To all those who might still be following along,

Travel, another bout with my stomach, internet inconvenience and just plain laziness has led to this sustained delay in our blog. I apologize, but it has been an interesting, but also difficult week.

When last I was in contact, we had just celebrated #72 for Polley. The next 3 days we really took very easy. We lounged by the pool, strolled to the center of town and just let Mexican life sort of pass us by.

On Wednesday, February 18th, we took off by bus for Lake Chapala. This is a huge lake about an hour outside of Guadalajara. One of our goals as a result of our brief visit last year was to do some day trips. Chapala and a town about 5 kilometers from there, Ajiic (ah-HEE-eek) were on our list. I had booked a reservation on-line with the only hotel that seemed to have a web address; it was called the Lake Chapala Inn. With no idea what to expect, we arrived around 11 am, caught a cab and he took us directly to the hotel. We were amazed.

Lake Chapala Inn is this wonderful old Mexican home of the 1920s or 30s that was turned into a B & B about 11 years ago. It is run by a very nice Mexican woman. It sits right on the Lake.


And our room was second story center with a balacony that looked right out on the Lake.


The rooms were huge and very nicely furnished. We actually had a balcony off the bedroom, the bathroom and then out side doors in our room, a huge open air terrace.



Amazing.

We quickly discovered that we had left the city. Polley and I went out for a beer before noon and hardly anything was open. Most places seem to skip the morning altogether and open about 1 in the afternoon.



They close early as well. There is a very nice restaurant on the Lake.



I went to make a reservation for 8 p.m that evening and was informed that they close at 8! At 8 that evening it was completely dark, but I did capture this sunset from our balcony.



We did find a beer in a sweet little place called El Patio that, in fact, had a lovely tree-covered patio. We then wandered down to a Lake-side restaurant for lunch.



It was not very good. Polley tried to estimate the date the fish soup had actually been made, but was not successful. I had some very greasy shrimp and cheese chile rellenos. Not our best meal of the trip. Chapala is a very Mexican town and seems not to cater to many tourists. It may not be wholly true, but in comparison to Ajiic, it seem much less prepared to deal with Americans and Canadians.

We did stop into the Cathedral, a quite impressive building, both in the day and night.




We had a good little dinner at The Beer Garden just down from our hotel. They stay open until 10 p.m., but after that you are on your own. We did stroll about a bit as the weather was lovely,


but finally decided to adjourn to our room and the open terrace for a glass of wine.

Thursday morning began with a full breakfast in the hotel – and I mean full! There was several different kinds of fruit, oatmeal (which we passed on) and a full plate of bacon and eggs, with toast. Of course, there was also cup after cup of coffee. As we are not breakfast people, this was a bit of a chore, but very good. We had breakfast with the only other couple in the hotel. They were from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Nice conversation and, of course, they ate all the offerings and a little bit extra!

We then caught the bus to Ajiic (for 7 ½ pesos each),



arriving there about 10:30 a.m. It is a charming little town. A kind of small version of San Miguel. It has a significant population of Americans and Canadians. What we have come to learn is that this influx leads to better restaurants and more gastronomical variety. Central Guadalajara and downtown Chapala are mostly limited to traditional Mexican fare. That was not true in Ajiic. After passing a small church that sort of reminded us of the Alamo,



we stopped immediately at a lovely café on the main plaza



and then wandered about the town, up one street and down another. We stopped into the main church




and also stumbled upon a local garden society gathering that we joined for a brief period.




Had cup of coffee in a place owned by a former music producer who had given that all up 7 years ago and moved to Ajiic to open a breakfast place – only serves till noon and takes the rest of the day off – says he is the happiest he has been in his life and never plans to cross the border again!

Later in the afternoon, we had lunch a place recommended to us by several people; it was called Tango. It was, as you might guess, Argentinean. It was very good and I had an excellent steak for very little money. Despite the influence of Americans and Canadians, Ajiic is very reasonable. Also while there, about 25 children from an orphanage came in. The restaurant, once a month, treats them to a real lunch. Very nice!

A little more time and we had pretty much done Ajiic. We caught the bus back and caught a little nap time and enjoyed our spacious room!

It was the week of Canivale in Chapala, so Polley and I listened to some pretty good street music from the beer garden.


Also caught a very nice sunset behind a statue of a famed Lake Capala guitarist, Mike Laure.



We then wandered over to the Midway!




We didn’t ride anything, but just watched the Mexican families have fun as they usually do – as families.

A nice stroll home, catching the lights of the Cathedral and the harbor.



We also bought a greasy quesadilla to take home and I think, health wise, that was the beginning of the end. The next morning I was not well. As we waited for the bus back to Guadalajara, I did memorialize this strange shrine.



By the time we got back to Guadalajara I was in poor condition. We did, however, get some magical Cipro again and I am now on the mend and, in fact, had an excellent dinner last night. Hopefully our last week will be smoother. Home next Sunday!

Ed and Polley