You can go online and search all the real estate brokers in the area and find the one that best suits your needs. Remember how it is to find someone that you trust and that will answer all of your questions about a new country with knowledge and patience.

You can see all the different areas of Ajijic from properties right in the town to the assorted gated communities and subdivisions. All of this information is very useful but it still will not give you the flavor and feeling that one has when they are actually here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

I remember when we first started to come to Ajijic, I would get the most wonderful feeling of belonging. I loved the warmth of the people, the wonderful smells and the amazing climate. I could not wait to explore the town and all of the properties that were available for sale or rent. The shops were quaint and charming and the colors all around us were beautiful. The flowers and flowering trees were lush and profuse and my favorite is the Jacaranda trees which usually bloom in February carpeting the entire village in fragrant lilac colored blooms.

I loved this beautiful village in the sun nestled between the Sierra Madre Mountains and Lake Chapala. I loved the cobblestone streets and the bougainvillea’s cascading over the high stone walls.

The Nueva Posada was a wonderful place and the centerpiece of Ajijic if you will. The Eager family who is now in the third generation of the family owned business was happy to answer all of our questions.

The restaurants were small and interesting and the food delicious and very moderately priced.

Whenever we have bought a home before I always had a feeling about it when I first saw it. I knew this was the house for me. I still trust my instincts and I know Ajijic, Lake Chapala is not for everyone.

That is why one certainly can do a great deal ahead of time online in finding a house and/or a real estate broker to look after you but you will not really know whether or not Ajijic is for you until you are here and feel Ajijic for yourself. If you do like this area and you do get this feeling that I did I am sure you will be as happy as we have been for over 17 years.

Do your due diligence and then make the trip to see, feel and smell the beauty of Ajijic first hand. I am sure you will not regret your reconnaissance.

Benvenidos

The Hotel Villa San Francisco is located on Paseo Ramon Corona # 16, Chapala, Jalisco 45900 overlooking Chapala’s beautiful new palm-lined Malecon and Mexico’s largest and most beautiful Lake Chapala.

Their email address is: hotelvillasanfrancisco@hotmail.com and their fully detailed web site is: www.hotelvillasanfrancisco.com

The telephone # is: 765-2128.

There are four different kinds of suites ranging from $895.00 – $2,650.00 pesos (depending on the time of year) which includes an 8% service charge. There is the Villa Suite – Queen, Villa Suite – King, Terrace Suite, Luxury Suite and the Grand Suite.

The bedding is luxurious and all suites have fireplaces, flat screen TV’s and wireless internet.

There is a Breakfast & Bar (Birdcage) which offers homemade granola, fresh homemade yoghurt, fresh cut fruit salad and juices, fresh muffins, coffee and tea al gusto (to your taste) as well as bacon and eggs, chilaquiles and omelettes.

At the end of your day of sightseeing and shopping you can enjoy a cold Mexican beer, a glass of excellent wine or perhaps a margarita or iced tea.

My husband has had a tour of this new hotel and was most impressed and many other people are talking about it as well. The Hotel Villa San Francisco in Chapala is creating quite a buzz.

I think if one had to assign one word to Tony’s new Hotel Villa San Francisco it would be luxurious.

I suggest you visit their web site which will show you the magnificent view, the suites, and all the information re all the accommodations, guest services, Chapala and area, policies and payments, meetings, special events and contact and direction information.

Tell Tony we sent you.

The complex will be named Lake Chapala Hotel and Casino Resort and is located on eight hectares of land just to the east and slightly above Chula Vista Norte. It will be set in the heart of a fifty hectare spread called Tierra Salada, also now undergoing development as a residential subdivision.

It will be the first of its kind in Mexico and is costing approximately $40,000.00 dollars is designed to appeal to the high-en clientele from Guadalajara.

The blueprints show a casino with 50,000 square feet of floor space to be outfitted with 3,000 slot machines and 24 gambling tables for blackjack, poker, roulette, craps and bingo (bingo?) plus three five-story towers to accommodate 300 hotel rooms and 30 suites.

The facility is also being designed to house an entertainment show room with theater seating for 3,000 spectators, spa and swimming pools, a sky bar nightclub disco built on top of the hotel, three gourmet restaurants and a food court adjacent to the casino.

This project will generate 1,000 temporary jobs during conception and 500 full-time employees once it goes into full operation. The new “full blown Las Vegas-style” hotel and casino complex is touted to be eco-friendly and is being built in close harmony with the natural setting, with an internal system for sewage treatment, and grey water recycling as well as application of solar energy.

It is interesting that in this economic climate in the US the Palacio Development Group from Arizona has chosen lakeside to build this huge project. Obviously, these business people believe that Mexico’s economy is, indeed, on the rise.

This, of course, is going to affect our lifestyle here in Ajijica, Lake Chapala but not necessarily in a bad way. More people with money coming to lakeside means more income for the small business owners, more interest in local real estate and more awareness in general of our village in the sun.

No paradise stays hidden forever (just ask Puerto Vallarta) and this project certainly appears to be going forward so we all might be better served by adopting a “glass half full” attitude.

I, for one, am adopting the attitude that progress is good for everyone. However, there will be more traffic and if you have a gambler at home you might want to hide your credit cards. After all it will be much easier to take a ride up the Libramiento Bypass than to get on a plane to Vegas.

La Nueva Posada is offering a complimentary margarita from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm on August 3rd.

La Nueva Posada has been serving the lakeside community since 1978 and the Eager family has always taken an active part in looking after their guests.

The Old Posada was taken over my Morley and Judy Eager and then 15 years later they, along with their son, Michael and his wife Maria Elena , bought the land where La Nueva Posada now sits and built it from the ground up. To many it looks like a 100 year old inn which was their intent.

When our family first moved to Ajijic, Lake Chapala in 1994 we would check with the Eager family before making any major, and for that matter, minor decisions.

This service is offered to any newcomers to help guide them in the right direction while assimilating into our wonderful community. To this day they have” Los Amigos” where newcomers can come on Wednesdays from 6:00 pm and enjoy 2 x1 drinks and share experiences and stories.

La Nueva Posada has a beautiful garden restaurant overlooking Lake Chapala and it is a wonderful place to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner under the stars.

La Russa is the inside elegant dining room which also has the same delicious International menu.

Rooms and villas are available and you can visit their website for more information and rates.

The management of La Nueva Posada is now moving into the hands of the third generation and Michael Eager Jr. now is charge of most of the day-to-day business. His sisters, Wendy and Kristina Eager are also involved in running the hotel.

The Eager family is dyed-in-the-wool inn keeps and every aspect of their guests comfort and enjoyment is seen to with utmost care.

It is the Eager family that makes this consistently excellent hotel so popular is this community.

La Nueva Posada is located in Ajijic at Donato Guerra # 9. Tel. (376) 766-1444, (376) 766-1344 and Fax (376) 766-2049.

Email: nuevaposada@prodigy.net.mx

Web Site: www.hotelnuevaposada.com

We had planned to go out for dinner when Michael Eager sat down with us and had a beautiful fat hamburger which looked absolutely delicious.

Being July 1st it was Canada Day and all the Canadians lakeside (well at least most of them) had congregated at La Nueva Posada as they do every year to celebrate.

The Executive Chef, Lorraine Russo, had prepared the traditional fare of hamburgers with an extensive array of toppings, hot dogs, maple cured baked beans and mountains of potato salad. Of course there was a Canada Day cake for dessert gaily decorated in red and white icing and topped with a small Canadian flag.

We decided perhaps we should stay at the hotel and partake of the lovely spread Lorraine had prepared and went up to the buffet with empty plates and hearty appetites.

Everything was absolutely delicious and Lorraine was toasted by one and all for her efforts in celebrating the day with an excellent Canada Day feast.

Then I heard our Canadian National Anthem “Oh Canada” being sung and I sprang to my feet and went to join in belting out this favorite with Michael Eager and Michael Jr. and the rest of the Canadians filling the dining room and garden. My heart swelled with pride and I was surprised at how much singing this song affected me in a very positive way.

I was born and bred in Toronto, Canada and thought I would die there but my husband had different plans for us and we have lived here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala for 17 years. As I am fond of saying I have enjoyed every minute of every day and when we became inmigrados we celebrated with a bottle of champagne.

The person who gave us papers in Guadalajara was wonderful and she said to us that she knew we loved our country of Canada but now we could love our other country of Mexico too. I thought she was very sensitive in saying that and never was it more true that Friday, July 1st at La Nueva Posada with friends and our Mexican family, the Eagers.

Today is July 4th and we want to wish all our US friends and family a very happy and safe holiday. We hope your holiday fare is as delicious as ours was.

Despite increased reports of grisly drug-war murders that tend to cluster in northern border zones, travel to Mexico did edge back up a bit in 2010. Still many more potential visitors are passing on Mexico – or even staying aboard the cruise ship when it docks at places like the essentially crime-free Cozumel.

Before brushing a Mexico trip aside this year, consider that about 245,000 square miles are free from the State Department’s warning list and it neatly matches areas people usually visit (Cabo, Cancún, Cozumel, Tulum, Mexico City, Oaxaca, San Miguel de Allende).

Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle listed the five safest Mexican states to visit, in terms of per-capita drug-related homicides (per Mexican government statistics). We’d like to add to the list by zeroing in on our eight top places to visit (there are dozens of other candidates), in terms of travel appeal and safety record. None are on the US State Department’s warning list.

1. Mexico City

There really is no more fascinating city in the world than Mexico’s misunderstood capital. With a population of over 21 million (and a crime rate about a third of Washington, DC’s), Mexico City had a serious scrub-up for its bi-centennial, and now some places like mariachi-filled Plaza Garibaldi are considered (like Times Square in New York) safe enough to be a ‘Disney version’ of its former gritty self. Also, many restored colonial buildings show details long obscured by years of pollution build-up. Meanwhile, this ancient city built over a filled-in lake has Aztec canals, pyramids, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo’s old studio, and hipster dining in chic eateries of the Condesa and Polanco. That and a million other things.

Soak up the 21st-century style at the great B&B Red Tree House, built in an ultra-stylish 1930s home in Condesa. Rooms start at $79.

2. Mérida

Four hours inland from Cancún, Mérida is ‘real Mexico,’ a colonial city of 750,000 lived-in and loved by locals and near several days’ worth of superb daytrips. It’s not only an underrated add-on from a beach vacation, but a destination in its own right. The city’s best on weekends, when the historical core – a scene of 17th-century cathedrals made from Mayan bricks – closes to vehicles and fills with open-air stages, taco stands and much life. By day, the Ruta Puuc is an easy DIY bus loop of Uxmal and four other interesting Mayan sites. To the northwest, you can tour flamingo-filled mangroves at the fishing village of Celestún.

Los Arcos is a fun B&B, with courtyard pool and art-filled rooms, made from a 19th-century home.

3. Todos Santos

If you’ve not been – and most haven’t – circle ‘Todos Santos’ for the next Baja trip. Sure, some long-timers say it’s not what it used to be, as popularity has swelled (and its ‘gringo: Mexicano’ ratio has evened out), but it still beats the Cabo San Lucas condos for laid-back sense of peace in Baja Sur (incidentally one of Mexico’s safest states). A couple hours from the Cabo or La Paz airports, it’s a mountain-backed artist community near very good surfing beaches. You can easily drive into Sammy Hagar bars and boat trips at Cabo, then return for the quiet at night. Plus the Hotel California here likes to claim it’s the Hotel Califoria (it isn’t, but don’t tell them we said so).

Learn to surf at Pescadero Surf Camp, complete with lessons and (yay!) a BYO swim-up bar. If it’s just comfort you want, Posada La Posa is one of Baja’s most atmospheric inns.

4. San Miguel de Allende

Yes, it’s obvious, and with reason. A bit of an American-expat go-to of the silver towns of the central highlands north of Mexico City (and two hours from the León airport), San Miguel de Allende is a stunner, with any worry of drug violence a distant rumor. The town itself – as seen in Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico – is the main attraction. A Unesco World Heritage site since 2008, the town of 62,000 is filled with handicraft shops, 17th-century cathedrals, botanic gardens, organic farmer restaurants and lovely (sometimes luxe) guesthouses.

San Miguel’s a good spot to study Spanish or cooking. Set in a colonial building, Academia Hispano Americano is a good choice (and can arrange homestays).

5. Huatulco

If it’s resorts you want, Huatulco is a rare success story in recent resort development. This former fishing village has become the Oaxacan beach resort of choice lately, benefiting from its gentle development plan that keeps much of the 12 miles of sandy shoreline completely unspoiled and the town under six-stories high. Activities can fill several days. Snorkeling, diving, kayaking, surfing, cycling and rafting trips are easy to find, as are tours to waterfalls and coffee farms. There are flights in from Mexico City and Oaxaca City.

The Mediterranean, hacienda-styled Camino Real Zaashila is, by our authors’ estimation, one of the greatest stays on the Pacific Coast. Most of the rooms in the gorgeously landscaped property have private pools.

6. Playa del Carmen

Speaking of forward-thinking resort towns, Playa del Carmen corrects nearly every mistake of Cancún’s Zona Hotelera just up the road of the Yucatán Peninsula. With direct buses to the Cancún airport, the ped-oriented Fifth Ave (‘La Quinta’ – where it’s wise to keep an eye out on your belongings after hours) is lined with bars, nightclubs, take-away tacos and tacky souvenirs. And it’s one block from the water. Yes, it’s touristy (particularly when the cruise ships are in), but you can keep walking north to more remote beaches where the crystal-clear water is home to some of the world’s better snorkeling (even better if you daytrip by boat to nearby Cozumel Island). Also consider renting a car and go cenote-hopping for a surreal dip in rain-filled limestone sinkholes.

A nice mid-range choice, a couple blocks from the main strip, Kinbé Hotel is an Italian-owned hotel with a breezy rooftop terrace and a lush courtyard.

7. Guanajuato

A gorgeous hill town of 16th-century cathedrals and brightly colored homes on alleys ways and plazas lined with laurel trees, Guanajuato is best visited during October’s Festival Cervantino – a serious cultural extravaganza with orchestras, ballet folklórico, modern art, mariachis, Moroccan folk, Mexico City punk bands. And most of it’s free. At any time of year it’s a great hub for laid-back colonial life and a look at a mummy museum, plus a visit could easily be combined with nearby San Miguel de Allende. The town’s 30 minutes from León’s Bajío airport

8. Puebla

A ‘mini Mexico City’ – with a mere 1.5 million residents – Puebla is a colonial wonder city, packed with cathedrals and a wonderful museum devoted to ancient artifacts, and is far more manageable and laid-back than the size attests. The historic center is the place to stay, with building decked in azuelos (painted tiles) and many spots to sample the local taco árabe (Arabic taco), made of marinated pork served on Middle Eastern-style flat bread. (Try Las Ranas at Av 2 Pte 102). More adventurous should ask for escamoles (rice-like ant larvae sauteed in butter). It’s two hours by bus from Mexico City.

I would like to add Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Jalisco to this list of safe places based on personal experience of living here for 17 years and raising our children here. For more information on our wonderful, safe, expat community nestled between the Sierra Madre Mountains and Lake Chapala just 40 minutes outside of the second largest city in Mexico, Guadalajara, just google us or check out my previous blogs where I try to give newcomers a sense of what we have to offer which for us is paradise.

From the depths of the Canadian winter, it is tempting to consider the delights of relocating or retiring to Mexico. Canadian expat and real estate agent Kevin Collins explores one aspect of the dream – buying a house in the idyllic village of Ajijic on Lake Chapala.

Buying Into Mexico
Fifty years ago, the first North American expats settled in the Lake Chapala region of Mexico. Today, the best estimate of the foreign population is between 5,000 and 6,000, about half of whom are Canadian.
I came to Ajijic eight years ago and found what was, for me, an ideal combination of location, people and weather. Ajijic is a small town, with little tourist traffic. However, proximity to cosmopolitan Guadalajara and to the international airport ensure that the town is not isolated. A four-hour drive will take me to the beautiful Pacific Ocean or to one of at least ten historic and charming colonial cities. The people of Ajijic could not be kinder or more tolerant of the expats who share their town: being polite is an art form here. So many Mexicans speak English that it is possible to get along with very little Spanish (mine is limited to the topics of food, beverage and golf), but I know that I have missed a great deal by not taking advantage of the many opportunities to study it properly!

REAL ESTATE REALITIES

To provide stability against the fluctuating Peso, houses here are priced in U.S. dollars. More that 95 per cent of home sales are cash deals. Occasionally owners are willing to take back some financing for a year or two but this is unusual and any problems can be tied up in the local court system. While there is a misconception that you cannot obtain a direct deed in Mexico, this is only true of areas close to a border or the ocean. Establishing clear title is handled by a specialized lawyer or notary appointed by the government to deal with all real estate transactions. While remarkably few problems arise, you may wish to get references from recent clients.

Since there are no disclosure laws to speak of, make sure your agent informs you of any problems with the physical structure of the home you are considering. While this sounds very scary, the truth is that there aren’t that many major problems with the homes here, and repairs are relatively inexpensive. Closing costs, which are the responsibility of the buyer, are largely based on the fiscal evaluation that the municipality puts on the property. You must sign an application as a foreigner buying property under the laws of Mexico (this costs approximately $430 (U.S.) for each person buying the property). Other costs include the notary fees and the taxes, which are 2 per cent of the fiscal evaluation. Generally speaking, if you are using a reputable realtor and a good notary, the buying process should be quite painless and straightforward. Because of the region’s popularity with expats, housing prices have risen in recent years. Land in the prime areas is limited because there is a fairly narrow strip that runs along the lakeshore and up the hillside above Lake Chapala where you can purchase and build. Above this land is “Ejido” property, set aside for the use of the indigenous population. Most stories about foreigners having problems with their property in Mexico involve people illegally selling Ejido land. While housing prices may be steeper than you expected, property taxes are rarely over $200 (U.S.) a year and domestic help averages around $2 (U.S.) an hour. Few people bother with air conditioning or heating (other than ceiling fans and a fireplace), and utilities are much less expensive than in Canada or the U.S. Combine these benefits with the tax advantages of living abroad and you’ll agree with a client of mine who said, “I’m not wealthy but I always wanted to live like a rich person, and I can do that here.”

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

People here will say with great conviction that wherever they live is the best place to be. Many people initially look for property in the old village of Ajijic, but later realize that they are unlikely to find lake views in the village, and it can be noisy at times. While newcomers tend to harbour the romantic notion that they can walk everywhere, most people find they do need a car. Areas such as La Floresta and Villa Nova are walkable to the village but quieter, with wide streets and good quality homes. Up the hill there are more gated communities with wonderful views, and it’s a little quieter (Mexico can be a noisy place: dogs, roosters and music are everywhere, but you do get used to it after a while!). The Racquet Club has wonderful views, nice common pool area and lots of tennis activities, but it is a 10- to 12-minute drive from town. That does not sound like much but your world shrinks here and it is too far out for some people. You get more for your money outside the prime areas, but resale becomes a real issue if you get too far out. The exception to this rule might be the Chapala Country Club area, which has a nine-hole golf course and a good social scene. However, it may be too far away from the amenities of Ajijic for non-golfers. No two homes in Ajijic are alike. The houses are as eclectic as the people who choose to settle here, and while that makes living here fun, it takes some getting used to. Even the best neighbourhoods will have a series of wonderful houses and then a cornfield in the middle of everything. The local custom of building houses behind walls enhances privacy and security, and maximizes utilization of space.

RESEARCH

The best way to begin gathering information about the Lake Chapala region is to get on the Internet, starting with . While common sense would suggest renting for a season to two before buying, it can be difficult to find a long-term rental; most people use their homes here for at least half the year. It is hard (but not impossible) to find a decent rental from American Thanksgiving through Easter. The only slow period is from Easter till the middle of June, when people from Texas, Arizona and Florida arrive to escape the heat during the summer months. An excellent accommodation base for a fact-finding mission to Ajijic is La Nueva Posada, a small, charming hotel located in the village of Ajijic right on the shore of Lake Chapala (e-mail: ). It is owned and operated by the Eager family, Canadians who have been here since 1975. The Eagers are a good source of information on any number of subjects. You might want to book early because they have only 19 rooms and four garden suites (the latter with kitchens and living rooms). As someone once said, ”People buy with their hearts and then justify it with logic.” So if you fall in love with a place, don’t fight it. You don’t have to make a hasty decision, but remember, paralysis through analysis could keep you from moving anywhere! Meanwhile, “Hasta lo mas pronto posible!” (Spanish phrase for “See you real soon, eh!”).

by Roger Toll, former Editor of Mexico City News (Delta Sky Magazine, February 2006)

Near Guadalajara, the lakeside town of Ajijic has proven irresistible to many Americans. Here’s why.

If the cherished ideals of human unity and harmony between cultures remain hard to achieve, maybe we’d best look to a basic biological concept for a solution. Symbiosis, the dictionary says, is the life association of two dissimilar organisms for mutual benefit. I thought of this on a recent visit to Ajijic (pronounced “ah-HEE-heek”), the prettiest of several towns laced together by a two-lane highway running along the northwest shore of Mexico’s largest lake, Chapala, 45 minutes south of Guadalajara. It is midsummer, the rainy season, where the air is soft and the surrounding mountains turn an exuberant tropical green. The setting is bucolic, Old World, with a rustic church and peaceful plaza, and a gazebo waiting for a band to arrive. Cobblestone streets slow traffic to a genteel crawl, and people come and go, murmuring a polite “buenos dias” as they amble by.

It is a scene replicated in thousands of towns throughout Mexico. But in one way, Ajijic and its lakeside neighbours–Jocotopec, San Juan Cosala, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Chapala–stand alone, not only in Mexico, but in the world. For they are home to the largest population of Americans and Canadians living outside their own countries. This being Mexico, no one is quite sure how many foreigners there are, nor does anyone seem to know the total population of these lakeside towns. But guesses place the foreigners at about 10,000 during the high season of winter, amid a total population of 60,000.

Ever since Americans began migrating to Ajijic in the 1950s, detractors have said it’s where old gringos go to die. Granted, most of the foreigners are retired, though more and more younger people have made the move after corporations began offering early retirement. Reduced incomes become a lot more elastic in the Latin American economy, and the lakeside’s perfect, spring-like weather, with average temperatures ranging between 67 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit (19-26 Celsius) year-round, seems like a dream to long-suffering veterans of harsh winters or sizzling summers. Comfortable, stylish homes, even Spanish Colonial gems, are half the price of their equivalents back home, and employing a full-time gardener and a maid or cook is no longer an unjustifiable luxury. Labor, goods, and restaurant meals are impressively inexpensive. Life is comfortable and relaxed, and there’s little cause to hurry anywhere.

“I’m on the younger side of the expatriate curve here,” says Kevin Collins, a wry, 49-year-old former advertising executive from Toronto who moved here a decade ago. “But the average age of foreigners is coming down pretty quickly, probably around early 60s by now.” We meet over drinks in the sprawling garden of La Nueva Posada, the town’s best hotel, whose bedraggled charm is reminiscent of a setting in a Graham Greene novel. Collins, who moved to Ajijic with his wife and two children, has lowered his golf handicap to 6 after years of playing three times a week at the nearby nine-hole golf club. He has also become the area’s top real estate agent.

“People get fantastic medical attention in Guadalajara, which is probably why we have so many older gringos tottering down the cobblestone streets here,” Collins says. “Any other place, they wouldn’t get such good attention for so little money.” Besides, he says, the elderly can be well cared for in their own homes because help is so readily available, loyal and inexpensive. “Mexicans are very warm and caring by nature,” Collins adds, “and they value and respect the elderly.”

Retirees often find they are rejuvenated by the prevailing live-and-let-live attitude of Mexican culture. Foreigners give themselves permission to go a little eccentric–what the British call “going native”–painting their walls in bright Mexican pinks and yellows, for example, or wearing arty, bohemian clothes that might have been frowned on when they were dressing for their neighbors back home. One senses a zest, a youthful spirit won back after years of tending to corporate or family imperatives, a feeling of being freed by distance to become what their fantasy dictates. Some take to playing roles in a string of theater productions, while others start painting. (D.H. Lawrence lived and wrote in the Lakeside towns in the 1920s–just one milestone in Ajijic’s thriving art scene.) The entrepreneurial Norte-americanos open shops and restaurants as ways of keeping busy in the relaxed small-town ambience.

Walking along cobblestone Constitucion Street early one evening, I encounter two seventy-somethings in colorful dresses and long gray-blond hair who pull up to a curb on a cherry red ATV like two 18-year-olds. “Come on in,” they say as they stride into Tom’s Bar. “There are some fun people who come here, and they serve great sandwiches.” Tom’s is a small dive that has blossomed into a popular American and Canadian watering hole. Due to a satellite hook-up and a new television, it is the place to watch weekend games in the robust company of expats. I sit at the bar beside Fred, a 48-year-old building contractor who was passing through town and decided to stay. He’s been in Ajijic now for 17 years.

Many foreigners, armed with a social conscience and strong community action skills that they’ve imported along with their cars, throw themselves into the long list of organizations that have helped make Ajijic one of the most communally active towns in Mexico. “With all the charity and fund-raising events, the foreign community has launched a lot of programs that support crippled and orphaned children, old people, scholarship and health programs, and so much more,” says Teresa Kendrick, author of Mexico’s Lake Chapala and Ajijic: The Insiders Guide. Kendrick came from Austin, Texas, to Guadalajara on vacation 11 years ago, and stayed for a spell. Three years after that, at age 42, she moved to Ajijic, where she had found her Eden. “Take stray animals,” she says. “When I got here, there was an abject neglect of dogs and cats. Now we have an excellent pound, and animal-care groups train kids in school to care for animals. It’s common to see well-fed dogs with collars and leashes out walking with families. It’s been a really positive change.”

Gringo retirement dollars have had a huge impact, and the Mexican population appreciates the economic benefits, even if at times it means putting up with some angry or impatient Northerners who haven’t yet acculturated to the slower pace of life and different norms of behavior. “Unfortunately, we always get some rude foreigners with nasty tempers,” says Kendrick. “They want everything now and in the way it’s done in the States, so they don’t really fit in here.” But most people, she says, blossom in the warmth of the community and learn to adjust their expectations.

Ajijic’s mayor, Ricardo Gonzalez, believes communication between the two communities is ‘very beautiful because each side respects the other.” Foreigners, he says, have improved the area’s education, environment and health, especially in the area of nutrition, and have led efforts to clean up the town. “We have lived here for many generations so we don’t change too fast but we are learning many useful things from them that improve our lives,” he says. According to the mayor, people don’t feel envy towards the foreigners’ relative wealth, because that money flows into the economy. “We have full employment, and our salaries our higher than elsewhere in Mexico,” he says.

“The foreigners seem to like our Mexican traditions, and we appreciate that,” Gonzalez adds. For instance, even though it is an unusual customs for Northerners, the community still celebrates the Dia de los Muertos, he points out, rather than Halloween. “Both our groups are benefiting from living together and exchanging our cultural ways. So, yes, I think the foreigners are learning a lot from us as well.”

Article reproduced as it appeared in Delta’s Sky Magazine (February 2006) — written by Sky contributing editor Roger Toll, who lives in Park City, Utah, is the former editor of Mexico City News.

Ajijic Hotels in Lake Chapala Mexico

La Nueva Posada

La Nueva Posada is located on Lake Chapala in Ajijic. The address is Donato Guerra #9. The Eager Family has been running this hotel for over 30 years. Ask Michael Eager or his mother, Judy Eager, about some of the stories they can tell about the early days in Ajijic.

It is a beautiful property overlooking the lake with an outdoor garden to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner. There is also an indoor dining room with Continental and Mexican specialties.

They have beautifully decorated rooms with private marble bathrooms in the hotel with lake, and garden views and also villas across the street with one and two bedroom suites available with full kitchens which can be rented by the month.

There is a pool and off street parking and a friendly, efficient staff to look after your every need and there is free internet service in the rooms.

They are in the process of incorporating conference facilities and an all new kitchen. La Nueva Posada is the home to all the holiday celebrations including their famous New Year’s Eve Party and the hotel is always decorated beautifully to commemorate every occasion.

Email: lanuevaposada@gmail.com for reservations.

Casa Tres Leones

This is a very upscale B & B in the prestigious area of Las Salvias in Ajijic. They have 8 beautifully appointed suites and 1 self-contained villa. The views of Lake Chapala and the Sierra Madre mountains are wonderful as are the extensive manicured gardens. Internet access is available. Breakfast is served on the outdoor terraza and there is a pool.

Your hosts are Alix and Emile from Australia and both are experienced chefs.

It is located at Emiliano Zapata # l0 and you can email them at: casatresleones@yahoo.com

Angel Flores Guest House

This is another B and B located on Angel Flores #5 in Ajijic. There are eight rooms surrounding a beautiful garden setting right in the heart of the village. It is newly renovated and very picturesque, quaint and charming. Excellent food is available and the owner is Skip Waggoner. Email Skip at: haroldskipwaggoner@hotmail.com for more information and reservations.