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.

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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