Words can hardly do justice to the Lake Patzcuardo and surrounding region. Pastoral quiet towns, markets, fish, and tourism. We explored the town of Patzcuardo and its Saturday market. We visited the ruins of Tingambato, and the quaint village of Tzintzuntzan. From Patzcuardo we boarded a boat for the island of Janitzio where I read about farm animals like pigs run through the streets. This story turned out to be true. The sight we missed were the fishermen using butterfly shaped nets who go out early in the morning in their humble crafts. Too early for us, we arrived after they had left. I did spot a couple of boats, but no nets.

The island is small with a population of some 1,600 indigenous people who are called Purépecha. Upon disembarking, the one goal is to wind up the narrow-crowded streets to the top where the statue of José María Morelos, a national hero, stands 130 feet tall.