Last Blog Entry in Mexico

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This will be my last blog entry for Mexico.

The rest of March was busy with another trip to the San Juan Cosala Termal Hot Springs and Spa.

We joined 16 other ex-sailors for a pot luck dinner at our friends Wendy and Lorne’s house. It was great fun; everyone brought a picture and gave a description of their boat. Then before dinner each couple narrated a sailing experience. Some of course were of harrowing experiences.

We attended a fashion show and lunch at Roberto’s restaurant. Our friend Wendy was a model in the show.

Maryanne, Rick and I took a local bus into the town Jocotepec on market day. We wandered through town, found the market, roamed and shopped, then found a nice restaurant for lunch.

As we moved from March into April we jointly decided to slow down and start preparing for our trip home to Canada. We still have a little souvenir shopping to do.

In April we have a BBQ planned, a dinner out at Tango’s for Jorge’s Birthday. Other than that we are just relaxing by the pool and going for golf cart trips into town with no purpose in mind.

I thought this would be a good time to summarize our Mexican experience in Ajijic. In a word, EXCELLENT! Would we return, definitely!

Ajijic is a small town with a real Mexican flavour. The architecture and roads here are unlike those in nearby towns. The cobblestone roads are a big part of life. Everyone walks the streets looking down to ensure they find a secure foothold. The cars have their suspension and tires replaced regularly. The horses are the only ones who don’t seem to have a problem with the stones. The stone roads are a traditional Mexican way of life and although I hated them when I first arrived, I sure wouldn’t want to see them removed. They are part of the beauty of the town.

Ajijic is not a tourist town however there are many Canadians and Americans living here. They have made this home and have become part of the community. They work, volunteer and participate in all events and do a lot of fundraising.

It is so nice when out in the market or shopping and struggling for the right word, we have had Mexican’s who speak English helping us with translations, and as well as the North Americans who live here jump at the chance to help translate as well. If neither are around it doesn’t matter because everyone seems to have fun working it out with a little bit of both languages. There is a nice respect between the two cultures.

The trees, plants and flowers here grow not only in abundance but they appear more brilliant in colour and fuller than the same species that we see in the Caribbean and back home in Canada. There are extremely unique blossoms like the shaving brush and bottle brush that look like a piece of art rather than a natural blossom. The weather is perfect for gardening; it is warm and never as hot as in the Caribbean and never as cold as Canada (no frost or ice).

The thing that really amazed us about Ajijic was the talent living and performing here. Musicians and actors move to Ajijic for retirement but they continue to perform. As well, younger performers like to escape the colder climates so they travel to Mexico during the winter and find Mexico and Ajijic as a great place to work and spend the winter months. We were able to go out once or twice a week to venues that ranged from orchestral, rock and roll, Mexican Mariachi or Ranchero music, live theatre, concerts, night clubs, folkloric ballet and even karaoke. My favourite is the dancing horses which seem show up everywhere. The very best part is that the most we ever paid for tickets was about $22 CDN.



We have made some wonderful friends in Mexico and look forward to returning some day but meanwhile we will try and stay in touch with them through Facebook.

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