Autumn in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico

All of these holidays bring their special joys and traditions.

As Ajijic, Lake Chapala has a large Canadian and American population it only makes sense that both Thanksgiving Days are celebrated. Most restaurants offer Thanksgiving dinner specials for both Canadians and Americans. A listing for these dinners and their locations you might wish to consult the Guadalajara Reporter.

For example the Canadian Club hosts the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at La Nueva Posada October 12th.

Halloween is a new holiday in Mexico and basically started with the advent of the ex-pats. Mexican children have happily adopted Halloween and go from door to door to extract candy. They start very early in the afternoon and some do, in fact, wear costumes. You will also find, however, some teenagers not in costumes of any kind come to your door more than once to try their luck. There are various house Halloween parties and some restaurants and bars have Halloween celebrations as well.

The Day of the Dead is a very interesting time of the year here in Mexico. This is a wonderful holiday to celebrate dearly departed friends and family members. There is special bread baked for the occasion and there are shrines set up around the village and cemetery to honor the recently deceased. The main celebration is held at the cemetery at the west end of Ajijic and is a must see event. There is music, flowers, food, drinks, dancing and all manner of fun shared with those gone to heaven. All the shops have all sorts of Day of the Dead items to sell to commemorate this day and some are quite macabre but highly in demand nonetheless. Many visitors take these items home as they interchange into Halloween decorations nicely.

On November 27th is US Thanksgiving Day and we like the special dinner at La Nueva Posada because we can spend it with our Mexican relatives. The dinner is delicious, very traditional with all the trimmings. They seem to substitute yams and marshmallows with red cabbage which is fine with us.

This date is also important as it heralds the start of the snow birds coming south. They usual head south after US Thanksgiving and head back north just before Easter.

After all of these wonderful events comes Navidad (Christmas) the most beautiful time of year of all here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, but I will save that for another blog.

We have so much to give thanks for here in Ajijic, LakeChapala. We do, after all, live in paradise.

Weather in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico

I was born in Toronto, Canada and never really thought much about the weather. It was always awful.

The winter was cold, snowy with a low grey sky. If there was a pretty snowfall it was soon grey slush. Black ice was always a risk and deicing your windshield with a scraper (if you were lucky enough to have one that had not broken) or a credit card was commonplace.

February was the month with the highest suicide rate and I usually entered into it with resigned depression if not suicidal tendencies. I called it my February slump as did most everyone else.

One was more hopeful in March as there was some chance (as the saying goes) that it would go out like a lamb . April rained a lot but brought flowers and you might have the odd warmish day. I can remember it snowing in May for Mother’s Day one year and, of course, June brought the black flies followed by the mosquitoes. We sit here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala out on our bugless terrazas and I remember that in Canada although it might be warm enough to sit outside the insects would have a field day.

July there was some possibility of a couple of good weeks but come August the humidity was unbearable.

September was a melancholy month as one knew winter was on its way and October it could be raw and snowy leading into a bleak November. December was OK because of the warm Christmas sentiment but often it would arbitrarily not snow for the “White Christmas” one wanted.

At the moment the entire northeast and much of the rest of the US is experiencing horrible snow and ice storms and record low temperatures making travel (or even going to the store for milk) very difficult. Electricity has been knocked out in many communities and the joy of winter sports has no joy.

I love our 75 degree warm climate which we have year round in Ajijic, Lake Chapala. I love the sunny days and fragrant aroma of year round flowers and flowering trees. I love going for my walks without a jacket. I love that we never talk about the weather here as it is always perfect.

The warmth and sunshine of the local climate in Ajijic, Lake Chapala is very good for the soul.

Mexican Sunshine

January and February and March you may need a sweater in the evenings. The jacaranda trees which are a deep blue bloom during February and are beautiful and leave a carpet of fragrant petals everywhere.

April and May can be a little warm and dusty as we are awaiting the best season of the year which is the “rainy season”. A lot of people chose to travel at this time of year but I can tell you after 14 years in Ajijic/Lake Chapala these two months have never been too hot for me. (Bearing in mind I hail from the frozen north of Toronto, Canada.)

June 15 to October 15 is the glorious “rainy season” which is incredibly beautiful. It usually only rains at night and everything turns a lush green with all the flowers emitting a divine aroma. The air is very fresh and sweet smelling and the bouganvillea abound. Although we have flowers and trees blooming all year this is indeed the most vibrant of seasons.

November and December are perfect and Christmas/Navidad here is wonderful with many exciting sights and local seasonal festivites to enjoy.

In short our climate is approximately 75 degrees and sunny 90% of the year. My father once described Ajijic/Lake Chapala as a “little slice of paradise” and certainly our weather contributes to this sentiment.