Lago de Patzcuaro/Lake Patzcuaro

We very much wanted to see the islands on Lake Patzucuaro, especially the ones that aren’t quite so popular, that are a little more local. Since yesterday we needed to go back to Capula to pick up our Catrina from Juan Carlos and his wife, we decided we’d drive from there along the eastern side of the lake, hope for a view, and try to find a boat launch that didn’t require us to go all the way back into the Semana Santa crowds of Patzcuaro. It sounded rational enough.

NOTE: the map above, which is very typical, shows the three Urandenes and Jarácuaro as islands. They are now landlocked. The four islands are Pacanda, Yunuén, Tecuena and Janitzio.
The trouble is, in researching on the internet, every site tells you that the only boat launch on the lake is in Patzcuaro. Very hard for me to believe that on that huge lake there would be only one boat launch, or that we wouldn’t be able to find someone with a boat who’d like an extra 500 pesos to take us on a tour, so off we went.

DRIVING THE EAST SIDE OF LAKE PATZCUARO

In Tzintzuntzan we drove toward the lake, then headed south along it. This was a road that was not on any of our maps; it was way closer to the lake than the eastern perimeter road. The views were great. At points south of there the road became very washboard-like. We began to lose faith. Worse, everyone we met said there was no way to get a boat out to the lake other than to go to the launch down in Patzcuaro. So hard to believe….

And then, suddenly, pavement appeared. The road was incredible! Smooth, easy; the views along this lakeside road are spectacular! It ran right along the lake, and did not appear on any of our maps nor on our GPS. But, it is most definitely there, and well worth the drive! We were told that the federal government had built the road, the northern portion of it had washed out, and despite the repeated pleas of the local residents to the government, no one has ever returned to repair it. It is passable; just the first 30 minutes of it on the northern end are not exactly easy riding.
 

UCAZANASTACUA

In Ucazanastacua we found a terrific restaurant (Huenan) overlooking the lake, run by a wonderful family who live in several houses down the hill on the lake itself. They had incredible views, fresh caldo de trucha (trout soup), caldo de camarón (shrimp soup), mojarra cooked any way you like it (crappie),  corundas (small tamales), a gorgeous rose garden, and some of the most intricately embroidered blouses I’ve seen.

Anyway, everyone we had asked said the only way to get a boat on the lake was to depart from Patzcuaro. We must have had 20 people tell us this. Then, finally, as we were eating lunch, the owner told us that 1-1/2 km south of his restaurant was a boat launch. He advised us to use it.

“You don’t want to go to Patzcuaro; it’s crowded there. You’ll wait in line and they’ll put you on a huge tour boat and rush you over to Janitzio. Take a boat from here. There will be no line, you can take your time and enjoy your day. Plus, the boat launch here benefits our local community. The drivers share the earnings.” Man after my heart! He said to me just what we had been thinking! Yeah!

Lo and behold, there was absolutely no wait, no crowds, and we could even rent a private boat and driver! Hooray!

If you, like us, are visiting Patzcuaro during a holiday (Semana Santa, Day of the Dead, etc), and you want to avoid crowds and help a local coop, definitely drive north to the embarcadero/boat launch in Ucazanastacua!

Our boatman was fantastic—Alfredo, the man of the big smile. I’d smile, too, if I had to shuttle these waters amidst this gorgeous scenery every day. We told Alfredo we wanted to cruise around the lake, seeing all the islands, but avoiding the crazy crowds. He told us how there originally were eight or more islands, depending how you counted, but that the lake waters had dropped over 3 1/2 meters, and now there are only four islands in Lake Patzcuaro.

 

Above you can see a short video taken from the boat.
PACANDA ISLAND

We first drove around Pacanda Island. It was gorgeous—lots of green, plenty of space.

We saw so many cranes! Pacanda was just gorgeous! And so peaceful!

I asked Alfredo about the teleférico/cable car that I’d heard about, that was supposed to connect the islands of Yunuén and Pacanda. He told us that while the comunitarios on Yunuén had wanted it, the comunitarioson Pacanda had refused; they didn’t want to have tourists visit. When he said this, I thought what a shame it was, because a scenic ride between islands would be so beautiful, and surely they could control the tourist influence, no? In a minute you’ll see how wrong I probably was.

YUNUEN ISLAND

Alfredo next let us off on Yunuén Island, which the comunitarios there have decided to develop slowly, in an eco-friendly fashion. This island was gorgeous as well. There were simple cabañasat the water’s edge, and a more deluxe yet simple development at the top of the hill.

Yes, this is what was possible. These people were developing eco-tourism in a way that was sustainable, pleasurable, that enabled them to keep a lifestyle and a pleasant place to live. Surely Pacanda could do this as well?

The view from the top of the island, overlooking the town and the lake, is spectacular.

The ladies on Yunuén love to embroider, and I absolutely fell in love with their aprons!

Unfortunately I was too cheap to pay the US$100 or so that I was asked to pay for this one. The handwork was so beautiful. This whole trip has amazed me, the intricate embroidery that we have seen!

The cabañas on top of the hill are gorgeous. One for two people rents for 500 pesos per night. The cabañas have baths and bedrooms but no kitchens. There is a shared kitchen, and a restaurant.

The gardener on the premises has a whole lot of fun, as you can see.

The staff, and the local people, were all very joyful, friendly and hospitable. I would love to come back here, either to stay up top or

in the cabañas down at the lake level.

Yunuén had a good feeling. You could even sense it in the tilework on the sinks!

The comunitarioshere seem to know the value of place, and they are, thank goodness, dedicated to protecting it.

JANITZIO ISLAND

After Yunuén, we rounded Janitzio. It is so gorgeous to look at from the lake; you’ve seen the photos. The large statue of Morelos at the top distinguishes it.

As you get closer, however, you notice just how overbuilt and crowded Janitzio is. There doesn’t appear to be much available space anywhere.

There were tour boats plying the waters back and forth from Patzcuaro to Janitzio, all of them filled with tourists during this  Semana Santa holiday.

Once arriving in Janitzio, it was a solid line of tourists walking up and down the hill, as if we were ants going to an anthill. It reminded me of the entrances to some of the major temples in Kyoto, though there when you arrive at the temple proper there is usually calm.

Solid tourist shops, from water’s edge to the top. Houses on top of one another with no room to breathe, no place that I could see to relax. THIS is surely why the people of Pacanda do not want development! Oh so clear! They don’t want their pristine island to turn into this!

At the top, the wait to climb the statue of Morelos was one hour, so while we stood in line for about 20 minutes, we then gave up and left.

The view from top of Janitzio was very nice.

Though I preferred the view from the winding trail up, if you could get out of the line of traffic, that is!

Though Janitzio was not my favorite island, there were two things I loved about it. One was the very cool boathouse, at the far end of the embarcadero, where the pangasput in.

By far my favorite part of Janitzio were the demonstrations by the butterfly-net fishermen.

Above is a short video of the fishermen using their nets. I am so very sad to know that the people in this area no longer really fish this way. Alfredo told us that the lake has been heavily over-fished, and nowadays fishermen don’t really make a living using those beautiful butterfly nets we see in photos. Rather, these days, they put on “exhibitions.” Luck was with us and we were able to see one of these demonstrations up close and personal. Thank goodness the tradition lives on, at least for the tourists!

  

It was an absolutely gorgeous day on the lake, and we felt extremely blessed. We found our “secret” boat launch, which I most highly recommend; we ate at the best place on the lake, I am sure (the caldo de trucha/trout soup ROCKED); it was sunny and clear; we had the lake’s happiest boat driver; and we got back to Morelia in daylight in plenty of time for the Procession of Silence.

We highly recommend that, if you travel to Morelia, you spend a couple of days on the lake if you can. Visit the many pueblos that line the lake; they each have a style of dress and unique handicrafts in which they specialize. It has been by far our favorite aspect of our time here. Morelia is GORGEOUS, but the Lacustre, the lake region, is a far too hidden treasure!

Addition on April 9: we drove around the west side of Lake Patzcuaro today. There is also a boat launch on this side of the lake, making at least a total three. At left is a photo of our GPS, showing that the road we were on used to be lakeside. You can definitely see that it no longer is.

RIP/DEP Caballo Blanco

 

In my post about our Copper Canyon trip I mentioned the terrific book, Born to Run, which first introduced me to El Caballo Blanco, an enigmatic gringo distance runner who fell in love with the Raramurí people and their home. I just read that Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco, was found dead in Gila Cliff Dwellings in southwestern New Mexico. He had been missing for four days, and was 58 years old. He died doing what he loved: running.

While I never met Micah, I will say he has been an inspiration for me. His apparent commitment to and respect for the land, nature, the local people and their way of life, to cross-cultural partnerships or convivencia, was wonderful to witness.

Descanse en paz, Caballo Blanco.

 

A Hike on a Foggy Morning/El Faro Dentro de la Niebla

I’ve told you before about the wonderful lighthouse we have here in Mazatlán. We hike it once or twice a week, and we so enjoy the families, young couples, exercise groups, and elderly people, too, who make the climb up one of the ways they stay healthy. It’s a gorgeous view, and a terrific group of young Mazatlecos has been working hard to keep the area clean and maintained. I’ve heard the lighthouse is owned by API, the port authority. If so, Mis Estimados Señores del API, sure would be a wonderful community service for you to invest a bit of money in making this a better tourist attraction and community gathering area….. It’s so beautiful, it wouldn’t cost much… Just an idea 🙂

Anyway, yesterday morning was pretty foggy here. As we made our way down the malecón toward the faro there were lots of oyster divers and panga fishermen out, despite the foggy conditions. We are so spoiled here with clear, sunny weather, that seeing a bit of fog once in a while seems so absolutely gorgeous!

We wondered as we approached the lighthouse hill if we would be able to see anything as we made our climb. It sure did seem to be heavy fog.

The harbor had more boats than usual, it seemed. We guessed that perhaps people had brought their boats out in preparation for Semana Santa.

As we started our climb it seemed we weren’t going to be able to see much of anything. It was pretty cool, sort of like walking in a spook house. In the photo at left, we SHOULD be seeing, or are used to seeing, all of Isla de la Piedra/Stone Island. Not today!

The cacti and vegetation, which are so gorgeous this time of year, were shrouded in veils of fog, making for a very mysterious feeling. There were way more hikers, bikers and runners on the trail than is normal, however. Again, we guessed that people are getting in a holiday mood.

As we reached the top of the lighthouse hill the fog had moved a bit. We couldn’t see much of anything of the city, but the teeny-top of the hill on Stone Island that I showed you above, much more of it was now visible. Kind of a nice change of pace to have changing scenery, when we’re spoiled with consistently perfect views…

Despite the fact that the view from the top was still foggy, the weather at the top was very clear and bright. I took a shot up, through a tree. You can see there was no fog whatsoever up high.

And one of the lighthouse’s many resident iguanas was more than happy to sun himself, more than ready for the R&R and hopefully increased sales that Semana Santa will bring for our local economy.

Cooking Class at Molika: Pesce in crosta di sale

I’m privileged to have a terrific group of lady friends who like to cook, and we get together to learn and to teach one another once a month or so. In addition to our Thai cooking classes, we’ve made timballo (Italian “drum” with pasta and eggplant), tortas ahogadas, rajas, chicken mole, macarones, and lemon cake, among some other wonderful things.

Well, my friend Magda got the wonderful idea to book us a series of classes with Héctor at Molika, downtown on Belisario Dominguez near the Plazuela. While I’ve known Héctor for several years — he’s a GREAT bread baker (sourdough and ciabatta plus other good loaves) and I am in love with his grilled vegetables (which we also frequently make at home) — I discovered that he also truly shines as a teacher!

He is funny, charismatic, and I LOVE that he teaches METHODS rather than recipes! In one two-hour class on cooking fish, he demonstrated SIX different methods of preparing the fish we commonly have available here in Mazatlán. For me who learned to cook fish while living in Japan, I learned a lot. For example, he taught us to cut off the fins (see video above) before cooking the fish (you’ll know that most Asians LOVE the crispy fins and would never think of removing them before cooking), saying that the fins have too strong a flavor.

My favorite? Well, by now you know me. I love something different, and especially something impressive. And Héctor delivered: Pesce in crosta di sale, or fish in a “tomb” of salt. I’ve eaten many fish baked in salt crust before, but nothing quite like this!

Rather than just salt with aromatics, Héctor made a salt dough with the 2 salt : 1 flour, eggs, fresh herbs and a bit of water.

He kneaded it (see video above),

Rolled it out,

Pressed two pieces (top and bottom) to the form of the corvina, sealing the dough with beaten egg, decorated it a bit,

Trimmed it to shape (video above), and then baked it for 45 minutes.

The fish of course turned out incredibly moist, aromatic and flavorful. He said he prefers to use robalo rather than corvina, but I was plenty happy with this.

He suggested that we cut the rock-hard crust in the kitchen (you can see above that’s pretty challenging), then take the encrusted fish to the table, where we open it in front of our guests. That way the room fills with the wonderfully aromatic scents.

Finally, unlike Japan where everyone knows how to eat fish on the bone, Héctor suggested we remove the flesh from the fish in front of our guests, serving it up on plates. He removed and discarded the skin, saying that baked/steamed fish skin doesn’t taste good. I can hear the shocked gasps of my Asian friends now, but it was nice for me to learn a more European approach. I will definitely give this gorgeous dish a try. I must admit that I preferred the taste of several of the other dishes he prepared! This one was just a presentational stunner, like my timballo (thanks, Allison, for teaching me!).

We made pescado en papillote, fish steamed in paper. We stuffed the fish with aromatics: lemon peel, garlic and fresh herbs (basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme), then garnished with sliced fresh celery, onion and carrot. It was interesting to me, again with my Asian influence, that Héctor taught us to peel the celery, removing the fibers. Definitely a finer dining touch than I’m used to.

Above you can see Héctor opening the papillón.

A third dish we made in this two-hour class was the dish I swore every single Japanese restaurant serves: sole meuniere (lenguado). Many of the ladies were very happy to have Héctor teach them how to filet. Cleaning and preparing fish is fortunately one of the many skills I learned well in Japan. One of the key points he pointed out is to filet fish when it’s cold, fresh from the icebox. That way it’s much firmer and easier to handle.

Héctor studied and cooked in London before returning to his native Mazatlán, and he uses lots of olive oil and sea salt, as you’ve already seen (way more than I’m used to, though I will start putting a bit more olive oil on for taste at the end), and for this dish he used a whole lot of butter as well. Nobody said good cooking isn’t fattening! He did caution us to check the ingredients on the butter we buy, as ideally it should be made from milk, and not contain emulifiers and a bunch of chemicals. I do think that’s part of the baking challenge I’ve had since I moved here — gotta buy better butter.

And here we have the finished lenguado/sole, covered with sauce from the pan and garnished with a bit of parsley.

I had been craving salmon and asparagus, and just that morning bought both to make for lunch, so was fascinated to see Héctor make this as part of our repertoire for the day. He of course used clarified butter as it withstands higher heat, to get the nice crispiness on the salmon. Note: he removed the skin before cooking. I guess this is also either a European way or alta cocina, because personally I love the crispy skin. I was sooooo gratified to see him cook it the way I feel it should be. Héctor told us that salmon, tuna and swordfish should always be left rare in the center, and I heartily agree. People here in Mazatlán always seem to overcook fish.

The fifth dish he made was swordfish. He cubed the fish, sauteed it with fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes, capers and olives. In addition to the lemon (yellow lemon) rind he added to most all these dishes, he also added a bit of lemon pulp. This concoction he poured over his famously to-die-for ciabatta, and oh my!!!! The bread somehow soaked up and enhanced the lemon flavor of the sauce, and it was soooooo delicious!

I’ve left my favorite dish for last. Fortunately, it was also probably the easiest to cook: pescado en la bolsa, fish in a bag. He used the same ingredients as most of the other dishes — fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil. The wonderful part, besides the incredible taste?

He put all the ingredients in a ziploc bag and cooked it in near-boiling water on the stove! It took just a few minutes and there was nothing except the serving dish to clean up! My son is in Scouts, and they cook just like this on their campouts. Maybe not quite the gourmet ingredients as this, but still very tasty nonetheless.

Thank you, Magda, for setting this up for us! Thank you, Héctor, for a marvelous class! We are very much looking forward to our next one.

Anyone wanting to arrange a class for a group of friends, please give Molika a call: 669-981-1577. Héctor’s English and Spanish are flawless, and his kitchen skills are a gift to Mazatlán.

Pescadería del Mar/Our Fishmongers

One of the best aspects about living here in Mazatlán is the fresh fish we are able to buy every morning. Okay, well, we don’t go on Mondays, because there’s not been a lot of fishing on Sunday, but any day Tuesday through Saturday, you can bet we are happy campers.

We take our daily walk down the malecón and, in Playa Norte just across from the pangas, is our favorite spot: Pescadería del Mar.By now these guys know us and they’ve helped us to learn a lot about fish and fishing here in town: what’s seasonal, how fish are stored (on ice, frozen, salted) from the time they’re caught till they’re brought in to shore, and how to cook what’s available locally.

At 7 am when we’re there we usually have a terrific selection. Of course, depending on the season and the weather, we may have more or less fish to choose from. As you can see in this photo, though, there’s usually quite a variety.

The fishmongers will scale and clean any fish we choose, so I can cook it whole, or they’ll fillet (de-bone) and cut up anything we’d like, however we’d like it. They also get fresh shrimp, which I love, because they are deep water shrimp that have NOT been stored in salt, so they’re sweet rather than pungent. They get quite a bit of squid, also, which I love to saute with garlic and herbs. We can occasionally get fresh scallops, too. Our favorite is corvina, a nice firm fish that is sooooo savory! We can at least a couple of times a week get smoked marlin (usually still warm from the smoker and sooooooo aromatic!), and escabecheon Fridays.

It’s fun to watch either the fishermen fresh off their pangas across the street, or a dealer/go-between (usually on a scooter or motorcycle) come to deliver the fish to the fishmongers and make a deal. They have an outdoor scale to weigh what’s brought in, and an indoor scale to weigh what you purchase before it’s trimmed to order.

Having lived so many years in Japan, I am also very happy when they get sushi-quality tuna, though I do believe most of the fresh fish they have is sushi/sashimi quality. Chirashi has never been so delicious and affordable!

If you are a carnivore/omnivore, and do not take advantage of our local fresh fish, please do! You are missing some really flavorful and healthy, and easy and quick to cook, local delicacies!