The small towns around Lake Cajititlán are famed for their skilled artisans and you may have seen leaflets and brochures depicting, among other things, the beautiful basalt sculptures, colorful ceramics and rodeo-quality lariats produced in this area, which is only a 40-kilometer drive from Lake Chapala.
Recently, we decided to visit one of these towns, San Miguel Cuyutlán, hoping we might be able to watch its famed rope makers practicing their craft in their own backyards, so to speak. The main entrance to San Miguel is right on the Chapala-Tala highway,about a 30-minute drive from Ajijic.
First, we drove a few blocks to the church and, 80 meters west of it, came to the town plaza, which we expected to be surrounded by shops selling the lariats for which San Miguel is famous throughout Mexico and even in the USA, but, we discovered to our surprise that there was not a single rope shop in town, much less any sort of establishment catering to tourists.
Undaunted, I asked, “But you do make ropes here, don’t you?”
“Sí que sí, everyone replied, “lots of people here make ropes.”
So we began to look for ropemakers and eventually ended up in the casa of 72-year old master rope maker Don Isidro Díaz, a kindly, soft-spoken old gent who now uses a cane to get around. “How long have you been making riatas, I asked him?
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