9 months later – 6 days in Michoacan

My dear sweet man friend, Tom, helped me get back to Mexico.  I flew into Guadalajara and met him late last Friday night.  We woke up in Downtown Guadalajara to jackhammers, huge pits and tons of traffic and decided to get out of dodge and go straight to the bus station and on to Uruapan, Michaocan.

People were celebrating the first day of spring.  I couldn’t get a shot of  the bright orange stretch limmo hummer all adorned with fake flowers.  Our Taxi driver said there would be celebrations all over.

In the bus station this stack of boxes was tweeting up a storm.

Then they got loaded into the bottom of the bus.  Poor little things.

It was an easy 4 1/2 hour bus ride to Uruapan.  I had only spent one morning there before, but have been enchanted by it and was so happy to get a chance to go back.

We found a hotel right on the Zocolo that was cheap and lovely. Here is the view from the balcony.

That evening Nirvana came to play:

We spent the next two days wandering around.  We didn’t do much of the few touristy things available, just wandered, ate and sat.

Cuteness in the Zocolo – more revelry of springtime.

A gelatin/toy shop and big band on TV.

A big time Lucha match with Mystico will be at the bull fighting ring in Uruapan next week.

I found the house I’d like to buy.  A short walk to down town, easy access to public transportation, lovely view.

PARQUE NACIONAL

We spent the morning wandering along the river in this beautiful park.

The fellow below has the grueling job of diving into the crystal clear water of the lovely pool below and then running up the bank to ask for change from the onlookers.

LUCHA LIBRE

On Sunday evening we were out for  a stroll and maybe to do a little internet, when we happened upon a poster advertising Lucha starting right at that moment at the Sports Center.  We flagged down a cab, sure that he would know exactly where it would be.  Luckily, I had written down the address because he didn’t know what I was talking about, especially after I mentioned Lucha.  Once I told him the neighborhood it was in, he realized where he needed to take us.  He seemed amuzed and pleased to have the mystery solved.  He took us to a little dead end residential street and pointed out a doorway at the top of some crumbly stone stairs.

We were the only gringos in a crowd of about 50 people in an old barn type building with a ring set up in the center.  We easily found a seat and seemed to get no particular attention.

The first match was kids – maybe 10-14 years old.  Oh my god it was so sweet.

The rest of the matches varied in the amount of talent and entertainment value.  The one constant was audience participation.

This woman was heckling from the minute the first ref. got into the ring.

A lot of the action happened outside of the ring.

A few times we needed to get out of our seats as one luchador got onto the ropes and aimed himself at the other was had run into our area.

This fellow launched himslef right next to where I had been sitting.

Between each match all the kids would rush the ring and practice their moves.

The kid in the yellow shirt got to annouce the last few matches.  What a lucky fellow.

The grand finale was a match between El Hijo de Coyote (standing) and Coyote Jr. My source (the kid sitting next to me,) tells me they are brothers, so it was very dramtic.

This was the fanciest move of the evening.  They were both maoning as if in a great deal of pain.  Wow.

The evening ended with the brothers vowing to get each other next time (I imagine) and the whol crowd following them around to egg them on.  Tom and I decided to slip out.

We found our way back home, to our pretty hotel by foot and city bus.  I was high for the next 24 hours – God I love Lucha.

I wasn’t as snapp happy with the camera on this short trip – but here are a few other pix of Uruapan:

PATZCUARO

On Monday we decided to move on to Patzcuaro, where we had gone a few times last year.  Tom had never been there and I thought he would like it.  It is right on a big lake which I had never gotten to, so I was happy to get the chance to explore a little more.

*** MORE COMMENTARY TO COME***