Day 7
Pátzcuaro and the island of Janitzio
Morning
Plaza Vasco de Quiroga
One of the finest squares in the country, lined on all four sides with arcaded sixteenth-century houses and not a single loud shopfront. It carries the name of the bishop who, against the brutality of the conquistadors, organised the Purépecha villages around the lake by craft specialities, one per village. The system still holds today.
Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud and Casa de los Once Patios
The basilica holds a sixteenth-century Virgin made of maize-cane paste, a Purépecha technique. The Casa de los Once Patios, a former Dominican convent, gathers the craft workshops of the lake villages: lacquer, copper, textiles, basketry.
Afternoon
Island of Janitzio
The largest of the five islands in the lake, a cone of houses stacked around a single lane that climbs to the top. The boats leave from the Pátzcuaro landing stage and take about twenty minutes. The fishermen with butterfly-shaped nets, once pictured on the 50-peso note, still demonstrate their technique.
Monument to Morelos
A statue 40 metres tall, fist raised, begun in 1933. You climb inside by a spiral staircase lined with a continuous fresco telling the life of the independence hero, as far as an opening at wrist level.
Good to know
The boats for Janitzio leave from the muelle General at Pátzcuaro, continuously through the day, return fare paid in cash at the desk, a twenty-minute crossing. The last boat back is in the late afternoon, to be checked when boarding. The climb to the monument goes up a single stepped lane, steep, and the stairway inside is narrow and one-way. Pátzcuaro is at 2,140 metres.