# Patzcuaro



## vanisland (Aug 26, 2014)

I attempted to post a thread earlier to no avail.

We are a newly retired Canadian couple who hope to spend about 3 months in Patzcuaro beginning in January. We spent a few weeks in Patzcuaro this year and really enjoyed the people, climate, geography, architecture and nearby cities and pueblas. 

We want to return in January and hope that we might gain some information about the following before we leave: volunteer opportunities, housing availability and Spanish language classes. 

We hope to engage in some meaningful volunteer work during our time in Patzcuaro. By way of introduction both my partner and I have proven organizational skills which may/may not serve us well in Mexico! Additionally my partner has a nutritional background and skills in teaching conversational English and I have a background in carpentry.

I hope that we may have conversations on this thread with local expats soon. Cheers,


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

CELEP is the language school of choice. Forget volunteer work until you've been there a few years. Relax and forget the organizational skills until you've been there a number of years.

Act like you are retired for the next few years .... and learn and enjoy Mexico


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

vanisland said:


> I attempted to post a thread earlier to no avail.
> 
> We are a newly retired Canadian couple who hope to spend about 3 months in Patzcuaro beginning in January. We spent a few weeks in Patzcuaro this year and really enjoyed the people, climate, geography, architecture and nearby cities and pueblas.
> 
> ...


I know there are lots of programs where people pay to spend a few weeks volunteering. I believe those short term programs are mostly fund raising opportunities for the organization. They give people an interesting experience in exchange for their contribution. 

My experience is that it is very hard for a volunteer to make a real contribution in a time period as short as a few months. I came to Mexico with the Peace Corps. It is a 27 month commitment and the first three months are spent in training, mostly about culture and language. Beyond the training most people find that it can take most of the first year before they are able to make any real contribution. It just takes time to understand the problems and people that you are working with.

I wish you luck. Maybe you will find someplace where you can help and will prove me wrong. You might want to talk to DIF (Desarrollo Integral de Familia). It is a family service organization that works with children, the elderly, homeless and single mothers.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

At least one participant on this forum lives just outside Patzcuaro and if he sees your questions he may have some input to offer. There's also an online web group for Michoacán which is populated by some people, expats, who live in or near Patzcuaro. Best of luck.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

We live some distance outside of Pátzcuaro and I can direct you to various sources of info on what you are seeking. First of all, there is a Yahoo Group called Michoacán Net. It's a good source of cultural events, where to buy this or that, and often about volunteer opportunities.

Of the latter, for example, there is a Senior Citizen Comida Program that serves a hot meal to low income people every weekday. It takes place in El Sagrario—which is behind the famous and oft photographed convent arches on Calle Lerín. Volunteers do KP and local cooks do the cooking.

Then there are programs needing volunteers for Casas Hogar—orphanages or children's shelters.

I believe that there is also a program providing bicycles to kids, at least on the weekends, but I'm not clear on exactly what that is.

Several years ago there was a Dog Spay and Neuter program, but I have not heard much about that in recent times.

I'm fairly confident that there are more volunteer opportunities. As to organizational skills, it would be best, IMO, to downplay those until you have a few years here. One newcomer expat gentleman once offered to organize the Retired Men's Breakfast Group, which left the veterans of the group aghast but hardly speechless.


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## vanisland (Aug 26, 2014)

Good Morning Anonimo and to other respondents to this thread. Thanks for your quick and straight forward feedback! We appreciate it very much. 

Having lived in other S American countries we are familiar with the time it takes to integrate into a community. That 'integration' clock can be quite different for locals vs. expats. Thanks for the reminder!

Thanks for the mention of CELET, the language school. We will indeed follow this through. If there are any other thoughts around volunteer opportunities we would love to hear about them. 

My partner and I also really enjoy hiking. When we were in Patzcuaro last year, we were a bit concerned about hiking in the area, not knowing the extent of the cartel activities and the possible risks. Any feed back around this and favorite hiking spots would be most welcome. 

Again, thanks to all the contributors to this thread.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

CELEP


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

There's an informal hiking group called Friends of Cerro Blanco, that does a hike every Saturday morning. The group started with hikes on and around Cerro Blanco but has since branched out.


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## vanisland (Aug 26, 2014)

Thank you again Anonimo for the information related to Cerro Blanco. I will attempt to look further into this from Canada or definitely when we arrive. If you happen to find more information about the bicycles for kids program, I would appreciate it. It could be easy for me to bring tools and a few parts to such a program, if it is still in operation. Cheers,


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

*Wheels!*

So far, this is all I find about the bicycle program.
From Michoacan_NET:

Title: Wheels! Bicycling around Plaza Grande

Date: Sunday August 31, 2014
Time: 8:00 am - 12:00 pm (GMT-06.00) Guadalajara / Mexico City / Monterrey - New
Location: Patzcuaro
Notes: WHEELS! 
Rueda Patzcuaro Magico
Asiste con tu familia!
De 8:00 a 12:00 horas - Every Sunday
Lugar: Plazuela Vasco de Quiroga 
Calles Ponce de Leon, Teran, Porreras, Navarrete y Dr. Coss


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## vanisland (Aug 26, 2014)

*Wheels*

Thanks again Anonimo for this information. I will pursue this on the site you posted. 

We are very excited about returning to Patzcuaro. We hope to arrive in January next year. We were there last year in March and the weather was very beautiful in the afternoon and nice and refreshing in the evening. Hopefully January won't be too chilly!
Cheers,


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

vanisland said:


> Thanks again Anonimo for this information. I will pursue this on the site you posted.
> 
> We are very excited about returning to Patzcuaro. We hope to arrive in January next year. We were there last year in March and the weather was very beautiful in the afternoon and nice and refreshing in the evening. Hopefully January won't be too chilly!
> Cheers,


If Pátzcuaro gets too cold for you, you need only drive or bus an hour to Uruapan, which is warmer at about 1000 feet less elevation. There are developed hot springs about an hour further south, off the autopista. If that's not warm enough, Zihuatanejo is less than a 4 hour drive from Pátzcuaro. Four nights on the Pacific coast at Zihuatanejo is usually enough for them to remove the highland chill.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


Anonimo said:



If Pátzcuaro gets too cold for you, you need only drive or bus an hour to Uruapan, which is warmer at about 1000 feet less elevation. There are developed hot springs about an hour further south, off the autopista. If that's not warm enough, Zihuatanejo is less than a 4 hour drive from Pátzcuaro. Four nights on the Pacific coast at Zihuatanejo is usually enough for them to remove the highland chill.

Click to expand...

_I realize this thread is about Pátzcuaro and surrounds, Anonimo - an attractive and enticing town and región we visit from time to time from our home in Ajijic on Lake Chapala but you have hit upon a feature of living in certain highland áreas about which many newcomers may not be aware and that is that there are a number of Highland áreas where one may settle yet be within a short to reasonable distance of entirely different climates and I suggest that, whether the pótential expat is zeroed in on Patzcuaro or some other highland town in Mexico and retains the flexibility to live in or visit various places as desired and enjoy climatalogical changes for the sake of variety and taking off the sometimes chill of highland living, the potential immigrant to Mexico consider this important chraracteristic offered by this beautiful country. 

Patzcuaro is a good example of taking advantage of this feature of Mexican topography which is so unlike much of the United States where one can drive interminably and still be in the overbearing heat or cold. 

This is a primary reason we chose to settle in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas at 7,000 feet and surrounded by mountainous communities at up to, say, 11,000 feet yet only 45 minutes down a splendid autopista to toasty warm Colonial Chiapa de Corzo on the Grijalva River or within minutes of there to the Chiapas state capital and large metropolitan área of Tuxtla Gutierrez - both towns at about 1,300 feet. The High Jovel Valley, where San Cristóbal is located, is also within a few hours of Gulf beaches in Veracruz and the Yucatán Peninsula, The Caribbean Sea also on the Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo or the Pacific coastal villages and resorts as well as remote deserted beaches with wild surf in Coastal Chiapas and Oaxaca State. 

Newbies should consider this advantage of Mexican topography carefully whether considering settling in Michoacan, Chiapas or a number of other áreas in many parts of Mexico from sea level to moderate altitude at, say, 3,000 to about 7,000 feet or higher in some áreas where high altitude towns can take on climatic features more akin to the Arctic but with escape to lower altitudes easily accomplished when the bones need a bit of warming available a short to moderate drive distant.

This is important especially for the retiree without the need to settle where the jobs are. Back in Dawg´s native Alabama,when it was hot during the long, hot summer there, it was hot everywhere within a reasonable distance if one felt the need to cool off without resort to mechanically cooled air droning away in window in the background.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I don't know about others but to me, access to a different climate a few hours away is no substitute for living in a climate that agrees with you. If Patzcuaro winters turned out to be too cold for one's taste, the fact that there is a warm beach just four hours away would be little compensation. Who wants to drive four hours to get warm on a cold winter day. The converse holds true; who would want to drive hours to get out of the heat and humidity on a regular basis. 

If you like the cool climate and just want to get away once in awhile, then a nearby beach is great, but I think you have to like the climate where you live. Or maybe as the song goes, If you are not with the climate you love, love the one you are with.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

We love Patzcuaro too, but live in Chapala for the simple reason that the climate suits us better. We found that visiting Patzcuaro, or a Pacific beach, for a few days in the more comfortable season, was a viable alternative to suffering through an uncomfortable season just to enjoy the good months. If that were not the case, we would be living somewhere near the Canadian border.


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