I took my visiting friend Christine for a ride around the lake and into Michoacan to Petatan, a little town out on a peninsula that is home to dozens of fisheries and a few restaurants where the catch is about as fresh as it can get. Thousands of egrets, gulls, coots and black wing-tipped pelicans float and fly back and forth waiting for fish parts to be tossed into the water. In the restaurant we chose, the day’s special was blackened catfish and as you can see below, Christine enjoyed every moment of hers. A non-fish-lover, I opted for quesadillas and beans! (Please click on the first photo below to increase the size of all photos and to read the captions.)

When we got to Petatan, there were plenty of other people there to eat at the fish restaurants and view the birds.

The first thing we saw upon entering the open-air restaurant was the kitchen. The special that day was catfish and so Christine ordered it.

By the time we left, however, the large place was packed with up to 20 people at a table.

So how do I approach this?

Can’t be so hard.

At first , I’ll approach it logically

and seriously.

This goes here,

and this goes here.

She finally got tickled over the whole adventure

and eventually downright silly.

Nonetheless, she got the job done, stripping the catfish down to the bone.

And while we ate, this was the show we watched outside the floor-to-ceiling windows:

We eventually turned around and drove back to Tizapan,

To view this lovely old church.

Christine had a peek inside

We left the churchyard

and found this weekly market going on in the street near the church.

This young man, although heavily burdened, was happy to pose for us.