Patzcuaro

We got back Sunday night after spending ten days in Patzcuaro.  During that time we hosted the opening reception for the "Viajeros" or the butterfly exhibit, and spent time with old and new friends traveling through the countryside and in Patzcuaro.  It is the rainy season in Patzcuaro so the surrounding area was a beautiful canvas of green.  When we were there in April it hadn't rained for awhile, it was hot and things were looking brown and dusty.  Now it is the cool, rainy and gorgeous.

This is the Estribu - the top of a mountain where you look down into the valley.  

 The people in the above photo are sitting on the edge of land with their legs dangling over hundreds of feet of nothing.  I got close to the ledge but not quite that close.

Part of the monastery in Tzintzuntzan

This was taken one night from our roof after a rainstorm.  The sun came out briefly and looked like this:

It almost looks like heaven opened up.

For the butterfly exhibit we had an author from Chicago in attendance, Victor Cortes; a musician who used to live in Chicago, Benjamin Anaya; and Elvira Arrellano, an activist for immigrants' rights to keep families together.  A number of Americans from Patzcuaro and Morelia came by and I had a good time speaking in English for most of the night.  I have realized that days will go by without me speaking in English unless I Skype with one of my daughters.  Or talk to the dogs in English.  I've been doing that a lot lately.

Anyway, back to the butterfly exhibit:

Victor Cortes and Gilda Solis

More on Patzcuaro later.  They are soon coming to tear up my patio to lay a new tile so I have to get some things ready.

Mariposas (Butterflies) Exhibition in Patzcuaro

If you are in the neighborhood of Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico next Saturday, July 13th, stop on by for an exhibition of Mariposas:

On Saturday, July 13, 2013 at 5 p.m., the Museo de las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Extranjero, located at Calle Lloreda #50, Patzcuaro, invites you to attend “Viajeras”, a traveling art exhibition of Mexican Painters.  The show will exhibit 75 Mexican artists and 75 mixed medium butterflies they have created.  Elvira Arrellano, President of the United Latino Family, and symbol of the Mexican families living abroad, will open the exhibition.  Victor Cortes, an author born in Michoacan, will also be present.  Victor lives in Chicago, IL and he will share his most recent book “El Sabor del Desden,” a novel based on the reality of the immigrants who risk everything to arrive at the “promised” land.  In addition, Benjamin Anaya Gonzalez, originally from Mexico City and who immigrated to the United States, will accompany us.  Benjamin is a musician, poet and writer and he has organized many cultural and artistic events. 

The Mexican Painters are interpreting the project “Mariposas Migrantes”, a mural that the artist Hector Duarte created in his birthplace, Caurio de Guadalupe, Michoacan.  Hector’s creation consists of hundreds of butterflies, created by artists of all different nationalities and which has been installed throughout the town.  It symbolizes the men and women who have immigrated north in search of a better future for themselves and their families.  The exhibit “Viajeras” has 75 of these gorgeous butterflies created by 75 talented artists.  This show started out in Chicago, traveled to Mexico D.F., and then to Michoacan.  It’s final destination will be Caurio de Guadalupe, Michoacan.

It should be a lot of fun! 

Have a great weekend!