"The Boys" Our garage door mural behind.

Less than 3 wks. until we return to the states!

Just as we have begun to get so comfortable here in this place often referred to as a "paradise", and as the place of "perpetual Spring", we have to think about going back North.

Our experience over 4+ mo. here has at times been exaspirating, challenging, compromising - but wonderful all the same.  Examples:  The boys across the street finished the 2nd fl. of their casa over a couple of weeks. It started as an open, concrete shell and is now beautiful!  It was fun to watch and listen to them.  Think Karaoke Extraordinaire!  They listened to a 70's oldie radio station and sang loudly (and nicely) to the songs they liked - loudly (but poorly) to those they didn't. Knew all the English words : )  Here everyone loves the Beatles, Annie Lenox, Billy Joel, Elton John,  Springsteen and any of the pop stuff from back then - within a 6 wk. period Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana all played in Guad. this Spring  : ) Then there was the car repair that should've taken 4-5 days that took over 3 weeks causing us to need a rental car, and adding $900US to cost of the repair : (  The maid (paid for by the owners) comes once a week, we have to vacate the house by 9 am every Fri. for 5 hrs. since she tears the place up while she cleans : (  So we go out and explore the area and then eat lunch at one of our two favorite places. : )  Fun, but it costs extra money for gas and lunch  - and we have no choice about it. : ( We have seen some really nice places we would like to secure for our next trip down here, but amazingly no one will take a down payment for next November!  They will not tie anything down now for that time period : (  We just don;t get it, but are resigned, as that's just the way it is.

And through it all - the weather remains fabulous day after day.  Makes it all OK, you know? ...

Doors in Ajijic

Art is everywhere here - even on the doors to peoples' houses!

Although most people think of San Miguel Allende as the "artist colony" in this area, the truth is there are many forms of art to be amazed and inspired by within a day or two drive from here.  Each one seems to have it's specialty, if you will.  Hand-crafted furniture, for example, is mainly done in an area at the far end, and east of Lake Chapala.  Woven baskets and sombreros are mainly done in an area across the lake from us here (as are finely crafted knives).  In Oaxaca they make wonderful woven things - rugs and more.  Then there is Guadalajara, which is a huge city that has nearly every form of art available to see and purchase.  Our favorite place, if I could choose one, would be a suburb called Tonala that is the place to find tile, pewter, stonewear, glassware, etc. etc.  Everything there is available in a sort of no frills, outlet area - no fancy shops here!  Generally the items are being produced in back of the store.

But back to Ajijic - here they have many people, both locals and gringos that are doing every kind of art.  The small group here (Ajijic Society of the Arts) is very active.  Check their website at www.ajijicart.weebly.com for just a small representation of the members' work.  This weekend is their annual judged show where painters, sculpters, photographers, jewelry and clothing designers and others all come together.  I can't wait! There is such a huge pool of talent here (some huge egos as well, but that's another story).  A few new friends from the jewelry group here will be competing.  And then everything is on display until the end of the month at the Cultural Center at the plaza.

An even larger representation of the enthusiasm for the arts in this area is an annual expo called Feria de los Maestros del Arte which draws from the entire country.  It happens in early November every year somewhere in the Lake Chapala area.  For more information and a look at the various forms of art represented at this fantastic show see their website at www.mexicoartshow.com.  I have not been here to see the show yet, but we will be back in time to see it this year.  Another potential event that would be fun to volunteer for as well!  

This is the beautiful, but "deadly" Jacaranda tree in the lot on the corner behind us.  It apparently causes serious respiratory illness in some people - especially those who normally have hay fever in response to blooming things.  Gregg became absolutely miserable several days ago and just happened to mention it to the guy who cuts his hair. It's pretty common here. Went to a doctor he recommended on Fri. and got a shot of cortisone, and two meds which he has to take for 10 days or so. He's still honking a lot but at least he can sleep now.

We've been shopping for a house to stay in next visit.  There are a lot of them out there for rent, and we hope to find one with a pool next time.  For $850-950US per mo. you can get a 2 bdrm, 2 bath place in almost any area. We like an area on the edge of town called La Floresta, and looked at a house there we would rent in a minute.  But .... the owners come to stay Dec.-Mar. every year, and no one will take a deposit this far in advance for Nov. or Dec. anyway. So if we find one we like, we still have to check back 60 days before we come to see if still available, and then nail it down with a deposit. There are a couple of gated communities with pool, tennis courts and gym available that are also in that range that we need to check out.  A few things we now know:  bring a BBQ down with us next time, absolutely no more places in the village (too noisy), switch the cell phone over to international plan before coming, keep on top of all utility bill payments made by others (they will suspend service immediately if late), new construction is better no matter how charming a place might be as the electricity can ebb and flow at peak times, the internet coverage can be spotty or weak, and the pilot light can go out periodically.  And, unfortunately, NO Jacaranda trees anywhere near!

Above is a photo taken of Mazatlan sunset on 2/13. To the right is one of the (many) fish the guys caught the day they went fishing.  Don't know if this is a Grouper, Trigger fish, or?  They are wonderful cooked on the BBQ!  Our host loaned me a book he said re-minded him so much of Mexico - he said I would really appreciate the humor and similarities, although it is placed on a fictitious island in the Caribbean. It's Herman Wouk's "Don't Stop the Carnival".  The similarities are astounding.  Imagine a kind of Murphy's Law thing ...

Fortunately we have lots of time to work out the problems that we encounter every day.  Two weeks ago at the 34th Annual Chili Cook-Off competition here, we came out to our car after our visit and it wouldn't start.  No problem, we know someone who knows someone who does good car repair work.  We went to Mazatlan after he took possession of our car, came back 5 days later and he had done nothing with it.  In the meantime we are renting a car which we find costs about what it does up north.  In this case, we won't get reimbursed I don't think... Gregg talked to the guy this morning - he can't find the part we need.  Gregg went on the internet and he'll have to get it sent in by UPS himself!  In the meantime the daily rental fee keeps tallying up.  So, if the bill for the actual repair is cheaper than at home, it makes no difference because it will end up costing us a LOT more because of the non-refundable rental car fees.  Not to mention, the inconvenience.  But it's better not to dwell on that as, this is Mexico, and that's how it is. We lost TV for 3 days as well.  It was a credit card issue with the owners, and is OK now. On the upside, we have figured out how to deal with the phones.  Skype is set up to communicate with our family.  We have learned how to work with the odd open and close hours here, for the most part.  So much of it is all about picking your battles or shrugging it off.  The weather, by the way, is back to fantastic.  80 degrees for several days now. 

King/Queen Ugly

Amazing stiltwalker

These are two of 20 something photos taken at the Fat Tuesday parade, part of the local Carnaval celebration. This area has it's own set of traditions - one is the crowning of King Ugly who has a beautiful, young female counterpart who is crowned queen.  The parade is unique in that it plays out a very old legend of the "sayacas".
They are men dressed as women using balloons strategically placed to fill out their dresses.  They go to great lengths, using wigs, makeup or masks, gloves and carrying handbags that have confetti and flour in them.  The legend is that a deranged old woman once escaped from a hospital and chased young men around town, trying to kiss them and asking them to dance.  When they refused her, she would throw face powder at them from her purse.  Now the parade starts with young boys running in advance, being chased by the sayacas with the flour-filled purses.  Women also dress up as men in suits, hats etc. and will occasionally stop and dance with the men to the music of the bands playing in the parade.  As you can imagine, bystanders are also floured and confettied profusely as well as pelted with beads and candy. There are floats and the parade finishes up with charros on horseback. It was great fun!

We are in Mazatlan this week. No photos to post this time!  Hope we can get a few while we are here to share later.

We left Ajijic on Tues. morning and it was cold and rainy.  The rain was gone by the time we got to the other side of Guadalajara, and as we drove north, it became steadily warmer.  Beautiful here!  We were graciously invited to come visit a friend who owns a place at Estrella del Mar, which is about 20 km south of Maz.  Their unit is about 100 yds. from the beach and the view out the back deck is of the pool(s), the beach and the ocean as far as the eye can see.

Yesterday we went in to Mazatlan to see the town and to find out what we could about Carnaval happenings there this week.  Not too much yet, although we did get to see a large group of kids aged from about 6 - 18 dressed up in full Carnaval gear (the older girls with the skimpy, shiney outfits and the head gear with huge feathers) practicing their dance routine.  Down by the water their were massive paper mache figures to represent the theme ("la Fiesta de los Imperios").  This is their 114th Mardi Gras celebration!  Unfortunately, with tourism down so drastically, it will probably be a much smaller attendance than the 60,000 visitors they are used to getting each year.  We went to the top of one of the oldest tourist hotels in town (12 fl. high, built in 1944).  From the top you could see all the bays and all the various landmarks in the entire area.  Fantastic view!

Today Gregg is fishing, and there was some stormy weather this morning so I hope he and our host are OK.  Cell phone reception is not good from out on the water, so if they ran into trouble I wouldn't immediately know about it. It's not a very large boat they are in, but with a local guy who takes gringo fishermen out for a living, so he knows his stuff and the local water and its challenges.

White Egret fishing in the lake

Communication frustration in Mexico:

For at least a week (that we know of) we have had no phone service at our place here.  It's one of the extras beyond the rent that we pay.  We have been able to use the phone to call out maybe once or twice at the end of Dec. and we have received a couple of calls from the property mgmt. place about the same time.  Since, we've tried to use the phone several times, and gotten a recording including the words "servicio sospendido" or something close to that.  We reported that to our mgr. and were told it was paid.  Two days ago I wanted to call home and still could not call out.  Ironically, we received a phone bill at the house the next day showing no payment for Dec. or Jan.  We have only one call on the bill for $2 pesos. The bill is for $811 pesos. We are stuck paying it as it includes internet which is the only thing we have left that works.  For some unknown reason we can not use our cell phones either right now.  That is controlled by TelCel or TelMex (no differnece - they are owned by the same person).

Help!  I am in process of setting up to use Skype to contact home, but our daughter doesn't have the set up yet so that doesn't even work at this time.  Makes me feel a little like being stranded on a desert island somewhere..