On Lake Chapala

Lake Chapala is Mexico's largest freshwater lake, 50 miles (80km) in width and a surface area about twice that of California's Lake Tahoe. Fed and drained by Mexico's longest river (called the Rio Lerma coming in, Rio Santiago on the way out), it is very shallow and is ecologically challenged in many ways. As you can see in the photo on the right, water hyacinths are a huge problem, choking the windward shoreline in many areas, agricultural run-off and the water demands of nearby Guadalajara are stressing it even further.

Despite whatever stress it may be under Lago Chapala is extremely beautiful and yesterday saw us take a boat trip in a hired panga to Isla de los Alacranes (Scorpian Island), one of two islands on the lake (the other, Isla Mezcala, is about an hour by boat from Chapala, and is of interest for the Battle of Mezcala in 1812-16 during Mexico's war of independence). Fifteen minutes over to the island found us marvelling at the incredible views back towards the Sierras El Travesano, El Vigas and El Mandrono mountains that front the northwest shoreline behind the Chapala Riveria. The island itself is occupied by three or four small restaurants and numerous small huts used by local fishermen and we walked the length of it in a half hour. We found the island charming but typically littered with trash, an unfortunate aspect of Mexico that is still in evidence everywhere (although improving glacially in some areas).


The ride back was equally pleasant with numerous bird sightings of fishing egrets and alcatrazes (white pelicans) and we followed with a delicious lunch of red snapper ala veracruz and brochetta sierra y mar on the expansive veranda of the resturant Los Cazadores in the historic Braniff (of aviation fame) mansion facing the lakeshore on Paseo Ramon Carona.

Thanksgiving in Mexico

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, the first I've ever spent spent away from a family gathering. How come it took so long? My wife asked if this might be the most memorable one we've ever spent - without a doubt it is. The highlight was getting fresh frambuesas (raspberries) directly from the farms near Jocotapec, the western most town along the Lake Chapala shore. From across the lake in Ajijic you can see the shimmering reflection of the white plastic toldos (sunshades) that cover the rows of berries. Pick a farm, drive up a dirt road and look for a sorting hut between the rows. You need to bring your own pail, and hopefully they've got extra berries to sell you. What the sorters do is set aside the ripe berries as they pack the unripe ones for export to the US; the best berries are the rejects.

It took us two tries to find a hut that had any, beating out a couple of other cars with norte americano plates. We picked up a half gallon of the freshest, most delicious berries imaginable, for forty pesos (less than 4 dollars) - about the price you pay for small plastic tray at the supermarket at home.

As Ajijic and Lake Chapala are the winter home to numerous gringos and many of the local restaurants run by expats offer a Thanksgiving feast - we booked a 7 PM seating at Pedro's Gourmet on Calle Ocampo. An absolutely gorgeous day yielded buen tiempos for the evening as we sat outside sipping our limonade and tamarind margarita. We soon enjoyed a sumptuous buffet that included scallion souffle, gorgonzola cheese mashed potatos and as tender a pavo (turkey) as I've ever had. Pedro's grew up in Canada, parents of a Toronto oil executive and a Mexican mother (his father's translator). His madre, determined to bassimulate, learned to cook a Canadian Thanksgiving, and last night's menu was redux of the recipes she had mastered.

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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Home Ownership for Expats in Mexico

A recent series of articles by San Francisco Chronicle busines section columnist Kathleen Pender has highlighted overseas real estate ownership by Americans. This past Sunday she presented two additional articles specifically about buying real estate and living in Mexico.

She cites Mexico and Central America as being attractive for American buyers, because of their relative closeness and that real estate is relatively inexpensive (the relative is conditional, however, because if you currently live in Michigan and are thinking of buying in San Miguel de Allende you might pay more for something comparable in size - thankfully there is no comparing the climate).

In one of the articles, Tales of buying property south of the border, Pender has two Americans discussing their experience buying property in Mexico, one man bought coastal property in Baja with the other couple purchasing in San Miguel de Allende. Both stories were positive, the common theme being the difficulties encountered, paritcularly navigating Mexican laws and customs.

We'll discuss her other article in a future post.

Our Mexico

You'd think that after 12 years of working on websites nearly 24/7 one might get a bit sick of it all...but no way, Jose. Everyday there's some new site to be found, some interesting thing that can suck you int to a topic or place that you may have never heard of or always wanted to check out.

So today, I discovered another web site with a fair degree of similarity in purpose and creation that this one has (although it predates explore-retire-mexico.com by more than a few years). It's called Our Mexico and I'll be exploring the site a bit more in the upcoming weeks - after I return from a week in Ajijic, on the shores of Lake Chapala, a little burg of 15K that has become an expat haven for norte americanos. I visited Ajijic briefly at about this same time last year and definitely found it deserved a repeat visit, albeit one of longer duration. We'll report on it's charms in the next few days.

The Ultimate Guide to Living, Working, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico

This past Wednesday my wife and I attended a 3 hour seminar at our local JC, the College of Marin, entitled "The Ultimate Guide to Living, Working, Traveling, and Retiring in Mexico" given by Paul Heller, author, world traveler and web journalist and founder of the "Big Blue Marble" website.

Despite the rather large scope of the seminar's title, on the whole it was a very informative presentation, not prone to hyperbole about any aspect of the Mexican expat experience. Paul gave a really broad overview, focusing first on the benefits and pitfalls, and thankfully saving logistic info like real estate prices for last.

I felt that one insight that made it particularly worthwhile was that Paul really got the audience to consider the "why" of making Mexico a retirement destination decision. He related both his and other expat experiences - that moving to/retiring in Mexico is not really about cost, per se, although on the surface that might be a most people's primary consideration for taking the plunge. It really is about personal growth - what happens to you when you transport yourself into a situation, circumstance, an existence that may be out of your comfort zone, but allows you to examine and shed those things that may be stifling your own development as a being (and world citizen).

Anyway, I'll muse more on these and other topics that Paul brought to discussion as I plow through his extensive hand out booklets and reading list. Check out his website and seminar page to see if he's coming to your community anytime soon - it's definitely worthwhile if you're considering Mexican retirement.

Follow the Reader

As a San Francisco Bay Area resident and a longtime reader of the SF Chronicle, I'm a regular reader of their Sunday travel section - and I was do a quick scan of a feature they've had for years called "Follow the Reader". I've frequently found gems within that interested me, and few that I even motivated me to go/book/act/travel/stay. An Agriturismo in Umbria, great condo in Yosemite, a beach house in Sayalita Mexico, and more.

This past Sunday, I spied one that I'll bookmark for a future trip to the Yucatan Peninsula - Michael Guenza of San Francisco shared his experiences in the of Valladolid and in particular the Hotel Zaci (which means white hawk in Mayan). With rates in the 250 to 350 peso range, it's muy económico. Valladolid is almost in the center of the region, at the intersection of Mexico Highways 295 & 180, halfway between Merida and Cancun and well situated for exploration of Mayan ruins such as Chichen Itza and Tulum.