There are many wonderful reasons to live in Ajijic, Lake Chapala but one of my favorites is the help we have in our home.

In Canada I had a lovely Polish woman 1 day a week, who was with me for 17 years, for a cost of $80.00 (this, of course, was 15 years ago).

I also employed a gardening service in the summer months for a fee of $ 120.00 per month.

Here I have Viki, who has been with us since we arrived 15 years ago, for 3 hours a day 5 days a week for a cost of $750.00 pesos per week.

We also have a gardener, Viki’s father-in-law, three days a week for 2 hours at a cost of $250.00 pesos per week.

One can pay their maids and gardeners a lot less in Ajijic, Lake Chapala but bear in mind both of our people have been with us for 15 years and even with the minimal yearly raises the price has gone up.

Viki first came to us when she was 18 and had been trained at La Nueva Posada. She required no training from me and went about her business of keeping our home clean and sparkling from the getgo. She also spoke no English so this was a wonderful way for me to start learning Spanish to be able to communicate with her.

She is married now with 2 daughters and her entire courtship took place in our outdoor (more…)

Recently there have been some changes in the Ajijic, Lake Chapala area. The malecons have been reconstructed in Chapala, Ajijic, and San Antonio as well as further west past Ajijic. I have lived here for many years and must say that it is refreshing to see some constructive work being done.

The malecon in Chapala has been completed for several months now, and the town has had several large events since. One of the events I attended was a flight show. Hundreds of people were gathered along the malecon and sitting on the beaches with their families watching men jump out of planes, helicopters doing loopty loops, and pilots flying inches from the surface of the water. It was a beautiful sunny day, everyone was enjoying picnics, children were playing in the water, teenagers were laughing with their friends, and couples were cuddled up on the beach together. It was very nice to see the townspeople out and about again now that there is a nice place to spend time with their families on the weekends.

For those of you who have lived here as many years as I have, I am sure you remember the Ajijic Park down by the lake. For many years it was left behind. The tables and benches were (more…)

My gardening skills, coming from the frozen north, were limited by our extremely short growing season.

Every spring I would contact my contract gardener who would come to the house and we would discuss planting the various geraniums on our back deck and pick the color for the impatiens for our half barrel in front of the house.

My indoor plants barely survived and my Benjamin Fichus was very sad and temperamental to say the least. If I looked at it the wrong way it would turn yellow and all the leaves would promptly fall off.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when moving to Ajijic to find Benjamin Fichus growing in gay profusion everywhere as hedges and archways. It was healthy and happy and hard to keep under control. I also never knew that Poinsettias were, in fact trees and (more…)