After the lava expedition, we continued eastward to Patzcuaro (same town I visited over the Christmas holidays). On Saturday morning, the National Copper Festival was beginning in Santa Clara del Cobre (cobre is copper in Spanish). We arrived just in time to see the crowning of the copper queen and a parade of men on horses and with old muskets. Santa Clara was a huge copper mining town in the 1500’s. Since then all the mines have closed, but copper working is still a huge part of the town and its economy. You can visit workshops and see cooper being pounded and molded into all manner of items.
The rest of the afternoon and next morning were spent wandering around in Patzcuaro and walking up to a scenic view of the city and lake Patzcuaro. Sunday afternoon I headed back to Puebla in what I expected to be an enjoyable 4.5 hr bus ride to Mexico City's Norte station, but turned into a nearly 8 hour adventure that included a baby in my lap for 1/2 the trip and 10 min stop to find change for the taco lady that got on the bus.
Vacation Map
