Getting to be a big town

As I was sitting waiting for my wife to exit one of the shops, I noticed it was commute time.

Commute time is when people go home for lunch around 2 in the afternoon for 2 hours or so.

I have noticed a trend that fewer stores close up like they use to when we first arrived in Patzcuaro almost 20 years ago.  Not sure if I like that slow change in tradition.  I enjoy the process of taking time out in the day for a leisurely meal, in fact I like having the main meal at 2 instead of dinner at 6 like traditional NOB habits.
There is a learning curve that one has to get use to, unlike merchants NOB which are open all the time, so even 24 hours a day.

You were out of luck if you needed to run down to the hardware store, which we did almost daily during the construction of the house, to pick up something which we ran out of or forgot to buy on our last trip "down the hill".
You would arrive at the store as they were putting up the shutters, or already shuttered for their siesta.

When questioned about where we were in Mexico, the normal expectation was that we were on the beach somewhere.  "Oh, are you by Cabo? " or " Oh I know where you are, how far away from Cancun?"

The easiest thing was just to say we are halfway between Mexico City and Guadalajara , in the mountains next to a couple of large lakes.

Have you ever heard of Patzcuaro?  And no was the overwhelming response.  My response  was that it was a small town surrounded by a few lakes, surrounded by lots of pine tree forests.

Oh, but how far from the beach? would be the next question.

So it is a small town, but big in comparison to most of the small towns in the country. We are not a one horse town, but as you can see by the picture we are at least a two horse town.

Instead of having HOV lanes, we have something better. We have green lanes, which actually are all the streets in town.  Horses have their run of the streets if they wish, not requiring expensive petroleum products, depletion of resources etc.

The benefits of horse propulsion is that it is very Eco friendly.   The only pollution is that of the rider emitting methane gas ( usually after lunch ) and from the horse some green/brown product which is recycled as fertilizer. A definite win-win situation if you ask me.


Can't get any more environmentally friendly that that can you?

So, Patzcuaro is no longer a one horse town, but still has the charm of a small town which I hope stays that way for awhile.