I believe that one of the many reasons we moved to Ajijic, Lake Chapala over 15 years ago was that it was getting very difficult to find a place that one could smoke in Toronto.

On arrival to Ajijic, Lake Chapala there were no such restrictions in place and one could smoke freely anywhere as it were. Of course, you might run into the odd rabid anti-smoker but that was to be expected.

Now it would seem that last week-end federal officials closed several restaurants and bars in Guadalajara for not adhering to the General Law for Tobacco Control.

Many of these establishments in Jalisco still allow their patrons to smoke ever though the law states they must have separate smoking areas.

Although the details are still sketchy, a team from the Federal Sanitation Protection Commission ( Cofepris) is thought to have visited approximately 40 restaurants in the city.

To reopen, owners of the closed restaurants need to make their establishments 80% smoke-free with outdoor or (more…)

When we first arrived in Ajijic, Lake Chapala paying bills could sometimes be a challenge as I have mentioned before. First you had t find the bill in question and then began the process of finding out where to pay said bill.

Our property tax bill in Canada for our house in Toronto was going up to $6,000.00 Cdn. when we left in 1994.

You can imagine our very pleasant surprise to find that here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala property taxes were substantially lower.

For the first few years of owning a home here our property tax bill was paid by someone else who paid several tax bills at the same time saving us the possible frustration of finding out how to pay it ourselves.

Last year we paid it ourselves for the first time and we delighted at how easy it really was.

The place where you pay it is relatively new as opposed to the hole in the (more…)

Most of us, when we first move to Ajijic, Lake Chapala, go back to Canada often to visit friends and family. During these visits we are able to get our Canadian Passports renewed.

After a few years however, we find that some friends and family have also scattered or moved down here and, in some cases of family, in with us and our visits get less frequent.

Also we can not always schedule our visits north to coincide with our Canadian Passports expiring.

This was the case with me and I found out from a Canadian friend living here for many years that we were able to renew our passports right here in Mexico

It is a very simple and efficient process and I will tell you exactly how to proceed with your Canadian Passport renewal should the need arise.

The first thing to do is send an email to: ana-lilia.bara@international.gc.ca in Guadalajara and she will tell you how to download the Adult Passport Application online complete with all the instructions or she will mail the application and instructions to you here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

There are 2 Photo Studios in Chapala that know exactly what photos you will need for your Canadian Passport application. They are: Foto Estudio del Lago on Av. Madero #238-C, Tel. (376) 765-3548 and email: malvagarmx@yahoo.com.mx and Estudio Zaragoza on Lopez Cotilla # (more…)

Yesterday and today President Obama had a North American Summit with Filipe Calderone, President of Mexico, and Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.

Many things were on the agenda for the summit including money, drugs, H1N1, climate change and the new mandatory visas for Mexicans visiting Canada.

There has been a spike in violence and over 11,000 have been killed in Mexico due to drug related activities. The US has been more than willing to share the blame for this drug violence as the US provides the necessary market for these drugs and also has supplied approximately 95% of the guns used by the Mexican Drug Cartels. President Obama is reluctant to supply more support until he is assured (more…)

There is a new ad campaign that is running in many parts of the world encouraging people to come home to Mexico.

The reason for this aggressive campaign is threefold:  the global economic crisis, the US/Mexico border drug wars and the H1N1 flu scare out of Mexico City.

These three factors have dramatically affected tourism in Mexico over the last few months.

Although the economic crisis was and is real the other two factors are not as bad as once reported.

President Filipe Calderon has partnered with the US in sharing the responsibility for the border drug wars and is actively working both with President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to get the situation if not eradicated then certainly under control.

H1N1, although, affecting over 30,000 worldwide is much less serious than the seasonal flu (more…)

I have written before about the challenges of banking in Ajijic, LakeChapala.

Things, however, have come a long way in the 15 years we have lived here. One no longer has to sign over their first born to make a deposit.

Normally, I am now capable of doing all of our corporate and personal banking without incident and with a minimum of bloodshed.

Most of the banks here now have English speaking staff to help the expats complete their transactions and online there is English now available.

The wonderful English speaking person we have, however, is not actually located (more…)

These “toxic” assets are causing the banks being unable to lend money to Americans in need of funds for small business owners, college tuitions, car loans and anything else one might need to borrow money for.

“Toxic” assets are largely sub prime mortgage loans that are not going to be repaid as the homeowners cannot meet the payments or the value of the homes has dropped below the value of the mortgage and credit card debt that is also going unpaid because of high interest rates and the difficult circumstances most Americans finds themselves in due to the global economic crisis.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has announced today a new plan whereby the government partners with big investors to buy these “toxic” assets and get them off the bank’s books and get money moving again to Main Street. (more…)

Both these endeavors (as I had mentioned in a previous blog) can be very challenging indeed.

This was not the case today. I set out this morning to go to Chapala to try to pay my property taxes and get some money into the hands of our daughter in London. Although she was equipped with a credit card to cover her living expenses until money from gainful employment kicked in, for some reason the card was rejected at every ATM she tried even though the credit card company assured me everything was swell with the card and the credit.

So equipped with the Banamex account # of her boyfriend I went with trepidation to try and make a cash deposit into his account which they could access with his debit card for said account. Now if you have ever tried to make a deposit into a Mexican bank account the expression “easier said than done” immediately springs to mind. Usually you need some kind of picture identification and whatever you take with you is not the correct one they need. This, of course, can be very frustrating as you are trying to put money into the bank not stage a heist. (more…)

For centuries the question has been asked: “Is there justice for all?”

I think now we can unequivocally answer that question with a resounding “NO”.

We know this now for certain thanks to one Bernard Madoff who perpetrated, seemingly with little or no remorse, the largest Ponzi scheme in investment history.

Having bilked his investors out of in excess of $50 billion dollars (US) he still resides comfortably in his upper east side New York penthouse. Under police supervision but free nonetheless. (more…)

The Almighty Peso

When my husband and I first started coming to Mexico in the 70’s there were approx. 20 pesos to the US dollar. I had usually traveled to the usual vacation hot spots such as Acapulco, Puerta Vallarta, Cancun, Ixtapa and Cozumel. I chose Mexico as it was the perfect vacation destination offering ideal weather and wonderful beach resorts. My Canadian dollar went a long way and I always came home with an enviable tan which, of course, in winter in Canada was swell.

We first moved to Ajijic, Lake Chapala in the mid 90’s and the peso then was approx. 8 to the US dollar which rose to about 10 and stayed there (more or less) for the last 14 years with minimal fluctuation. (more…)