Michoacan has the most magic towns of any state in Mexico, so we were keen to see as many as we practically could.

Tzintzuntzan is a 30 minute drive from Morelia and offers a window into the indigenous culture of Michoacán. In Mexico most towns have a craft that they are well known for. In Tzintzuntzan it is pottery. In pre-Hispanic times, it was the capital of the Tarascans, and was culturally very rich.

We visited the Tzintzuntzan ruins site overlooking Lake Patzcuaro with five pyramids erected on stone bases known as Las Yácatas.

Patzcuaro, ten minutes from Tzintzuntzan is an absolutely charming magic town with a large lake on the outskirts of town. We didn’t actually go to the lake, it looked a bit grey and dirty from above the Tzintzuntzan ruins.  Patzcuaro was a fantastic place to explore, with its quaint cobblestone streets, wooded areas, age- old traditions and colorful buildings.

We were lucky to see Patzcuaro while the Christmas decorations were up in the main plaza. They were impressive, all made from natural materials.

On Saturday afternoon the main plaza was teeming with people out and about – some Mexican tourists, some locals. It made for a really good atmosphere.

We stayed at Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park, a 15 minute walk from the town square. It had nice park like surroundings and a little cabana  where we could light a fire and hang out at night.

After four days in Patzcuaro we headed to Santa Clara Del Cobre – the copper town of Mexico, another magic town. We wondered around the main square, got ourselves a jugo verde and then went exploring around the copper workshops.

At the back of one of the workshops they were doing a demonstration on making the copper bowls. It was super labour intensive. The best part was at the end when we got to dress up in copper attire.

Jeanette would have brought a copper kitchen sink, copper artwork, copper bowls, and copper ear rings, if we were flying back from Mexico. However as we still had a few more countries to get through before we headed back to New Zealand we settled on one copper bowl, that we could use to do our dishes in.