We arrived to Morelia at night. Morelia is where the family of our friend Rafa (Rafael) lives. They moved out of Torreon a couple of years ago to escape the terrible violence there. Read more about Torreon Violence. They have found a haven in Morelia. Coming through the dark hills, a sea of yellow lights appeared below in the valley with a shining cathedral standing out with 2 tall towers reaching high into the darkness. This was our first impression of a historical beautiful town. The second impression was how this shining city was really a small town kinda place. There was a pickup truck next to us at a stoplight with 2 horses standing in the bed with no tailgate. I wish I had taken a picture. You'll just have to imagine it.
The State where Morelia resides is Michoacán and it's claim to fame is the abundance of Monarch Butterflies. They migrate there every year multiplying the population in this state in Mexico. Just today actually on our way home I saw a flock of 'black birds' only to be corrected that it was thousands of monarchs bending and swaying as if they were the creative school of fish in Finding Nemo. I was shocked at how many there were. Click here to read about the migration.
We were introduced to the family on New Years Eve morning after a good night sleep. Our friend Rafa drove us and his niece Alejandra down the hill to the historic downtown area in the valley. He left to go help prepare the food for the NYE party that night and left us with Ale. The colonial beauty of the architecture made an impression on me and my camera. (Photos on Facebook) Each door and archway was more enchanting than the one before. We got back to the house and had a nap before waking up to go to our New Years Eve party with the family at 8:30pm. Arriving to the Solon we had some guacamole and chips at each table to munch on. Seriously THE best guac I've ever eaten. So yummy! They told us that the avocados were picked from a family farm close by. So fresh, so good. The next day when we finally woke up at noon Veronica (Rafa's wife) told me to put my shoes on. I don't understand everything that they say here but I talked to Doug and he said, "Oh yeah, she probably said that because we're going on a trip now." Haha. It was an hour and a half trip to be exact, to the avocado groves owned by Rafa's dad, also Rafael.
We drove out of the gray cloud cover of Morelia up through hills and valleys, making our way up to 2200km or 7200ft. The sky broke up half way to our destination to a beautiful blue and white sky. We got to a small town with quaint shops bordering the main street. Each building was painted the same, brick red on the bottom and white on the top half; businesses and apartments alike. Each business had it's name written in the same script above the door with the first letter in Red to match the lower half of the building and the other letters in black. A light drizzle came down from the returning gray sky as we made our way through the town, Santa Clara del cobre (Saint Clara of copper). We meant to stop and shop there but it was New Years Day and they were all closed. There was however still some activity in the town. The women strolled along the sidewalks with large shawls around their shoulders to keep warm. We passed through and kept winding up the hill to the groves. Shortly out of town we saw the trees covering the hills. Beautiful contrasting colors of brownish grass and the green trees, red soil against the gray sky. We saw different fenced in groves marking who owned which. We climbed up a red gravel road that eventually brought us to a brown iron fence. The Grandpa got out of the car and unlocked and opened it. We drove though, now with 4 foot high walls of dirt and cactus on both sides of the driveway. We drove up the steep, bumpy, gravel road until we pulled to the side to see the water collection pool where they collect rain water for the trees when the dry season starves the trees of rain. The air was cool and clear. Cleaner than the smog filled Mexico City air. In the distance you could see the lines of trees down the side of the mountain. Further yet the mountains far off appeared in a blue hue unable to make out the curves of the hills, just a solid bluish gray. We hadn't realized that we would be harvesting the black avocados ourselves. They handed us white woven plastic bags to collect the ones that were 'almost ready to fall off the tree'. The ones I picked still had green on them but it was exciting! We walked up the hill down the straight rows of 6 foot trees. Our goal was a large oak at the top of the hill. Sally chose certain trees to climb up. They were so easy to climp. The long branches of long skinny leaves leaned down over the trunk, making a canape. She would walk through the branches into the magical room inside, then climb the few branches and peak her little blond head out of the top! We reached our destination with only 3 aguacates (avocados). We spent some family time, just the three of us sitting at the top of the hill over looking peaks and valleys of trees. I kept reminding Sally to put this in her memory so she could remember this feeling forever. It wasn't until almost back down to the driveway where are cars rested that I realized how very quiet it was there. So quiet. You could almost hear the mist coming down from the clouds. Sally and I laid down and realized the silence together. . . . . What a wonderful day. What an amazing place to experience. Then mountains, the clean air, the silence. When we reached the base of the hill, our chilly fingers tightening we smelled a fire. The Grandma had a small fire started, surrounded by rocks with a flat pizza pan resting atop. She had tortillas warming and taco meat ready to eat. The avocados weren't ready for eating yet, I wished I could have smeared some into a tortilla right there. We ate and then took off at dusk, back down through the hills to the town. Some stores were now open and we walked through a few. We bought some beautiful copper items and headed back to Morelia. So glad we've met this family to take us on adventures.
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