Ajijic

The 36th Annual Mexican Chilli Cook-Off was held in Lake Chapala at the Tobolandia Water Park on February 14, 15, and 16th, 2014. I attended on the 15th and there was quite a crowd. I have never been to the Cook-Off when there was not a crowd. It is the biggest social event and fund raiser of the year.  If you like great food, beautiful arts and crafts, meeting friends and making new friends, interesting...

After a long drive from Ajijic Mexico and spending five nights in the first class hotel, the Westin, in Puerto Vallarta, we drove on to San Blas. My friends had invited us to spend a few days at their house. It was an easy drive. What a relief from the first part of our trip. The road was fairly new, no potholes. It was a free road. We drove through beautiful countryside that turned into jungle when we got...

Efren Gonzalez had an art auction at the Ajijic Plaza on Friday, January 3rd, 2014. It was at three thirty exactly. Efren said that he had converted to American time instead of Mexican time and he would be starting all his auctions at the advertised time, on the dot. Since he was a few minutes early, he waited awhile before starting. If you have never been to any of his auctions or talked with him, you...

 The Ranch Illusion, located off the libramento, had a fund raising fiesta on Saturday Dec. 14th, 2013. It was for the Equine Therapy program. This ranch is also called the Pepe Martinez Equine Therapy Center (CET).  Dr Pepe is in charge of the program.  The event started at two in the afternoon and lasted until after midnight. I guess people were having too much fun to go home. The entrance fee was...

The time around the Day of the Dead is filled with interesting things to do and see. I have already written about the big celebration in the Ajijic plaza with the Zombie Thriller dance and parade,  pumpkin carving contest and art and craft show. These life sized, actually larger than life sized, Catrina Dolls were also out on the Ajijic and Chapala plazas. They were created by the school children with...

Saturday, October 26th, was a big day for Ajijic. There were several things happening in the Ajijic Plaza and the entire area was packed with participants and curious onlookers. The Michael Jackson Thriller Dance was one event. This is a worldwide dance to raise money for different charities. In Ajijic, it is for the Local Red Cross. People dressed in the zombie makeup and costumes were mixed in with the...

This year we were lucky. The Globos Celebration came off without rain but as you can see from these photos, the sky was very overcast. The next day it started raining and we have had rain for days now. The gods must have been looking down on us last Saturday to keep the rains at bay for the day. The date was Sept. 14th and the place was the grounds on Revolucion street. In order to save myself a good seat,...

I decided to take some of my favorite photos and write an overview of living in the lakeside area. My first impulse was to put on photos of all the holidays and celebrations. That proved to be too large of a task. I looked online at Mexican Holidays. There were nine major holidays listed and twenty nine ones that are called Observance days and four Season days. I have no idea of how many other days the...

Children's Day was Tuesday April 30th in Mexico. No classes on that day, just games and parties, pinatas and other great things for the children to do. In 1954, the General Assembly of the United Nations recommended that all countries institute a Universal Children's Day.  So this is a huge holiday all over the world, not just in Mexico. Most countries celebrate it on June 1st. The celebration in this...

Escaramuza in Spanish means skirmish. Another meaning is, "Riding from the heart." This one took place at the Ajijic bull ring on Sunday, April 7th. 2013. It was an all woman's horse show. It was a combination of equestrian skills, handcrafted tack, beautiful costumes, music and food. It is a rich heritage of living folk traditions dating back hundreds of years. Boy helping his father with...