SAGRADO Y PROFANO (MORE ON PATZCUARO TRIP)

I stole this title - Sacred and Profane - from my Jungian Analyst friend, Marty. It was her idea for her husband, Bill, to do a photo project exploring that dichotomy. At the time, we thought it fit El Dia de los Muertos in Janitzio, an island in El Lago Patzcuaro. Having thought about it more since then, I would no longer see it as such a dichotomy, especially in terms of how Mexicans experience and celebrate Muertos. I think it is a Western European thing to see these -- that which is religious and holy and that which is mundane and human -- as dichotomous. What has remained here from the prehispanic, "pagan" era is the experience that it is all of the same cloth. What is "sacred" is not so removed from everyday experience as the word would imply.

Anyway, that is a long winded prelude to describe our trip to the island of Janitzio the day after our evening tour of the cemeteries. At breakfast, we heard from others in the Inn that their tour had taken them to the cemetery on Janitzio as their first stop, and it was a disaster. Lots of traffic, crowded boats and so dark they were falling over things in the cemetery. So we were very glad we weren't on that tour.

We took a taxi to the "muelle" or dock, bought a ticket and immediately boarded a long, wooden, partially enclosed boat which was just leaving. The water in the dock area is completely filled with vegetation which doesn't seem to affect navigation at all, though it did take much maneuvering back and forth to get the long boat out of the narrow dock area. The water in the open lake is an unappealing brown, but we were told by Miguel Angel the night before, that this was not an indication of pollution, but of silt. Fishing is still a major industry there.

The island of Janitzio is a mound rising up out of the water with houses climbing up its sides and a huge statue of Morelos on the very top -- sort of like the Statue of Liberty. Morelos was one of the heroes of the Mexican fight for independence from Spain. He took over the fight from Hidalgo and was killed as well before Mexico finally won its independence.

We found our way through the village (the whole island is the village), always climbing up steps until we located the cemetery. Having visited the 3 cemeteries the night before, I was surprised at how small this one was, and how desolate it appeared in daylight. It was obviously the site of what had been a big party the night before (this is the "sacred and profane part" in case you've been wondering).

And here are my photos interpreting the theme of "sacred & profane":
After the cemetery, we continued up the steps to the top of the island where there is a park and the huge statue of Morelos I described earlier. Like our Statue of Liberty, it is hollow and there is a small museum inside with murals depicting the life of Morelos. We opted not to climb to the top. There was a lovely view from the park of the lake and the other small islands. We couldn't linger long because the sun was low, and when it gets dark here, it happens very quickly and is VERY dark, and we had many stairs to negotiate to return to the muelle. On the way down, we could see that all the little shops and stores were closing -- it had probably been a very long day for them since the night before and all the partying. We got right on a boat that was leaving, but after we were well away from the dock, some more passengers showed up so the captain backed up to let them aboard. Marty and Bill and I commented that this certainly wouldn't have happened on the Lake Champlain Ferry.When we docked on the mainland, we were treated to a demonstration of fisherman using the traditional "butterfly nets". It was dark and they were moving so the quality of the photos isn't good, but it will give you a taste of the experience.