Goodman's Journey
  • Home
  • Blogroll

Morelia Wasn't What I had Hoped...

2/10/2010

0 Comments

 
Picture
_
10 February 2010

We started the day with a half mile walk to the bus station to catch the bus to Morelia.  This 35 mile bus ride will take us about 1 hour with all the little stops along the way, this isn’t the Express…  it was a comfortable ride with the bus being about 80% full and us having to share the rear full bus length seat with just one other man.  When we pulled into the bus station at Morelia we were blown away.  This is “A Bus Station” !!!  There must have been 100 buses there, and they were all of the quality of the one we rode in on or better.  I’m sure that somewhere they still have the “chicken bus”, but so far we haven’t seen them.  Our bus was an “inter-city” bus, but when you get one of the cross country busses you get LUXURY and I do mean luxury.  In leaving the bus we were directed to the terminal (looked pretty 1st class to us…) and then a short walk out to the waiting cabs.  Well we had been reading the Lonely Planet book again and we knew, or thought we knew, that we wanted a combi (white with a red stripe) that would whisk us off to our predetermined hotel.  As we walked out to the cab area, we noticed that there weren’t any combi’s to be had…ok, now what???  I asked a security guard as to where we might find one, and he immediately asked us with a smile…”Are you sure you want a combi and not a cab?”.  Well we should have gotten the idea that just maybe we were making a mistake by going with the combi, after all, we’re not the normal “Lonely Planet backpacker” in the big city.  Well we were told the combi’s can be found about a block away so off we went.  Sure as heck, here comes the red striped combi and it even has CENTRAL written across his windshield (the common practice).  When Louise and I jumped into the back of this older VW van we joined 2 other ladies heading towards the downtown area.  The cost for getting us from the bus station to Central was 5 pesos (.40 cents) each so we weren’t going to go broke riding to town.  About 20 feet into our ride and I told Louise that “something sounds like it’s ready to go..”, and sure enough about a mile later and 5 more people added, we’ve broken down.  Now that’s not a big deal as there was another combi right behind us and it was ready to handle our needs without a problem.  The only thing that we didn’t learn from the Lonely Planet book was that the red striped combi’s have a number system displayed on the front windshield too.  The number 1 took you directly to Central, while the others 2-6 traveled all the neighborhoods using a back and forth pattern to collect as many people as possible before finally getting to our destination.  What could have been a 15 minute ride turned out to be 40 minutes and we had a FULL combi too.  Now this reminded us of a college initiation prank, “how many students (paying customers) can you cram into a VW van…we had 17 plus the driver…DID WE WIN ANYTHING???  Finally arriving in the “Historical Center” of Morelia we were able to free ourselves of the combi and quickly search out a coffee shoppe.  Actually it was right on the corner of our departure, so finally somebody was looking out for us.  The coffee here in Mexico has really been good and this stop wasn’t any different.  Just outside of the doors was the “Presidents office” (the Governor of the state of Michoacán) and there was a peaceful demonstration happening.  One long block was completely blocked by demonstrators’, some sitting in the street and others pacing around.  Now first rule for a traveler in Mexico…”stay away from demonstrations”…well we’re inside right, what the heck can happen in there having a cup of coffee??  Fortunately nothing.  Finishing our coffee and checking out our map, we headed out to find our hotel.  Morelia is an easy city to get around in once you’ve gotten yourselves into the center.  We found the hotel, checked-in and immediately went out to see the sights.  Right across the street was the Morelia Museo Arte Colonial.


Picture
_In the early 1800’s this was a convent, but now its museum and a location for advanced musical arts.  As we roamed the floors we were constantly hearing someone playing or practicing the piano or some other instrument.  The art work was nice to see but the building was really the attraction…  A little further up the street and we were entering The Temple of San Jose.

Picture
_Seeing as how it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel, I waited for this night shot…it’s much more impressive this way.  Noon time has arrived and we were off to lunch.  Two blocks behind the hotel was Morelia’s huge Cathedral

Picture
_and a close-by restaurant that more than satisfied our hunger.  About a mile further down the main street (Ave Madero) we found the Fountain los Tarascas

Picture
_and the beginning of the 4 mile long Aqueduct that was built in the 17th century.

Picture
_Just past the college, we were facing the Patriota Morelos statue.

Picture
_This was an impressive man and is still revered in the minds of the Mexican people of Morelia.  Across the plaza was the most beautiful church (my opinion..) that we’ve encountered so far…Santuario de Guadalupe.

Picture
_Especially the interior, it was amazing…

Picture
Picture
_Well a couple more hours of walking Morelia and we were ready for bed and our departure back to Patzcuaro in the morning.  This time we’re taking the Luxury coach…its 8 pesos (64 cents) more…we’re being big spenders now. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    *Locations*

    All
    Amsterdam
    Austria
    Belgium
    Bosnya
    Canada
    Croatia
    Czech Republic
    Egypt
    England
    Estonia
    France
    Germany
    Germany Part 2
    Greece
    Hungary
    Ireland
    Italy
    Latvia
    Lithuania
    Luxembourg
    Madrid
    Mexico
    Mexico Bcs
    MX - Cabo San Lucas
    Netherlands
    Poland
    Portugal
    Scotland
    Serbia
    Slovakia
    Slovenia
    Spain
    Switzerland
    Turkey
    USA - Alabama
    USA - Alaska
    USA - Arizona
    USA - California
    USA - Colorado
    USA - Florida
    USA - Georgia
    USA - Idaho
    USA - Illinois
    USA - Indiana
    USA - Kentucky
    USA - Louisiana
    USA - Maine
    USA - Maryland
    USA - Massachusetts
    USA - Michigan
    USA - Minnesota
    USA - Mississippi
    USA - Montana
    USA - Nevada
    USA - New Jersey
    USA - New Mexico
    USA - New York
    USA - North Dakota
    USA - Ohio
    USA - Oregon
    USA - Pennsylvania
    USA - Seattle
    USA - South Dakota
    USA - Tennessee
    USA - Texas
    USA - Utah
    USA - Vermont
    USA - Washington
    USA - Wisconsin
    USA - Wyoming
    Utrecht Nl
    Wales


    *Archives*

    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    July 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    December 2007
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    April 2007
    March 2007
    February 2007
    January 2007
    December 2006
    November 2006
    October 2006
    September 2006
    August 2006
    July 2006
    June 2006
    May 2006
    April 2006
    March 2006
    February 2006
    January 2006
    December 2005
    November 2005
    October 2005
    September 2005
    August 2005
    July 2005
    June 2005
    May 2005
    April 2005
    March 2005
    February 2005
    January 2005
    December 2004
    November 2004
    October 2004
    September 2004
    August 2004
    July 2004
    June 2004
    May 2004
    April 2004
    March 2004
    February 2004
    January 2004
    December 2003

Goodman's Journey © 2021 | All Rights Reserved.
​Website Creation by Amy Riordan, LLC