El Bosque

We've been camping in the woods for about a week now. We're on a permaculture farm above Lake Patzcuaro- it's called Rancho Madrono, or El Bosque, owned by a semi-eccentric man named Brian. He's from Gig Harbor. smallworld.
We were driven up here by some couchsurfers from Morelia for a bit of a party- these guys hosted about 50 couchsurfers (moochers, some might call it) for the weekend, with people in cabanas and tents all through the woods. They provided breakfast, lunch and dinner (free for the party), vegetarian of course, as about everything we eat here is grown in the bosque. After everyone left we decided we liked it and stayed - a waaaaay different vibe when 83 acres goes from fifty people to 7.
We're now sleeping in a cabana instead of our tent. Turns out the lightest tent we could find is also the smallest. We can't sleep properly with our hikers' packs inside, so they felt bad for us and let us move into a cabin with a Mexican-king sized bed for the same price! This is still a worry on the back burner since we plan to camp a lot along the way.

The philosophy of the farm is to use what is provided by the bosque. Volunteers here (WWOOFMexico.com) are building new cabanas of adobe and wood and stone. There is a delightful sauna, of adobe and wood with a dirt roof to keep heat it-Brian says he uses it more than he showers, as sweating is a great way to get rid of grime. A quick rinse of cold water after is all he needs.
The one indoor shower uses a solar heater for hot water, and any necessary electricity (for this computer or the occasional treat of letting the volunteers watch a movie) comes from solar power as well. All water on the farm comes from many huge rain catches throughout the forest (except the bottled water we drink), and everything is cooked on an efficient wood stove.
There's art scattered all throughout the forest - wood carvings & totem poles in the most obscure places, all the huts are painted brightly with Mexican style images, random designs, figures -pretty much anything any guest felt like creating I guess.
The week has gone by kind of quickly, it's easy to fill our time here with arts & crafts, archery, trampoline, bird watching, sauna, washing laundry by hand, taking a machete to some overgrown paths (also called taking out some agression -others call it exercise), stacking rocks (a form of meditation), taking pictures and reading from the huge library Brian's managed to accumulate in the time he was here alone - 3 years solo en el bosque! - Amazon will deliver to a remote Mexican pueblo.

The other day we hiked about 15 minutes into the tiny town outside the woods: Yotitiro is literally a single road with a church, a tienda and a rain catch. From there we hitched a ride in the back of a truck to the next town, Erongaricaro, bigger than Yotitiro, but that's not saying anything. Here there are a few more tiendas and a video arcade (weird) centered around the town's plaza. But for anything else, you must get to Patzcuaro. So from there we took a 2 hour bus ride to town. This isn't the normal commute time between the two towns, we actually got stuck on the highway for like 45 minutes. All the pueblos are around Lake Patzcuaro, so it feels like you haven't gotten anywhere when you look out the window and see the same view of the lake with an island in the middle.

All this was to use the phone and to check on another campsite in Patzcuaro. I'd been to Patzcuaro when I was here in highschool, so it was fun to be in another place I recognized. We wasted money on a meal that's included in the price of our camping in the woods. We also stocked up on Doritos and Cheetos and Oreos for snacks - a blasphemy that I'm relying on for salt and sugar. I don't know how much more bland vegetable food I can handle - I need milk and cheese. I had a dream about a pizza. No Joke.

So we're kind of floating for the rest of the month. Our main goal is to be in Patzcuaro for Dia de los Muertos (Nov 1), but we're waiting on word from a man who'll let us couchsurf with him there, only before the 28th. There's a huge chance there won't be a place for us to stay during the holiday, so it's a bit worrisome. We know we could come back here if all else fails. We're also trying to make up our minds about staying here longer now or going to the campsite in Patzcuaro (half the price, but no food - it's really just a grassy field next to a hotel. So we'd be spending money on eating out since there's no wood stove or pits or anything).

Our plan keeps changing and it's kind of stressful. But as long as we stay here in the woods we don't have to worry about it. I'm anxious to get out of Michoacan already, so we might change our minds about where to be for Day of the Dead anyway. As is the nature of our entire trip.