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Here is one of the most spectacular settings we enjoyed as we dined with friends along the pier of Ajijic. In March, we also got to spend time touring some of the colonial cities in the mountains about 200 miles east of here and spent many of our last days in Ajijic saying farewell to the many friends we made since we started wintering here. We hope you enjoy seeing some of the pictures we took as we continue "Roaming through Retirement".
Click here to share your stories with us Larry and Glorine.
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| Volunteering is a way of life for many of the expatriates living in Ajijic. Top left is Glorine with two others staffing admission to one of the largest annual fund raisers held in Ajijic, a three day event called the Chili Cook-off. Top right is Dennis and Nancy from Arizona joining us for a ten-day vacation arriving just in time for the Cook-Off events. Bottom left is one of several "dancing horses" showing off their talent and bottom right is Dennis sizing up a cowboy sombrero--(no Dennis is not riding the horse). |
For some people, parties are also a way of life in Ajijic so we hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner party to introduce Dennis and Nancy to some of our friends in Ajijic. Glorine got the script called "Dexter's Place" from our daughter Denise. After a great dinner of Fajitas, Glorine took over as director for the evening. In advance, everyone got a description of their roles and suggested clothing, but no one knew who committed the murder. What a fun night we had. |
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| The characters included Dennis and Nancy (top left). Chuck and Jean (top right). Brian and Marilyn (bottom left) and Norm and Lil. While every one of these characters had reasons to kill "Dexter" and the play gave out clues to "who did it" it was still not obvious until the very end. Lil did it! |
Many days start with a morning stroll around Ajijic. Here we are with Dennis and Nancy at Ajijic's newly built Malecón, a mile long walkway along the shores of Lake Chapala. In the background, is the restaurant on the pier where the picture (top of page) of the sunset was taken. |
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| We took a day trip to Tlaquepaque (tah-lah-kee-paw-kee), an art community in south Guadalajara. With Dennis and Nancy having their own horse farm, they were attracted to this metal work. |
After a day of touring, we ate dinner at this great restaurant in Tlaquepaque and watched this 12 member all-women Mariachi band. What a talented group! |
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| Back in Ajijic, here is Dennis and Nancy on the terrace at Norm and Lil's place in the foothills of Ajijic with one of the nicest overlooks of Lake Chapala. |
Our first stop on the colonial city tour was San Miguel de Allende, founded in 1542. It has dozens of beautiful churches, the most striking of which is the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, even at night. San Miguel is also known for women sandals and for Dennis the "Blue Door" home of the cheapest and greatest pastries. |
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| Our next stop was a few hours in Delores Hidalgo, where Father Miguel Hidalgo called for the independence of Mexico from Spain. Among other things, Delores is known for its pottery, each one molded and hand painted at local factories. We bought our share. |
Welcome to Guanajuato (gwan-ah-what-toe), one of the most picturesque cities in Mexico. The upper left is the entry to an endless system of tunnels that gets you to various parts of the city. Next are colorful homes along one of the many hillsides that make up the city. Next is Carl, owner of a beautifully designed bed and breakfast who we met last year. By luck we ran in to him again this year. The last picture is of a cage that displayed the head of Father Hidalgo for ten years. In retribution for starting the revolution, Spain placed the heads of four of the most notorious leaders of the Mexican revolution in cages that were hung for all to see. |
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| Walking, eating and taking pictures were our primary accomplishments while in Guanajuato. Top left is a walkway on top of a walkway with a restaurant/pub. Next is another hillside with two of the 35 churches in the foreground. Bottom left is a former street, now walkway that displays the vibrant colors of the homes in the city. Last, are Nancy and Glorine relaxing during our walk near one of the many entries into the cities tunnel system. |
Back in Ajijic, we settled into a day at the spa. Here we are joined with Dennis and Nancy, Maureen and Wayne and friends Peter, Sybilla, and Marilyn in one of several different hot tubs designed to treat various ailments. Next we mudded up in the mud baths and acted like wild cave people (and this was before the margaritas). The spas are located on the edge of Lake Chapala with a splendid view of the mountains. We capped off the evening at Viva Mexico, a true Mexican restaurant with an enormous painting of this quaint Mexican village in the background and home to a sizable $5.00 fillet mignon and $2.00 margaritas. |
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| It's banana harvest time! Since moving into our home in Ajijic, we watched the bananas grow and wondered how and when we would harvest them. After our trip to the mountains, they were ready. In fact, some were over ripe. So we cut down about 50 good bananas, ate some and froze the rest. Soon after we harvested one bunch, another new growth of bananas popped out of no where. |
Opportunities to volunteer never quite. The annual Fashion Show sponsored by the Red Cross was held a couple of weeks before we left. This gave Glorine, Maureen and dozens of others an opportunity to help out at another fund raiser, this one made up of some of Ajijic's most beautiful women, clothing and jewelry. This turned out to be another great success. |
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| Lake Chapala is home to 300,000 people. About 25,000 are expatriates from the US, Canada and other English speaking countries, many of whom stay three to five months during the winter. Come March, many of those are packing up for their trip north. To celebrate our experiences together, we hosted a "Going North Party" for about 60 people. Here are a few of the many pictures we took to capture the fun and excitement we had. |
It's Glorine's Birthday!! Friends Jean and Chuck hosted a surprise party at there home, but we all think Glorine knew it was happening. But what surprised her most was the number of people that came out to celebrate with her. |
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| Friday Night at Trattoria de Giovanni (or to locals just "Johnnies"), is one of many Happy Hours hosted by local restaurants. This one attracts between 15 to 50 people, depending on the week. This often is the start of what becomes an evening of dinner and dancing. This particular night was also a farewell party for some of the snowbirds. |
Two couples we spent a lot of time with this winter were especially nice by treating us to a farewell dinner at one of Ajijic's nicest restaurants. It was a great way to say farewell for the season. |
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| | One of the many friends Glorine made was with Wendee Hill, co-owner of ACA, an organic farming non-profit organization. Glorine volunteered with them for the past two winters. Last year Glorine helped organize a weekly lecture series focused on Mexican foods, environmental and gardening issues to help raise money that ACA could use to help support its overall organization. Glorine's role this year was to develop a new data base for all the attendees of the lecture series and help market upcoming talks. It was an experience that truly enriched her life and got us both into the fabric of Ajijic. |
It was fitting that we spent our last outing with the first couple we met when we arrived in Ajijic in December of 2007. They are Ken and Lisa Clark, who we rented from last year. It is often said that the weather brings lots of people to Ajijic, but it is the friends that bring you back. While this may sound "trite" to some, this saying became true for us. The mountains, lake and the beautiful Malecón offers lot of peace and tranquility but it is the friends that make Ajijic such an exciting and enjoyable adventure. We will have many fond memories of our winter in Ajijic as we continue Roaming through Retirement. |
