It became my favorite kind of morning, despite the gray daybreak. Soon the sun burned off the low clouds and fog and it was breezy and clear, with the fine sunshine seemingly with just a little sparkle because of the soft humidity.

I’ve never lived in a place with so many hummingbirds and butterflies. A village close by is named Tzintzuntan: the place of hummingbirds in Purepecha. As for butterflies I’ve seen everything from drab little long tailed moths to spectacular black and yellow mariposas gliding and flitting on the wind. And a handful of the beautiful and iconic monarchs, magnificent with their intricate orange, black and white designs.

But this isn’t even butterfly season is it? The largest insect migration in the world happens when the monarch butterflies make their way from Canada and the US, all the way down to the mountains of Michoacan near November 1.  Being cold blooded, they rely on the environment for warmth.

This is a fascinating phenom and I look forward to seeing a monarch sanctuary when they are here for the winter. The Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead is also held on Nov. 1 coinciding with the return of millions of monarchs, and according to traditional beliefs, the monarchs are the souls of ancestors returning for their annual visit.

In the language of the native Purépecha Indians, the monarch butterfly is called the harvester butterfly, because monarchs appear when it’s time to harvest the corn each year.

I found this disembodied wing on our walk this morning. So delicate I couldn’t feel it in my pocket when I got home. Paper thin, so beautiful, and strong enough to fly this incredible being from flower to flower. Covered in thousands and thousands of colorful scales and tiny hairs.

On the way back from our walk the dogs became alert and looking up we saw “Skinny” the resident squirrel. (so named because of her distinctive long skinny tail)

This must be who likes to eat a bite of hard avocado and throw the rest down to the ground. Who else is up there eating all the time?

The dogs continue to wait excitedly for skinny to make some terrible error and fall from the tree, but she’s long gone, practically flying from canopy to canopy.

After we get in I fill a bag with the dogs’ food and go back out to the gate. I let the dogs follow but leave them inside as I go up the street to leave the food around for the too thin puppies I’ve seen here. 

Though I’d rather keep enjoying the morning in the garden with the dogs, I had things to do so I got myself into the car and then into Patzcuaro.

I had put things off long enough and I needed to let immigration know I had changed my address again. Before I did that in Morelia though, I had to make paper copies of my passport, temporary immigration card, and a couple of forms the make available on the internet, which I had already filled out.

I had heard there were print shops around the main square in Patzcuaro, and since I loved that leafy park, I went there. 

I was out of the papeleria in 10 minutes flat with the prints and copies I needed so that was easy!  The only Spanish I had to look up in Translate was to “please copy the front and back of the card on the same page”. So my Spanish is improving!

Now, on to the market. I had gotten the impression in recent facebook posts that the market was bigger that what I had seen before, so I got directions for the real marcado and went there to see what I had been missing.

It was true. I had barely skimmed the surface of the market wandering the streets before. The real center of the municipal market is currently in Plaza Chica (the small plaza) and I hadn’t been there before. You couldn’t even see the plaza really because so many stalls had joined together to make the market. I wandered through the colorful produce and bought some tomatoes and peppers.  

It wasn’t my intention but when I saw the lady making quesadillas at one of the many fondas in the market, I asked for one thinking I’d take it to go. 

I didn’t know I was doing it wrong. You were supposed to have a seat and the young guy would take your order and bring you the food, I think. Despite my awkward approach she smiled and handed me a plate with the quesadilla and told me to sit. I wasn’t taking it to go. There were sauces on the table and I took a seat to eat the fried goodness.

That’s when I saw others eating with their hands so that’s what I did, mimicking their actions, putting the lettuce and sauces on top. It was greasy but really good.

35 pesos

My shopping done, I wandered back to Plaza Grande and enjoyed the live music for a while, having a coffee at one of the sidewalk cafes.  The plaza still had its decorations up for the celebration of independence day a few days before. Eventually I walked back towards the car and stopped to buy some candied nuts from this old Purepecha woman on the sidewalk.  The 25 pesos was worth it to see her smile.

Though it was still early in the afternoon, the rain was coming, so I started back home to see the dogs and work on the computer for a while.

We had a cozy evening, the dogs resting by the fire, and me having a debate with chat gpt on whether “Fanny (be tender with my love)” is the BeeGees most sexy song, that they wrote and performed.

I was on the yes side, what with Barry’s falsetto dropping into his sexy baritone, the juxtaposition of vulnerability and strength reflected in the lyrics.

GPT had to stand up for all the other songs, never choosing a favorite 😦