Monday, November 5, 2018

A Week in Old Ajijic

We're always writing about our trips and our good/mis fortunes along the way.  So, for a change of pace we thought we'd let you take a look at what our life is like when we aren't on the road.  So, here we go with a roundup of last week.

Saturday dawned clear and beautiful and Michael donned his kayaking outfit, assembled his gear and ultimately decided that it would be suicidal to go kayaking before he knew what was really going on with his hip and leg.  So, that didn't work out.  I had to do some grocery shopping before the hordes of Guadalajarans hit town so I headed to Super Lake to recharge the pantry.  Super Lake has everything a Gringo wants -- if said Gringo is willing to pay an exorbitant price for it.  Like a box of Triscuits for $7 USD or a jar of pickles for $8.00.  Generally we refrain from these purchases but, you know, sometimes you just want a Triscuit GOD DAMN IT and you will pay anything for it.  It's true.After succumbing to a few temptations but resisting many more, I returned to the casa.  By this point Alex and Chico had come over and were lounging about.

A Road Less Traveled

Alex suggested that we take a ride down a  country road that he and his friend Dylan had discovered a few months ago.  We thought that sounded pleasant.  After a lunch at Yves (the restaurant with the two white donkeys that we love) we headed out for the adventure.  Unlike the rest of the world where wildflowers bloom in spring, our wildflowers bloom in the fall -- and they are quite amazing. First, they are huge.  Second, flowers that are cultivated in the U.S. (like Cosmos) grow wild here. This road runs between two mountain ranges -- the one right in back of our house and another closer to the airport.  While it started out asphalt, it rapidly turned to dirt....and mud....and streams you had to ford. All right!  That's our kind of Saturday afternoon.  The men were thrilled with the ability to put the Outback through her paces and demonstrate the value of "clearance",  while I was content to lurch from side to side with a big dog leaning on me while absorbing the beauty of the wildflowers.  Cue some wildflower and mountain pictures.....














We were not alone on this road.  About every fifteen minutes we would see another car.  But about every five minutes we would encounter cattle, goats, donkeys or horses on the road.  They like to be on the road.  It is convenient.  They can stand/sit/roll around on the road while grazing or at least not being bothered by the underbrush.  While many understood the drill and would amble off the road upon our approach, others more mentally limited or just feisty would defy us until we laid on the horn.  What is amazing about this drive is how completely remote it feels (and is) while only being about 30 miles from the center of Guadalajara -- the second largest city in Mexico.  In about two and a half hours we passed through maybe 5 very little villages and saw maybe 50-75 people.  It was terrific.  We reentered Ajijic victorious and with a car that was totally covered in mud.  In Ajijic, there are about a zillion guys who want to wash your car -- all the time...even when it's clean. For 40 or 50 pesos ($2 or a bit more). This car drew them like a magnet.  We had to repel them because our gardener gets offended if anyone touches the car but him.  I love it here.


In addition to the cows, we also encountered horses...

and this lone burro.

An exhausted Chico at the end of our journey.


We had a couple of hours to clean up and recharge before we met our friend Donna for dinner.   Her significant other Todd was under the weather so just the three of us headed to La Pacena.  It's a little restaurant which is one step up from a street food venue but the food is great and the servers very sweet.  When you ask what kind of red wine they have, they say "red".  When pushed, they say Merlot.  That's it.  Merlot or Merlot.  But the food is terrific.  Very fresh fish served in a broad variety of ways.  Total tab:   $ 37  USD.  I love this place.

Sunday...Sunday

Sunday offered a dramatic sunrise and once over our awe we needed to decide what to do.  We considered going to Open Circle at LCS -- a weekly lecture/discussion of a broad range of subjects.  I read the synopsis in the Guad Reporter of the lecture entitled:  "The Dimensions of the Universe and You".  The description:  "The real miracle of the existence of the Universe is that the whole manifestation -- everything that is knowable--emerges from the inherent properties of the very stuff of which it all consists."  Way, way too cerebral for a breezy, warm Sunday morning.  Plan 2:  Go into the Village and walk around and see what happens.  We went with that.  We parked by the Malecon and went immediately to see how high the Lake water was.  Those of you who have been here or live here know that the Lake varies a great deal in capacity and at some points since we've lived here there has been as much as 300-400 feet of beachfront.  No more.  After a great rainy season the Lake is 86%+ full and the water is up to the Restaurants that front the beach.

Ajijic has joined the Mexican towns spelling our their name in colorful letters.

The colorful murals around the skate park at the Malecon.








With the water at its highest level since 2008, there is no more beach in front of the Malecon.

The pelicans have returned to a very full lake.

Although when the water is released from the dam, the lirio (water hyacinth) floats in as well. This lirio is floating on water which is all the way up to the wall of Maria Isabel restaurant. Just a month ago we launched our kayaks about six feet past the tree in the background.


The pier is now completely surrounded by water.


From there we wandered up the main street, Colon, and popped into a coffee shop  and, for me, breakfast.  We sat people watching for a while and then meandered on up the street.  People were beginning to decorate for Day of the Dead.  We stopped in to see our friend John who works at Dian Pearl after bumping into Linda who runs the cooking school on Constitution.  While talking to John, I looked up and saw this piece of art that I fell in love with.  It isn't actually a painting.  Some artist, with apparently infinite patience, takes TINY pieces of different colored straw and presses them into bee's wax to form, in this case, a very intricate picture. It is then coated with a coat of something to protect it and it is ready to go.  The technique is called Popotillo.  Our picture (yes, of course Michael succumbed to my pleading) depicts the history of Mexico.  We'll include a photo and see if you can follow the sequence.....

The lively murals make Ajijic such an enjoyable place to take a stroll.








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The millenials have nothing on these boomers, each on their own devices sitting in the Plaza.

While these three individuals have different devices to get around the Plaza.

A local artist, Efren Gonzales, created the wall of skulls, which was recently completed. This is up all year long, but is particularly relevant during Dia de los Muertos.




The popotillo picture Deirdre fell in love with, which now hangs on the wall in our living room.

Having loaded up our purchase we headed to our friends Greg and Kate's house to both say goodby since they are leaving for the winter for their house at the beach (near San Blas) and to shoot a few photos of their house here.  When we were in Canada and visiting Roland and Andre they evinced some interest in coming to Ajijic next winter so we are scouting possible places for them.  The day wound down with a couple of errands, watching the news (ugh!) Alex grilling us some steaks and binging on Man In The High Castle.  If you haven't watched this series on Amazon Prime go for it. Really terrific and a tad terrifying.  What if the Nazis HAD won?

Attending to Requirements

The early part of the week was devoted to doing "what needed to be done".  I joined a Yoga class. We followed instructions like: "If you've had a knee replacement you MUST use the blanket".  They call it Gentle Yoga -- I think you see why.  We had an architect come in and explained that we think we want to enclose the terrace with those nifty window/screens that go floor to ceiling and then add a terrace 9 feet beyond that runs the length of the back of the house.  This will also offer shade by the pool which we desperately need.  We really need more room to entertain and the existing terrace suffered from rainy season inundation, mosquitos and...mosquitos. Then off to the Doctor for Michael. One day an MRI and the next the orthopedist.  Good News!  Well, kind of.  It's not his hip. It's not his thigh.  It's a compressed nerve in the back.  No surgery, just PT.  He actually is feeling a lot better.  But the knees still require corrective measures.  Having dutifully attended to all this we ramped up for....

Day of the Dead

I won't go into the explanation because after six years of blogs about it I think you get the drift.  But we can't resist some photos.  We walked the plaza early this morning so we could capture people actually creating the alters.  Note how even small children are included.  Then off to Chapala which always has the most extensive displays. All these altars were done by secondary school kids and they are dressed as catrinas.  The theme this year was science and ecology and featured many activists -- most of whom were assassinated.  Sometimes Mexico can depress you. Then back home and out again to celebrate our friend Vicki's birthday.  This is the period of a zillion celebrations -- the Virgin circles the lake,  St. Andrew's (our local saint's celebration), Day of the Dead and a bunch of others. All entail vast numbers of cojetes (the incoming artillery shell sounding things), brass tuba bands, loud music day and night and (to be fair) beautiful flowers.  So the next few months will be loud and busy.

Some of the Catrinas set up in Ajijic Plaza for Dia de Muertos.



Some altars being set up in Ajijic Plaza.  Note the dog skeleton.

The whole family, from youngest to oldest, is part of the effort.

Florerias (Florists) do a booming business as Mexicans purchase flowers to decorate the graves of their loved ones in the Panteon (cemetery).



As amazing as the elaborate altars may be, the living catrinas are even more amazing. These two Aztec dogs are posing with these catrinas.



This very large catrina stands at the entrance greeting all to the Cultural Festival of Life & Death.


Even this little Aztec puppy is decorated as a catrina.





This catrina and the altar are dedicated to La Japonesa, thus the Japanese kimono.








Dia de Muertos sprang from an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. Here an Aztec altar is being set up with greater detail shown below. (Note the popcorn).



Two huge pieces of pan de muerto, with the smaller traditional pan de muerto to the right in the display case.

Off to the Coast for Thanksgiving so more from there if not before.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you  -- well except all the Canadians and our English and German friends.  But you know what we mean.








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