Point South Mexico - Real Estate and Lifestyle Magazine

Funerals are your best entertainment, for this newcomer to Ajijic in 1970.

In every Mexican town, many of the streets bear the names of national heroes. It is unlikely, that there is a town of any size, which has not honored Benito Juarez, Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo or Juan Morelos. The streets of Ajijic follow this national pattern. Generally, the names chosen reflect three significant periods of Mexican history: the War of Independence, the War of Reform, and the Revolution. In the village, only two of the streets named for actual people fall outside of these traditional parameters. The main street of the village honors Christopher Columbus, and another is named for Juan Manuel, a medieval Spanish writer.

Once upon a time, two women from northern California roared into town on a Harley-Davidson with everything they owned on their backs, or in saddlebags.  After roaming here and there about town, they decided that they had found an orchard, ripe for the picking, and settled in.  Friendly place that it was, they became selectively acquainted; the more money that was apparent, the better.  Their social choices were then narrowed to widows, or about-to-be widows, with the same financial qualifications.

Being a part of the Lake Chapala society, I have come to realize that biodiversity is crucial to the survival of plants, animals and human beings. Reading The Tapir's Morning Bath convinced me of this beyond the shadow of a doubt. Elizabeth Royte spent most of a year in a cloud forest on an island in Lake Gatan formed by damming the river to create the Panama Canal locks. Since 1926 a science laboratory there has attracted ecologists and nature biologists from all over the world. The title refers to the enigma of a small pond meticulously measured several times a day by a scientist who wanted to account for every fluctuation of the water level. Mysteriously, at 6:00 in the morning the water level rose, and shortly thereafter it returned to what it had been earlier. Finally the scientist discovered that a tapir, a large rhino-like animal, bathed there.

Day 1: It was a beautiful day - I watched the reflection of the sunset on the water of the lake, when suddenly, something disturbed me; it was a faint odor, unpleasant.