Recyclin in the Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico Area

We still have not received our visit from the people who are going to go door-to-door with instructions and color keyed trash bags.

My sister is a rabid recycler as are most people in Canada and I am sure I will hear about the fact that we still do not recycle in no uncertain terms.

Visiting her house in Toronto is a very confusing proposition trash-wise. There are several different containers supplied by the city in different colors that are picked up on various days of the week.

There is a bin for bottles, one for plastics (which have to be washed before they are suitable for recycling and in some cases the lids for these containers go into a different place), one for papers, one for compost and one for general trash and I still have no idea what that is.

On the bottom of some household containers there is a number in a triangle which is supposed to advise you into what bin said item should be tossed. Being able to read these numbers clearly is a job for some eagle eyed soul whose eyesight is much better than mine.

Not all bottles, however, go into the bottle bin as some beer and wine bottles are to be washed and returned to the beer stores for cold hard cash. Getting them from the house to the beer store however is another story.

When I am at my sister’s I worry about what I am supposed to do with the piece of trash I have in my hand and invariably I make the wrong choice of receptacles. It is always so nice to come home to Ajijica, Lake Chapala and throw everything n the same trash cans with gay abandon.

Having said that I do believe it is time we all did start contributing to the environment in a more meaningful way and a very good way to start is to recycle our trash.

Hopefully, we will soon receive our instructions of what to put in what colored bags and on what days said bags will be collected. Perhaps it might be confusing to start with but I am sure in no time everything, trash-wise, will be running like clockwork. This would make my sister very happy indeed.

Rainy Season in Lake Chapala

Thus year the rain is about 62% below normal and unexpected troubles for residents and farmers are possible.

Meteorologists are attributing the lagging rains to El Nino which is causing above average temperatures throughout Jalisco and the surge of smog in Guadalajara.

Lake Chapala levels at this time of year are usually on a steady rise but have flat-lined for a full week. Lake Chapala has only gained 14 centimeters since the start of the rainy season as compared to a 62 centimeter increase during June and July of last year.

There is good news, however. The National Water Commission (Conagua) data shows Lake Chapala holding at a 68.2% of its maximum capacity which is six points above the status registered 12 months ago.

Earlier this year Conagua predicted that Lake Chapala would likely reach full capacity during this year’s rainy season. Hopefully, this prediction can still be realized.

We still have a full two and a half months left in this year’s rainy season so it is up to each and every one of us to pray to the rain God – Tlaloc to ask for a robust rainfall during the balance of the 2009 rainy season.

Rainfall for Lake Chapala has always been a cycical affair so there is no reason to think that this year is going to totally upset the balance of things overall. Water rationing has never been a problem for residents in the Lake Chapala area so, hopefully, this will not change.

We forget how lucky we are here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala to have so many natural resources and plentiful water is one of our greatest gifts.

CFE in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico

Last night we had another amazingly dramatic thunder storm which woke my husband, myself and the dogs.

When I woke up I was wrapped in a maze of white gauzy cotton because for some inexplicable reason my husband had lowered the mosquito netting we have suspended above our bed. I thought this was a lovely romantic touch for our bedroom but apparently my husband thought it had a much more useful role.

The electricity went out with a large bang in the middle of this storm and I thought the generator must surely be in pieces and it would be a long time before we had power restored as high winds had also caused electrical problems in Chapala.

The lovely fans we had throughout the house, of course, all went dead making going back to sleep a difficult proposition indeed.

The first thing I do in the morning is get my coffee and plop myself down in front of CNN while I check all my sites on my laptop. I put the milk in the microwave to heat up for my decaf cappuccino and naturally nothing happened.

Laundry was out of the question and this was the day I had earmarked to wash 2 rugs and our duvet cover for the bed as the puppies had been bathed yesterday.

The dishwasher usually humming happily in the morning was eerily silent as was the fridge.

I was crestfallen without all my gadgets that are so much a part of my morning routine. I called my sister in Canada as luckily we still had one phone in the house that was still in working order and complained happily to her about my non electrical plight and then prepared to go for my walk.

First I called the office of Chula Vista to see what was happening with the electricity. I had already, to no avail, tried to get through to the emergency number 071 of CFE. I was assured that the outage had been reported and service would resume as quickly as possible. In the past this has given me no feeling of confidence as it has sometimes been hours before service was restored.

So you can imagine my delight when at 9:45 am I looked up in the kitchen and the lights were on! I was elated and ran to turn on my laptop and commence my morning rituals.

It would appear that CFE now has a much better grasp of identifying and fixing whatever problems might arise during the rainy season. I, for one are delighted with their progress.