Ajijic, Mexico

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After 2 winters spent on Vancouver Island, we opted for a more benign climate and boy, did we find it!

Ajijic is 5 000’ above sea level, moderating the heat of central Mexico. Winter is dry season, so sunny every day with temps in the mid 20s and cooler nights.

Our friends Brian & Vivienne were a great help. They have wintered here for the past 7 years & know the ropes. They scouted out our accommodation & purchased used e bikes on our behalf.

With no car, we found our bikes and local buses got us around very well.

We made a number of new friends. Barry & Maxine drove us to Interesting sights and restaurants that we would never have found ourselves. Through Pickleball we befriended Trish & Ralph & enjoyed their company.

On our way home we plan to spend a couple of nights in Mexico City which locals have highly recommended for a visit.

We will be returning here in November, this time by car. It will allow us to take side trips to some the interesting towns nearby.

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Photos

Ajijic/Chapala
Lake Chapala is the largest in Mexico & provides water to many surrounding communities, including Guadalajara.

Calle de Lago 19
Our rental villa was pretty special with its lake frontage, private pool, gardener, cleaner & pool guy.

Chapala
Locals fished in it but we were not about to eat any fish that came from it.

Our villa
More room than we needed but lots of privacy with a great view. Cool breezes off the lake were welcomed as the temps rose late in March.

Viva Mexico
A mango margarita!

Tlaquepaque
Friends Barry & Maxine took us to this interesting artistic suburb of Guadalajara.
Pronounced t lack a peckie, we really enjoyed strolling the pedestrian only streets.

Creepy busker
Max is offered a chalice of something suspicious.

The weekly market
We made a habit of shopping at local markets where prices were much better than supermarkets.

Name that spice
Lots of interesting spices to choose from.

E bikes
With the help of friends Brian & Vivienne we purchased second hand e bikes.
As we had no car, the bikes & local buses got us around.

Frida
A restaurant themed on the famous Mexican artist.

Guadalajara
We did a walking tour of the nearby second largest city in Mexico. This mariachi figure celebrated the well known Mexican musicians.

Monarch trip
We took a 3 day excursion to Morelia. Nearby, high in the hills is the winter sanctuary & resting place of millions of monarch butterflies. Incredibly, they fly 4000km to this place.

Monarch sanctuary
We huffed and puffed uphill to see the butterflies just preparing to head back north.

Memorable!
The female monarchs mate, then head north in search of milkweed to lay their eggs. The males die. 2 more generations later, the monarchs reach their summer home around the Great Lakes. So it takes 4 generations to complete the cycle!

Bunches of monarchs
Over winter, the butterflies gather in huge colonies and literally vibrate to keep warm enough to survive. They don't feed for 4 months.

Morelia
We spent 2 nights here with 2 walking tours of this very Mexican city.

Mexican road work
The cobble stone side streets are hard on cars, bikes, pedestrians...but they give the town character.

Out front
White pelicans migrate here from central Canadian and US lakes. They follow local fishermen around hoping for an easy meal.

Cactus juice
WE had to try it....once.

Gringos
We had to chuckle to see this identifying us on our lunch bill.

Comments

[Garry Rasmussen]

Colourful!
A great recap of a great holiday ... and, the most colourful holiday photo collection I've ever seen!!

[imras]

Colourful
We can understand why so many gringos are drawn here. Surprising how many live full time…not something we plan to do as long as we can manage our Sauble home. Most people we have spoken with think the rainy season, June - August is the best…everything is lush & not so dusty!