Yep, this is Luna. 

Around Patzcuaro 

Luna’s 2012 Halloween costume?? 

maddieonthings.com 

Yesterday everyone met their host families. Kelsey, my roomie, & I went to the island Janitzio by boat since we live in our own house. People used to make a living off fishing the Patzcuaro Lake white fish, but with runoff & sewage pollution, fish are dying off & people have shifted livelihoods to tourism, working in Patzcuaro, etc. We climbed up the winding hill to the statue of Jose Morelos, a Mexican revolutionary figure from independence. There are murals inside & you can climb the 40 meters up to his fist for a  view of the lake. The elevation is 7000 ft so it was a bit scary & I’m not even afraid of heights! Classes start today. 

Patzcuaro is a very beautiful colonial town & the area of Michoacan state looks a bit like Western Montana! We toured the area of the lake today by car. Patzcuaro has a history as a center of trade and seminar school for priests in the colonial era. Now, the lake has been polluted over the course of the last 40 years to the point where the fish are dying off. Runoff & sewage has caused many indigenous fishers’ livelihoods to shift to the city. It is a very nice area, pretty chill city that’s easy to navigate. 

Volcano Tequila