Dance of the little old men

Yesterday was our day trip tour in and around the city of Patzcuaro (pop 80,000) in the state of Michoacan, Mexico.

It started with a visit south of the city to the copper town of Santa Clara del Cobre. This town is famous world wide for producing items made from copper. Pot and pans, cauldrons, sinks, vases, and jewelry make up the more popular items.

Apparently 82% of the employed population of the town is involved in some way in the copper business. There are 250 registered copper workshops in and around the town and they process 450 tons of copper each year. Most of the copper they get now is recycled copper, not directly from any mine.

We were dropped off at one store, and led through the store to the workshop in the back.

Our group, ready for the demonstration!

Normally, there are seven people working in this shop. But it's Sunday, so only one guy was there for demonstration purposes. Many of the tools they use for producing items are the same ones that have been used for hundreds of years.

Making a small bowl.

This man learned the trade from his father, as did his father before him. He says that he started working in the shop when he was 8 or 10 years old, he doesn't remember. His first job was to operate the bellows that provide oxygen to the fire. The fire must be very hot to heat up the copper to the proper temperature. He says that he has been working there for around 55 or 56 years.

Several of the ladies took turns hammering the copper.

Depending on the item, it takes anywhere from two days to several weeks to produce a single item. I wish we could have taken photos in the store, but they don't allow photography there. Some beautiful stuff! Ruth bought a pair of earrings.

I did grab a quick photo of the entrance to the shop.

Here is a demonstration of how they flatten a piece of copper...turn up your volume!

Really interesting stuff, and several people in our group bought items in the shop.

From there, we went to the village of Tzintzutzan. There is an old ruins site there, but we didn't go in. Instead, we went and wandered around the village itself and visited the old monsastry there.

The Monastry of San Fransisco, built in the late 1500's.

Flowers decorating the entrance.

This town's major festival is the Festival of the Señor del Rescate. You can see the words "Señor del Rescate" spelled out in the floral arrangement decorating the entrance. The festival only took place in early February, and the convent church is still decorated. We walked in, and were overcome by the smell of the hundreds of flowers.

Beautiful!

Wow!

The atrium of the complex contains olive trees that were planted by the first Bishop of Michoacan around 1531. The trees are still alive...

Ruth, with one of the 500 year old olive trees.

Then, we were taken into central Patzcuaro for lunch. This was a group meal, included in the RV caravan tour price.

A good group photo at lunch in Patzcuaro!

We finished lunch just in time to get to the main plaza to watch the "viejitos"...the dance of the little old men!

Once again, turn up your volume...

After that, we had an hour and a half just to wander around town on our own.

Narrow streets of Patzcuaro.

That's an old wall!

Another busy day, but definitely enjoyable. Again, I think everybody had a great time. We got back to the RV park and I had a nap!

Jewelry Jealousy

Today is a free day, but there is so much to see and do in the area and people don't want to miss out. So we are splitting up and I am taking a group of five of us to see the buried church at the Paricutin Volcano, while Ruth is taking a group of eight back in to Patzcuaro to see some things they didn't see yesterday.

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