Welcome to two of our newest tenants! They arrived two months ago, but they're not "Snowbirds" - they belong to the owner's wife. Beautiful, but very noisy, these are youngsters, and can live a very long time. Often they are included in peoples' wills to pass on to the next generation. Macaws can cost as much as several thousand dollars. I mention this as a lead in to the theme of this post: Why use money to maintain the integrity of your property when you can spend it on whatever frivolous project occurs to you at the moment?

For example, the tree they are perched in here is now enclosed in a very spendy cast iron strcture, with a concrete floor and covered with sheets of metal, like a grill - open to the air outside. It was designed by an engineer and is worthy of placement in a zoo. There is a ladder-like, multi level perch included for their entertainment. This aviary could easily house a few more birds. The joke is that it's larger than one of the smallest units here (inhabited by people).

The very OLD trees covered with what I believe is a variety of  Morning Glory was a spectacular sight. They cut them back to look like the ones in the bird enclosure - very bare and ugly. I can imagine it took many years for them to look as they did. In the process of cutting these two trees back, several huge piles of debris and many large chunks of wood, some that probably measured close to 4 ft across sat in one of our neighbor's front lawn and walkway for a week before it was cleared. You may also notice the spindley roses planted in the foreground below. Those were the first of truckloads of rose bushes brought in and planted all over the property, and promptly ignored, many of which are diseased and dying now. None of the staff is trained to maintain roses properly - heck, they can't even water them all there are so many! And all the while this is going on the plumbing in nearly every one of the units here has serious issues and is beginning to fail... We can only hope the owner will take notice sometime in the near future. Mind you, I'm not holding my breath on that one.

This was the "castillo" that was set off at the primary church near the plaza downtown at the height of the San Andres fiesta which took place the week of American Thanksgiving. We had friends visit that week and, to their credit, they were extremely good sports about the noise - especially because they were only blocks away from the source of it all! We went down to the plaza the night of the fireworks just to be a part of it, and it was huge. Many, many people there that night and rides, music and vendors of all kinds that reminded you of a carnival. Castillo, by the way, is one of those words that have two meanings. We have many in English. In Spanish the word means castle, but is used to describe these firework structures that are very intricate and built to order, by hand, for any given event. In the past we have seen people actually climb onto them and spin around on parts of the structure that were not lit. They are fearless here. Another example is the way they drive with total disregard for any other vehicle beside their own. But you don't want to get me started on that one ...

Above is the inner garden at a charming B & B in Chapala that we were able to visit when our friends were here that week. Locals call it "the double Q". It's actually called Quinta Quetzalcoatl. Recently written up in the Guadalajara Reporter, the writer DH Lawrence stayed here in 1923. We also visited the historic former railroad station, now a museum in Chapala, that day. So much to see - so little time.

Correction from a previous post: A catrina I named "La Rueda" is actually "La Rusa" - the legendary Horsewoman in Black who was a wealthy Russian ballerina that relocated to this area. "Rueda" means wheel in Spanish" La Rusa's beautiful home is in Ajijic, and is occasionally available for long-term lease.

Here is the altar table I mentioned in my last post that was prominently placed at the entrance to the main vendors section at the Feria Maestros del Arte event. I was told that one of the artist's children hand-lettered the pink chairs, each with the name of one of the murdered students. Below is a picture of one of my favorite things seen there - a unique chess set. Each piece was handmade, of course, with great detail. My son is an excellent chess player and it would have been fun to get this for him, however he has a new baby and no time to play these days. Besides, this is such a special set I'd be afraid to actually use it, wouldn't you?

Over Thanksgiving week we had friends visit us here. Although I should've remembered how crazy and loud that week is in Ajijic, I didn't. In general there are fiestas almost continuously from that week until the end of the year, although if you are in town - that's the one. It is the week that the residents of Ajijic pay tribute to their patron saint, San Andres (St. Andrew, patron saint to fishermen). Difficult to believe now, as the lake is so low compared to many years ago, but fishing in Lake Chapala was a huge "industry". Although it is still done now, the lake will never be what it was those many years ago.

To continue with this thread, see my next post. San Andres fiesta week was calamatous in some ways, but also great fun for us and our visitors. My larger photos seem to cut short the amount of space I can use each time for a post. I'll make that sacrifice for the larger, more detailed pics!

Entrance to Day of the Dead altar displays

Pancho Villa altar with live impersonator

The largest local showing of Dia de Los Muertos altars on Nov 2nd was in Chapala. According to the Guadalajara Reporter, there were over 70 altars there on display, and it took over a good portion of the main thoroughfare in town. There were altars for local performers, founding fathers, historical figures and internationally known musicians as well as well-loved local patriarch and matriach family figures and for some who lost their lives early due to unfortunate circumstances. My guess is that there were a couple thousand people in the area for this event, with perhaps only about 100 of them Gringos.

Another place I saw a distictive altar for the Dia de los Muertos celebration was at the Feria Maestros del Arte. In my next post I'll have the photo of a table set up at that event to commemorate the deaths of 43 students in Guererro. President Pena Nieto has come under fire for his lack of effectiveness in dealing with the tragedy which spurred thousands to march in many cities in Mexico and elsewhere. The similarities to marches happening in the US at this time are notable. All of these have been spurred by murders of people (many of them children or young people) at the hands of, or with the help of, those in positions that are expected to be protectors. In the case of the Mexican students, there is a great deal of evidence that points to the mayor of the town where their school is providing assistance to drug cartel members to allow the mass-killing to occur.

Catrina with a dog

Vampire princess at our door

Catrina with bird cages

Evil clown catrina

La Rueda catrina

I had so many wonderful pictures from the last few weeks that they will be the main focus of this post.The little girl in the upper left hand photo is a neighbor, and is really "in the moment", I think. The Mexican kids have finally embraced Halloween as the beginning of the Dia de los Muertos celebration that runs through Nov 2nd. Kind of like I imagine it was when Santa Claus was added to Christmas many years ago, you know? When we first started visiting the area 9 yrs ago they didn't know what it was. Now they go door to door saying the Spanish equivalent of "Give me Halloween" and know they will get dulces (sweets) in return.

The remainder of the images are from a display in Chapala of many catrinas along the malecon (the walkway by the lake) and throughout part of Chapala centro. I had a couple more photos from the Dia de los Muertos festival that I will have to post separately. It was a huge celebration.
 

Mexican barbeque on our patio

Can you pick out the gringo in the picture? Last weekend the folks that keep this beautiful place that we live in while in Mexico maintained, in all ways, threw us a welcome back party. As is customary, whole extended families were there, many that we knew and many we did not. We were introduced to most and struggled with how to describe the relationships, beyond hija (daughter) and hijo (son) and grandaughter/grandson (nieta/nieto).The terms for stepchildren or "in-laws" seemed especially difficult to transfer. Cooking began at about 3:30 and continued for hours, as did the Cervesa and Tequila drinking. They filled a whole table with side dishes, including Nopales in a wonderful salad. Nopales are the flat cactus "paddles" that are hard to find outside of Mexico but commonly found on Mexican tables. I was surprised to find they tasted much like lightly steamed green beans, slivered in the salad with sweet red peppers and white onions and probably some limon (lime) juice. There was also a salad with jicama, cucumber, pina (pineapple) and ? Also very fresh and healthy. The grilling started with small, sweet onions, then Chorizo, Carne Asada, and a stack of thin steaks. In addition were the usual sides: mountains of rice steamed in stock, warm tortillas, soft Mexican cheese, homemade salsa and frijoles. We had several bilingual attendees which allowed the conversation to flow between us all with few snags. After hours of eating, a couple of the guys insisted that they go pick some corn to grill for those that were still there. Some of us groaned - no room! - but No was not an option. All in all, a great evening due to our gracious hosts who also cleaned up nearly everything so that I had little to follow up on the next day!

Saturday, Oct 26 unofficially begins the extended celebration of Dias de los Muertos. I will post details on some of the events later as it will run through the first couple of days of Nov. What has become one of my favorite parts of this holiday is the local participation in the "Thrill the World" event that will happen at the plaza on Oct 26 in Ajijic (and in locations all of the world.) For a look at last year's performance go to You Tube at http://youtube/QvJ4mbyEIHc. If this copied address doesn't work, look for "Ajijic Zombies 2013 - Thrill the World" there. 

Below are pictures of my two favorite "catrinas" on display at the Ajijic plaza

  

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!