April 18 day 2

We opted to take a city tour from the hotel. It was an excellent 3 hour tour of greater Morelia with a lot of historical info. Our tour guide, Miguel, took us to the modern part of Morelia first. High up in the hills overlooking the historical center is an area called Altozano, the newest part of the city with beautiful modern architecture and fantastic views of the historical downtown dominated by the cathedral. We visited a lot of magnificent buildings from 17th century, including a number of churches with lots of gold inside. Morelia was a very wealthy city and it is definitely reflected in its churches and public buildings. We also visited a romantic spot called Callejon del Romance, a hotspot for marriage proposals since colonial times. On the way back to the hotel we were approached by a group of students from an escuela de ingles who wanted to interview us and of course we agreed. After a siesta in our room, we went to the main square in anticipation of the Saturday festivities, which people in the hotel touted as the highlight of the week. That’s when they have fireworks by the cathedral and all kinds of performances in the plaza. To get a good view, we decided to have dinner at a highly recommended restaurant Lu almost across from the cathedral. It was very lively with groups of mariachis and other musicians playing and big family groups having dinner. We noticed that a woman sitting at a table next to us asked for something that looked like a miniature coat rack, which she used to hang her purse on even though there was an empty chair next to her where she could have put it. We thought it was strange, but later, when we returned to our hotel and sat down in the courtyard to have a drink, we noticed that women at several tables used the same contraption. Must be how things are done here.