The antigua factory of San Pedro

We're back in Zihuatanejo today, having taken a five hour ride on a first class bus from Morelia. I didn't get a chance to show you our discovery on the last morning we spent in Uruapan. We tracked down the antique factory of San Pedro on aa back street beside the river. That's the Rio Cupatitzio, the same one that tumbles down the gorge in the big public park I wrote about a few days ago.

Here's what the river looks like at the bottom of the canyon. You an see it's still got lots of power, plenty to run a fabric mill. This factory was built at the end of the 19th century and  has been closed for decades, but remarkably it is still open to the public.The last morning in Uruapan we set out to look for the old mill and after a few false starts we found it. This is the front of the building showing some of the details. It was built along the lines of an old hacienda and is still in excellent condition.

We walked in to find the entire top floor is an art gallery with an amazing installation of figurative work by Javier Marín, a Mexican artist of high international repute. His sculptures in various materials including metal and fibreglass and have been shown all over the world. This exhibit made good use of the tall space of the old mill with its beamed ceilings and lovely natural light. Here's a sampling.

Then we went down a long wooden staircase to the ground floor where the old machinery has been sitting gathering dust. It felt very ghostly, as if the workers had just left decades ago and never returned. 

   

In an outbuilding at the back there were a couple of hand looms where people were weaving blankets and table cloths, which they were selling in a corner on the upper floor. We bought a lovely woven linen table cloths and napkins. It turns out we the place isn't always open. Sandy, our AirBnB host tells us she went to see it six years ago and it was closed.  We lucked out.