The Docks of Janitzio - A New Honker

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

For starters, three kilos of fresh mangos for $.98 U.S.  That's right.  We have lost weight on this trip by eating local and fresh.  No runs to CostCo or Morelia, just daily market pickups of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Very little meat and of course our quesadilla here and a slice of pizza there.  

It's been two days of intense fog and we were kind of housebound.  The rains don't present an issue, we can go just about anywhere but riding the horses wouldn't work.

When we left Monterrey my horn stopped working.  No big deal but I need a horn.  We put it off for nearly a month now and then we decided we needed to fix it.  It wasn't a connection it was a burned out horn.  We had the mechanic in Pátzcuaro confirm our findings and we began a search for a horn.  Days went by and little by little we found we wouldn't find a honker around these parts.  They all have specific connections so a generic wouldn't fit.   We called the VW dealer in Morelia and the wait was five days plus 1100 pesos not including installation.  We went back to the mechanic and he took it out.  We went to AutoZone as well as two other VW exclusive parts stores to no avail.  On the way back to the ranch we were entering the highway from Pátzcuaro to Santa Clara and we both looked at each other.  We passed two yonkes (junkyards) on the highway.  What the heck.  Sure enough, they had three and we tested them all and found this one that worked.  100 pesos, plus 50 pesos installation.  Honk! Honk!  I'm back in business.  I honked as we left the mechanic's as well as when we passed the junkyard.  :)

Here we are contemplating another slice of pizza at Ivo's.  Best Italian place in town so far. 

A simple marguerite pizza is good for me.  We ordered both dishes and split half and brought the rest home for another meal this weekend.  So that's $7.50 per meal.  You can't beat that.

We decided to take a drive down to the docks of Janitzio to plan our trip for the weekend.  Saturday morning sounds good for us, 70 pesos per person one way to the island.  If you aren't familiar with the name Janitzio, it is an island in the middle of Lake Pátzcuaro.  There is the small town of Janitzio and a climb up a giant staircase to the statue of  Jose Maria Morelos.  This is the road from downtown Pátzcuaro to the docks.

We took the route less traveled and ended up at the San Pedrito dock instead of the General dock.  We took a look around and checked prices and trips.  The one-way is 25 minutes and as I said, 70 pesos.  They have private lanchas too but they are over 1000 pesos one-way.

We spotted this fisherman throwing out his nets.  The little canoes are actually carved from a tree trunk and are one piece.  He's out there with one oar and his net.  He caught a couple of fish while we were there.

These boats carry 50 to 70 people and are registered with the lake officials as well as the state water and byways board.   They are inspected regularly.  There was an accident at the docks in Tzintzuntzan five years ago.  All 30 aboard were rescued.  I didn't investigate the cause but I thought it was worth mentioning.  Nothing is 100% safe.