Paracho -- The guitar factory

Small pastures and farm lands covered the moutainside
The dirt road was not very well maintained

"Share the Road" -- One of many reasons not to drive at night in Mexico

Lake Cuitzio sighted along Hwy 15D

Lake Cuitzio had an errie look about it

We launched our HHR and traveled south along Hwy Mex 120. We soon were flying along on the toll road Mex 15D. We drove along south of Lake Cuitzio in the state of Michoacán. It was hard to keep your eyes on the road and miss the sights along the lake. We thought we had taken the correct turnoff from Mex 15D to Mex 135 (at least our GPS spokesman “Richard” said it was the correct road). The roads kept getting more and more primitive and bumpy as we drove though the Michoacán mountains. All of a sudden we ran out of paved roads and our GPS went blank. We continued until we reached a small pueblo. There we asked directions to the pueblo of Paracho – “that way!”, they said (“Por aca!”, the favorite direction of all Mexicans accompanied by the waving of the hands in all directions).

The dirt road was not very well maintained, but the countryside was beautiful. The small plats of pasture and farm land reminded us of the countryside in Ireland. The GPS failed us, but we received a bonus of an unplanned tour of a remote area in the mountains of Michoacán. Several hours later, we found pavement and the road led us to Paracho, a small remote village off the beaten path whose fame has reached around the world as a maker of some of the finest guitars.