Jaltemba Sol
Move Over Oaxaca, Arty Michoacn Is Calling
IT all started with an enormous green ceramic pineapple.
Seconds after it caught my eye in the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City, I
began to covet it. The label revealed that the piece had been made in Michoacn,
a Mexican state along the southwest coast. Oddly enough, over the next hour,
almost every time an especially fantastic object caught my attention, the
provenance on the label was always the same: Michoacn.
By the time
I left the museums overpriced gift shop, I had it all mapped out: a crafts
safari though the region, foraging for the fanciful animal masks and brightly
painted mermaid figurines that caught my eye.
There was one little snag: Michoacn is not only one of
Mexicos premier crafts centers; until recently, it was also home to some of
Mexicos most notorious drug kingpins. Less than a decade ago, its coastal
highway was nicknamed Bandito Alley, and the region was overrun with marijuana
fields and methamphetamine labs.
But in December 2006, just days after President Felipe
Calderon was sworn into office, the government launched Operation Michoacn,
sending convoys of troops to bulldoze marijuana fields and chase out gangsters
and drug dealers. Drug-related violence has fallen in the last year and despite
occasional flare-ups which have been confined to gang-on-gang violence and
government crackdowns Michoacn is beginning to attract visitors besides
backpackers and serious collectors.
A new highway, 37, through Michoacn has also helped,
enabling travelers from beach towns like Ixtapa- Zihuatanejo to zip up to the
charming colonial center of Michoacn in less than three hours. It used to take
as much as eight.
A few months after Operation Michoacn was put into action,
my husband, Carsten, and I drove west from Mexico City into Michoacn without
incident. The only ambush was the orange-and-black clouds of monarch
butterflies, fluttering above our windshield. (In March, the butterflies migrate
north across Michoacns rolling green hills to lay eggs on the milkweed plants
of the United States) And the only indication of a lingering drug problem was a
few soldiers patrolling the highway.
But what is a safari without a little adventure? The region
has a reputation for a rebellious citizenry, as well as its wildly natural
beauty.
The original inhabitants, the Purpecha Indians, were
thought to have developed one of the most advanced pre-Columbian societies in
western Mexico. Their achievements included unique T-shaped pyramids and
tapestries made from hummingbird feathers. While they succeeded in fending off
numerous invaders, including the mighty Aztecs, they were eventually conquered
(and almost wiped out) by Spanish rifles and the famously brutal Nuo de Guzmn
in the 16th century.
An ideal place to be based is Ptzcuaro, a colonial town set
above a large blue lake in central Michoacn. Unlike the endless sprawl that
surrounds most Mexican cities, the streets leading to Ptzcuaro are hedged by
pine trees and old adobes.
While its colonial archi6tecture hasnt changed much since
the 16th century, its residents have. In the last decade, American retirees have
swooped into town and turned its historic center into a booming expat community.
Michoacn is an undiscovered Oaxaca, said Victoria Ryan, a
62-year-old artist who arrived from New Mexico in 1992 and now runs an upscale B
& B named Casa Encantada with her partner, Cynthia de la Rosa. I felt like I
arrived in Sante Fe in the 1940s.
Down the street from Casa Encantada is Plaza Don Vasco de
Quiroga, a small grassy park with towering ash trees and a stone arcade filled
with craft shops and cafes. The square was named after a 16th-century bishop,
Vasco de Quiroga, who might be called the patron saint of Michoacn
crafts-making.
A student of Sir Thomas Mores Utopia, Quiroga gathered
the ravaged Purpecha Indians into several villages around Lake Ptzcuaro, and
encouraged each to adopt a specific craft as a means to survival and
self-governance. His utopian vision lives on 400 years later: the village of
Santa Clara del Cobre is renowned for its copper products, Capula for its
rust-colored pottery and Ihuatzio for its woven baskets and mats.
On the cool evening we arrived in Ptzcuaro, the quiet
streets were lined with rickety food carts and whitewashed adobes with red tile
roofs and matching base trim. It felt like we were walking through a sepia-toned
photograph.
For dinner, we ended up at Plaza Chica, a lively square with
a packed taco stand where we feasted on soft tortillas filled with spicy beef,
onions and cilantro. Along with glasses of horchata, a cinnamon-spiked rice
drink, our sidewalk banquet came to less than 20 pesos under $2 at 10.5 pesos
to the dollar.
The next morning, Kevin Quigley, a guide we had hired, was
waiting outside the hotel in a beat-up gray van. A 58-year-old expatriate from
San Francisco, Mr. Quigley has been offering crafts tours of Michoacn to
tourists and professional buyers for 20 years. The plan was to drive to the
village of Capula, known for its colorful ceramics. Actually, we were heading to
the home and workshop of Juan Torres, one of Michoacns best-known artists.
After bumping along a narrow road that wove past fields of
tall grass and wildflowers, we pulled up to an adobe-and-glass complex atop a
hill covered with cactuses, blooming trees and gigantic copper sculptures. Mr.
Torres, a rugged man in his 60s with a graying mustache, greeted us in the
driveway and invited us in.
The house itself was a work of art: the front stoop was a
mosaic of cow knuckle bones, and a claw-foot bathtub was surrounded by boulders
and ferns. Oversized Day of the Dead-themed paintings, a series he was doing for
the Universal Culture Forum in Monterrey, were piled up in his airy studio.
Next, we made our way to the ceramic workshop, where Mr.
Torres and his wife, Belia Canals Henrquez, produce and sell their colorful
Catrinas, which depict elegantly dressed women as skeletons. For about $100, I
couldnt resist taking a foot-tall Catrina home, carefully wrapped in newspaper
like a mummy.
Later that afternoon, Mr. Quigley informed me that my
coveted green ceramic pineapples, the inspiration of my trip, were made in San
Jos de Gracia, a small village about two hours north of Ptzcuaro. It would
have required a half a day and, unfortunately, we didnt have time; I had plans
to continue to the coast.
So the following day, we drove instead to Santa Clara de
Cobre, the copper-making village, about 30 minutes to the south. The
atelier-lined streets of this quaint town flashed with glittering copper pans,
decorative sinks and enormous cauldrons, like the kind witches use in fairy
tales.
We wandered into the small showroom of Ignacio Punzo Angel,
where about 10 copper and silver vases were on display, ranging in price from
several hundred to several thousand dollars. Mr. Angel was behind the counter. I
asked a simple question about the work, and it inspired an hourlong conversation
about being a metalsmith.
He took us behind the shop to his workshop complete with
open fire, bellows and sledgehammers and showed us his latest creation: a
gorgeous Art Deco-style silver vase that reminded me of a Jean Arp sculpture. It
was so spectacular that for a moment I forgot all about green pineapples.
A TRADITION AT WORK
HOW TO GET THERE
The most direct way to central Michoacn is to fly
Continental Airlines to Morelia from Houston. Recently, early-August round trips
from Kennedy Airport in New York to Morelia through Houston started at $893.
Alternatively, one can fly to Mexico City (nonstop from New
York on American in August, from $768, for example), and drive 200 miles to
Ptzcuaro.
WHERE TO STAY
FINDING THE CRAFTS
Kevin Quigley, who runs a rustic, seven-room B&B called Casa
Santiago (52-434-344-0880;
www.casasantiagomex.com), near the village of Ihuatzio, offers excellent
tours for $25 an hour for two to four people.
Juan Torres and his wife make and sell their famous Catrinas
at La Candelaria in Capula (52-443-320-5637).
Mario Lpez Torres (Independencia 88, Ihuatzio;
52-434-344-0779; www.tzumindi.com)
makes animal-shaped furniture from woven reed grass in his workshop in Ihuatzio.
Prices are about 200 to 14,000 pesos.
Hilario Alejo Madrigal (Calle Morelos 60, San Jos de
Gracia; 52-355-511-2198) makes ceramic pineapples in San Jos de Gracia. They
run from 1,600 to 2,000 pesos.