Cynthia Blanton's Blog: Trip to Uruapan

One of the pleasures of traveling through Mexico is experiencing different types of terrain and varied climates. On a recent bus tour, made special by the beautiful purple jacaranda trees in full bloom, we went from the dry, hilly, cactus-filled high desert of San Miguel de Allende, through the Cuitzeo Basin, a large flat area with a lake that varies greatly in size depending on rainfall, through the Trans-Mexican Volcano Belt with many extinct, but some active, volcanoes, and on to Uruapan with its humid, subtropical climate, lush forests, and avocado plantations. (iPhone photos. For larger versions, click on photos. Best viewed on large screens.) (Blue links lead to Wikipedia articles.)

Jacarandas were in bloom everywhere

Volcano Cerro Culiacán

Lake and mountains near Yuriria

Lago de Cuitzeo. A lake with no outlet, it will fill during the rainy season.

Avocado plantation taking over forest

Closeup of top of hill

On the way to Uruapan, we stopped for lunch and a quick visit in Morelia, the capital and largest city in the state of Michoacán, founded in 1541 and a UNESCO World Heritage site known for well-preserved colonial buildings, cathedral, wide streets and plazas. ( Morelia )We had a very pleasant three hours strolling around the historic center, visiting the cathedral and being entertained by dancers in one of the plazas. The dancers, bent over like old men, wore flat wooden sandals that they clacked on the pavement.

Cathedral

Interior

Plaza near the cathedral decorated for Easter

Bougainvillea infiltrating the bell tower

Uruapan (ooh-ru-AH-pan), the Land Where Everything Blooms and the second largest city in Michoacán, is the center of Mexico's avocado growing region. ( Uruapan ) It is not one of Mexico's "magical towns" and is not very attractive, but during Semana Santa, Holy Week, it is home to perhaps the largest craft show in Latin America with 1000 to 1600 vendors selling their wares. The show takes over the large Plaza de Martires de Uruapan in the center of the city, and the show and parade were the reason for this trip. The vendors come from many villages in Michoacán, and for those from the more remote villages, this is the one time during the year when they can sell their crafts. Many, if not most, of the vendors are indigenous people from the Purépecha, Otomi and Nahua populations.

Here are some samples of the crafts:

Cooking Pots

Wooden Utensils

Painted Pots

Big Pots

Ceramic pineapples of all sizes and colors are very popular

Beads

Baskets

Catrinas

By the end of the day, we were as tired as this little boy

By far, the most fun part of the trip was the parade on Saturday. The artisans, dressed in their native costumes, marched and danced behind banners proclaiming their town and their crafts. Almost every group had its own band. The artisans carry examples of their wares and even hand out little samples. It was the happiest, friendliest and most colorful parade we have ever seen, and we stayed for the entire two hours it took for everyone to march by us. In the video, note the gorgeous outfits the women are wearing. Each town has its own take on the Michoacán skirt and apron combination. The skirts are flat in front and closely pleated in back, and the apron ties over it. They are heavy! In the past, the skirts were made of wool, but now many are made from very colorful synthetic fabrics with sequins and lace in addition to cross stitch designs. I've condensed two hours of parade into 4 and a half minutes in this YouTube video.

Parade Video

(Apologies for the steady stream of onlookers walking past my position.)

The nicest part of Uruapan is the Barranca del Cupatitzio National Park. ( Barranca_del_Cupatitzio_National_Park ) It encompasses the headwaters of the Cupatitzio River which emerges from a spring in the park, and the volume of water is amazing. It is a very large and lovely, cool, shaded area filled with waterfalls right in the city.

Because Uruapan is the center of the avocado industry, it is no surprise that many of the restaurants in town offer all kinds of drinks and dishes using the fruit. In fact, Gratissima - La Casa del Aguacate serves almost everything made with avocado including beer.

Salad with avocado and cheese balls

Stuffed avocado and sweet potato fries

Beer

Frappe

After a great time in Uruapan, it was time to board the bus to go home. On the way, we made a stop in Santa Clara del Cobre, the copper town. Many small towns in Mexico specialize in certain crafts or industries, and in this town, the specialty is all kinds of copper items. There is even a museum about copper. According to Wikipedia, (Santa_Clara_del_Cobre) the Purépecha people have been working with copper since the pre-Hispanic era. After years of dominance in copper crafts, economic reverses led to the near demise of the industry until the 1940s and 1970s when efforts brought the work back.