Seen on the streets of Ajijic

Art is alive and well here!

We arrived here this visit to some crazy weather;  just before our return,  Ajijic had more rain in one day than in over 100 years of records. Last Saturday, after a beautiful day, we had SERIOUS thunder and lightning and lost our phone and internet. TV reception was still OK, though intermittent. So… I started this post as a Word document, to become a blog post – well - whenever the internet returned.

I need to respond to a question I often get when I’m back in our other home in Oregon. It’s some variation of “What do you do all day?” or “What’s a typical day there?.” The implication is that it must be hard to find things to do, so the assumption is that day after day is spent sitting in the sun doing nothing. Of course, that’s always available… But if you did that you would miss out on so many things.

It took awhile to summarize all the options and not end up with a post of epic proportions. No, really! So here goes –

The day begins when the sun rises, or when our Mexican dog comes to get us up, whichever comes first. I have coffee and something to eat, and read the weekly English language newspaper, the Guadalajara Reporter. The paper does a great job of publishing info about all the events in the area. I’ve got a day planner and I use it to keep track. Old school, I know, but it works.

For me/us on a day-to-day basis we spend our time going to the various open-air markets which tend to have a special focus. For example, the Tuesday Organic Market, is new within the last few years and is hugely popular. The original Ajijic market is on Wednesday and has a little bit of everything. You will often have to go to different locations for fish, for chicken and for bread! Yes, there is a transplant who lives here now who makes fabulous artisan bread like we are accustomed to in Oregon with a crusty outside unlike Mexican "pan". We also go to the many Estate Sales, or "bazars" looking for items that we can't easily get down here. The downtown area or "Centro" is clustered around the plaza as in all Mexican towns, and is rich with shopping options. I am usually looking rather than shopping, but there are so many galleries, and many weekends shows of various kinds in the plaza, such as the Michoacan Art Show (see my Jan 17, 2014 post) where you can look and purchase as you wish. I am fortunate enough to know a lot of very talented people here who exhibit in the Efren Gonzales Cultural Center or in the plaza occasionaly. Which brings me to the many Open House and Grand Openings and Re-Openings that are going on all the time. There are parades and fiestas related to the many holidays. If you google Mexican National Holidays you will be amazed at how many there are. You can begin to see why my day planner is so essential...

There are two gyms in town - nothing fancy, but they serve the purpose. I go three times a week. The cost is similar to what I pay up Norte. On Thurs afternoons, the maid comes so we leave for that couple of hours and take the dog for a "run around and chase the ball at the lake" adventure. Lots of people go hiking, or kayaking on the lake. I'm not that ambitious, I'm afraid. In the evening there are a couple of clubs that have really good music - sometimes local bands and sometimes gringos that are doing what they did (or wanted to do) in a previous life - blues, rock n roll, jazz and wonderful Mexican music is everywhere. I've talked about the restaurants here before. Some are nearly world class, as the chefs have often trained in the US or France in some of the best culinary schools. The only problem is that they open and sometimes close within months if they can't survive the first 6 mo.

I have 3 groups that I belong to here that are of special interest to me: the Writer's Group that meets twice a month and helps keep me inspired, Amigas Jewels is a group of talented women that make and sell jewelry (and often teach techniques and procedures to those of us that are still learning) and I belong to Lake Chapala Readers which is a group of mostly like-minded women who read books on e-readers like Kindle and get together once/mo for lively discussion . In addition to these, I volunteer at the Feria Maestro del Arte event in Nov. every year which is an intense 4 days of exposure to over 70 artists from all over Mexico in a sale and show in Chapala (just a few km east of Ajijic on the lake). Please see the poster above for this year's event and look at their website mexicoartshow.com.

So despite my best efforts, I have been unsuccesful in keeping this short. For specific info on some recurring annual events that are not to be missed see my previous posts from Feb 26, 2014 regarding the Mexican National Chilifest and Feb 23, 2012 and Mar 17, 2014 for the Carnaval Parade. For what goes on here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day see the post from Jan 22, 2012.

Among other things, I will post soon about a Mexican parilla (barbecue) on our patio - amazing experience!