I love taking inland trips, but we don't do it very often. It goes back to the cheap cruiser mentality. Things are less expensive once you leave the coast, but suddenly we have to pay for transportation and housing. This last trip was wonderful, and since we went first class a budget buster. For cruisers who want to make this trip, know you can save money at each step, but you wont have a tour guide who lived in Chicago for twelve years, or hotel run by a woman who lived in LA for sixteen years. In other words, we paid for English, not just comfort. We left Flight in a marina - we could have saved that money by having another boat watch Flight - and gathered our bag and backpacks for the four hour bus ride. I have waxed poetic about Mexican buses in the past, but those were second class buses. This time we took a double-decker first class bus. Each seat had a screen linked to 20 movies, plus music and games. The seat in front had a padded board that came down, so we could recline 5 degrees off supine. Kara and Dave moved to the front of the bus, and got the bird's eye view. Kara stood most of the trip, “surfing” along the highway. Our hotel was the first pick for TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet - Casanda Rosa. The building was built in 1640's, and has been lovingly redone. Maria greeted us saying “Mi casa es su casa”, and she lived up to the these words. Maria arranged for Jesus to drive us for two tours - the Monarch butterfly sanctuary and to the artesian towns in the area. Morelia was a colonial city, and the city shows its history. The buildings are stone, the sidewalks narrow, and the stone roads barely wide enough for two cars. I became enamored with the doors in Morelia, they were ten feet tall and carved wood. It was a delight when a door was open, for then the courtyard inside was revealed. Tiny garden bathed in sunlight. I've always had a thing for secret gardens, so the tall walls hiding all these secret gardens touched my imagination. Howard kept saying “This is like Madrid. I could be back in Madrid.” We spent Sunday walking around. They close off the main boulevard (Morelas) for bikes and pedestrians only in the morning. Every Morelian kid is there on their bikes, skates or push car - strangely no scooters, but I wish we had brought Kara's. It was wonderful to walk from the cathedral to the aqueduct, and have plenty of room. We stopped at the Museo de Dulce (Candy Museum), and learned how Morelia is the center for Mexican candy. The indigenous and melatto women kept the recipes for candy making and passed the secrets down. Eventually the nuns were told, and made chocolate to appease the monks. The first Mexican candy factories were in Morelia, and the mother or wife began to make a fruit leather - a bit gooier than the US version. I know I have botched this history, but I was self translating the Spanish, so I think I did pretty well. We also spent time at the Mercado de Dulce, which not only featured the local sweets, but the regional crafts. This was Superbowl Sunday, so we gathered in the evening for pizza (the best I've had in Mexico, and better than most I've had in the US) to watch the big game. Howard arranged a pool, and succeeded in losing. Hugh and Anne were the big winners, with Dave next. The rest of us were losers. Jesus drove us to the butterflies, which has their own blog entry, and then to the Platzchuaro and the neighboring towns. Each town specializes in a different craft, depending on the natural resources. I got all the town names mixed up, so I won't even try. The ceramic town is built on a huge clay deposit. The basket town is near the grasses that grow near the lake. The wood carving town is of course a wooded area. Santa Cruz de Cobre (the one we didn't visit, but I know the name) makes copper items. We visited the archeological site of Tzintzuntzan, where the royal family lived, and made decrees. Jesus was a wealth of information. He talked about his family, and the choices they made to move back to Mexico from Chicago. He talked about the elections next year, and Calderone. He shared his thoughts on the drug cartels, and why Michoacan is a central part of the drug trade. Jesus' incites were a great bonus for our trip.