Erongarícuaro, which means "Place of waiting" in the Purepecha language, is a town in the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a separate en ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

. It is located about an hour and a half drive to

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

Uruapan Uruapan is the second largest city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It is located at the western edge of the Purépecha highlands, just to the east of the Tierra Caliente region. Since the colonial period, it has been an important city economic ...

and just 20 minutes from the famous colonial town of

Pátzcuaro Pátzcuaro () is a city and municipality located in the state of Michoacán. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Purépecha Empire and later its ceremonial center. After the Spanish took over, Vasco de ...

. The estimated population is about 5,000 people.

History

The town

Erongarícuaro is hidden high in the mountains of

at 2,200 m (7,130 feet) of elevation. To the east is

Lake Pátzcuaro Lake Pátzcuaro (Spanish: ''Lago de Pátzcuaro'') is a lake in the municipality of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. Lake Pátzcuaro lies in an endorheic basin, which does not drain to the sea. A watershed area of 929 square kilometres drains into ...

, one of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

's highest lakes. The town retains its ancient atmosphere. It consists of largely one-story

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...

or plaster-over-brick buildings with red tile roofs. The streets are dusty cobblestones traveled by horse and car. The plaza has a fountain, stage and amazing collection of trees. Wandering the streets uphill, there is a cemetery and a chapel.

Culture

* Annual Flower Show * Tuesday Goodness Market - with homemade breads and cheeses

Entertainment

Jaripeos, parties and festivals are common throughout the year.

Food

The ''nieve'' (ice cream), sold in shops on the plaza, is a delightful treat. There are many different flavors, made with water or cream. Combinations of flavors add variety and taste. One of the most popular flavors is called ''pasta'' (paste). Popsicles made from exotic fruits are a pleasant taste adventure. Except for early evening there is always food on the plaza. Food in the evening would be ''atole'' (hot beverage) with ''buñuelos'' (light fried pastries) or tamales.

Shopping

* Women's craft market * Furniture and woodcrafts

Notable residents of Eronga

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the Me ...

- The popular leftist President of Mexico was rumored to take his boat across the lake where no road reached. He began from his large mansion in

, which now houses CREFAL and upon reaching Erongarícuaro was free to attend fiestas with his friends Victoria and Guadalupe Rodríguez in Casa Las Rosas. The president arranged for the two young women, who were singers of some note on local radio and in local concerts, to attend music and voice classes at Bellas Artes in Mexico City, but their conservative father refused to let them, saying, "A young woman's place is in the home." Victoria came to be the town's mayor — the only female mayor in the history of the town — and her sister Guadalupe was the town's postmistress. The post office was in the entrance of the house. Victoria later married Ralph Gray, an American painter who came to the town in the late 1940s. During Mexico's postwar art scene: *

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

Jean Charlot Louis Henri Jean Charlot (February 8, 1898 – March 20, 1979) was a French-born American painter and illustrator, active mainly in Mexico and the United States. Life Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business ...

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

. *

Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Bio ...

Remedios Varo María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga (16 December 1908 – 8 October 1963) was a Spanish-born Mexican surrealist artist working in Spain, France, and Mexico. Early life Remedios Varo Uranga was born in Anglès, is a small town ...

, Esteban Francis,

Pierre Mabille Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translatio ...

Benjamin Péret Benjamin Péret (4 July 1899 – 18 September 1959) was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism. Biography Benjamin Péret was born in Rezé, ...

* Gordon Onslow Ford and his wife Jacqueline Johnson, an American writer *Peruvian poet

César Moro César Moro (August 31, 1903 – January 10, 1956) is the pseudonym of Alfredo Quíspez Asín Mas, a Peruvian poet and painter. Most of his poetic works are written in French; he was the only Latin American poet included in the 1920s and '30s su ...

, anthropologist Miguel Covarrubias, painter

Carlos Mérida Carlos Mérida (December 2, 1891 – December 21, 1985) was a Guatemalan artist who was one of the first to fuse European modern painting to Latin American themes, especially those related to Guatemala and Mexico. He was part of the Mexican mura ...

*Surrealist painter

Wolfgang Paalen Wolfgang Robert Paalen (July 22, 1905 in Vienna, Austria – September 24, 1959 in Taxco, Mexico) was an Austrian-Mexican painter, sculptor, and art philosopher. A member of the Abstraction-Création group from 1934 to 1935, he joined the influ ...

with painter and poet Alice Rahon, and photographer

Eva Sulzer Eva Sulzer (born 1902 Winterthur, Switzerland – died 1990 in Mexico City) was a photographer, musician, collector, and filmmaker who is most renowned for her photographs of pre-Columbian sights through Central and North America, including Canada, ...

Current artists: *Painter Brian Fey lives as a reclusive hermit in the forest of nearby Cerro Chivo. *Painter and ceramic artist Jon Skaglund lives and works in the village. *Maureen Rosenthal, artist and founder in 1981 of UNEAMICH, the Erongarícuaro artists' cooperative.

References

External links

Municipal government site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erongaricuaro Populated places in Michoacán