Mazamitla is a tidy town at about 7000 ft altitude, surrounded by pines, a real difference from the vegetation at lower altitudes. We ate lunch on the outside of town; you can see the carne asada being cooked on an open flame.
We watched some folk dancers from Michoacan in the square, visited the church, and watched the horses for a bit. Then we headed off for the small village near Mazamitla where Althea grew up, Epenche Grande. The dirt road was pretty good. The area is very dry, with the rainy season about a month away. We did see a lot of open fires, which surprised us.
Our visit to Althea's grandma's house was a surprise, but grandma and Althea's aunt and uncle were very hospitable. They gave us ponche, a locally made alcoholic punch, and some pork with tortillas. Then we headed off to the next village to help celebrate the birthday of one of her three aunts that live in the area. As guests, we were served the tres leches cake first, and sang “Las Mananitas”, the traditional birthday song in Mexico. These are pretty basic houses, with crude electrical wiring, no bathroom, and a water tank for washing dishes. The flowers in the yard were beautiful.
Marianne bought a pine needle basket from the lady in the little town store.
We headed back to Grandma's house, and of course it took time to say goodbye to everybody. We headed out on a different dirt road, a kind of jeep road, which Althea coaxed her Honda sedan to traverse. The view was of long needle pines, and often included vistas of the hills and valleys. The road gradually improved, and then we arrived in the pretty town of La Manzanilla del la Paz, where we stopped at a nice hotel, had a cup of coffee, and admired the town square. We cruised out in dusk on a paved road, headed back towards Lake Chapala. We arrived at our apartment around 10 PM.
A very interesting day. We don't generally get inside the houses of country folks, let alone be part of a Mexican family gathering.
1 comment:
I really enjoyed all the photos, Rich and Molly. My favorites were when you shared time wit the Mazamitla family. What a marvelous and warm experience that must have been.
Thank you for sharing your journey in this fashion. You write well and on a clever and informative style.
You are home now are catching up and processing all that came to you in blessings and soul enrichment. Hope the travel home was way better. We stopped in Atlanta to go through customs on the way home. Ugh, to that for the Malades were already weary and many others too. But, we are home and processing the wonder of this time of grace and spiritual washing and remembering.
Never fail to include me in your On the Road blogs for they are priceless ways to learn and enjoy in a very charming connectedness.
Love today,
Eileen
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