Greetings from Ajijic, Jalisco

This post finds me enjoying a beautiful day in sunny Ajijic, on the shores of Lake Chapala. A town of about 15,000, it's population swells during the winter season as migratory snowbirds from all over North America come to spend winter here basking in the winter sun, grooving on the mild climate and taking advantage of the (relatively) inexpensive cost of living that can be found here.

We're staying in the Jewel House, one of two casas owned by Leo and Sheila Gutman. A pleasant 2 bedroom abode, well appointed and within walking distance of town, CasaGutman is one of many rentals catering to wintering norte americanos.

While we aren't here for the entire winter (yet) we are spending a week here and finding out what the pace of life in a small Mexican town is like, interacting with Ajijic residents, both native and expat, to find out about the quality of life here. So far, so good. Early morning found us hiking for the second day high above the town, this time beyond the little chapel that the locals trek up to on Easter week. Thick cloud cover made for a dramatic red sunrise and obscured our views across Mexico's largest lake, but still rendered an awesome vista that was very surreal . The trail up is steep after the 12 shrines one encounters on the way up to the chapel, but the scenery is dramatic, the mountains rise sharply behind Ajijic and Chapala.

Later that morning, after a delicious breakfast of fresh bodillos from the panaderia (bakery) around the corner, we trekked down to the Ajijic village street market, held every Wednesday and stocked our cocina (kitchen) with plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, and numerous varieties of queso (cheese). I'm thinking that there is an entire web page for the site on Mexican cheese in the not so distant future. We also picked up some green tortillas that were 1/4 corn and 3/4 cactus - we made open faced quesadillas smothered in fresh tomatillo salsa.

Our afternoon was spent getting fabulous massages at a spa in town for 250 pesos each (less than $25US). We followed with a beautiful sunset stroll along the Chapala Riberia waterfront park between San Antonio Tlayacapan and the town of Lake Chapala. Life is muy bueno in Mexico right now.



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