Hacienda Hunting and Other Matters of Import

Poor, Poor Deirdre

Yes, yes I know.  It's been a long time since the last blog.  But there is a reason.  I broke my arm which impacted my already fairly horrible typing ability.  I won't bore you with the details (everyone falls in Ajijic) but will say that having your arm in a sling for six weeks is very inconvenient.  I'm free at last and the only remaining downside is my PT which is both boring and painful.  However, while we are on the health front let me tell you about the explosion of medical facilities in Ajijic.

When we moved here there was only the Ajijic Clinic which was not an attractive health provider option. Really not.  Absolutely not.  Basically everyone went into Guadalajara which has world class hospitals etc.  Well, as more and more geriatrics stream into Lakeside the ever rapacious health care industry has recognized market potential and we have moved from one quasi clinic (recently renamed as a hospital) to the construction of three additional hospitals.  While we may be old and decrepit a total of four hospitals for a population of gringos of 20-30,000 seems a bit excessive.  Most Mexicans use the national health system while these new hospitals are all private.

The first new hospital to open was San Antonio Hospital and it was to its Emergency Room that I went when, after sleeping on the broken arm for a night, I came to the inescapable conclusion that I had done something REALLY bad to it.  We had just been to an opening celebration of the hospital so we kind of had the gist going in.  The hospital has MRI, CTI, all kinds of swanky X-ray and sonogram and whatever machines.   It has three operating theaters including one exclusively for ophthalmology-- old people get lots of cataracts.  But it is also very Mexico.  As we were taking the tour we went through a nicely appointed patient room to an adjoining patio.  This, we were informed, would be the place for patients and family to visit and relax and SMOKE!  Being gringos we all looked at each other askance, shrugged our shoulders and moved on hoping to find an in-house tequila bar.

An emergency room bed at the new hospital.

The MRI machine, which has still not been set up over two months later.  But they say 2 more weeks.

A typical room at the hospital.

One of the operating rooms...

and another operating room dedicated to opthalmologic surgery only (what with all the cataract surgeries for us people of a certain age).

OK, so in conclusion, I went to the ER, saw the doc, got x-rays, saw the orthopedic specialist, got fitted out with an elaborate sling thing and the whole bill was about $150 -- for everything. Amazing.
The two other hospitals will be coming on line in the next few months.  I imagine competition will be fierce.

Hacienda Hunting

One of the great parts of living here is that you can almost always find something interesting/unique/bizarre to do.  I was fascinated by a guy who has unearthed over a hundred haciendas in Jalisco (our state) in varying states of disrepair.  Jim (of Jim and Carols Mexican Adventure blog) knows a lot about Mexican history and hacienda life and when the chance came for Michael and I to join the crew on a hunt we were all in.  Doing it with a broken arm and Michael's notoriously poor knees showed a certain lack of judgement but we survived.

Our first stop was at a hacienda where the chapel was still intact and still in use.  Every hacienda had its own chapel and in many cases it is the only building to have been maintained because when the hacienda system ended the town would take control of the chapel.  Well, we were kind of lurking around and some older Mexican women were sweeping the plaza.  Jim inquired about the chapel and hacienda and the women became very animated and said they would take us to the priest who was having breakfast at his uncle' house and he would explain everything.  Every single Mexican person we asked about the haciendas was as open, friendly and helpful as could be.  So we (like 8 of us) tramp over to the uncles house and are ushered in.  Sure enough, the priest is eating his breakfast and is completely unfazed by having 8 unknown gringos milling about in the dining room.  He says he will get dressed and come over to the church and hold forth on the hacienda.

Now this is not your garden variety priest.  First, he is young and quite handsome.  Second, he shows up wearing a black (expensive) cowboy hat, black western shirt with studs, belt with a buckle the size of Dallas, tight jeans and black (expensive) boots.  Hmmm.  He's very gracious and shows us around the entire hacienda -- or what used to be the hacienda.  Now, part of it is his living quarters but the stables, workshops and storage houses have all been repurposed into village housing. His "office" was most interesting and done out as a barn with hay stacks to sit on, paper cut outs hanging from the ceiling, a bar with candy and cookies, a barrel with popcorn and a door which led to a dance floor. We sensed that this was not an everyday parish.

To find former haciendas, first look for the church bells and the church, because each hacienda had its own church on the hacienda grounds.

The clocks on this clock tower couldn't agree on the time.

The interior of the church...

and the next series of photos are of the priest's "office".

The priest showing us a hidden cellar in his "office".

From tiny tazas to bigger tazas, this wall in the priest's house has them all...

along with a display of the good china.

This ornate piece of pottery was for water with the "tazas" attached.

These next two photos show the priest in his dining room.

During the hacienda period, each hacienda had to function as a completely self sufficient entity.  Most had mills, and many had forges and coopers.  The majority of haciendas were engaged in agriculture (corn, sugar cane, hemp), cattle or mining.  But in each case they had to produce all the food and products that they needed in-house with very occasional trips to a city.

We visited two more haciendas that day.The second most interesting one was one we didn't even know existed.  While trying to find one hacienda in the town, the GPS took us to another -- which was strange since it was only a ruin.  We finally sorted out that it was the same hacienda in that both properties were owned by one family.  The one we found was smaller than the other and adjacent to a rail line so had probably been an offshoot of the first used to hold animals or products coming from or to market.  It was not that unusual for hacienda owners to possess more than one hacienda  --which didn't endear them to the common folk.  If you want to read a really terrific book (novel) that combines a description of hacienda life with Mexican mysticism pick up The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia.

Some haciendas have been long abandoned and allowed to slowly deteriorate.

However this mural has somehow managed to remain largely intact.

Some parts of the old hacienda seem to defy gravity.

This statue was inside of Rangers BBQ, where we stopped for lunch.

The owner had spent a considerable amount of time in Texas & served real Texas BBQ.

The most interesting part of the third hacienda was the church...

with its ornately flowered tribute to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

We were not only given a tour of the church, ...

but also the sacristy where we were shown these antique monstrances.

One of the monstrances was dated 1910, the year of the Mexican Revolution.

Fire On The Mountain

May and early June are the driest of the dry months in Ajijic.  The mountains are brown and combustible and almost everything is covered with a layer of dust.  It is not our most attractive time of year.  Every year there are fires before the start of rainy season in Mid June and, in typical Mexican fashion, they are allowed to burn out unless they threaten people, buildings or livestock. We've never had a fire close to us-- before.  For several days we had been monitoring the fires (multiple) that were nestled between the two sets of mountains in back of our village.  We bought water and supplies for the fire fighters and hoped for the best.  In Mexico, firefighting is not left to the professionals because there aren't enough professionals.  As the fire began to encroach on the village the word went out and hundreds of villagers went up the mountains dragging sand, shovels etc.  Just getting up these mountains is an act of courage -- particularly in the dark.

So, one night Michael and I were watching TV when our buzzer rang.  Michael went to the door and a neighbor yelled that the fire had crested the mountain and was headed towards us.  We gathered the passports, documents etc and were about to leave when our son Alex (who lives about a mile away) called to say that it looked like the villagers had beaten it back.  Our gardener had been up fighting the fire and had badly gashed his hand on razor wire.  He apologized that he wasn't fully functional.  We thanked him for working the fire.  There is no such thing as "not my job" here.  Refreshing.

The helicopter with its bucket flying to the lake to get water.

Where are the Maori?

We read, much to our amazement,  that a contingent of Maori were coming to town.  It was quite unclear WHY Maori were venturing from New Zealand to Ajijic but we have learned to go with the flow here.  It was alleged that we would be treated to a concert by the Maori on the Malecon on Sunday.  Well, having grown fond of the Maori during our time in NZ, we hustled ourselves right down there to partake of this stunning cross cultural event.

Well, there were no Maoris.  At least none that we could identify.  There were many vaguely, and overtly, hippy Mexicans who played lovely songs which all revolved around our/their love for and reverence for the Lake.  Maybe the Maoris came to worship the Lake?

 We'll never know because no one even MENTIONED the Maoris.  Not a word.   However, it was a lovely afternoon and the music was good.  The only distraction was the helicopter that kept swooping down over us to scoop water to pour on the infernos taking place behind us in the mountains. (See above entry)  But, no worries (oh, that's Aussie talk not New Zealandish).

Even though we did not see any Maoris, we did get free entertainment.

We also got a glimpse of some interesting characters.

A delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

We also saw some individuals in indigenous dress strolling along the malecon...

and this beautiful tree in full bloom.

So.  That's it for now.  After a quiet (for us) first half of the year things start to rev up now.  Off to Queretaro next weekend to look at kayaks and enjoy the town.  And then  we'll be off to Flagstaff and Sedona in a couple of weeks, on to  Hawaii and Japan in Sept/Oct and to the Copper Canyon in Northern Mexico in November.  So, much grist for the blog mill we hope.   Have a great summer.  Take care.

We thought we would leave you with two pictures of our beautiful green mountains, now that "rainy" season has arrived.

While Deirdre was in the pool, this dragonfly decided to perch on one of our plants near our dragonfly light on the wall.

Deirdre called to me and the dragonfly hung around to pose for his picture while I got my camera.