The Wimbledon Grand Slam tennis tournament for 2009 is underway in London, England. Unfortunately, we will not be watching it on TV due to the last round of the U.S. Open Golf which is being played today.

The U.S.Open has been fraught with bad weather but they are coming down the finishing stretch now with the favorite, Phil Mikelson 1 back of the leader Lucas Glover.

Roger Federer is looking for his 15th major title at Wimbledon this year and a return to the #1 player in the world status. He is currently #2 behind Rafael Nadal. Nadal had to withdraw from Wimbledon due to his knee tendonitis so Roger has a very good chance to realize both of these dreams.

The birth of Federer and his wife, Mirka’s, first child is imminent but he had refused (more…)

There are many benefits to living in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico. One of my favorites is becoming more familiar with the internet and all it has to offer.

It was not too long ago that all I could do was send and receive emails and do a letter. I very much wanted to learn more and I am happy to say I accomplished that goal.

Facebook.com is one of my favorite sites and I have reconnected with many friends and get in touch with them and family through shared pictures and updates. Everyday I log in to find out who is doing what to whom. It was a particularly useful site when my daughter was in London, England in 2007 and again earlier this year. She could send me pictures and videos which I loved.

Skype.com is another wonderful site which offers messaging much like aol.com or Windows Live Messenger but it also offers an extremely inexpensive long distance application which has saved me thousands of pesos every month. If you have a video cam on your computer you are (more…)

Well, as I wrote about on Monday, the rainy season would indeed appear to be upon us.

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 (more…)

April in Ajijic, Lake Chapala was very pleasant. Most of May was lovely too. However, it did start to get a little warm towards the end of May and June brought the heat with a vengeance.

I don’t know why I bothered to go to the hairdresser during this time as the heat had caused my hair to fall flat before leaving the salon.

In the past the hunt for fans was quite a challenge unless you went to Guadalajara as all the fans lakeside flew off the shelves. Now that we have Wal-mart (albetit still a contentious entity for some) purchasing a fan is as easy as going to the store and making your selection from many models available in all price ranges.

Although we do have overhead fans in most of our rooms which do provide much needed relief I still find free standing fans necessary for other parts of the house.

Fortunately our house is very cool as we have marble floors and a very large (more…)

Okay, so the title of this blog is misleading.
In a format like this you would expect it to be about the decision to move here or not.
Sorry but that’s really up to you.
What I want to talk about was my son’s decision to go into Guadalajara and catch some
professional wrestling action.

I have a friend who’s mother thinks pro wrestling is legit but is convinced they faked the moon landings. I think it needs to be said here that my son has not believed that pro wrestling was “real” since he was 5 years old so it was more of a lark than anything.
He really wasn’t expecting an athletic display of any kind.

He asked me to tag along and what I’m wrestling with is my emphatic decline of his offer. My general rule here is to go to anything and everything. It’s usually either fun or so (more…)

What I’ve always loved most about Mexico is how warm and friendly the people are. The Mexican culture is very family oriented. In the United States and Canada children can’t wait until their 18th birthday, making them legally able to flee their homes and become independent. While there is nothing wrong with wanting some independence, I believe that children leaving home at such a young age lose some of their family values.

In Mexico, most children, especially the girls, stay at home well into their 20s. The family bond is very strong, and the children are brought up going to school and then working in the family business. It is a cycle. The children are born, raised, and looked after until a certain age, and then it is the children’s turn to look after their parents. It is a special sight to see.

Aside from the family life here in Mexico, the people are so warm and friendly. The Mexican culture is quite peaceful and harmonious. Everyone works together. Never have I lived in (more…)

Clean drinking water is a problem for many countries all over the world.

Here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala we are very fortunate to have many sources of clean drinking water.

When we were first here 15 years ago we were told that most companies that sold bottled water got their water from the lake. This, of course, was not good news but after extensive research we learned that Aga Pureza could be trusted and their water was pure.

We still use this company which is now called Bonafort and we still have bottled water delivered to our door for 25 pesos per large bottle. The water is Chula Vista is said to be potable but we feel safer using bottled water for drinking.

Also all fruits and vegetable should be soaked in drops for 15 minutes before using. These (more…)

Our avid recycling family and friends in Canada have always thought it was criminal that we do not recycle in the Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Area.

Once many years I was able to proudly report that our children were involved in a recycling program at their school and perhaps we would start recycling after the success of that program.

We have had a few false starts with the current trash program here I Ajijic, Lake Chapala but it would now appear that we might be moving ahead

The Chapala municipal government with take the first steps toward implementing (more…)

Many people enjoy the many tennis facilities in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

They also enjoy tennis on TV and right now we are coming to the close of the clay court season which once again the world’s #1 Rafael Nadal has dominated.

We are coming up to the end of the first week of the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, France the second of the 4 majors of the year.

Rafa won the first major which was the Australian Open in January.

The question now is can he win the French Open for the 5th time. He has only suffered (more…)

Lake Chapala is Mexico’s largest freshwater lake and is located 45 km southeast of Guadalajara. It is 1,524 meters above sea level. It is 80 km eat to west and 18 km from north to south.

The largest island in Laka Chapala is Isla de los Alacranes (Scorpion Island) and it is a great tourist attraction.

Lake Chapala is fed by Rios Zula, Huaracha and Duero and is drained by Rio Santiago.

Many people believe that Lake Chapala holds the lost souls of natives from the past and many Blood Pots (Lagrimas de Sangre) have been found in the lakewhich are alleged to hold the tears of such lost souls.

In 2007 and 2008 Lake Chapala measured higher that it has been in decades which is very good news for a number of reasons.

First Lake Chapala supports 117 species of birds. The most popular being the White Pelican.

Also high levels of Lake Chapala are very good for the real estate market. Most (more…)