The remains of a Purépecha boat called a tepari and other ancient artifacts have been uncovered during a massive cleanup operation to help save Lake Pátzcuaro The traditional canoe — which stands out for its considerable length of 14.8 meters (48.5 feet) — was found in the vicinity of the island of Janitzio, located in Lake Pátzcuaro, which has been inhabited by the Purépecha people for centuries according to experts with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) leading to speculation that Purépecha boatmen had just made a run to nearby Erongaricuaro and were returning to the island with their cargo The chance discovery was recorded in early May at the drought-stricken Michoacán lake where more than 730 men and women are working to combat deforestation historical neglect and excessive planting of avocados and other fruits — conditions that have reduced Lake Pátzcuaro’s surface by 42% The significant finding sheds light on historical boating practices in the region The officials didn’t release an exact time period for when the boat sank as further analysis is needed Michoacán’s Environment Ministry (Secma) has assigned 10 people to support archaeologists on upcoming expeditions in the area INAH researchers and community authorities noted that the area being dredged has yielded “a significant amount of pre-Hispanic vestiges,” in much the same way that work on the Maya Train on the Yucatán Peninsula has led to thousands of archaeological discoveries. Materials recovered during the Lake Pátzcuaro work include “an important collection” of human bones that were handcrafted with grooves and are in an “excellent state of conservation,” according to INAH Many ceramic urns and stone objects have also been found which INAH officials noted “were thrown into the lake in pre-Hispanic times surely as offerings.” At least one other canoe has been found The remains were uncovered during the restoration and desilting work that is ongoing in Lake Pátzcuaro One of the priority efforts has been to make sure Janitzio a favorite destination among tourists to the Pátzcuaro area the water level has gone so low there that an isthmus is beginning to form between Janitzio and the mainland community of Jarácuaro said at a press conference Monday that the situation is “critical.” The southwestern part of the island is separated from the mainland by a 30-meter channel that is “less than 50 centimeters” (20 inches) deep He also noted that Jarácuaro itself was an island about five decades ago ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC Aristos is a Newsweek science and health reporter with the London He is particularly focused on archaeology and paleontology although he has covered a wide variety of topics ranging from astronomy and mental health Aristos joined Newsweek in 2018 from IBTimes UK and had previously worked at The World Weekly He is a graduate of the University of Nottingham and City University You can get in touch with Aristos by emailing a.georgiou@newsweek.com. Languages: English either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content pre-Hispanic artifacts and a "unique" set of modified human bones are among the finds that were recently uncovered in a vanishing Mexican lake a traditional type of boat known as a tepari was found on the shores of the island of Janitzio which lies within Lake Pátzcuaro in the state of Michoacán the country's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a press release The island is usually accessible only by boat but the waters of the lake—a popular tourist destination known for its Day of the Dead celebrations—have been receding over the past few years This has exposed areas of dry lake bed around the island In April, the municipal government of Pátzcuaro told CNN affiliate Televisa that a combination of factors deforestation and illicit water extraction has resulted in the lake losing more than half of its volume since authorities started monitoring water levels But the disappearing lake is revealing several archaeological finds The INAH said the boat sunk with its cargo which it was presumably carrying from a settlement on the shores of the lake to Janitzio Island "Teparis are boats that have been used traditionally on Lake Pátzcuaro possibly since pre-Hispanic times," José Luis Punzo an INAH researcher and project director of the latest research they are made from a single large tree and carved from it." people and merchandise were transported between the shores of the lake and its inhabited islands while also being used for fishing Teparis have traditionally been important for the Purépecha Indigenous group that lives in the Lake Pátzcuaro region and it is "difficult" to even establish an approximate date It is possible the boat could be several centuries old Experts are conducting further analysis of the boat to try to determine how old it is This is not the only tepari that has been found in the area Around a dozen have been identified in total although the 45-foot-long example stands out for its size Researchers are hoping that studying these boats will reveal information about their age Archaeological work conducted on the teparis found around the island has also revealed a "large number" of other artifacts several complete ceramic pieces have been recovered which are samples of the rituals that were surely carried out in the lagoon," he said bone needles and other stone objects have also been recovered thanks to these studies we will be able to have a deeper vision of the relationship of the ancient inhabitants of this place with the lake," Punzo said An important set of modified human bones—mostly femurs—with grooves cut into them has also been recovered This collection is "unique" among similar finds because of the bones' excellent state of preservation Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all Mexico’s Day of the Dead captured the world’s attention with its skulls and colours but behind the facepaint is a touching celebration that embraces everything that’s good about life and death… rubbed her hands against the 3am chill and reached in her pocket for a small bottle of tequila she placed it delicately by the headstone and smiled serenely It was the middle of the night and I was in a cemetery in the blink-and- you-miss-it village of Arocutín Not on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) It was 2 November and one of the world’s most magical intriguing and heart-rending traditions was in full swing The details of this festival may sound strange and spooky but the reality of Día de los Muertos is even more surreal Ancient legend dictates that it is the one time of the year when the dead can cross over and return to the land of the living Families gather in graveyards across the country and erect altars in their homes known as ofrendas; these feature photos of the dearly departed as well as their favourite possessions as offerings “It’s the one day of the year when we are all reunited,” beamed my local guide Benjamin Lopez Gomez The tradition dates back centuries but it has arguably only relatively recently made an impact on mainstream culture outside of its Mexican homeland After UNESCO added it to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008 The opening scenes of the 2015 James Bond film Spectre featured an explosive Day of the Dead parade (sparking the Mexican government to arrange an official one in the capital) told the story of a young Mexican boy who is transported to the land of the dead and reunited with his ancestors Almost overnight the world was gripped by this intriguing day dedicated to the afterlife But to understand and experience the true spirit of Day of the Dead – no pun intended – I wanted to go back to where it all began Several places in Mexico claim Día de los Muertos as their own and locals on the quiet shores of Lake Pátzcuaro it remains a place that continues to cherish and practise the old ways Our day began in the colonial city of Morelia famed for the 17th century cathedral flanking its leafy main square Milling around the bandstand and criss-crossing the plaza were scores of teens in full Day of the Dead get-up: girls in flowing ball gowns boys in smart suits and every face painted like a skeleton No slit throats and gory Halloween masks here typified in the iconic La Calavera Catrina first created by cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada in the early 20th century The artist had originally given the Aztec Goddess the underworld a makeover for a satirical cartoon that skewered the aristocratic ambitions of Mexico’s pre-revolution middle class and over the years it became a visual shorthand for the colourful macabre of the festival Benjamin was quick to warn that it was going to be a long day–and an even longer night “The festivities don’t start until after sunset and families remain in the cemeteries until dawn.” Despite the temptation to have a cheeky siesta we made the most of the free time to explore the city and its surroundings A short stroll away was the Conservatorio de las Rosas a grand old convent that dates to 1743 and is now enjoying a fresh breath of life as a music college Haunting vocals drifted from the rooms upstairs settling on the neat hedges and trees that lined the courtyard below Read next: Everything you need to know about Día de los Muertos We popped into City Hall to admire the huge murals that depict the history of Morelia and Michoacán as well as Mexico almost wishing the day away and longing for night to fall But the perfect distraction was soon to come The road south-west took us from Morelia to Lake Pátzcuaro through quiet lowlands of dark green along single-track railways lines and towards the hills and peaks in the near distance the vast shores of Pátzcuaro appeared before us The harbour thronged with people laden with baskets stuffed with fruit and flowers – offerings for ofrendas – and we soon set out onto the water the most populated (about 2,000 people) of the lake’s islands made the crossing in good time and we barely noticed the darkening clouds overhead on account of the entertainment provided by four elderly men with skin like soft leather they sang old songs from northern Mexico that are traditionally played when someone dies A strange atmosphere was building on the pier as we docked People alighted in a flash and hurried away vanishing into the warren of steep streets and narrow alleys that twisted and turned as they weaved upwards into the main town yet the plump raindrops somersaulting from above did little to dampen the anticipation in the air The cramped lanes suddenly opened up to reveal the local cemetery overlooking the water from a lofty position Some were cleaning the graves while others were busy placing hundreds of candles and sprinkling thousands of vibrant orange cempazuchitl flowers (or marigolds “These things are very important,” explained Benjamin “The candles and bright flowers help to guide the spirits back.” The deluge had made muddy work of the cemetery and slippery work of the streets so we sheltered from the rain inside Cafe Erandeni Friendly proprietor Liliana Hernandez took a break from frying small fish to serve us coffee She laid the cups down with a smile and explained that she would soon be heading to the cemetery “Today reminds us that money and work are not the most important things in life,” she stated matter-of-factly so important to Mexicans across the country “We receive a lot of visitors who come to watch,” added Liliana “Some are not very respectful and steal the drinks and fruit that we leave as offerings Dusk was fast approaching and darkness had all but settled as we sailed back to shore This unique way of honouring the deceased is thought to be a mix of pre-Columbian practices and European ideologies brought over to Mexico by the Spanish slowly mingling and evolving over the centuries We arrived at the dusty lakeside town of Santa Fe de la Laguna to a wedding-like atmosphere with music and food stalls in the main square children playing football and large groups of tourists It wasn’t the sombre setting I was expecting and there wasn’t a cemetery or headstone in sight “This village has a rather unusual tradition,” said Benjamin the spirits of those who have died this year always go home instead of to the cemetery for their first Day of the Dead and this year there have been three deaths in Santa Fe de la Laguna.” We walked the short distance to the home of Dalia Fabian Luciano and through her open front door She was sat beside the ofrenda dedicated to her young daughter who had passed away just four months prior A photo of the beaming girl was placed at the head of an avalanche of fruit and flowers cans of Coca-Cola and a rocking chair – her favourite toy I shifted on the spot and tried to inch away but Dalia beckoned me closer I knelt beside her and she told me all about Gema the games she played and the things she loved I added my own contribution to the ofrenda: a freshly baked iced bun “I can feel her next to me,” she whispered It was then that I finally began to understand what this night was about: a connection The relaxed atmosphere of Santa Fe de la Laguna paled in comparison to the carnival-like spirit of nearby village Arocutín shots of warming tequila were free-flowing and a game of hockey using a flaming wooden ball that hurtled through the air like a meteorite Read next: Where to celebrate Day of the Dead in Mexcio and beyond These loud chimes are to help stir the souls; the combination of notes is unique to Arocutín in another bid to guide the spirits back to the right place Stepping over the threshold and into the cemetery my eyes widened at the sight of a million flickering candles Generations sat huddled together against the chill beside mounds of earth covered with small baskets filled with offerings I weaved my way silently between the headstones acknowledging those I passed and pausing to admire the beautiful displays they had created including the large wooden crosses adorned with delicate orange petals and planted upright in the ground I soon started to shake the feeling that my presence was in some way inappropriate or insensitive It’s not a day to be sad,” explained Benjamin As the hours ticked up and the temperature dropped plumes of smoke continued to rise high into the night sky “We believe they are the spirits returning,” Benjamin added I criss-crossed the cemetery a hundred times I thought more and more about my own approach to death and how soothing how poignant it would be to feel the presence of my beloved grandmother again I could sense that very same feeling of comfort in those around me at that moment whose photo – of a handsome twenty-something man – had been proudly displayed by his relatives “He was murdered four years ago,” said his sister but this night also gives us comfort.” After an hour or so of talking Maria reached towards the bananas within the small basket upon his grave was a simple burial mound adorned by a handful of flickering candles and minded by an elderly lady staring at the black-and-white photo that revealed it to be the resting place of her son “I’ve been doing this for four decades,” she said as her daughter joined her side “It’s an important tradition to keep alive but more important is to remember our relatives We sit and share stories about Juan’s life.” I wondered whether this annual vigil of reflection and remembrance had helped her to look at death differently Please note: This article was first published in 2019 and edited in 2023 Sign up to our newsletter for free with the Wanderlust Club 21-year-old Valeria Aguilar is reaching out to hold a horseshoe crab for the first time She’s one of four college women visiting Cape Cod from the Lake Pátzcuaro area They’re gathered around Aquatic Ecologist Sophia Fox and she gasps quietly when it gives her a start moving its tail “Just be careful of the tail and your face,” Fox says She explains that crabs are related to spiders — they’re arachnids and Ireri Servín — traveled to the Cape earlier this month to learn about the massive restoration project on the Herring River in Wellfleet They hoped to see how Cape Codders gathered community support — and how to inspire similar work on a heavily polluted lake back home East Harbor is not part of the Herring River restoration the students traveled 3,000 miles to see Fox said it gives the students a glimpse of how a species can return even with modest changes to the water system “This is an area where we've been finding them thriving … and we're finding baby crabs,” she said “And so it's a very positive story of a restoration where everything has recovered into a functioning system The students’ visit was a leadership-development trip through a summer camp where they’re graduating the internship program and joining the summer staff the camp centers on an issue of community concern a body of water that covers more square miles than the Quabbin Reservoir A member of the camp steering committee has friends on Cape Cod That’s how the restoration of the Herring River became the foundation of a cultural exchange they got plenty of support from Seashore science chief Geoffrey Sanders and his staff plus the Friends of the Herring River and the town of Wellfleet They learned how Massachusetts’ largest-ever estuary repair took many people the students talked about the problems of Lake Pátzcuaro and their goals for the future said healing Lake Pátzcuaro requires community organizing “We have four municipalities around the lake,” she said “The sewage and the garbage goes to the lake … So we want to know how to organize the four municipalities to work under one umbrella.” said the lake is also compromised by agricultural chemicals from the growing of avocados in the Lake Pátzcuaro basin “People have cut down many of the last forests in the basin in order to plant avocados which … need a lot of water and a lot of toxic chemicals,” she said the runoff sends all these chemicals into the lake.” the students visited Duck Harbor with Seashore staff The low-lying land behind a bayside beach in Wellfleet is connected to the upper reaches of the Herring River so it’s part of the project to restore tidal flow As they looked out over the place where trees have died and salt marsh plants are returning Restoration Ecologist Tim Smith told the students that Duck Harbor is also being inundated from the bay side by sea-level rise little stubby plants — they can handle being flooded every day caught the attention of Linda Bennett from the international affairs office of the National Park Service She decided it was important enough to meet the students on the Cape “I thought it was such a valuable program they were going to do here and go back into their community in Mexico and actually apply them,” she said they planned to meet with the mayor of Pátzcuaro to share what they’ve learned but also for civic activism to heal the lake they love Jun 29, 2024 10:00 AM EDTRecent archaeological discoveries made by accident in Mexico are shedding light on the country’s pre-Hispanic era, Ancient Origins reported workers at a site in Janitzio in Lake Pátzcuaro It’s believed that this vessel sank as it carried a load of firewood from Erongaricuaro to Janitzio That discovery led to further dredging operations across the site which have unearthed a number of other artifacts which predate a Hispanic presence in Mexico The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is spearheading the efforts along with The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico A multitude of human remains were discovered across the site A number of human bones collected by officials were photographed placed neatly beside each other in a cardboard box Human remains found at Lake Pátzcuaro Also discovered were a plethora of objects made of stone and ceramic Officials surmise these items were likely thrown into Lake Pátzcuaro as a spiritual offering which offers an unprecedented glimpse into the religious practices of Pátzcuaro’s ancient community One of many pieces of pottery recovered by archaeologists. A separate tapari was also found on the site, and officials are working to ensure its preservation. The INAH, as well as the city of Janitzio and Mexico’s Ministry of Culture, hope to establish a community museum to display the groundbreaking discoveries, as well as to remind the small island community of their cultural lineage. Local residents who happen upon something they believe may be a significant archaeological discovery are urged to immediately notify the INAH’s Michoacán Center so that proper preservation methods may be taken. By Declan Gallagher is a Breaking/Trending News Writer at Men's Journal The interior glows red as a pomegranate aril the streamers of paper flags cut into intricate patterns with an overlay of happy conversation in Spanish and English Pátzcuaro Taqueria & Bar doesn’t feel like it’s in Newton It feels — and tastes — like it’s in Pátzcuaro chef-owner Avelina Saavedra’s hometown in Michoacán She grew up in her father’s taqueria there pretty much every man in the family has a taqueria in Mexico,” says host and server Paula Saavedra The restaurant is decorated with ceramics and other art brought back from the region But the real tell is on the plate: the caramelized onions and potatoes that are served with the tacos “We do it strictly that way on the streets of Pátzcuaro,” Paula says Being really cold and having that plate of warm tacos — we usually go in December as a family Avelina Saavedra and husband Joel Alvarado came to the US in 1995 with their infant sons alternated shifts: Joel worked mornings as a cook “anything she could squeeze in,” Paula says But always she dreamed of having a place of her own until one day it was the right place at the right time.” Avelina is the chef: “She’s the one with the taste and the flavor,” Paula says Joel retired from his previous job and works prepping and plating food Brandon and younger sister Sofia share host and server duties with Paula; Sofia’s husband the kids rarely got to be with both parents together and the word of mouth that spread through the community which just celebrated its fourth anniversary has now been around long enough to change the way its regulars look at tacos “They look forward to caramelized onion and potatoes,” Paula says from the zesty chorizo that fills tacos and tortas to the salsas and a smoky red salsa made from chipotle and arbol chiles This is very specific to what my mom did growing up,” Paula says flavorful braised beef — is a highlight of the menu It’s tucked into tortillas crisped with cheese served alongside the traditional beef consomme for dipping (In the unlikely event that you bring home leftovers when you excitedly go to heat them up the next day you will find this consomme to be so rich that it wobbles like Jell-O when cold.) I will order the birria tacos every time I come here I will also always get chips with salsa and guacamole the corn kernels clinging to each other where they were cut from the cob I’ll try to talk the table into sharing tostadas served in a blue-rimmed glass crusted in salt Pátzcuaro is the kind of place to bring kids glad to be together even if busy progresses to frenzied “It’s our home and you’re coming to our house to eat,” Paula says 398 Watertown St., Newton, 857-297-2079, www.patzcuaronewton.com Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @devrafirst. Home Delivery Gift Subscriptions Log In Manage My Account Customer Service Delivery Issues Feedback News Tips Help & FAQs Staff List Advertise Newsletters View the ePaper Order Back Issues News in Education Search the Archives Privacy Policy Terms of Service Terms of Purchase Work at Boston Globe Media Internship Program Co-op Program Do Not Sell My Personal Information Mexico has been impacted by several “environmental factors” as well as water theft '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" Lake Pátzcuaro, a jewel of Mexico loved by locals and tourists alike, is facing an alarming decline in water level — a development driven home by a video posted on YouTube last week that went viral Michoacán without a boat,” the 25-minute video exposes vast amounts of dry cracked lakebed where there used to be deep waters and lanchas taking tourists to the emblematic island of Janitzio That video and shorter versions on other social media sites have been viewed over 950,000 times combined “El Purepeche,” isn’t quite able to walk all the way to Janitzio the most famous lake in Mexico is in a deep crisis caused mainly by the theft of water,” said Serapio Cruz Guzmán president of the Janitzio Island Communal Council La crisis del agua en Michoacán se refleja en sus lagos cada vez más secos advirtiendo su extinción Y es el caso en el Lago de Pátzcuaro 🚤 #Michoacán +info click azul https://t.co/DuaptrQycT pic.twitter.com/iyHEkVwIWJ — Changoonga.com (@michangoonga) April 12, 2024 on a volcanic plateau at 2,195 meters (7,200 feet) above sea level has been ravaged by drought along with avocado and berry farmers who are said to be tapping into the lake to irrigate their crops A report last month on the Televisa news site N+ noted that Lake Pátzcuaro was at 50% of its normal level Michoacán is in dire straits: 97.3% of the state is facing severe drought conditions with 63 municipalities at the most extreme levels and state reservoirs were at only 59% of capacity as of last week experts point to water theft as a major factor in Lake Pátzcuaro’s shrinkage authorities this month began deploying dozens of uniformed civil guard officers equipped with drones and patrol vehicles to monitor the lake These efforts seem to be yielding some results with initial reports suggesting the interception of 600,000 liters of illegal water extraction daily the Interdisciplinary Committee in Defense of Lake Pátzcuaro was formed to bring together various stakeholders to tackle the crisis Their focus includes addressing the root causes of the lake’s decline such as deforestation (in order to plant more and more avocado trees) and inflowing pollution and wastewater It’s a cultural and ecological treasure that the surrounding communities renowned for their Day of the Dead traditions It is also an important habitat for various species of waterfowl and fish Nearby, Lake Cuitzeo, the second largest freshwater lake in Mexico, has lost a staggering 70% of its water Concern over Lake Pátzcuaro is not a new phenomenon. In 2020, there was a drive by four lakeside municipalities — Pátzcuaro Quiroga and Tzintzuntzan — to create a comprehensive restoration plan to reverse the lake’s pollution and below-optimal water levels protested the ongoing water shortages by washing clothing in the fountain at the city’s main square “What a shame and a pity,” one user wrote after viewing the viral video “It is a sign from Mother Nature so we can raise awareness.” Four Michoacán municipalities are working together to restore Lake Pátzcuaro to its former splendor says Pátzcuaro Mayor Víctor Manuel Báez Ceja In an interview with the newspaper El Universal Báez said that the municipalities that surround the lake – Pátzcuaro Quiroga and Tzintzuntzan – are collaborating on a comprehensive restoration plan for the body of water which is polluted and has below-optimal water levels “We don’t have the economic capacity to do the work alone that’s why our plan is to do things in a team,” the mayor said adding that the federal and state governments and environmental organizations will also contribute to the cleanup efforts .Lake Pátzcuaro can be saved and that’s why a range of joint actions are being carried out in favor of the environment He added that it is likely that the federal government’s tree-planting employment program, Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) will extend to the Lake Pátzcuaro basin in coming months The program would benefit 10,000 hectares of land and contribute to a “comprehensive recovery of the whole lake,” Báez said Asked to identify the challenges faced by authorities to restore the lake the mayor cited “excessive logging” that was carried out for several years as one of the biggest problems As a result large amounts of sediment flow into the lake when it rains adding that the body of water is not as deep as it once was because “earth trash [and] plastic bags” have all found their way into it Water lilies are also a “very big problem,” he said Turning to the specific efforts of the Pátzcuaro municipal council Báez said that a range of infrastructure projects have been completed in the last four years that benefit the health of both residents and the lake a project was carried out in the entire historic center to renovate and restore all the drains that were obsolete It was a health issue because sewage mixed with rainwater,” he said we’ve been building sewers in the entire municipality The mayor also highlighted that Pátzcuaro was the first municipality in Michoacán and the first of Mexico’s “magical towns” — as a select group of historical/cultural tourism destinations are designated — to ban single-use plastic products such as bags and straws Asked to outline the goals of the lake restoration plan the islands will have greater development and those who emigrated will want to come back.” The mayor added that a cleaner lake would allow the reintroduction of the achoque both of which are currently bred in captivity we want to share it by promoting sustainable tourism Source: El Universal (sp)  Lake Cuitzeo, the second largest freshwater lake in Mexico, is facing a dire situation after reportedly having lost a staggering 70% of its water over the past two and a half decades The alarming decrease is attributed to a combination of factors, primarily three consecutive years of low rainfall, 2023 having been particularly critical. Deforestation in the surrounding area of Michoacán, largely to make way for avocado groves and strawberry fields deputy operational director of the National Water Authority (Conagua) in the state of Michoacán emphasized that deforestation for agriculture has altered rainfall patterns the 306-square-kilometer lake reflects the ecological imbalance in the hills affecting upwards of 1,000 fishermen who represent 75% of the area’s population The lake’s drying has forced hundreds of them to seek alternative livelihoods such as masonry in the state capital of Morelia or the neighboring state of Guanajuato The loss of depth in the lake has reduced the population of fish (and other ecosystem-significant organisms) such as charales — tiny fish that are fried and eaten like french fries — leading to a significant economic downturn for those who catch it and sell it Local authorities and environmentalists are warning that urgent action is required If the extraction of water and the often illegal expansion of avocado crops are not curtailed Municipal and state representatives agree that without intervention residents are resorting to unusual protest methods due to a year-long water shortage residents of several neighborhoods gathered in the expansive Plaza Vasco de Quiroga and washed clothing in the fountain to draw attention to the crisis According to figures from Mexico’s Drought Monitor, published every two weeks by the National Meteorological Service (SMN) 46.1% of Michoacán is experiencing drought conditions rated as “extreme,” 22% as “severe,” 6.5% as “moderate” and 24.3% as “abnormally dry.” Only 1.1% of the state is considered to be “not affected” by the lack of rain This is also affecting nearby Lake Pátzcuaro where those who work in the fishing sector have begun migrating out of the area to seek employment in neighboring Jalisco or even as far away as Baja California Mayor Julio Alberto Arreola Vázquez noted that “fishing activity has decreased by up to 50%  in the last 10 years” and that the lake has lost “at least 30% of its water level” in recent years He said that experts are seeking to “reactivate” 126-square-kilometer Lake Pátzcuaro by artificially cultivating its endemic species, such as whitefish, acúmara fish and achoque — the latter of which is a salamander that can be made into cough syrup. Mexico’s largest freshwater lake, and one of the largest in North America, is Lake Chapala in Jalisco. Covering an area of approximately 1,100 square kilometers, it was featured in a 2023 report about 20 famous lakes that are going dry With reports from El Sol de México, El Sol de Zamora and La Jornada Pátzcuaro may be one of the best places in Mexico to see Day of the Dead celebrations but the Purépecha people’s heartland has great art A firework explodes directly above my head and I don’t even flinch Even a brief time in Mexico will do that to you – the omnipresence of fireworks is like having a friend who habitually cracks their knuckles When I try to find out why they started at 6am carried on throughout the day and kept me awake until midnight and say: “Somebody’s always celebrating something.” I assume Day of the Dead to be the likeliest culprit The beautifully preserved colonial town of Pátzcuaro is the beating heart of the indigenous Purépecha people and one of the best places to witness the Day of the Dead celebrations The run-up sees endless street stalls stocked with pan de muerto sweet rolls chocolate coffins and sugar skulls with icing eyebrows and glittery eye sockets and visitors are drawn here to experience Purépecha culture buy their wares and join in with their holiday traditions But outside popular holidays such as Day of the Dead and Christmas 370km west of Mexico City in the Michoacán highlands got its “magico” status owing to all that stunning colonial architecture its vibrant Purépecha artisan traditions – and dramatic scenery Templo del HospitalitoWaking up in the Sol apartment of Hotel Casa Encantada (doubles from £37) I look on to a view of misty blue-green mountains red rooftops and the dome of the town’s oldest church Casa Encantada celebrates the local area with gusto: it’s full of local folk art and there’s a traditional Catrina skeleton grinning in the courtyard year-round welcoming guests with her bony fingers upturned a set of baroque buildings named after their 11 patios jewellery and fabrics burst from every cranny of the two-storey complex and enthusiastic buyers scurry over steps and courtyards with the frustration of someone trapped in an MC Escher painting As the rain dries up, lunch at art collective Foro Cultural Café Maché beckons it’s in a colonial courtyard; the walls are covered in murals and some of the tabletops rest on car tyres rather than legs A young man with long hair is painting a skeleton in watercolours; a pair of old women drink tea Young Americans smoke in scarves and flip-flops flowing seamlessly between English and Spanish I’m served a beautifully smooth espresso and a cheesy Plaza GrandeThe town is stippled with altars Though Day of the Dead only happens once a year some keep death close by all year: the fascinating Templo de Santa Muerte is a five-minute taxi ride from the town centre and open to the public The temple is in the front garden of a family home A man in a baseball cap is lighting incense on an altar The centrepiece is a skull – also wearing a baseball cap – with a cigar dangling from its mouth Tequila shots and cigarettes have been left as offerings elaborately dressed skeleton sits by a sign The walls are covered with framed pictures of death in billowing black robes thought to deliver followers safely to the afterlife is the saint of choice for narcotraficantes (though most followers are not narcos) Many thoughts cross my mind as I stare into the inky blackness of death’s empty eye sockets “Now there’s someone who’ll keep me safe.” Yet it’s oddly peaceful to see families with young children offering cigars prayers and silent reverence – definitely as worth a visit as any neoclassical Altar at Templo de Santa MuerteThe next morning I’m the only tourist boarding the boat for a 30-minute ride to the sunny island of Janitzio from the Muelle General (general dock) on Lake Pátzcuaro Two Purépecha women sit embroidering a shawl and chatting in Tarascan and when the island’s 40ft statue of José Morelos (one of the leaders of Mexican independence) comes into view I’m the only one to bother scrambling over bags of grain packets of nappies and bunches of marigolds to snap photos Since the news of drug violence in Michoacán state Janitzio – which relies solely on tourism – has been quiet Over the next three months they’re putting in pavements gardens and public toilets in the hope of attracting more visitors As I climb the cobbled alleyways towards the island’s peak Empty restaurants with spectacular views over the lake and mountains blast out mariachi music to no one View from peak of JanitzioIf you’re a sucker for views from Janitzio’s peak they border on tear-jerking – even before I climb inside the Morelos monument (admission 40p) and up to his raised fist where you can peer out through a window dotted with the traditional fishing boats and butterfly nets that gave Michoacán its name Drink and snack stalls circle the monument with shaded areas and benches lightly graffitied with declarations of love A girl is hanging out washing on the flat roof of one of the restaurants I mean juice as in power. Pátzcuaro sits on a hillside by a lake, and as you stroll through its shady plazas and crowded markets or stand near the basilica and look down Calle Buena Vista, you can imagine it as a handy base of operations when Spaniards began to take over this area in the early 16th century. I came to amble among them because I believe in enjoying the slower, small-town Mexico while it lasts. I had heard about Pátzcuaro’s colonial atmosphere, the scenic lake and islands next door, and the string of craft villages circling the lake like a necklace. I was far from being the only tourist (Pátzcuaro has long been popular with admirers of Mexican crafts and folk art), but because there are no beaches here, and no 300-room hotels, tourism usually casts a shorter shadow. My first stop was downtown Pátzcuaro, where government offices, shops and lodgings stand shoulder to shoulder in old mansions surrounding the stately shade trees, benches and fountains of a main plaza named, yes, for Don Vasco de Quiroga. But it wasn’t an easy introduction: Booked into the Mansión Iturbe, a bed-and-breakfast in a historic building facing the plaza, I arrived in a late summer rain and was told that the hotel’s off-street parking lot was several blocks away. By the time I had clawed my way to the lot and back through the thick, wet, end-of-day downtown traffic, I had all but abandoned the idea of Pátzcuaro as a smaller, slower place. But the rain abated, the hotel proved pleasant, the traffic never got that bad again and, as long as I was staying in the city, I didn’t need to use the rental car anyway. Soon enough I was comfortably established amid the brightly colored walls and rustic furniture of my $95-a-night room, a tiny balcony just outside. It didn’t hurt that my favorite restaurant in town turned out to be a Euro-Mexican place called El Primer Piso (the First Floor), just across the plaza. Nor did I mind that the many arches of the 17th century Templo del Sagrario, my favorite piece of architecture in town, were just one block east of the plaza on Calle Portugal. During the next few days I walked a lot and found that Pátzcuaro, more than 7,000 feet above sea level and 240 miles west of Mexico City, is a good place for sweaters and umbrellas. It’s cool most of the year, with winter lows often dropping into the 40s. In the summer, highs can reach the 80s, but afternoon showers are common. The star of that mural, of course, is Don Vasco de Quiroga. Trained as a lawyer before joining the priesthood, he was in his early 60s when he reached this region in the early 1530s. Most accounts put his age at 67 when he was named bishop of Michoacán, and by all accounts his tenure was as mild and paternal as his predecessors’ had been fierce and repressive. Having read “Utopia,” Thomas More’s 1516 imagined vision of a Christian socialist island paradise somewhere on the way from Europe to the Americas, Quiroga aimed to draw on those ideas to establish a model society on the banks of Lake Pátzcuaro. He died in nearby Uruapan in 1565, at age 95, but his remains rest in the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud, Pátzcuaro’s principal church. Apart from Morelia, there are at least two notable side trips possible from Pátzcuaro. One is the drive (about an hour each way) and hike up Paricutín volcano, which in 1943 buried a town near Paracho in lava. Wherever you go in or around Pátzcuaro, you’re likely to encounter Purépechans. Along its mountains, lakes, forests and rivers, the state retains a larger indigenous population than most regions of Mexico. A recent study by the Mexican government found that of the 4 million residents in Michoacán, more than 100,000 speak an indigenous language (mostly Purépecha) besides Spanish. The visit was redeemed by an entertaining folk dance performance by the tip-seeking children in front. But I found the shopping more interesting in El Santuario, at 29 Plaza Vasco de Quiroga, where the walls were crowded with tinwork and colorful religious tokens. Along the same lines, I should mention Janitzio Island, which is the site of one of Mexico’s most celebrated Day of the Dead observances. Each year on Nov. 1, islanders and their neighbors take to their boats to enact a candlelight ritual, the flames reflected in the water, the boats laden with flowers, the boaters chanting. Sounds wonderful. But on my visit, Janitzio seemed to function principally as a tourism machine. From a distance, it could be More’s Utopia: a handsome little island, its slopes peppered with homes and shops, its crest topped by a towering statue commemorating a revolutionary hero (“vast and unsuitable,” in the words of my Blue Guide). The islanders are said to be talented fishermen, and they do turn up in handsome skiffs with butterfly nets as tourist boats approach, and then they draw near to collect tips. There are several smaller populated islands in the lake, including Yunuén and Pacanda, some with restaurants and lodgings. Next time I’ll leave myself time to try one of them. On other strolls in Pátzcuaro, I circled the tiny Plazuela de San Francisco, where Purépecha merchants assemble on Fridays to sell pottery and other goods, and lingered at the Plazuela de la Basílica, on the high ground outside the basilica. There, too, merchants often turn up with snacks and religious items for sale. The attraction that caught my eye was across the street from the basilica: the Hotel Posada La Basílica, a charming building with a dozen rooms and rates (under $80 for a double room) less than I was paying. I scrutinized the place so thoroughly from the sidewalk that a pair of fellow American tourists invited me in, where I saw a pleasant room and a restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch. Then, on a landing that looks out over the city as it slopes toward the lake, we saw a tiny cat tiptoeing across a roof-scape of red tiles. And I thought: Here. Here is that smaller, slower Mexico. Christopher Reynolds, a former Travel section writer, is now on the Calendar staff. Born and raised in California, Christopher Reynolds has written about travel, the outdoors, arts and culture for the Los Angeles Times since 1990. California Travel & Experiences Lifestyle Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map Latest UpdatesCountries Why Join?IL MagazineFree Daily E-LetterVideoOur ExpertsTestimonialsFAQsTopics fulfilling her dream of discovering new places When I first visited the central Mexican highlands town of Patzcuaro, I came to understand what draws expats to the area it’s mild enough that you’ll want warm clothes Patzcuaro is large enough to have most of what you need but small enough that you’ll know your neighbors—and more opportunities for fine dining and healthcare are only an hour’s drive away in Michoacán’s capital city who moved to the Patzcuaro area in 2008 to satisfy her bird-watching hobby "I am a serious birder who leads visiting birders and I provide financial support to Mexicans to advance their birding skills." Georgia says that she has always enjoyed traveling Her job as a public health administrator has enabled her to live in far-flung places that ranged from Turkey to above the Arctic Circle in Alaska where she worked for 20 years before moving to Seattle My husband at the time and I came here since we had friends who lived in Morelia," Georgia says "We were looking for a place with birds and someone in Patzcuaro suggested we get together with a local resident who had done guided walks behind what became my current house We parked near a broken down cabin with a yard full of weeds but it was just a field away from Lake Patzcuaro "We had made a list of what was important to us It was near enough to a major airport and not so far from the U.S which has every store that you can imagine We decided that this would be the location of our main house "The property wasn’t listed," Georgia says, "so we contacted the owner, who drove out from Mexico City to meet us We made a big down payment into his account it was ours—no lawyers or professionals involved "No one had an architect or an engineer back then; those types of businesses didn’t exist here in 2006," Georgia says we penciled out a drawing and hired someone to build it the way we wanted it two-story home with a big patio to take advantage of the view of the lake I have a water fountain for the birds and three hummingbird feeders I also have a fully furnished casita on the property that I use for guests or that I could rent out The house is near the edge of Lake Patzcuaro on the outskirts of the small village of Arocutin "I’m far enough from the village that I don’t get any noise from there not even during the festivals that the town puts on."Expats here are connected to the local community.Patzcuaro has a small and nearly all the expats in Patzcuaro speak English," Georgia says "Patzcuaro’s expat community is different from other communities People here are more connected to the Mexican community than in other expat havens." When she gets the urge to leave her nest by the lake and venture further afield she has several destinations to choose from I’ll sometimes visit one of the many hot springs in this area Morelia is a beautiful city with a lot of history and some great restaurants," she says "I’ll go there once or twice every month for shopping I’ll go to the clinic in Patzcuaro," she says "but I go to Morelia for anything serious." "I’m spending less than $1,500 per month and I live a good life it usually doesn’t mean spending a lot of money I don’t stay at budget hotels but I’m not at the top-end resorts How to Move to Mexico - Complete Guide Six Pueblos Mágicos Where You Could Happily Retire Is it Safe to Travel in Mexico? Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More VILLA MADERO, Mexico (AP) — As a drought in Mexico drags on angry subsistence farmers have begun taking direct action on thirsty avocado orchards and berry fields of commercial farms that are drying up streams in the mountains west of Mexico City Rivers and even whole lakes are disappearing in the once green and lush state of Michoacan, as the drought combines with a surge in the use of water for the country’s lucrative export crops, lead by avocados. subsistence farmers and activists from the Michoacan town of Villa Madero organized teams to go into the mountains and rip out illegal water pumps and breach unlicensed irrigation holding ponds A potential conflict looms with avocado growers — who are often sponsored by farmworkers and small-scale farmers from Villa Madero hiked up into the hills to tear out irrigation equipment using mountain springs to water avocado orchards carved out of the pine-covered hills another group went up with picks and shovels and breached the walls of an illegal containment pond that sucked up water from a spring that had supplied local residents for hundreds of years the rivers have been drying up and the water has been captured mainly to be used for avocados and berries,” said local activist Julio Santoyo “There are hamlets in the lower part of the township that no longer have water.” Santoyo estimated that about 850 of the plastic-lined earthen containment ponds have sprung up in the hills around Villa Madero usually soon after planters have illegally logged or burned the native pine forest Francisco Gómez Cortés said residents of his hamlet had been asking the landowner for 15 years to allow the spring to flow downhill to their community After a year in which Mexico received only about half its normal rainfall, residents became desperate and last week they worked up the courage to hike up the hill and rip out pumps and hoses for the avocado orchard “We don't have enough water for human consumption,” Gómez Cortés said It’s sad to walk down these trails that are now dry when they once had trees and springs,” he said “They haven’t even left any water for the (forest) animals that nest along the banks.” In a sign of how seriously the local government is taking the potential threat the group was accompanied by the mayor of Villa Madero “There are people who aren't from this town who come to our township and are invading us,” Mayor Froylan Alcauter Ibarra said “They are taking water away from the people who live downhill and they don't realize these are the poorest people.” Residents say they don't want to deny water entirely to the orchards and have proposed an agreement to give landowners 20% of the water from local streams if they allow the remaining 80% to keep flowing They say they haven't gotten any response yet Drug cartels often make money from illegal logging and extorting money from avocado growers in Michoacan The activists around Villa Madero have suffered threats “We are running a serious risk of them killing us for protesting,” Gómez Cortés said we are doing what the government should be doing.” The government has long done little to limit the growers and combat deforestation and water takeovers But it does seem to have developed a sudden interest in preventing the looming conflict activists organized a meeting nearby at Patzcuaro Lake to demand authorities do something about the fast-declining water levels Patzcuaro is a shallow but extensive lake in Michoacan with a beautiful colonial town on its shores and an island of fishermen perched in the middle The fishermen of Janitzio island with their shallow boats and hooped figure-eight nets were made famous by photographers and filmmakers in the 1940s and 50s as a symbol of Mexico's folk traditions The town of Patzcuaro draws hundreds of thousands of tourists sediment buildup and the increased water demands from avocado and berry growers Patzcuaro lake has been reduced to about half its size You can now reach the Janitzio island by wading and activist Juan Manuel Valenzuela estimates that 90% of the boats that used to fish and ferry tourists around are now out of service one of the largest freshwater lakes in Mexico “We cannot allow them to extinguish our lakes,” Valenzuela said acknowledges that the problem has gotten out of hand So scarce has water become in the once-lushly forested lake areas that orchard owners often send tanker trucks to suck thousands of gallons from the lake to water their groves “As many as 100 trucks could be seen taking water from the lake,” Méndez said of the situation in March the state police began patrolling the lake shore and detaining any truck drivers they saw extracting water And Méndez said the state has begun monitoring agricultural holding ponds to see if any are getting refilled from the lake While Lake Patzcuaro has grown and shrunk in the past this time it may be terminal; farmers are starting to pasture livestock and plant crops on the lake bed because the humans and the livestock will survive but the animals and the plants will be gone — that will all be dried up and gone,” Gómez Cortés said AP writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america rewritten or redistributed without permission Authorities in Michoacán are expecting over 300,000 tourists to flock to the state for this year’s Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday on November 1 and 2 Uruapan and the Lake Páztcuaro islands of Janitzio and Yunuén are among the destinations expecting an influx of domestic and foreign tourists In addition to elaborate ofrendas (alters or offerings) in cemeteries and other locations, those destinations have other Day of the Dead attractions such as catrina parades featuring women painted as skeletons and Pirekua (an indigenous Purépecha song form) performances Michoacán Tourism Minister Roberto Monroy told a press conference that the annual Day of the Dead celebration is an important economic event for the state given the large number of tourists who arrive He predicted this year’s holiday will generate 250 million pesos (US $12.4 million) in revenue for local businesses “We support the Purépecha communities and municipalities with 4.5 million pesos [US $223,000] so that they can buy the necessary articles to carry out the celebration,” he said adding that the state government also helps coordinate events in different locations Monroy said that the 2017 animated film Coco spurred international interest in Michoacán’s Day of the Dead celebrations with visitors from countries such as Japan France and Colombia traveling to the state for the holiday in recent years “Coco is a gift from Disney for Mexico,” he said The tourism minister also said that the Day of the Dead experience in Michoacán is unlike that in any other part of the country Pátzcuaro Mayor Julio Arreola said the celebration in the state is “magical and mystical” and noted that many hotels are already booked out Mexico’s Day of the Dead tradition is recognized as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by the United Nations Educational “As practiced by the indigenous communities of Mexico, el Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) commemorates the transitory return to Earth of deceased relatives and loved ones,” the UN agency says on its website “… Families facilitate the return of the souls to Earth by laying flower petals candles and offerings along the path leading from the cemetery to their homes … The Day of the Dead celebration holds great significance in the life of Mexico’s indigenous communities The fusion of pre-Hispanic religious rites and Catholic feasts brings together two universes the other by worldviews introduced by the Europeans in the 16th century.” With reports from Milenio and Imagen Radio  Indigenous villagers living alongside Zirahuén lake in the western state of Michoacán dismantled illegal pumping equipment this week that was siphoning water from the lake to irrigate nearby avocado farms After a Supreme Indigenous Council meeting of the local Purépecha community authorizing action, female members from the lakeside town of Zirahuén on Monday dismantled and destroyed four pumps and hoses siphoning water from the lake apparently for use by nearby avocado orchards the Naval Ministry (SEMAR) was tasked with protecting and rescuing the emblematic Lake Pátzcuaro about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) to the northeast which had also been targeted by water thieves The clandestine water theft operation at Zirahuén lake was detected more than a week ago via satellite surveillance carried out by the Forest Protection Agency (Guardian Forestal) according to the newspaper La Voz de Michoacán The agency — an arm of the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) — uses satellite imagery to fight illegal logging local Michoacán and federal authorities had established a joint operation to halt illegal pumping from Lake Pátzcuaro but the huachicoleros (the slang Mexican Spanish term for criminals who illegally siphon oil or water) simply moved their enterprise to Zirahuén lake When authorities failed to react quickly to reports of illicit pumping at Zirahuén lake the indigenous Purépecha communities that live around the lake took matters into their own hands the Supreme Indigenous Council issued a statement defending their decision and decrying the inaction of authorities declaring that they “are still waiting for support from the police to put a stop to the theft of water from the lake.” Purépecha communities in both Zirahuén and Pátzcuaro have long complained about the illegal activities of avocado farmers community members told the newspaper El Financiero the lakes suffer tremendously from the illegal siphoning Zirahuén residents have also been raising concerns for years that avocado farmers situated in the mountains surrounding Zirahuén lake are also responsible for polluting the lake with farming chemicals applied to avocado crops chemical residue is carried down the mountain and ends up in the lake Concerned residents of lakeside communities that depend on the waters for their livelihood have watched the level of Zirahuén lake drop 3 meters in water depth due to drought and huachicoleo (water theft) The local fishermen’s union has implemented conservation measures to preserve the lake and the surrounding flora and fauna fighting to prohibit motorized crafts from being used on the lake according to the news agency Quadratín Michoacán Community leaders also worry that the diminishing water level will negatively impact tourism also a concern for residents of cities beyond the immediate vicinity of the lake restaurateurs and tourism operators who rely on Zirahuén lake live in the city of Salvador Escalante which is 15 kilometers (9 miles) to the east and Zirahuén’s municipal seat Meanwhile, Semarnat personnel have begun dredging operations at the endangered Lake Pátzcuaro as part of its recuperation efforts Semarnat took steps to protect more than 33,000 hectares of land in the Pátzcuaro Valley by designating it a Natural Protected Area The preservation of this land — including a reforestation project — would benefit the lake as it would serve as a recharge zone and would reduce soil erosion that chokes the lake Another Michoacán lake just north of Zirahuén — Cuitzeo lake — is also dying out. A February report indicated that it has lost 70% of its water over the past 25 years Inflated enchilada prices have inflamed local authorities in the Michoacán city of Pátzcuaro A tourist took to social media last weekend to denounce what he felt was an outrageous price for enchiladas They were being sold for 200 pesos per order noting that they had been sold without chicken The complaint got the attention of local authorities in Pátzcuaro where Mayor Julio Arreola said his administration would take an inventory of all of the city’s food stalls in order to keep such an incident from happening again He assured visitors that there were many delicious and affordable places to eat in town and asked that they not let the egregious prices of a single stand diminish the city’s charm State Tourism Secretary Roberto Monroy also weighed in saying the federal consumer protection agency Profeco would be called in to investigate “We cannot permit this kind of excess we have to make prices uniform and visible that prices are public and there are no surprises,” Monroy said The first complaint sparked several others on social media where customers of that stand and others accused their operators of gouging and operating under poor sanitary conditions The stand in question is located in the Gertrudis Bocanegra Plaza where various food stalls set up to sell to tourists and locals alike Pátzcuaro officials emphasized that the situation reflected poorly on the city as a Pueblo Mágico or Magical Town a special designation by the federal government given to towns in Mexico with particular historical or cultural value Authorities said on social media that people should continue to speak up if they have similar experiences With reports from Agencia Informativo de México and El Sol de Morelia Woman Architect of the Year 2017 Gabriela Carrillo’s criminal courts reflect calls for transparency in the Mexican judicial system  the Mexican judicial system has seemed to be in a permanent crisis This might appear an excessive remark but justice in Mexico can be an incomprehensible bureaucratic labyrinth A nasty trial could be anybody’s worst nightmare every judicial process had to be carried out in a written form An ordinary scene in a criminal court could pan out something like this: a closed dark space with two desks two typewriters and two bureaucrats wearing brown suit an opening in the wall with metal bars where the accused appears appear ready to declare with the pomposity that the occasion deserves Every phrase they say is typed by the bureaucrats the judge will examine the document and when he has an opinion he will recall the defendant however many times necessary for him to reach a verdict one of those incomprehensible Mexican laws is the one where a suspect can be detained in jail until his innocence is proved; then we are deep into a nightmare of any autocratic regime invented by Kafka or Arno Schmidt to be complied with by every criminal court in the country by 2017 proposing that all trials are carried out in oral communication and are open to the general public This is intended to make justice far quicker and more transparent the new system has been introduced in different Mexican states This transition involves not only modifying existing laws and people’s habits but also the spaces where all the trials take place ‘The challenge was to create spaces that could be used for trials in the traditional way and transform those same spaces into new oral judgment court’ the architects of TALLER | Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo were renovating a pair of historic buildings in the city of Morelia where the new Mariano Matamoros Theater was to be housed This kind of intervention is an example of a concern that has always been at the centre of Carrillo and Rocha’s work How to find a balance between the language of extant architecture and contemporary architectural expressions How to insert a new building in the historic layers of an urban core without destroying them while simultaneously making an impact Perhaps their most successful intervention in this regard is the Academic and Cultural Center San Pablo in Oaxaca where they transformed a colonial convent into a cultural institution which is today one of the main references in the life of the city The strategy in both interventions is pretty much the same and the plastic strength of contemporary materials that confront the past in a sympathetic way The Matamoros Theater caught the attention of the attorney general of the state of Michoacán who was really interested in achieving spatially the same spirit of the transition that he expected to get in the judicial system so he invited the architects to propose solutions for different criminal courts throughout the state The first design experiments were carried out in the cities of Charo and Uruapan The challenge was to create spaces that could be used for trials in the traditional way and transform those same spaces into new oral judgment courts The logical answer was to design flexible spaces The ideas shown in these first two courts inspired the authorities to consider Carrillo and Rocha for the competition for the design of the building of the oral judgment courts in Pátzcuaro This building was meant to be the first to take into account the new oral judgment trials as a design premise Pátzcuaro is a town on the southern shore of the lake of the same name The criminal courts are not in either of these two sections; they are on the eastern outskirts near a main highway surrounded by a more rural context along the slope of some small hills This mild slope was the starting point for the organisation of the architectural plan and section where a series of rectangular buildings are terraced according to the existing topography the conceptual focus of the project comes from another idea as Carrillo says: ‘The main problem we had to cope with in this building was to find a way to comply with very strict security rules while at the same time proposing an idea of space that would give everyone a feeling of freedom and transparency We needed barriers but also a sense of aperture We decided then to deal with the project as a walled city where the wall could be understood more as a limit and the inner spaces could be experienced as an open town.’ So with heights that vary between 5 and 8 metres Carrillo and Rocha usually like to arrange all the pieces of a project in an orthogonal ordered modulation The stone oval surrounds an arrangement of transversal strips alternately composed by voids or buildings Most of the built rectangular strips are brick constructions with sloped tiled roofs that respond to the climatic conditions of a region where rain is abundant The voids are the gardens overlooked by the buildings The public access is in the central section of the ellipse; people enter discreetly by a crack in the wall where they directly meet the main part of the building the two trial courts; two symmetrical wooden boxes abstract reminiscences of the traditional houses of the region On the inside they are efficient sounding boards both boxes – separated by the main garden – form an almost metaphysical scene contains the waiting rooms for the accused prisoners The prisoners also have a direct hallway taking them to the courts The contiguous building strip incorporates the judges’ offices again with their own independent corridors ‘We wanted to be able to see through the whole building letting light produce a playful game of shadows and reflections’ Two fundamental things Carrillo and Rocha have learned from the work of Louis Kahn are the use of geometric order and the creation of particular atmospheres by natural light control the alternate disposition of volumes and voids is the clue for synthesising both premises The security control conditions required by the programme demanded the use of different corridors for different users judges and prisoners have different trajectories and specific spaces that converge in the trial courts The architects’ strategy of dividing the programme into three different zones allowed the simplification of the routes creating a rational geometric order in the building This same strategy works for creating the light atmosphere Glass facades and brick lattices achieve a constant visual transparency in all spaces letting light produce a playful game of shadows and reflections in the different materials and emphasising in a subtle way the transitions between spaces’ These reflections are the ones that give a particular quality to the luminosity of the spaces Somehow you feel that you are always walking through a light filter with a permanent notion of the passing of time during the day A contrast is created with the gloomy feeling of the stone corridor that goes along the perimeter which receives its light from small upper windows and from a series of cracks that break up the stone wall allowing tiny fragments of the exterior world to come into view Another level of understanding this project sloped roofs and the reinterpretation of local houses the most powerful element of the building is the surrounding stoned wall From the inside it is never perceived as an oppressive barrier and from the outside it acquires a strong presence in the landscape in which it is inserted It is impossible not to notice the influence of Mesoamerican architecture in this gesture; an emphatic statement anchored to the site topography that is the way in which this building can be understood That is also the way to understand the archaeological site of Las Yácatas of Tzintzuntzan on the Lake Pátzcuaro shore The ruins that are visible today show us a ceremonial centre built upon a hillside with stunning lake views where a platform was created and on top of it a series of rectangular and elliptical buildings adapted to the topography And as you stroll along the inside platform there are small divisions between buildings – pauses that let you take a peek the lake appearing as in a monumental crack Trying to understand this strong influence it will be interesting to see the constructed result of the competition-winning proposal by Carrillo and Rocha the renovation and extension of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City that stone monolith designed by Diego Rivera and constructed by Juan O’Gorman in the mid-20th century A neo-Pre-Hispanic manifesto removed from any notion of modernity the architects have affirmed their usual dictum: to aim for order and to keep the virtue of knowing how to be discreet without going unnoticed The original project for Pátzcuaro Courts included a landscape proposal by Hugo Sánchez and Tonatiuh Martínez of Entorno Taller de Paisaje Lush endemic vegetation covered all of the open spaces between buildings so they could be understood not as simple transitions but as gardens with an autonomous life This should have affirmed another of Carrillo’s interests we have tried to start designing our projects from the voids letting these be the ones that set the tone for the rest of the ensemble’ The intention was to create out of this small interior world a tiny paradise where buildings can become translucent pavilions open to nature It is a pity that the original gardens couldn’t be carried out Now we can only see simple grass platforms the sensitivity of the justice department bureaucrats wasn’t enough; they thought it an unnecessary expense with lots of maintenance costs Mexican justice little by little tries to be more efficient but is still far from being poetic ‘The most important thing for us is the change that a space can bring about in human relationships’ But perhaps the most important thing about this work is that it underlined a change that has to be approached from many aspects Carrillo and Rocha had the privilege of translating this transition into architecture the tectonic interpretation of a certain kind of justice As Carrillo mentions: ‘The most important thing for us is the change that a space can bring about in human relationships Our first attempts at designing the projects in Charo and Uruapan had plenty of mistakes because we didn’t understand all of the human interactions that were happening there; in Pátzcuaro I think we understood them a little better so we proposed a clear and straightforward solution and nowadays the space is working relatively well’ It is difficult to work with the justice system in Michoacán a state where there has been a drug-trafficking war for more than 10 years with no end in sight and the very idea of a criminal court leads the imagination down the most obscure paths Architecture must teach that no matter how violent a situation is it is possible to solve the oxymoron of generating open and clear spaces where security and control can be maintained not only thinking of them as a spatial problem Justice or violence are not limits but dialogue opportunities the criminal courts for oral judgment in Pátzcuaro close a cycle of works for Carrillo and Rocha; however the learning cycle of trial courts poses a question that could be addressed in other projects under different circumstances How to intervene ethically in public buildings How to manifest personal or collective political principles in architecture not with a theoretical discourse but using the tectonic language itself Architect: TALLER | Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo This article is from the March 2017 issue of The Architectural Review – click here to buy a copy Tags The project prioritised reuse and upcycling using low-carbon and natural materials including… Working with local architecture studio dílna London and central Europe-based Chybik +… Harp & Harp has completed a seven-home scheme in Croydon Pollard Thomas Edwards has created a landmark… Lake Pátzcuaro salamanders spend their entire lives in the water - without undergoing the typical amphibian metamorphosis from larva to adult salamander.  They retain their larval characteristics throughout adulthood – a phenomenon known as neoteny – reaching sexual maturity in the late larval stage Adult Lake Pátzcuaro salamanders have developed legs Visitors can admire seven of these rare salamanders at Hellabrunn Zoo The peculiar-looking salamanders retain the appearance of a larva throughout their adult life Two larval features retained are particularly striking: a strong laterally flattened tail and large external gills Lake Pátzcuaro salamanders can also breathe through their lungs and skin The Lake Pátzcuaro salamander is listed as critically endangered its natural habitat is now threatened by pollution the tips of the toes on the front and rare legs are rather dark and may even occur completely black The external gills are easy to spot thanks to their reddish-brown colour Lake Pátzcuaro salamanders are called "eternal infants" due to their appearance While they retain some typical larval characteristics such as external gills swimming tail and regenerative ability of the legs the rest of the body undergoes metamorphosis as it grows up as well as oral epithelium and teeth continue to develop has been observing the seven salamanders since their arrival and discussed their progress with the keepers: “All the animals are doing very well They have quickly settled into their new home and despite their small size have a very big appetite Our visitors will be thrilled to discover that they resemble the well-known axolotl The nuns at a convent by the high-altitude lake have been caring for Lake Pátzcuaro salamanders the Mexican nuns noticed that the amphibians was launched and now maintains a breeding station for the highly endangered Lake Pátzcuaro salamanders is pleased with the international measures implemented to save the species: "Studies in 2000 and 2010 show that there are no longer any free-ranging salamanders in Lake Pátzcuaro We are therefore delighted to have the opportunity to participate in the Citizen Conservation breeding programme this initiative contributes to the conservation of endangered species.” +49(0)8962508-0 (weekdays Mo-Fr from 10 a.m tierpark@hellabrunn.de Contact us To provide you with the best possible browsing experience on our website we use cookies and tracking methods on our site Mexico – Does anyone know where I can get a couple of bushels of marigold blossoms at the end of October For all the color and pageantry of Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations it’s the piercing pungency of marigolds that brings me back to my journey to Pátzcuaro Their scent wafted through the mountain air when I arrived in the sprawling Michoacán town of 80,000 souls last October Almost too famous for its Day of the Dead celebrations Pátzcuaro has become the go-to destination for travelers from throughout Mexico and the Americas seeking something more meaningful than candy and tacky Halloween costumes as October slides into November and — to be honest — my love of rural Mexican food but my brush with the Mexican way of death would make Pátzcuaro much more than another checkmark on my travel bucket list fully expecting a subdued ceremonial scene A huge arts and crafts market filled the center while open-air restaurants squatted around the edges Under the arcades of the handsome colonial buildings musicians serenaded diners enjoying plates of enchiladas and steak a la plancha Stall after stall was piled high with elaborately decorated sugar skulls that attracted bees and little children in equal measure Women of all ages sat patiently to have their faces painted as Catrinas The most famous of the satirical skeletal figures created by printmaker José Guadalupe Posada in the early 20th century the Calavera Catrina has become the de facto face of Mexico’s Day of the Dead remembrances a group of teenagers was gravely constructing a towering altar to the departed This somber moment amid all the bustle hinted at the deeper level of emotion underlying the bravado of Catrina makeup I felt like I had tumbled into the screenplay for Disney’s “Coco,” complete with competing tinny strains of mariachi music farmers began to arrive from the countryside with sheaves of marigolds overflowing from the backs of their pickup trucks or tied to the tops of their cars orange petals carpeted the edges of Plaza Grande I followed families carrying armloads of marigolds into the cemetery where the peace of the dead was interrupted by the industriousness of the living People scrubbed their family grave plots with brushes before scattering marigold petals and leaving vases of gladiolas I was hesitant to approach the family groups until one woman paused in her work and smiled at me (In this largely indigenous corner of Mexico my blue eyes and henna hair signaled that I was just visiting.) She and her children were tending the graves of her grandparents and soon she was telling me stories about her loved ones I asked her if the Day of the Dead ceremonies made her feel sad She hesitated only a moment before replying that no In the presence of her departed family members another woman paused at the graves of several family members She gestured skyward with a glance and explained that her lost child was always in her heart not to have lost a loved one in a long time but I was no stranger to the raw ache of grief The woman’s determination to speak of her loss with acceptance rather than sorrow seemed to me uncommonly brave Clearly I had a lot to learn from the Mexicans so I left the cemetery quickly before I spoiled the mood of the day Visiting with the dead was clearly a reminder to live while you can and take pleasure in the company of family and friends A printed program listed all the activities I had read about in glossy magazine articles They promised parades and folkloric dances only a handful materialized on time or at the scheduled place As tourists groused about missing their photo ops Mexicans continued to eat and talk and shop and flirt and laugh and just thoroughly enjoy life I thought about taking a ferry across Lake Pátzcuaro to the island of Janitzio where local people carry lit candles through the narrow streets to the cemetery while visitors jostle to join the procession But I was discouraged by the hours-long wait for the ferry and the prospect that the little island might sink under the excess weight of all that humanity I settled into a pew in the basilica of Nuestra Señora de Salud where the Michoacán Symphony Orchestra and a full choir performed Mozart’s Requiem closing out the day with an uplifting air of formal solemnity and I walked right on board for the half-hour crossing The trip is worth making at any time — the steep island surrounded by mountains seemed to emerge from low-lying mist as the ferry approached they performed a graceful choreography as they raised their nets in unison and dipped them into the lake After everyone aboard the ferry had snapped plenty of photos a couple of fishermen paddled over to collect our tips but eateries with tempting displays of food at each doorway line the street I have seen some pretty cemeteries in my day but nothing quite prepared me for Janitzio’s municipal cemetery Graves covered with flowers and offerings of food and drink gave it a magnificent I chatted with a mother and daughter from Peru as we lingered over framed photos of the dead filling the air with the mingled aromas of burning wax and sharp marigolds I couldn’t resist buying a bouquet of marigolds from an older couple standing on a street corner with a small heap of bedraggled flowers The man clasped my hand as if I were his first-ever customer That small heartfelt blessing has stayed with me a reminder that the real purpose of travel is to gain a new perspective Mexico and its kind people gave that to me I found myself thinking more and more about the Day of the Dead My Irish-American mother would have found the festivities to be utterly alien but she would have admired the quiet strength and determination of those women in the graveyard in Pátzcuaro They showed me that it was possible to accept death with grace and continue to live with joy about those marigolds for the end of October — I’m going to need them to blanket my mother’s grave (011) 52-434-342-1037, hotelesmision.com.mx/en/ Patricia Harris can be reached at harrislyon@gmail.com. But in some smaller villages around the lakeshore non-tourist flavor of traditions passed down for hundreds of years While kids in Mexico City donned Halloween-style costumes based on the Netflix series "Squid Game," people in the village of Arocutín were more concerned with the flower arrangements and candles meant to guide the spirits of the dead home Residents of Arocutín started hanging up traditional garlands of marigold flowers early morning Sunday to adorn the entrance of the small local cemetery Arocutín remains a holdout: It is the only town in the region where the cemetery lies in the churchyard and where all the tombs are dug directly into the earth rather than the more elaborate cement and brick vaults used elsewhere While the island of Janitzio in Lake Patzcuaro is the site best known for colorful Day of the Dead celebrations the tiny island remains closed to visitors to avoid crowding That raised concerns that tourists might flock to smaller villages nearby The only American in Arocutín Monday was Georgia Conti she decided to move to Arocutín precisely because of its beauty and traditions When she was building her house with her late husband they found bones that were believed to be those of a soldier killed in 1915 during the Mexican Revolution The Day of the Dead originated in Indigenous cultures and has been celebrated for thousands of years but tourists started arriving in Arocutín only in 2002 Residents are open to sharing their costumes "We don't celebrate Halloween here Our culture is rich enough here in Michoacán and Mexico," Ascencio said while preparing marigold garlands Preparations for the Day of the Dead start on the 31st with residents adorning the tombs with marigold arches and candles That is the night Mexicans celebrate their deceased children while the night from the 1st to the 2nd is dedicated to the adult dead Arocutín is one of the few communities where a church bell rings to call the souls and guide them back to the land of the living This is also one of the few communities where people stay up all night offering food and presents to the deceased Elizabeth Ascencio lost her newborn 20 years ago and every year comes to adorn the small stone tomb with marigold petals to guarantee his return for the night "We try very hard to welcome our dead." Every year,the town erects a big decorated arch at the entrance to the cemetery this is the door through which the dead enter the only force that allows residents to lift the tree trunks that form the arch are the souls of the children who respond to the sound of the bells and come to help Bunches of Mexican marigolds adorn another monumental wooden arch that lies on the floor of another small cemetery not far from Arocutín A group of residents patiently tie the flowers to the tree trunks while others rest or enjoy a taco under the sun a construction worker and a resident of the neighboring town of San Francisco Uricho learned how to make the flower arch from his elders our arch is much more beautiful than the one in Arocutín," Sánchez said is a traditional embroidery artisan who has lived in Arocutín her entire life "We've always done it this way," said Ermenegildo while finishing the last marigold garlands ahead of the big night "No other village can decorate and celebrate the way we do We feel very proud every time tourists tell us how beautiful everything is." It's a story of scientists from a zoo working with nuns in Mexico to save a rare breed of amphibian The Sisters of Immaculate Health rarely venture out of their monastery in the central Mexican town of Patzcuaro however the group has become the most successful breeders of a rare form of salamander And they have now teamed up with conservationists from Chester Zoo to develop a breeding programme is home to six breeding pairs of the salamander with a further 30 adults at the Michoacana University of Mexico and at a Mexican government fisheries centre This forms part of an unusual collaborative long-term plan to re-introduce the animals back into the wild Salamanders once thrived in Lake Pátzcuaro but are now listed as critically endangered due to water pollution which is able to regenerate body parts including its brain is of great importance to the locals who have lived alongside it for hundreds of years The latest research has led to fears that fewer than 100 axolotl may remain Gerardo Garcia is the zoo’s Curator of Lower Vertebrates and Invertebrates He said: “The Lake Pátzcuaro salamander is a very unusual species that is now perilously close to the edge of existence and requires immediate action if we are to establish more numbers and save them “After visiting Mexico in 2014 we had the unique opportunity to meet the nuns who are keeping the species in their monastery and we now believe that the population they are looking after is one of the most genetically viable populations in the world Poor water pollution from surrounding towns and villages has led to the animals becoming endangered Researches said that by 2025 the species is expected to be extinct if nothing is done Gerardo added: “The nuns deserve enormous credit in keeping this species alive a European network of zoos and the University of Michoacana in Mexico we are fighting to breed a thriving population for eventual reintroduction back into the wild." The animals are often harvested for medicinal purposes as locals have a belief that they are a cure for respiratory problems and anaemia • Al intervenirse la cubierta del presbiterio salieron a la luz imágenes religiosas del siglo XVI las cuales fueron repintadas en dos ocasiones para su realce se eliminaron los repintes de color blanco y azul con que esta ornamentación quedó tapada en la década de 1940 Boletín 774 las imágenes de santas y santos mártires que custodian el presbiterio del Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción en la localidad michoacana de Santa María Huiramangaro han visto de nuevo la luz gracias a un equipo de profesionales en restauración y conservación del patrimonio cultural quienes develaron una ornamentación con cuatro siglos de historia La culminación del rescate pictórico de la cubierta de la parroquia deriva de la colaboración entre la Secretaría de Cultura del Gobierno de México a través del Fondo de Apoyo a Comunidades para la Restauración de Monumentos y Bienes Artísticos y del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) La perito-restaurador del Centro INAH Michoacán y supervisora de los trabajos explicó que “este proyecto permitió recuperar una obra extraordinaria en la cubierta horizontal del altar mayor técnica e iconográfica que ha marcado a este recinto religioso” La intervención reveló una rica y colorida iconografía con tres capas pictóricas superpuestas corresponde a la creación del conjunto de imágenes que representan las figuras de los santos Pedro y Pablo las santas Catalina de Alejandría y Águeda de Catania con Jesús niño portando el hábito franciscano pone de ejemplo la vida de aquellos primeros hombres y mujeres que se convirtieron al cristianismo y que La especialista abunda que estos personajes que coronan el presbiterio del Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción conforman una hagiografía (historia de la vida de los santos) pocas veces vista en Michoacán cuando se privilegiaron temas relacionados con la Virgen María Su restauración, dice, forma parte de una iniciativa mayor para proteger y rehabilitar los bienes patrimoniales resguardados en esta iglesia, como lo fue un par de retablos de estilo plateresco Lelo de Larrea comenta que similar a lo ocurrido en estos retablos durante la intervención de la cubierta horizontal se observó que esta fue objeto de una remodelación durante los años 40 del siglo XX cuando se le aplicó un repinte general de pintura blanca “una redecoración que provocó la alteración de la fisonomía del lugar” las restauradoras a cargo de la intervención Joselia Cedeño Paredes y Gabriela Fernanda Contreras González constataron la existencia de tres capas pictóricas distintas La mencionada capa del siglo XVI es una pintura al temple con la que se trazó a los personajes que fueron pintados con delgadas veladuras visibles en las aureolas y paisajes de fondo se utilizaron pinturas acrílicas para retocar las encarnaciones y los rostros de las figuras que habían sido parcialmente borrados en años anteriores Al respetar en gran medida el boceto inicial del siglo XVI estos repintes tuvieron como intención primordial embellecer la ornamentación del presbiterio Joselia Cedeño y Gabriela Contreras refieren que la atención de los tablones y molduras de la cubierta implicó diversas acciones: limpieza de polvo y deyecciones de aves consolidación de galerías con cola de conejo así como reintegración cromática con pinturas al barniz en faltantes de la capa pictórica elementos que conforman el arranque de la techumbre exterior del templo Estos resultados representan un avance significativo en la recuperación del ajuar religioso del Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción; no obstante el siguiente desafío será la intervención del retablo colateral faltante al cual seguiría la correspondiente a la cubierta horizontal de la nave del templo donde la policromía virreinal permanece oculta Facebook: @INAHmx X Corp: @INAHmx Instagram: @inahmx YouTube: INAH TV TikTok: @inahmx Sitio web: inah.gob.mx Beatriz Quintanar HinojosaCoordinadora Nacional de Difusión Gabriel Ulises Leyva RendónDirector de Medios de Comunicación Coordinación Nacional de Difusión - Dirección de Medios de Comunicación - INAH - ALGUNOS DERECHOS RESERVADOS © 2025 Teléfonos: (55) 4166-0780 al (55) 4166-0784 Pátzcuaro : Rolling up the sleeves of her immaculate white habit Sister Ofelia Morales Francisco plunges her hands into an aquarium slimy salamander and lifts it dripping into the air The nun is part of a team at a Dominican convent in Mexico that is fighting to save the Lake Patzcuaro salamander Revered as a god by the indigenous Purepecha people and keenly studied by scientists the salamander -- known for its stunning ability to regenerate its body parts -- is found in the wild in only one place: the lake near the Convent of Our Immaculate Lady of Health and that is where Morales and her sisters come in They have launched a programme to raise the salamanders in captivity and hope their efforts will one day help the species -- Ambystoma dumerilii -- make a comeback in the wild It is a job that has required the nuns to step outside their routine of charity and prayer and get their hands dirty in a field they knew little about at first mastering the reproductive habits of the dark green salamanders which are distinguished by a flowing mane of gills around their heads “The best way (to get them to copulate) is by mating a male with three females,” says Morales who has been working on the project for 18 years “We have to raise the offspring very carefully because they try to eat each other,” she told AFP The nuns of Our Immaculate Lady of Health did not start out trying to save the salamanders which are known locally as “achoques.” In fact the convent began cooking the salamanders into a syrup that is reputed to cure anemia and chest infections They likely borrowed the idea from the Purepecha who worshipped the salamander as the twin brother of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl and traditionally served it up in a soup The nuns’ syrup sold so well it became the convent’s main source of income So when the salamanders started to become scarce because of untreated sewage invasive carp and over-exploitation of the lake the nuns realized their convent’s survival was at stake as well They invited a priest who also happened to be a trained biologist to teach them all about the achoque they have some 300 salamanders in their care -- the maximum their two rooms of aquariums can hold It is more than enough to keep making their syrup which sells for 200 pesos (about $10) a bottle and give specimens to universities for research a salamander still ends up in the nuns’ own cooking pot “They make delicious soup,” said Morales The achoque is a close relation of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) another endangered salamander found only in the Xochimilco lake system in Mexico City Both species are known for their capacity to regenerate their cells They have the largest amount of DNA of any known species That has made both salamanders a subject of fascination for scientists hoping to learn lessons that could apply to humans the achoque’s numbers have plunged “dramatically,” said Maria Esther Quintero who works on protecting endangered species for Mexico’s National Commission on Biodiversity very few achoques left in the wild,” she told AFP The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns the Lake Patzcuaro salamander “is believed to be in very serious decline and might be close to extinction.” The nuns are hoping their colony can help reverse that trend “We are trying to rescue this species to do justice for Mother Nature,” said Sister Maria del Carmen Perez another of the three nuns who staff the aquarium it was going to vanish.” But for now Lake Patzcuaro is too polluted to reintroduce them there Quintero said the immediate goal of Mexican officials is to clear invasive species from at least the northern part of the lake perhaps the achoque can be returned to the waters where it hid at the dawn of time to avoid being eaten 6 de febrero de 2017.- En sesión ordinaria de Cabildo se aprobó por unanimidad el Punto de Acuerdo mediante el cual el Ayuntamiento patzcuarense reconoce a Huecorio como comunidad indígena en base a fundamentos jurídicos Dicha iniciativa fue presentada por el edil le dieron trámite a la petición de los habitantes de la mencionada localidad para ser considerada como comunidad indígena Pérez Guzmán detalló que las autoridades comunales de Huecorio le hicieron llegar al ayuntamiento de este Pueblo Mágico una solicitud para que esta población ribereña sea reconocida como comunidad indígena “en virtud de que existen fundamentos jurídicos durante una visita que realizó el titular de  la Secretaría de Pueblos Indígenas (SPI) éste se comprometió a  acompañar “a aquellas comunidades que decidan aplicarse la disposición constitucional del reconocimiento por adscripción de su condición indígena” “El funcionario estatal recibió del jefe de tenencia el acta comunitaria en donde se decidió la autoadscripción como comunidad indígena después de una reflexión colectiva que les hizo mirar su arraigo ribereño” de acuerdo con un comunicado de la dependencia estatal el citado regidor de la comuna patzcuarense señaló que una vez concluido el proceso de reconocimiento ante diversas instancias Huecorio podrá acceder a diversos apoyos de programas federales y de otra índole Afirmó que se continuará apoyando a todas aquellas poblaciones que decidan la autoadscripción como comunidad indígena Informó que Tzurumútaro también se encuentra en tal proceso aunque todavía el gobierno local no ha recibido  la petición correspondiente WhatsApp logoWhatsApp iconMujeres purépechas desmantelaron unas tomas clandestinas que saqueaban agua del Lago Zirahuén. (Foto: Especial) Por Arturo Estrada/ corresponsalabril 22, 2024 | 20:13 hrsHabitantes de la comunidad purépecha de Zirahuén, en Michoacán desmantelaron equipos de bombeo que se utilizaba para regar huertas de aguacate El agua era sustraída de manera ilegal del icónico Lago de Zirahuén, por lo que este lunes un grupo de mujeres tomó la determinación de ir a los predios para decomisar las cuatro bombas con las que se llevaba a cabo el ‘huachicoleo’ de agua. En un comunicado emitido por el Consejo Supremo Indígena, se argumenta que hicieron justicia por mano propia porque las autoridades no han actuado en contra de los productores de aguacate, por lo que la comunidad de Zirahuén tomó el acuerdo en una asamblea de desmantelar los equipos de riego. Además, el Consejo Supremo hizo notar que los comuneros están en espera de apoyo policial para evitar el robo de agua en el lago. Cachorra de jaguar muere en zoológico de Morelia por inundación con agua contaminadaEl Consejo consideró que el Estado mexicano no hace nada para cuidar ese recurso natural se quejaron de que los productores de aguacate se roban el agua para mantener las huertas con producción Y acusaron a los aguacateros de actuar con avaricia por el alto valor económico del ‘oro verde’ Los afectados asimismo señalaron que los aguacateros ganan millones de pesos anualmente mientras los lagos agonizan por el saqueo irresponsable Asimismo, este lunes la Secretaría de Marina se sumó al rescate del Lago de Pátzcuaro con equipo y personal para dragarlo en varios puntos críticos. La dependencia argumentó que la preservación de estas zonas forestales asegura los servicios ecosistémicos que brindan, como la captación de agua para la recarga del lago. Además de que la conservación del suelo y la reforestación disminuyen el azolve impidiendo que lleguen sedimentos al lago. En esta región ya se ubican ocho áreas naturales bajo algún tipo de protección, que en conjunto abarcan más de 9 mil 700 hectáreas, de las cuales 5 mil 49 se encuentran dentro de la cuenca, recordó la dependencia. Una vez que inicie la temporada de lluvia, se realizarán tareas de reforestación y obras de restauración de suelos en puntos específicos de la cuenca del Lago de Pátzcuaro, para contrarrestar la erosión y azolve por deforestación, una de las principales causas de la sequía. Las noticias más importantes en Finanzas, Economía, Negocios y Política de México Página de FacebookFuente TwitterFuente RSS© Copyright