We are enjoying Ajijic so far. When we arrived, we stayed with Garry’s sister and her husband Lynn for two weeks while we looked for a place to lease. After two weeks of looking at places that were either too gross or too expensive, we became concerned that it was getting late in the rental cycle. We felt that if we didn’t find something soon, our choices would become fewer and fewer. So, we took a small condominium apartment in a nice but older development called Aves del Paraiso (Birds of Paradise). It's not perfect, but for lack of a better choice, we took it for 5 months. Although it is small, it does have a wonderful view of the lake. Of course, all of this took place before the full force of the economic meltdown had taken hold. Now, it seems that many regulars (Canadians and Americans alike) have cancelled plans to come to Ajijic this year and there are now quite a few nice places for rent.
As it turns out, however, Birds has not been such a bad choice for us. It is a smallish development owned by mostly Canadian snowbirds, and they all seem to have come south this year. They are a very social and friendly bunch and so we have quickly met a number of them. In addition, we also met a number of Daph and Lynn’s friends when we were staying with them in the development next door. Over time we’re confident we’ll have an interesting circle of friends here.
Ajijic is a very walkable town. Most shops and restaurants are within two or three kilometres of where we live. The streets are cobblestone and it’s all very Mexican despite the number of expats who live here. Most things one might need are available, and what is not can be readily found 45 minutes away in Guadalajara, which is itself a major adventure. Ajijic has two or three local “supermarkets” and a brand new Mexican Walmart has just opened. And, there is a local street market every Wednesday morning which has everything from fresh fish to beads and sandals. There is a movie theatre, an active and very good live theatre, many excellent restaurants and cafes of every style (a wonderful new creperie just opened and we are working our way through the menu), and dozens of fiestas celebrating every known event in Mexican history!
The western end of Lake Chapala (Mexico’s largest or second largest lake depending on who you ask) consists of a series of villages along the shore, some of which run together. In order from east to west, there is Chapala, Riberas del Pilar, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Ajijic, San Juan Cosala, and Jocotopec. Ajijic is the largest and has the largest expat population. Chapala, San Antonio and Jocotopec are smaller and mostly Mexican, so there is a lot of variety.
The whole area is very favourably situated for travel to other parts of Mexico. Puerta Vallarta is a five hour drive, Manzanillo a three hour drive, and the beautiful old colonial city of Morelia is only a three hour drive as well. Guadalajara is the closest and with a population of 8 million is the second largest city in Mexico. It has a fabulous cultural life - a State Symphony, live theatre, concerts with international stars like Sarah Brightman who just played last week, Celine Dionne who plays there next week, and this week the Lorena Ochoa LPGA Golf Tournament. It has a wonderful artistic suburb (Talapaque), another suburb where beautiful local furniture is crafted (Tonala), and one of the top two or three universities in Mexico. There is an international airport which has flights pretty much anywhere you want to go domestically or internationally. And first class bus service to anywhere in Mexico (seating pitch is better than executive class on most airlines).
Even though all of this travel infrastructure is available, we haven’t had time to utilize it much. We did, however, have the opportunity to bus it to Puerta Vallarta where we spent a wonderful week with our friends John and Rosalie in their gorgeous condominium in Conchas Chinas. We hope to explore some of the other places during the next several months.
We had a bit of excitement on our return from PV. Sunday afternoon we went to go out for a bit of shopping, and when Garry turned the car on, it started perfectly. Then, almost immediately, there was a loud clunk, followed by a horrible squealing sound which didn't stop till he turned the car off (almost immediately). A bit of research determined that a rather luckless squirrel had found a nesting place near the engine - turned out to be a fatal choice on his part. The bad news was that in the process, a couple of drive belts got destroyed, and the car became unusable. So there we were miles from a VW dealer and with no idea what to do. In the event, we decided to call Volkswagen Americas, a very large dealer in Guadalajara. After informing us that they couldn’t help us unless we could get the car to them, they suggested we try the Mexico VW roadside assistance. We tried that and were informed that it is only for cars purchased in Mexico. We really didn’t know what to do next. Then, a light bulb went on for Ann who said that she dimly recalled that our Mexican auto insurance policy covered roadside assistance and sure enough it did. So after talking to them in Mexico City at around 10 am, a truck (which they arranged) arrived at our place at about 2:30 pm. A very skilled driver loaded the little VW onto the truck's flatbed, and off we all went to Guadalajara - all at no cost to us. By 4 pm we were at Volkswagen Americas and by 5:00 we were back on the road (in a taxi) to Ajijic. Their English-speaking service attendant, Omar, showed us that the belts were in a very difficult location and informed us that it might take a day or two to complete the work. We left thinking that this would be interesting and probably expensive. But, would you believe it, the work was completed on time and for a total cost of 680 pesos, just a little over $50 US. Just another first in a whole series of firsts for us during our six weeks in Mexico.
As we said at the start of this post, we’ve been remiss in keeping up. We promise to be better and post regularly on all of our adventures in Mexico. Stay tuned...
