Life in Our Region
I enjoy showing you a few of the things in this region that you might experience if you came to visit.

PULQUE: OUR PRE-HISPANIC MEXICAN DRINK.- Everywhere in México, and specially in our region, the Pulque (‘pul kay), a semi-alcoholic, rather sweet drink, is a very common and, we believe, even a nutritious drink. The sweet sap of the maguey plant (agave) is collected, poured in fresh clay pots - only clay pots will keep it fresh - and sold anywhere a family have Maguey rows in their land.  Here at a typical family house on the road they are selling Pulque.

Maritza, 21 years old, is the daughter of a family where you can buy Pulque in our region. She explains to Estela about the way their family has made a living from this little business. She was gracious to allow some photos of her families' typical Mexican business in the region! Anyone can stop and buy some Pulque to take home for dinner time. Estela did it this week!  One liter of delicious Pulque is only 25 pesos! This is a typical Mexican scene in a Mexican road in villages like ours. The drink has been part of culture since before the Spanish arrived. It was very popular until it was almost replaced when beer became popular, and now is enjoying a come back.

MAIN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:  All around in the towns surrounding the Monarch sanctuaries, in Angangueo and Ocampo towns, families in general, and students travel by bus. Here busses run every half an hour, from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and take us anywhere among both towns. They also travel to communities all the way up to Zitácuaro City, the nearest city to our locations, 30 kms. From Angangueo, bus fares cost from 10 to 25 pesos.

Because mining was an important industry, the old mining facilities, being now renewed by the new prospect-mining company in Angangueo, are still seen at the entrance of the town.

A SELF-EMPLOYMENT SERVICE:  Today it is not often that we see people on the streets that have small businesses. For instance, this knife-sharpening buxiness is seldom seen nowadays in our towns and villages. Much more common in past decades, today, knife-sharpeners have become a rare sight.  Such tasks have not been passing from generation to generation and might get lost in only a few years from our self-employment traditions.

Estela Romero
Angangueo, Michoacán, México.