 AM

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Re: [Gringal] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

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Why not say that both places are breathtakinly beautiful and we should go see this one?

Big Sur has always been one of my favorite spots. Still is. Thus, the comparison. (My first experience of the Big Sur highway was in 1963 on a motorcycle. Cannot beat it.) But I now have another favorite spot, view-wise. Perhaps they are equal, but at the moment Sandio takes the prize. The comparison with Big Sur is not off-base, though they essentially are different things, I will grant. Lago de Patz is a lake. Mar del Pacifico is an ocean. Apples and oranges.

Sound? Well, that is another element altogether. To me, the best sound in Mexico is the sound of silence because it is so hard to find.
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

CCarol

Jan 8, 2006, 10:04 AM

Post #6 of 30 (6484 views)

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Ocean and inland scenery can't really be compared on a scale - so why not say that both places are breathtakinly beautiful and we should go see this one?

I have to agree with Gringal. Why, even here in North Idaho, we often have our jaws hanging open, sometime even right out our own back door. A short drive to Glacier offers the same amazement! Laying all that aside, I'd sure like to visit your beautiful "spot" and stay in one of the cabanas someday. It sounds heavenly!!
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful "find."

da-vid

Jan 8, 2006, 10:35 AM

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Thanks for the info on Sandio, I will also be among those planning a visit. It is aways great to find a new location. I am among those who think Big Sur is one of the most beautiful meetings of land and sea in the world. Our family would frequently take the ride to enjoy lunch at Nepenthe or a Sunday afternoon sitting on the lawn listening to the jazz at the River Inn.
Can't wait to visit Sandio, but I think it may be better weather in the Spring time. Are there fireplaces for heat in the winter?
David

(This post was edited by da-vid on Jan 8, 2006, 10:36 AM)

Miguel Palomares

Jan 8, 2006, 10:54 AM

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Re: [da-vid] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

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Are there fireplaces for heat in the winter?

Funny you should mention this. I was just thinking about it. The guy with the keys had driven down the mountain when we showed up, so we just peeked into the windows of the smaller cabana. They are not wood, thank the Goddess. Standard Mexican brick construction, which is warmer. I saw no fireplaces. We did notice that the gas tank outside was connected only to the water heater.

It appears there is no heat source whatsoever, but I could be mistaken. Think not, however.

So, a winter stay would be rather, uh, brisk unless you bring your thermal PJs and perhaps a goose-down comforter. Having someone with whom you share a close emotional bond is good too. Heat comes in many forms and shapes.

Another issue, which I hope they address, is the dirt road going up there. This could be a problem during the rainy season. At least the Pacific Coast Highway is paved. I will give it that.
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

Gringal

Jan 8, 2006, 11:06 AM

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Brrrr. Other than that, it sounds like a first rate getaway.

I don't know about brick construction being warmer than wood. Our house feels like a brick meat locker these days. Holds the cold, even on sunny days. Alas, no matter how close the emotional bond, the side away from the connection can be freeeezinnng. Thank goddess for electric blankets!

Bubba

Jan 8, 2006, 12:30 PM

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Miguel:

I will tell you this to set the record straight since it seems, the two of us, during our salad days, left the exotic and beautiful but repressive confines of Savannah and Mobile to participate in the magic that was California. I was attracted to such magical places as Santa Monica, Hollywood and to the 1967 Summer of Love in the Haight. I am not a native Californian but a native Alabamian and, quite frankly, I realize now that the small town in which I was raised in South Alabama was and is an achitectural treasure set amid magnificent trees and greenery but there are certain things that defy comparison. I lived directly on the sea in Northern California for about 12 years. My homes were on the wild Sonoma Coast, the extraordinary and primitive San Mateo Coast south of the magnificent Devil's Slide near San Francisco and along the shores of Monterey Bay at Aptos south of Santa Cruz and about 50 miles north of the beginning of the Big Sur Coast south of Carmel. For you to compare this gift of God with the pedestrian views of the scrublands and muddy sump you tout in Michoacan bespeaks a man who needs to get out and about.

To stand on the magnificent cliffs overlooking the Big Sur Coast while watching the rollers coming in from the greatest ocean on the planet while hearing the distant thunder of the waves in the blue beyond blue Pacific is not an experience to be compared with your regional aerie. And, Miguel, I was there year after year and not smoking anything that would improve the experience.

Why did I leave this place? Well, the icy cold ocean up against the Santa Lucias causes a bit of fog in the summer and, furthermore, I couldn't retire and make those atrocious mortgage payments at the same time. Such is life.

I love the Lake Chapala and Lake Patzcuaro areas but California they ain't.

Miguel Palomares

Jan 8, 2006, 3:46 PM

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Re: [Bubba] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

Now lissen here, Mr. Bubba: That was a nice reply, and I enjoyed it. Like you, I relished being young, too, when I was sober, which was not often. But we will not venture there because I had one, just one, Guinness Stout (a lovely brew) with my BBQ lunch today. Rare, but good, thanks to the new Superama in Morelia. The beer was rare, that is. For me, a near teetotaler. The steak was a bit closer to being well done. Both a lone beer and a steak are rare for me since I am pretty much a vegetarian, but I digress.

But, let us look at the discussion at hand, shall we?

I say the view from Sandio is better than that along the Big Sur coast. You say it is not.

All of which is to say that I say, let's call it A, is better than, let's call it B. A excels B, but not by much, admittedly. Because B, Big Sur, is quite a thing. True.

Okay, you say just the opposite, that B is better than A.

However, you have never laid eyes on A.

Hmmmm.

I am going to go to bed tonight with this logical quandary of yours on my mind. You know how things sometimes become clear with a good night of sleep? Sometimes, one wakes with a jolt, the answer at hand. Perhaps that will happen to me tonight.

I hope so.

And if it does, I will get back to you on this tomorrow. If it does not, I will forget the whole thing.
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

(This post was edited by Miguel Palomares on Jan 8, 2006, 4:00 PM)

Anonimo

Jan 8, 2006, 4:09 PM

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he best sound in Mexico is the sound of silence because it is so hard to find.

May I have that for a signature, ¿por favor?

Saludos,
Anonimo

Miguel Palomares

Jan 8, 2006, 4:57 PM

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Re: [Anonimo] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

But, of course! Glad to be of service.
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

Bloviator

Jan 9, 2006, 5:12 AM

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Miguel

The only problem with driving the Big Sur coast on a motorcycle is that, despite the fantastic high you get doing so, one really has to pay attention to the road - more so than most anyplace I have ever ridden. There is one long straight stretch near Hearst Castle where at the end after constantly looking at the water, the sea lions, the mountains behind the coast, and the overall panorama instead of paying attention to the road, I have almost ridden into the Pacific several times.

Nepenthe is a true tourist trap. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful place to sit, drink a beer, eat an ambrosia burger, and contemplate the coast. Tourist traps are often tourist traps because they are wonderful places and even tourists can appreciate them. I have been traveling that stretch since the early fifties, from the days when an ambrosia burger was $1.75 (an outrageously high price) to last year ($12.00 ambrosia burger - a real bargain). I look forward to visiting your lake, but doubt that it will give me the feeling that the Big Sur coast does. Not because it is not as beautiful, but because it doesn't have the memories for me that Nepenthe (and Ventana looking down on Nepenthe and much more of the coast) and the whole Big Sur Coast has for me.

Speaking of tourist traps and beautiful places, nothing compares to Sedona. Four million people per year walk up and down the main street, buying earth tone T Shirts, and looking at the beautiful red rocks surrounding the town. When we lived nearby, we would go to Tlaquepaque (a great experience as it was modeled after Tlaquepaque Guad in the 1920s) listen to the flute music, look at all the interesting Mexican stuff, eat at Rene's and encounter almost none of the four million.

julian3345

Jan 12, 2006, 8:11 AM

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Is there some reason you haven't mentioned hanging out in the hot tubs at Esalen under intensely starry skies with waves crashing in below? For a Mexican comparison, it would have to be either camping out on Punta de Mita when it was just a bluff overlooking Bahia de Banderas or snoozing in a rocky niche in the promontory which forms the entrance to Cabo San Lucas when that was just a fishing village with no paved streets and one long distance telephone in a shack in the middle of "town". Ah the banked fires of memory! Joan

NEOhio1

Jan 14, 2006, 7:10 PM

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There are, a few houses on Craigslist mexico city that are located in Patzcuaro, and even one in Tzurumutaro, seems not too far from you, couple blocks from the center. Looks nice.

brianbrian

Jan 15, 2006, 12:55 PM

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That is likely Will's place. It is a really nice house.

Camille

Feb 9, 2006, 8:51 PM

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What would be the drive time from Patzcuaro to this little paradise? And any way to contact them for reservations? Sounds extraordinary....

Anonimo

Feb 10, 2006, 3:40 AM

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I estimate 35-45 minutes driving time.
We were there yesterday. I'll post my impressions in a new post.
The phone number we were given is: Restaurant Sandio
44-33-49-35-94

Saludos,
Anonimo

Anonimo

Feb 13, 2006, 1:03 AM

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For Comparison Purposes Only!

Big Sur Coast
http://www.wildnatureimages.com/...0Central%20Coast.htm

Lakes near Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina.
http://www.interpatagonia.com/bariloche/fotos.html

Lake Pátzcuaro from Sandio Mirador, San Jeronimo Purenchecuaro, Michoacán.
http://www.pbase.com/...lago_patzcuaro_drive

Saludos,
Anonimo

(This post was edited by Anonimo on Feb 13, 2006, 1:42 AM)

Miguel Palomares

Feb 13, 2006, 5:00 AM

Post #21 of 30 (5802 views)

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Re: [Anonimo] Delight on Lake Patzcuaro

Nice shots, proving my initial contention.
From Tzurumutaro, Michoacan, "The Village of the Darned."
_______________________________________

The nuts and bolts of moving to Mexico:
http://michaeldickson.blogspot.com/
The dark side of living in Mexico:
http://mexicopeeks.blogspot.com/
Scintillating life in a Mexican pueblo:
http://tzurumutaro.blogspot.com/
http://tzurumutaro2.blogspot.com/

Anonimo

Feb 13, 2006, 5:43 AM

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"¡Bariloche rules!"??

Saludos,
Anonimo

(This post was edited by Anonimo on Feb 13, 2006, 5:44 AM)

Bubba

Feb 13, 2006, 6:38 AM

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Anonimo makes beautiful pictures but we think the most beautiful view of the Lake is from Ucasanastuacua on the way to La Granada. You Can see all the islands and it is truly beautiful. The road from Tzintzuntzan is being improved and is a little scary right now but it should be done by May. We were there last week and boy is it beautiful. We met a man up there who offeed us some land with a nice view of the lake aand the women wahing the clothes in the reeds beloow. Very peaceful and beautiful .

Anonimo

Feb 13, 2006, 6:56 AM

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Quote

Anonimo makes beautiful pictures

Thanks, Bubba, but just to keep the record clear, the only picture I took was the one from the Restaurante Sandio Mirador. The other two are source back to their respective websites.

Saludos,
Anonimo

Gringal

Feb 13, 2006, 7:28 AM

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Nice shots, proving mine. Big Sur rules.

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