In true road school spirit, we take advantage of the waning days of dry season to explore the House of Eleven Courtyards (Casa de Los Once Patios) and Old College of San Nicolas in Patzcuaro, Michoacan.
I’ve been keeping an eye on the forecast lately. For the past three or four months, I’ve rarely needed to open the weather apps on my phone. We know it’s going to be two things: Warm and sunny. Exactly how we like it.
Sometimes, when it feels particularly warm and sticky, I’ll take a look at the little digital weather station we have in the coach. But besides that, weather has been the last thing on my mind.
Until recently.
Because all that’s about to change. In the past four years, we’ve been able to nail down the change of seasons in Mexico to the day. It doesn’t ever seem to happen gradually. It’s warm and bone dry for months, then suddenly, one day, temperatures dip and it pours. And rains every day (more or less), until one day in late October when it suddenly doesn’t anymore.
Here in Patzcuaro, it looks like June 20th is our day this year.
What that means is we’ve got about three days left to soak up the sun and get the last of our Patzcuaro sightseeing items off our list.
With the boys, that also means we’ll be shifting gears from book-based home school to full-on road school.
That’s one of the things that’s excited us the most about being up here in the Central Highlands—the endless opportunities for experiential learning.
Down on the coast it was a lot of life sciences like marine biology, insects, and the plant cycle. Up here, we get to dig into Mexican history, cultural traditions, natural history, art, and much more.
So far in that respect, the boys have learned about Mexican Independence and Purépecha traditions on Janitzio Island and walked in the footsteps of Spanish Franciscan monks and pre-colonial rulers in Tzintzuntzan, in addition to getting a crash course in ranching right here at the RV park.
Over the next few days, we’ll be exploring some of Patzcuaro’s most popular attractions, namely the House of Eleven Courtyards (Casa de Los Once Patios) and Old College of San Nicolas, in addition to a couple of churches and lesser-known sights.
Patzcuaro is a Pueblo Magico, and one of the more “magical” ones at that. The entire central core is so evocative, so well-preserved that if you replaced all the cars with horses and carriages, you really would get a sense of what life was like one or two hundred years ago here.
For the most part, it’s a very agreeable town to take a stroll in, with photo-ops lurking at every corner. A huge part of that, of course, are its historic and cultural sights.
Old College of San Nicolas
Founded by Vasco de Quiroga in 1540 (the namesake of the central plaza here) El Real Colegio de San Nicolás (the Royal College of San Nicolas) was one of the first seminaries established in the new world.
These days, the historic building houses the Museum of Folk Art—admittedly, an odd yet interesting juxtaposition of history.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, try as I might, I find it difficult to get excited about yet another museum packed with indigenous textiles and domestic artifacts. But the boys do still get excited (well, Noe, at least), so we’re trying to ride that wave as long as possible.
I will say, however, that the building is actually pretty interesting, particularly the little courtyard in the rear which seems to house some archeological ruins and a some sort of recreation of a Colonial-inspired Purépecha structure. At least, that’s my reading of it, since there wasn’t a placard to tell us otherwise.
Iglesia de la Compañía
Next up, a quick peek into a centuries-old church before continuing on.
Each of these churches, of course, has their own story to tell, dating back 400 years in some cases. We try to learn about the more prominent ones in town, but with so many historic churches in such a small space, some like this one get only a quick walk-through.
Parroquia El Sagrario
Parroquia El Sagrario is one of the more interesting churches in town, with a unique layout provided a cool oasis on a hot day.
Construction began in 1693 and the sanctuary contains a unique Churrigueresque (Spanish Baroque-style) altarpiece for which the church is known.
It’s rough, un-renovated exterior adds to the mysterious vibe of this particular church.
House of Eleven Courtyards (Casa de Los Once Patios)
The House of Eleven Courtyards has seen many incarnations over the years.
Originally the site of a hospital, the current colonial structure was built as a Dominican convent in the mid-18th century.
Today, it’s packed with artisan workshops representing a half dozen handicrafts, from textiles and painting to weaving and metallurgy.
It’s easily one of the most interesting combinations of studio, workshop, and market space I’ve ever seen.
Best of all, it doesn’t feel in any way like a show put on just for tourists (like so many of these artisan workshops can feel like in Mexico), but a community of artisans carrying on the old traditions who just happen to open up their spaces for people to come and watch their craft and maybe buy their products.
For school today, the boys were tasked with chatting up the craftspeople (in Spanish) and asking them questions about their craft (which is highly encouraged here). Later, they’ll compile their findings in their daily journal (in Spanish and English).
Noe took the lead on most of these encounters. Riley’s a bit sheepish still, but we managed to get him to ask a couple of his own questions.
The view from Once Patios of the town’s resident volcano, Estribo Grande (the Stirrup Volcano), which we climbed this last Sunday. A nice hike from town (or from the parking lot) offering panoramic views of Patzcuaro and the lake.
Noe, writing down his findings from his chats with the artisans at House of Eleven Courtyards.
Trying New Things
After a big morning, it was finally time for what the boys have been waiting for for ages: Trying out the town’s famous Nieve de Pasta on the plaza.
No spaghetti in this ice cream. It’s actually caramelized milk ice cream. The name is supposed to evoke a rich doughy flavor, which it definitely has. Very tasty.
Heading back up the hill on a Combi.
Picking up our clothes at the lavanderia, just in the nick of time before closing for Siesta.
STEM Stuff
While Riley and Lori were out running errands, I thought it might be fun to do some electrical experiments with Noe using some of the random bits and bobs lurking in our “garage”. This is ultimately what we came up with.
We’ll see what other doohickies I can scrounge up to attach electrical wires to. Always good to have a MacGyver back-up plan if ever our shore power, house batteries, phones, and headlamps should fail us at the same time.
