There are no genuine hotels in Ajijic. There are bed and breakfasts, each with no more than eight to ten rooms. I am glad that we did “get” to stay at Italo’s though. Senior Italo is a very hospitable host, and if you like brandy or rum in your morning coffee, he will fix you right up. I personally don’t, but he kept offering. We got a good taste of local color. And, I got used to the church bells the second night. They even seemed to help me sleep; some of the best sleep I’ve had in years.

That morning I met Senior Italo, two of his daughters and an older lady from the United States who lived in the Hotel. I spoke to a group that appeared to be retirees who had stayed there for the night. They were taking off on another leg of their motorcycle tour of Mexico. They said they planned to ride about a hundred miles before stopping for breakfast. 

That reminded me how hungry I was. We got ready and found our way to the plaza, an ever-present fixture of any Mexican village. (Oh, one word of advice while walking around, especially in the mornings: watch where you step. The resident dog population likes to leave little “surprises” on the sidewalks.) It was a beautiful place, with palm trees, a nice pavilion in the middle, lush, green grass, beautiful flowers, and oh, several dogs lying under the trees as if they owned the place. There was an elderly gardener on his knees, pruning some bushes and picking up small pieces of trash from the ground. There was a sign there that said, in Spanish of course, that it was a place for relaxation and reflection. It fit the bill perfectly. 

The morning was cool, and the air was brisk. I could fill my lungs a little more deeply it than I could at home. Possibly I had to, to get my usual dose of oxygen. At about five to six thousand feet elevation, the air was just a little rarified. My sinuses were beginning to flare up a bit, and the skin on my arms was feeling very dry. 

I asked a couple sitting on a park bench, who appeared to be English-speakers, where a good place to eat was. They pointed about fifty feet away, and said, “That’s a great place to eat.” I said “Thanks”, and we walked over and took a seat. Most in restaurants and stores in Ajijic are generally open to the sidewalk, meaning the entire front of the building opens up instead of simply having doors. There is no need for air conditioning of any type, so people there live an indoor-outdoor lifestyle. 

The restaurant was very good, by any standard. We ordered a fresh fruit plate, hotcakes and a western omelette, along with fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juices, and chocolate milk, called “chocomilk” by the locals. The hotcakes were perfect; fluffy, a little crispy but very tender. The omelette was the absolute best I have ever had, and I’ve tried them before in five star hotel dining rooms. They just couldn’t compare. The grapefruit juice I had tasted so sweet and wonderful. I could tell it had been squeezed just seconds before I drank it.

Now, after all this going on about the restaurant, for the life of me I can’t remember its name. We ate virtually every meal there for a week. I can tell you this though: It is on the south side of the plaza (the south side is toward the lake). The prices were unbelievably low. Breakfast for three, not skimping on anything, was less than ten U.S. dollars. Lunch and dinner were just as good, with dishes ranging from hamburgers, Aztec soup, enchiladas and tacos to roasted chicken, rice and beans. The shrimp was also very fresh and good, especially the “camarones diablados.”

We explored the rest of Ajijic. It is easy to walk around town, but watch your step in the cobble stone streets. They are made of round rocks that look like a type of river rock. The streets are very old, and I suppose they require no real maintenance. There are sidewalks throughout town, and on the carreteria, or main highway, there are even bicycle lanes alongside the highway for many miles. 

Walking down toward the lake, which is only about four-blocks from the plaza, there are many real estate offices, art galleries, convenience stores etc. At the edge of the lake is a public park with a large fire pit and grills which are used by the local residents on the weekends for picnics. There is a somewhat foul odor at the edge of the lake, owing mostly to the fact that water plants have almost taken over the lake, and it is somewhat swampy there. I read in a local newspaper that the Mexican government is starting a major project to get rid of the plants. The view is incredible though. Looking across the lake you will see the large volcanic mountain on the southern side. The outlines of crops on the farmland can also be seen. At night village lights dot the horizon across the lake.

About ten miles west of Ajijic is the Town of San Juan Cosala. A real estate agent who I spoke with pronounced it San Juan coleslaw, but I’m sure that’s not correct. It’s about a seventy cent bus ride on a comfortable, clean, Mercedes Benz bus, there are hot springs, or “aguas termals”. There are several public swimming pools and spas there.  We went to the Balneareo Hotel. It cost about ten dollars for adults and five dollars for children to get in for the day. Inside there was a huge pool, which was filled several times a day with the hot spring water. There were water slides, and a diving board. There was also a hot spring spa with ”Fresh” thermal water which was about one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit. There are several snack bars scattered around, and private, locked changing rooms to store your valuables in while you swim. We had a great time there, with the exception of the sunburn my son and I unknowingly acquired. The air was cool in comparison to the water, so be careful, and wear sun block, if you are a fair complected gringo like me.

San Juan Cosala is not much of a town, just a few hotels, some of them abandoned, along the highway. The people at the balneareo, or swimming area, were almost all Mexican. They were happy and friendly. Their ages ranged for one to one hundred, and the centurions were playing just as actively as the children in the warm mineral water. Maybe it was the fountain of youth. 

A little farther down the road from San Juan Cosala is the town of Jocotepec. This is a rather large town with a truly unadulterated Mexican feel to it. Very few foreigners could be seen there. The people seemed friendly. Children who had just gotten out of school were riding scooters and ATVs through the streets. There were many, many shops with what appeared to be good prices. I was told that a lot of the expatriates go to Jocotepec for their weekly shopping, as the prices are much better there for necessities. I checked the price of a clean hotel.  It was twenty dollars per day. The plaza in Jocotepec, “Joco” as locals call it, was huge and very beautiful. It had a botanical garden feel to it. I love Mexican plazas. They are the place where everyone goes to meet one another or rest form walking around town. Dates between young people usually take place there in the evenings, so the whole village can chaperone. 

If you are interested in Real estate in the Lake Chapala area, forget what you may have heard about cheap houses or land. I did a bit of research, visiting almost every realtor in town. While very nice homes are somewhat more reasonably priced than their north-of-the-border counterparts, the average home is not inexpensive. The average two bedroom home in a mixed nationality neighborhood was in the low one hundred thousands. There is also virtually no financing available on homes. Renting, on the other hand is fairly reasonable. One can rent a nice two bedroom home in Ajijic, near the plaza and within an easy walk to all the necessities, for about $450.00 a month. You can rent a 4 bedroom home with tennis courts, swimming pool, gardens servant /guest quarters etc for $1,500.00 dollars per month. That’s an actual current listing of a home that would sell for well over a million dollars if located in the United States. So, if renting, you can live a much more luxuriant lifestyle in the Chapala area than you could for the same amount of money almost anywhere in the U.S. Household servants and gardeners work for about one-dollar per hour. There are drawbacks though, such as litter along the roadsides between communities, and the fact that the public water supply is not potable or drinkable. It is very easy though to get into the habit of drinking only bottled water, and many of the homes and businesses have their own water treatment systems..

“Downtown” Ajijic, and LA Floresta were my two favorite areas if I had to pick a place to live in the Chapala area. They are some the most expensive places around the lake, but if you go there, you will see why. They are the most desirable places as well.

Many people have fears of crime in Mexico. If you go, I think those fears will quickly dissolve. The town of Ajijic had a 1950’s air to it. Children walked, ran and rode bicycles through the plazas and along the sidewalks. I heard only one police siren during our weeklong stay. Try that in any United States town. People walked everywhere and were extremely polite. When we rode the public bus, every single child told the bus driver “muchas gracias” or thank you upon exiting the bus. My children said that it seemed like a Mexican version of a “Leave it to Beaver” town. It wasn’t quite… but almost. 

I would say that almost half of the cars in Ajijic were from somewhere north of Mexico. There were many U.S. license plates, along with quite a few from Ontario and Quebec, Canada. My fears of driving down were somewhat abated after seeing all of those who had obviously made it down without being car-jacked.

There is a Lake Chapala Society, which we visited. It is located about a block from the lake. It is run by some expatriates from the United States, who maintain a beautiful, large botanical garden. There is also a loaner library, where books and videos can be checked out. There is a bulletin board that’s handy for looking for houses to rent, furniture to buy, pets that need homes etc. They also have many daily activities going on, and a bustle of activity throughout the day. When we were visiting, a scrabble tournament was about to start, and I believe art lessons were being taught. The Lake Chapala Society would be a great place to go if you feel homesick, for many “Norte Americanos” congregated there. There was also a Canadian citizens’ center along the main highway in Ajijic.

Overall, I found many reasons for wanting to return to Lake Chapala. The weather was absolutely perfect, with the exception of the dry air that I wasn’t quite used to. Temperatures were in the seventies during the day and the upper fifties at night, just cold enough to need a blanket before morning. We were there during February, which is in the dry season. The wet or rainy season comes in early summer. During summer, plants grow and bloom like crazy, and the mosquitoes are a little worse. They weren’t a problem at all during our trip. There were a few “no-see-ums” biting, but not enough to be bothersome. 

Our time in Ajijic ended way too soon. Although we spent many hours exploring (I walked off about ten pounds), there were still many places to see, stones left unturned and adventures left undone. As we met our very prompt taxi early in the morning on the day of our departure, I knew I would want to return someday soon. I almost wanted to just stay. If you are an optimistic person who can tolerate a little adventure, perfect weather, friendly people, and immersion in a different culture where time moves slower and people are happier, then Lake Chapala may be a place you’d like to visit. You might even want to stay, too.

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