Ajijic, Mexico

Beautiful Ajijic. This is my second visit here. See my previous posts for more info.

What a great place to hang out.....

The village is alive with families and kids - and the clip clop of horse shoes on cobble.























I want to get into this Cathedral. It's always locked when I stop by. Maybe I better come by on a Sunday morning.

Across the street from the Cathedral is an amazing coffee shop, El Cafe Grande Cafe. It smells so good from the sidewalk you can't resist it. The aroma pulls you in by the nose. I didn't miss my Starbucks one bit.
























I love the hand painted facades. They are beautiful. Son bastante.
































































Native weavers set-up down by the lake shore to work and sell their wares.
















The most beautiful weaving's I saw were rugs from Oaxaca. I decided not to buy one here but to wait until I visit Oaxaca to buy one direct from a weaver.























Calle Colon, the main commercial street from the Carraterra to the waterfront.

Here we are touring Ajijic. In the town plaza is an event for the local horsemen and ranchers who provided the bulls for the upcoming rodeo - then we head to the waterfront. Molly and I end up at Las Caballerizas, high on the mountain in San Juan Cosala overlooking Lake Chapala with the sun setting and a couple strong margaritas. Nice. It's Valentine's day so I wish her Feliz dia de amor.



We missed the final Carnaval parade on Fat Tuesday in which Los Zayacos dance through the streets. The festivities are based on the tradition of Toro de Once when livestock raisers used to drive bulls into town on horseback early in the morning to show off the quality of rodeo stock. Now the townsfolk parade instead with colorful floats, bands and Los Zayacos, who are boys & men dressed up like busty broads or bearded men. Giggling children chase them through the streets and Los Zayacos throw confetti or baking flour back. Eric and Karen from Trans America's Journeys were there. Here's their video.



For more Ajijic Carnaval parade videos from Trans America's Journeys click here.


We did get to the Lienzo Charro (bull ring) to see Los Toros though (the Carnaval rodeo) - see my next post. It's awesome!

Chapala Mexico - Midget Bullfighters Show - Enanitos Toreros

A midget bullfighters show! Who could resist?

The event was at the Lienzo Charro - which I think translates to "Horseman's Canvas," but it was a little bull ring. Very cool. It was filled with families, especially little kids who giggled and laughed at the little people fighting the little cows. I'll never forget it.






















A young Charro ( buckeroo)


























See for yourself! Yes, that's me laughing out loud in the video!



Next we visit Ajijic, a beautiful village on the shore of Lake Chapala.

Ajijic & Chapala Mexico - on Lake Chapala

Back to Ajijic!

5 months after my road-trip into the heart of Mexico, I'm back. This time I flew - with the whole family.

Flying in is so much easier - and so antiseptic compared to driving. No dusty little towns, no road-side shepherds or stops for gas at a PEMEX oasis. See my Mexican road trip posts.

We flew from Boston to Atlanta to Mexico City to Guadalajara - and from there we drove another 20 miles to Lake Chapala. We didn't intend to fly through Mexico City but a snow storm in Atlanta canceled our original flight. Snow in Atlanta ...who knew?

Customs was easy and friendly, bright, clean and modern - very different from driving across the border, in the dark, at Nuevo Laredo those few months ago.

Traveler's note: You NEED to pick up your own luggage from international baggage and check it in again domestically if you are transferring through Mexico City. No one explained that to us. Thank God another couple had the same issue - and they were Mexican's living in Chicago. They helped us navigate the language barrier and opaque instructions. Finally we found our luggage and after missing our intended flight to Guadalajara, caught a later one.

The beauty of Mexico City surprised me. It sits in an enormous bowl surrounded by mountains. The sun was starting to descend in the west giving the whole city a golden glow. The landscape undulated with hills, canyons and small mountains. I expected a big flat expanse like LA but this was definitely more interesting. A tour of Mexico City is now on my "List".





















My son Drew couldn't wait to try a Mexican Coke. It's made from sugar cane instead of corn syrup, and people say that the fizz lasts longer due to the glass bottle. Believe me, it tastes awesome! It tastes like Coke did when I was a kid ...and I'm a sucker for the glass bottles.























Drew in the Mexico City airport.

Arriving on the shores of Lago de Chapala in mid February we get to experience the tail end of Carnaval (yes Carnaval with an "a" not Carnival with an "i"), Carnaval is a full week of celebrations leading up to Lent. Ajijic and Chapala's celebrations involve parades, fiestas and rodeos.

Our first stop, Chapala and it's Malecon (boardwalk).



























Carnaval Parade

















Video of us along the Chapala Malecon - and check out the bowl made of lava rock called a molcajete. Our food is boiling - cheese, peppers, onions, shrimp, octopus. Man that was good with a Corona. And if you listen closely you'll hear the announcer of a soccer match on TV say Gooooooooooooooooooaalllllllll! for like 5 minutes. :)





Next, Midget bullfighters ...really. They are a traveling troupe - and a lot of fun, especially for the kids.

NestleNook Farm in Jackson, NH

NestleNook Farm - a quintessentially New England winter scene in Jackson, NH. I felt part of a Currier & Ives post card. Sleigh rides, skating, downhill skiing, an open fire, red wine. A good place for date night!

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

Touring Lake Chapala Mexico. Ajijic, San Juan Cosala, Chapala & Jocotepec

The first morning after our 17 hour marathon drive from the U.S. border I looked down from Dorothy's house on the mountain above San Juan Cosala and out to Lake Chapala. I took a long slow breath.

Ahhh.

We had strong coffee. The air was cool. Palm trees waved in the modest breeze. Roosters crowed, dogs barked, the sky opened and God rays pierced the Mediterranean scene. We needed this. We deserved this.

Dorothy now lives this.

The lake is big. I couldn't see the ends of it in either direction but you can see mountains - all around, and directly across the lake rises a beautifully symmetrical peak like a volcano.



























We drove down to the village of Ajijic ( A-hee-hee) for lunch. I had my first taste of authentic Mexican food - one of the world's great cuisines, right up there with Italian, French, Japanese & Chinese. It's unique, flavorful and occasionally spicy. It's gourmet.

Dorothy, having previously visited here knew the right restaurants to patronize and what not to ingest. She pointed out certain ice cubes that where tube shaped.
"These" she said "are purified ice cubes. This is clean water. If you don't get ice cubes like this in your glass, don't drink."
Our food was amazing and fresh. The sauces where complex. The salsa fresh. The beer cold.

Ajijic is old and intimate with narrow cobblestoned streets. Dorothy had told me the streets were cobblestone and I thought - oh like Paris... not even close. These were not squared off Euro style pavers, these streets were paved with real stones, patiently and expertly placed.




























The village is said to be 450 years old. The names of the villages here along Lake Chapala, like Ajijic and Chapala, are pre-Spanish Indian place names derived from Nahuatl, the native language of the area and part of the Uto-Aztecean family of languages.

Check out the beauty of Ajijic.



























The colorfully painted buildings hug the narrow streets. Private homes, stores, restaurants, bars and inns all co-exist and keep the street life lively.
















































































For every town a Cathedral...from the 1500's! The Mexicans are overwhelmingly Catholic.




























And maybe another chapel too... with a cervesa (beer) tent out front for the holiday.



























And definitely a plaza. When trees die in Ajijic Plaza they don't cut them down - they sculpt them. Look at the fish leaping out of this old tree

We spent two enchanting nights in the plaza. It was the week running up to Mexican Independence Day so there were festivities every night. The plaza was packed. Teenagers promenading, parents with little one's in tow, grandparents sitting on the benches, food vendors behind their sizzling stalls, traditional music filling the air. The plaza was festively decorated in the red, green & white colors of Mexico and twinkled at night with strung lights. It's literally the living room of the town. This is a family centered culture. It was wonderful and heartwarming to see.



























As we walked through town one night I was wary as usual. It was dark. The town is not lit like American's are used too. We approached a huddle of teenagers & men. Dorothy & I were alone. I eyed them like a mouse watching a cat. Two doors up I noticed a women with two children on the sidewalk and a grandmother in the door. Quickly, whatever tension, whatever readiness I've acquired from walking American cities relaxed as I realized, again, that this is a family oriented culture. This is a small town. Everybody knows everybody's business. There are Mom's & Dad's and Grandparents and little kids everywhere and they are watching out for each other. It takes a village.

In the 60's the village started to attract artists & writers from North America ( maybe it was the 72 degree average temperature) and very slowly has built up an international ex-pat community of 6-10 thousand people. There are many First World homes and condos here but the towns and surrounding area is definitely Mexican. The ex-pats integrate with the locals. This is not a tourist town or a western style village - this is very much Mexican.

We left Ajijic and explored the communities up & down the north shore of the lake. We drove down to Jocotepec (Ho-co-ta-pek) which is a town versus the smaller village of Ajijic. It's a working class town with it's own beautiful church. We were here as school let out. The town was full of impeccably clean & smiling uniformed school kids. The town wore the wear and tear of urban life but the kids were spotless. So cute. Mom's and Dad's stood on the sidewalk waiting to pick up their kids and then walked off hand in hand. Very sweet.

We also drove down into San Juan Cosala which is similiar to Ajijic but with obviously less money flowing into it. This is a local village without the ex-pat focused shops, Inns, hotels, homes & restaurants. We ate here at a little cantina called Viva Mexico. Wonderful.














































Let's eat! ...again.




























View out to the street.



























Streetscape in San Juan Cosala



























There's never a shortage of Corona.


The next day we drove up to Chapala and explored the waterfront.

Here's some video we took touring around.




Chapala is the biggest of the settlements we toured. It's a city. We walked along the waterfront. We walked the "boardwalk" called the Malecon. We browsed traditional artisan wares and handicrafts. There were a couple tiny picturesque and ancient looking Mexican Indian women squatting with their legs folded under themselves in impossible positions weaving rugs and blankets. It was a National Geographic moment but it didn't feel right to take their picture and not buy anything. - next time. They were beautiful.

We stopped for drinks at a waterfront restaurant and were serenaded by Mariachi again. I loved the Mariachi. I loved the harmonic singing, the strident guitar, the hollow bass and the staccato hits of the horns. It's so passionate. The uniforms are flashy and the hats are huge and wide and scream "Look at me"!

Maricahi were the soundtrack of my Lake Chapala tour. Between Ajijic and San Juan Cosala, where Dorothy's house is, is a string of open air restaurants along the lake. They are family restaurants where people go to spend the day. Barbecues are always working and Mariachi are either filling the air with music or walking up the street to their next gig. It's all very festive and exciting. And there are guys in the street as you pass by waving and whistling at you to get you to pull into their restaurant. They are like matadors against the traffic.

I wasn't here long enough - just long enough to get my bearings and to get Mexico in my blood. Just long enough to get Mariachi into my heart. Just long enough to breathe the clean air and feel the Mediterranean climate on my skin. Just long enough to begin to understand the culture - to come to terms with riches & poverty living side by side.

I am planning my next trip back. It's a place I want to discover more of. And I'm learning Spanish so I can immerse myself better. It's a country full of native and Spanish colonial history, beautiful landscapes, incredible architecture, a proud cultural heritage - and what the heck, they invented Tequila!





























To read about my whole road trip from the beginning - Austin to Lake Chapala Mexico click here.

Dorothy's Mexico Ranchero

For those of you following our journey into the heart of Mexico - and you've decided you'll never see Dorothy again - banish all though of it.

Lake Chapala is a beautiful area. Go visit! Thousands of Ex-Pats from the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East have settled here - and plenty of well-off Mexicans too.

Check out the beautiful domicile she scored!



























Entrance to the house.

Lake Chapala is surrounded by mountains. The house is in a development called The Racquet Club that's part way up a mountain. They have their own tennis courts and a gigantic pool!



























This view looks down to the driveway. Look straight out to see the lake and the mountain on the other side of the lake.























Guardian at the entrance to the driveway.






















Front patio and porch. Great views of the lake from here. I spent two nights here listening to the high horns of the mariachi drifting up the hill to me....drinking wine. Awesome morning coffee spot too. WiFi enabled!




















Interior courtyard. Two of three bedrooms and the main living/dining/kitchen areas all open into the courtyard.



























An outdoor covered walkway surrounds the courtyard. The house is beautifully decorated.




















Living room - with fireplace!






















View into the kitchen.

3 bedrooms, living/dining room, kitchen, 3 bathrooms, patio, porches, backyard, view of the lake and mountains, 80 degrees year round, palm trees, tennis courts, pool, club house, $1.00 = 13.00 Pesos! What's not to love.






















This is view down the street where Dorothy's house is. It's a pretty chi chi neighborhood.


And speaking of the neighborhood. Check out his spa you can walk to from Dorothy's house.

It's called the Monte Coxala Spa. Click the link.

The architecture is based on Mexico's great civilization's of the past; the Olmecs, the Maya and the Aztecs.

We took a walk through the grounds.
























































































































Whiplash! - poverty to riches, ying to yang, Biblical time to modern time, desert to lush. It all lives side by side in Mexico.

So...it's pretty awesome in Lake Chapala and Dorothy is back in the saddle again!!



















Next we tour the north shore of Lake Chapala and the towns and villages of Ajijic, San Juan Cosala, Jocotepec and Chapala.

To read about my whole road trip from the beginning - Austin to Lake Chapala Mexico click here.

San Luis Potosi to Lake Chapala - end of Day 2 - Austin to Guadalajara

We left San Luis Potosi and we ran out of toll road, it ended. We were making such good time - we didn't expect this. We merged onto a two lane road. The traffic was moderate but there were plenty of trucks - which we were stuck behind. The good news - the countryside was beautiful. It was green and lush. At times it looked like Upstate New York with it's planted fields and farmsteads with rows of deciduous trees.





















Photo by Said Arabian - on Flikr, taken in taken in Huichapan, in Hidalgo - but reminiscent of what I drove through.





The trucks were no obstacle for the speedy locals drivers. They passed two trucks at a time. They passed going up hill. Holy shite! We stayed in our lane. It's not like we were crawling, we were still going 55mph. I watched the Mexican drivers, holding my breath, waiting for a head on crash but they always made it... just in the nick of time.

At one point the toll road reappeared - but only one side of it. In effect we were still on a two lane road. The other lanes were incomplete. It was starting to get dark. The unopened side of the highway was being used by locals. Some cars had headlights, some only had one headlight. There was a pick-up with a payload full of passengers driving down the center of the road. I watched this quiet ghostly road as the cars closed on each other blindly climbing the crest of a hill. Oh my God. How many accidents do they have I wondered - simultaneously recalling memories from my childhood of cars with one headlight and pick-ups full of people. We crested the hill and and took a sharp downward turn to our left never knowing what metal crunching meeting those cars might have had.

As we traveled further south I thought the land would get more populated - and it does according to the map but our view from the road was still of incredibly huge valleys and beautiful farm land. I can't emphasize how ginormous (like giant and enormous combined) the valleys were. These were humongously flat valleys with beautiful silhouetted California type mountains rising all around us.

At one point we drove through the outskirts of an Indian village. The traffic slowed and the pedestrian traffic increased. Roadside vendors and shops displayed wares in front of basic buildings that to North American eyes looked poor and squalid. Down the side streets were the same dirt roads we'd been seeing all day. The houses were basic shells. What they had for doors, windows, plumbing & electricity was hard to tell but I'm sure it was very basic if non-existing. The indigenous Indians of Mexico have the same poverty issues as North America's Indians.
















Photo by Walter Reed Flikr



We certainly met people who lived a first world lifestyle. The two guys who helped us at the Subway sandwich shop in San Luis Potosi were obviously of Spanish or European descent and lived a more privileged life than the country people we've seen on the road today.

Outside the town, back in the countryside, Dorothy spies a whole group of women washing and beating clothes against the rocks of a stream. The road is heavy with vehicles and pedestrians. Cars and trucks wiz by inches from walkers, bike riders, horsemen and donkeys. It scares the crap out of me. We saw two horses laying dead in the road a few hours back. I'm sure they got grazed & killed and in these close quarters I could see it happening in my mind's eye.

The sun begins it's downward slope ahead of us. Dusk is upon us. It's getting hard to see and the road we are on has no edge lines or center line. As darkness descends it's hard to orient ourselves on the road. Cars with one headlight come at us. Are we far enough over? Are we over too far? Dorothy's driving. To my right off the edge of the road is a ditch. There's no shoulder, no room for error.

Bleary eyed and exhausted after being on the road for 15 hours, we see a huge billowing storm ahead, producing lightening, flashing night to day. In the flashes of light we see dark veils of rain falling. We dread the rain. This would paralyze us. We can barely see now, rain would wash the last remnants of clarity away. This would be dangerous.

Incredibly we never see the rain. I don't know where the storm went. It had covered the entire sky in front of us and climbed miles high but we stayed dry. Thank God because soon enough we were looking down at the sprawling lights of Guadalajara. The Guadalajara metropolitan area is the second largest in Mexico with 4 million people. The traffic became intense! We anxiously watched for signage to Lake Chapala, our destination.

We were motoring along at 50 mph in bumper to bumper traffic, ...literally bumper to bumper and I saw the sign.
I yell to Dorothy "Stay to the left" but we we're boxed in by a wall of traffic.
"Get over...get over!" I say, anxious not to miss the ramp.
She jerks the wheel to signal her intention and we squeezed our way over. We take a big looping ramp - and then we're stuck again at a merge.
Five lanes of traffic were coming at us like water heading to Niagara Falls.
I could see the next sign to Chapala about 300 feet up the road.
We had to get across the five lanes of traffic in about the length of a football field or risk being swept into a city of 4 million people... who don't speak English.
It's dark and did I mention we've been in the car 16 hours? We're exhausted, harassed, ragged and ornery. We don't want to get washed away!


























Photo by Alexei-naughtydevil




We sit at the exit of the on-ramp trying get into traffic. The car in front of us is frozen - not moving. The cars behind us start to nose into the oncoming traffic. Dorothy is driving. I'm looking out the window trying to gage entry into the onslaught of oncoming headlights. Dorothy sees the cars behind us in the rearview mirror trying to inch out. She turns the wheel hard right, as far as the tires will go, and jerks out from behind the car in front of us. When we turn the whole line behind us mimics our move and angles into the traffic. The oncoming cars shudder enough for us to make a jerky leap into the torrent.
I lean away from the door expecting to get hit.
Dorothy guns it and we're in traffic but the exit we need to get too is four lanes to the right and 200 feet away.
I anxiously tell Dorothy "Slide over, slide over"!
"I'm trying" she yells back.
Incredibly she crosses the four lanes but keeps going over another two lanes where the highway divides into a local street.
"Get back I say!"
"Get back where?" she screams at me!
"Over" I say
"Over where" she says. "Which way? Point, point to where I should be!"
She's yelling at me now.
The pressure is intense. There is so much traffic she can't put her head up, she can't look around. There's no time to think - just do.
"Over there!" I point to the left.
She jerks the wheel to the left, we clamor over a curb height road divide - I can't believe we don't get hit - again. We get into the correct lane just in time - 4 seconds later we take a righthand ramp following the Lake Chapala sign. Whew. Unbelievable.

Dorothy is now completely frazzled. Traumatized. We're headed the right way but we're still in the city. The eight lane highway is lined with another two lanes of local roads on each side. It's dark. There are hordes of people walking about and waiting at bus stops. Everything is dark and silhouetted and as usual the buildings are worn and badly lit. We could be in a bad area - maybe not? In North America this would look like a bad area. Dorothy wants out of the traffic in a big way. She gets over to the far right to stay out of the fray - and the next thing we know we are exiting the highway.
We were over too far right.
We end up on an exit ramp.
Oh man!
We're locked onto the ramp.
We start descending.
The highway rises on our left like water filling a sinking ship.
Oh shit - where are we headed? We enter a tunnel. It's flooded by water. It's dank and peeling. We panic quietly. I don't think we said a thing to each other. All I could think of was a similar situation that left me in the South Bronx - but that's another story.
Thankfully we pop right up on the other side of the highway. We had entered a Reverso, a u-turn. After a couple of tense miles we reverso again and leave the city lights behind us heading into the black of night.

Away from the city it got so dark I couldn't see a thing outside our headlight illumination. Eventually the road began to narrow, curve and climb. We headed over the mountain that separates Lake Chapala from metropolitan Guadalajara. The road was a typical two lane country road with not a lot of room and a deep ditch on my side. Oh God please let us get to Dorothy's place! It's late, we're tired.

.... somethings going to happen, I just know it.

We keep a steely focus - eyes glued to the road. We find the Chapala bypass and take the back road to the town of Ajijic.
Almost there!
Past Ajijic we drive another 10-15 minutes looking for Dorothy's development. After a while we're out in the boonies again and just when we thought we had missed it - voila! - there it is.
We made it. Laredo to Lake Chapala in 1 day! Whoa.

It was an amazing drive full of stunning scenery and revelations - a true adventure. I'm glad we did it.

Next post, Dorothy's house in San Luis Cosala on the beautiful shores of Lake Chapala.


To read about my whole road trip from the beginning - Austin to Lake Chapala Mexico click here.