Pelicans, giant masks, and a ridiculous story ... just another day on Lake Chapala

As the day winds down in Petatan, a small Michoacán village on the south side of Lake Chapala, most of the people are finishing their daily chore of filleting the day’s catch of tilapia and carp. Fish skins and skeletons are wheeled down to the lake for a waiting audience of thousands of pelicans … or carried down in buckets by children to  amuse the visitors who have come to watch this months-long form of symbiosis between pelicans and fishing village. 

Photo from: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

American White Pelicans are among the heaviest flying birds in the world. They prefer shallow lakes and feed in co-operative groups rather than plunge-dive for fish the way brown pelicans do. 

These pelicans are excellent soarers and we watched one long line of pelicans do a graceful wave across the waters. We wondered why some birds had protuberances on their upper bill. Google informed us that those are breeding birds.

The pelicans are glorious.

Angeles feeds the pelicans for us.

What was intended to be just a quick trip to see the pelicans with Miguel Lemus turned into a romp, a stunning parade, and a ridiculous story, more about that later.

Miguel arranged a short boat trip for Cynthia Louden, her friend Lynn from California, and I. It turned out to be the best way to see the pelicans and Petatan ... which used to be an island. 

Another boat

Our captain

Pelican wave

Gathering place

Petatan from boat

Miguel Lemus, tour guide extraordinaire

Angeles, a 10-year old  entrepreneur who fed the pelicans for us, introduced us to her mom, displayed her own fish cleaning prowess and then offered to lead us to the church. Of course, there were propinas for her travel account along the way … she’s partial to Mazatlan and saving for Cancun.

Angeles, her mom and sister

Miguel and Angeles - alley adventure

Estella

The route to the church was a narrow, twisting, hidden alley that wound through the town and up to the church  where we met Estella who has lived there for 70 years and was delighted to have someone to tell her stories to. 

She led us to a patio area where we had a spectacular view of the lake and she spoke so clearly that I was enjoying actually understanding chunks of her stories. One was about the year the lake flooded and they had to move her house stone by stone, one about the rock pile that once served as a community outhouse, others were about her 8 children. 

Estella's view

However, the story that really shocked me was about her grandmother and some dogs. I clearly heard  abuela, perros and something about eating and was feeling quite proud about understanding her words. It was a little odd that she didn’t react much about such a dramatic story, but I just thought it must have been a long time ago. Estella was so delightful we stayed there for a long time listening to her and enjoying the stunning views of the pelicans and the lake.

Later, after having toured the entire town with Angeles, we said goodbye and headed back toward Ajijic, meeting this cow in the middle of town.

As we headed back to Ajijic, we were talking about our unique experience and how much fun we had meeting both Angeles and Estella, when I said … “but, can you believe her grandmother was eaten by dogs?”

After the hysterical laughter died down, Miguel very kindly said, “I think you may have misunderstood the story.” That was followed with a dozen variations on flesh-eating dog stories. I fully expect this tale to be part of my obituary … but I swear that’s what she said. Maybe some more work on Spanish comprehension is needed?

Somehow, every time I go somewhere with Miguel, the trip turns into an adventure with a lot of laughter and unexpected discoveries. However, I thought we were done for the day when we were stopped by a parade close to Tizapan.

Miguel stopped so we could see the parade which included Tlahualiles dancers, the first time I've seen them in person. It was  a short parade but stunning.

 

Tlahualiles means “defeated warriors” and there is a two-week festival in Sahuayo which celebrates the feast of Santiago Apóstol, or Saint James the Apostle, patron saint of Sahuayo. This year the festival is in early August and I have been making plans for attending itl. Seeing the few of them in this parade doubled my interest in seeing the full festival.

To create your own day of adventure, here's a map of the lake created by Steven Miller and Miguel Lemus has a Facebook page so you can follow his tours or create your own with him as a guide