Living at Lake Chapala in Mexico

The foreign population here at Lake Chapala has grown by leaps and bounds. Some folks are saying that now as many snowbirds as usual have arrived for the winter, but frankly, just from looking at grocery store parking lots, cruising local streets and trying to claim a seat in church on Sunday, I can't tell much business.

While local businesses and service providers eagerly await the return of the winter residents, the growing pains of our little Lakeside villages are apparent.

It isn't just the full time foreigners combined with winter folks that is causing the congestion on local streets - with the lake back to it's former beauty more of the "Guad Squad" (Guadalajarans out of the city for a weekend or a day at the lake). Add to that the vast number of our village neighbors who now have cars to drive and we're at a point where we all need to remember our manners and share the space on the roads, in the stores, churches and sidewalks.

Some of our coming posts will offer some driving, walking and shopping tips to help winter folks, and some full-timers as well understand the different customs here in Mexico. For today, how about we ponder Snowbird Season Survival tips adapted from Robert Fulgram's book Everything I need to know I Learned in Kindergarten.

Learn to Share - Parking places, park benches, restaurant seats, and the attention of clerks and waiters. We all need patience to enjoy the winter season.

Play Fair - We are the visitors in Mexico and we need to adjust and learn to play the game here according to the rules and traditions that have worked well for 500 years.
This isn't back home and it's not going to be?thank goodness.

Don't Hit People ? Don't even hit the cars parked in the yellow-curbed, parking restricted spot on all of the village corners this time of year?even when you can't turn the corner onto your own street?even when cars block your driveway?not even you really, really want to.

Clean Up Your Own Mess ? While many local residents don't speak English, they still understand most of what is said. Don't make assumptions that put you into a very embarrassing situations.

Behave well ? Have fun on your vacation; take your behavior cues from the year-round residents and Mexican neighbors. Don't push to the front of lines, refuse to yield the right of way, talk louder when your English isn't understood, push others out of the way or affect an attitude of special entitlement.

Don't Take Things That Aren't Yours ? Not even someone's pride or peace or joy or dignity or enjoyment.

Flush ? But not the paper. You can in some places, but when the problem is tree roots in old, small drain pipes, the smallest amount of paper could block the WC, creating an embarrassing problem for you.

Labels: snowbirds, visitors, winter

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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.

Good morning and welcome back to Living at Lake Chapala in Mexico!

I'm not sure what happened to me and this blog. Maybe I was suffering from a touch of burnout following the many blogs we posted during the aftermath of the September storm in San Juan Cosala. Whatever the reason, San Juan is moving forward, and so are we, into a brand new year.

The new issue is our 62nd issue!
We here at Living at Lake Chapala have started into our 7th year! That's right, over the past six years, we've published over 900 full-length articles - most with between 3 and 12 photos.

As usual there is a lot happening here at Lake Chapala, and as usual that's reflected in our new January 2008 issue of Living at Lake Chapala which has been available at http://www.mexico-insights.com/ since January 1.

January 2008
The January issue is stuffed with great articles - including one of our perennial favorites, our annual Cost of Living update. We've again polled six local households - some singles and some couples, some homeowners and some renters, and asked them to keep track of their costs for a month. You'll find the results in a chart in our Cost of Living column.

We've also gathered up the holidays and most of the special events for the coming year in our Feature Article, presented a wonderful array of hearty soups for these chilly evenings. One of the benefits of Living at Lake Chapala is our ability to become whatever we want in retirement. This issue has a good selection of these stories. We've profiled a glass designer, a woman who has opened a nutritional center and gym, a woman who has turned from interior design to operate a new B&B, a trio of men who have created a business by filling a need, and a Canadian policeman turn art teacher. Now that's a lot of folks reinventing themselves in retirement!

In addition we've maintained a good Mexican touch to this issue - we also meet Ismael who is Jose Cuervo's star jimadores (agave cutters). Ismael has been featured in videos, TV commercials, magazine ads and is even featured in the mural on the wall of the Guadalajara airport. You'll understand why when you read this article. Then Phyllis Rauch, owner of Los Dos B&B in Jocotepec, takes us on a delightful tour of some of Jalisco's historic haciendas, casones (town estates) and ranches.

This month more of our subscribers read our new issue during the first two weeks than ever before. We now have the ability to remind our subscribers on the first day of each month that our new issue is up and read to read at our site. We've wanted to do email a reminder for several years, but we just couldn't get past spam preventitives. Our Web Genius, David McLaughlin, is right on the ball and has us all set up and had emailed every subscriber by 10 a.m. on New Year's day.

At last subscribers won't forget to read the issues or even worse, forget that they subscribed!

Read A Recent Issue:
If you've never subscribed to our online magazine and have wondered what it is all about, we'd be happy to have you read one of our recent on line issues--it's easy.

Please note that our magazine is never printed, and we can not email it or send it to anyone--it's just too large. Just imagine, each issue prints out to between 75-100 pages, and contains from 75-100 photos! That'd be a BIG email!

Instead, all of our subscribers go to our website and then read the articles there.

Here's FREE access to our November 2007 issue:

1. Go to http://www.mexico-insights.com/
2. When the page appears on your screen (the heading is yellow and says: "Living at Lake Chapala") click on the words "Log In". You'll find them toward the top of the right hand red column.
3. When the page changes you'll see the log in boxes. Type the following in the box marked "User Name:" nov2007
4. Type the following in the box marked "Password:" pancho and then click on Log In
5. When your screen changes, you'll see the words, "Welcome November 2007" in the upper portion of the red column.
6. Then you'll be able to click on the Archived Issues section and then select the November 2007 issue. Now you can click on the headline or the red words "Read more" of each article on that page, and read the entire text.

There...that's what we are all about. If you want more, we'd be happy to have your join our family of subscribers. If you need help with the process, please email us at judy@mexico-insights.com and we'll be happy to help.

Watch for our next posts in a day or two. We'll be talking about January holidays, driving tips for Mexico, how to sail through the current winter season and about the upcoming holiday that signals the end of the Christmas season on February 2.

Meanwhile, remember...
Life is Good at Lake Chapala

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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.

Today, at the two-week mark, with San Juan Cosalá is now out of an emergency situation I am now sending you information on what different organizations are doing to help as I receive them. This will help you know how you can help.

San Juan Cosalá still needs our help, but the needs are shifting. The newly founded Help San Juan Cosalá is helping to coordinate with organizations and officials. Please see Robin Ziebert's message below.

Let's give our organizations, individual volunteers (both foreign and mexican), companies, and all levels of the Mexican Government a CHEER! for all their donations and effort to help San Juan Cosalá.

Norm Pifer, President of Volunteers de Cruz Roja sent the following information:
Cruz Roja International Volunteers Chapala announced on Tuesday that through the North of the border non-profit group CRIVC,INC and local volunteer collections, $135,000 pesos have been donated for the relief effort. These monies pass through the Damas (women's auxillary) and the Juventudes (youth volunteers) of Cruz Roja Chapala as mandated by law. They will determine, in consultation with San Juan Cosalá local authorities, precisely who qualifies for ongoing despensas of food and necessary school supplies and assemble them, along with a contingent of international volunteers, and deliver directly to those in need.

With donations slowing, the international volunteers feel this sizeable effort will help extend the period of adjustment for those effected. Further donations can be made on the web site www.cruzrojachapala.com or at Lake Chapala Society. Please specify if your donation is for San Juan Cosalá or ongoing support of Cruz Roja Chapala.

Robyn Ziebert who is working with the Help San Juan Cosalá sent the following:
I'll keep my own updates coming every few days, now that the emergency is over. We're into the transition to the reconstruction efforts, but aid is still needed and will continue to be a necessity for the long term.

If you want to donate any in-kind items, they can take it to 121-A La Paz, in San Juan Cosalá. This is the Associación Para Un Mejor Mundo, although there is no name on the front. It's the last street down in San Juan Cosalá, just before the lake. Take the road that goes past the Balnearios to 121-A, it's on the right. You can also take the street that goes past the school, church and plaza, from the carretera down to La Paz. Take a left at La Paz (another primary school will be on your left on that corner) two blocks to 121-A.

What is still needed is bottled water and larger sized NEW bras...36, 38, 40, 42. Canned goods are of course helpful, and will continue to be needed as they make the "dispensas" to be handed out.

Judy Boyd, Board member, Lakeside Friends of the Animals A.C. sent the following:
Reports from San Juan Cosalá residents tell us that there are many animals displaced by the disaster. Lakeside Friends of the Animals A.C. (see http://www.lakesideanimalfriends.org) is purchasing dog and cat food and distributing it through Anita Strehlow at Anita's Animals.

People in San Juan Cosalá can get free food from Anita to feed displaced animals in the town. It is better for them to feed them where they are for now; there is no way that the local shelter facilities can take all the animals made homeless by the disaster.

Donations of pet food are still being accepted at the Animal Shelter in Riberas del Pilar. (People can help shelter animals at the same time by buying the food at the shelter store.) We are delivering the donated pet food and will continue to do so.

Thanks to Judy, Robin, and Norm for the latest updates!

Again, I'd like to personally thank Judy King. Judy's blog has been a continuing source of information. Judy, thanks for all the information and your kindness!

Betty

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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.

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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.

Labels: Clean up, San Juan Cosala, Storm

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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.