Jan 24 Weekly Update

Well the weather warmed up this week and we have not had the space heater on for a couple of days. I even opened the bedroom window last night. The puppies haven't been seen in a few days now and we haven't asked anyone but we have a feeling that they are gone.

We met up with our new Gringo friends Donna and Douglas on Wednesday evening. We had a couple of drinks at La Tasca and asked all the requisite questions. I think we all hit it off because Douglas suggested we go for dinner. We went to Reubens, a newly opened restaurant in town. The food was delicious and the owner regaled us with great stories about his life. Born in Jocotopec (just down the road). He lived in L.A. for several years. Consequently his English is great. He is also a singer and he serenaded us with a few of his favourite songs. He gave us some good information about his home town. It's the raspberry growing capital of the world. I've been eating raspberries every morning for breakfast and they are plump and juicy. Anyhow, those Briscoes raspberries we eat at home in Canada in the plastic boxes are grown just ten minutes down the road from us. Now we know what's growing under all those plastic sheets on the acres of land just down the road on the Lake side.

Greg has decided to give up running for a while because his knees and his back have been aching lately. It must be the bumpy roads. As I mentioned in the last blog, we climbed the mountain to the chapel. Greg has been out the door early and up the mountain about 3 times this week. On Friday he climbed to a cornfield about an hour past the chapel. I went with him again this morning but didn't make it much past the chapel. Greg is in much stronger shape than I am. I will go with him again and try to add some distance from today's destination. Our walk today was just over 5K. (all uphill.) I used the broom handle as a walking stick. Some Mexican man was coming down the slope with a rake as we were going up. He had raked all the gravel off the trail which made the walk a lot easier. How nice was that!

On Thursday we went with our neighbours John and Joan to Tango a wonderful restaurant here in town. It's an Argentinean steak house. I ate vegetarian Lasagna. Greg gobbled up his steak with glee. I brought home half of my meal and ate it the next day for lunch. Joan and John had their birthdays on Tuesday and Greg had his on Saturday, hence the celebratory dinner out.

We saw Avatar twice this week. Once in town here where it was shown in English but not in 3D. Today we drove into Guadalajara and went to an Imax theatre and watched it in 3D. We are now done giving James Cameron our money.

We've booked a trip to Puerto Vallarta in mid February. It's a bus trip that leaves from town and takes us to a beautiful all inclusive hotel on the beach. Everyone raves about P.V. and some of the surrounding villages. Lots to see. It will be lovely to walk on the beach and swim in the sea and to have someone else do the meal preparation.

We have some company coming to visit. Kevin and Jennifer have booked tickets for mid-March. Ron and Bev are coming in April. We are waiting to see if Nadia has booked anything later in March. She hopes to come with her boys. I can't wait to watch the kid's reactions to some of the wacky sites in this town. Sharon and Allen are talking about coming as well. It will be exciting to see people from home and be able to show them the town and the surrounding area. There's so much to experience. It will be fun to share it all with some of our B.F.F.'s

On a final note. Jordan turned 20 on January 23rd and today is Christine's (Greg's younger daughter) birthday. She turned 33. We're all getting older.

PS.
Lynne got a GREAT haircut this week. I guess she didn't want to talk about it though!

Sunday Jan 17 - Update

No big adventures this week, just life on the ranch. We both continue our Spanish Lessons with Lina. She has found a way to address Greg's learning style which is much more kinaesthetically. They are now making puzzles to put together and using flash cards which seems to be better for him. I met a guy named Douglas who takes the lesson after mine and often gets there early, hence our meeting. I was immediately attracted to him because he was "young" which around this town means somewhere around 60 and not the more mature 70 and 80 years olds that we tend to be meeting. I guess people are working longer and don't have the funds to retire in their 50's or early 60's. We're lucky. Anyhow, Douglas and I joked about our "relative youthfulness" and he gave me his phone number and said we should call him and his wife Donna and get together. I can't believe how difficult that call was to make. I felt like I was calling for a blind date. I procrastinated all week but finally did phone and Greg and I will meet Douglas and Donna for drinks this coming Wednesday night.

Greg has taken to bringing the puppies into our casita. He gave them a little mat to lie down on and I think they like it here better than in their cage behind the Mexican motel as we've come to call it. Last night we had all four in here but only two spent the night. Those same two are back tonight.....asleep in the spooning position on their little mat in our living room.

We went to the local cinema to see House 39 which we thought was a story about a social worker. We didn't realize it was a horror flick and we are not fans of that genre. I spent most of the movie with my eyes squeezed shut and my hands over my ears. I DO NOT recommend this flick. Avitar has arrived this weekend in English finally, but alas not in 3-D. We'll probably see it anyhow. At 2 bucks a person it's hard to resist seeing everything that comes to town.

I experimented with some recipes this week that my sister-in-law sent me and made a wonderful tex-mex salad which I ate solo. Greg is not a big salad eater. He cooked himself shrimp. Oh, how we'd love to pay someone to take off the shells and remove the veins. It's a very tedious job and somewhat gross as well. Greg buys a beautiful floral bouquet every week at the Tienges. He just gives the vendor 8 bucks and asks him to make something up for him. Each week we have a gorgeous and different arrangement on the side board in our dining room. We save our small change during the week to take to the market and give to the people who are there begging. It's the same people every week and I guess it's just their job.

My article came out today in the Chapala review. It was quite thrilling to see the magazine at our local grocery store and flip through it until I found my piece. I like seeing my name in print. I've got another assignment and a deadline of February 14th. It would be great if I could start it and not be sweating on the 13th but I know myself and I am a procrastinator.

We got Greg's mom to sign up for facebook this week and that's been fun, watching her connect with the grandchildren. At 85, I think joining Facebook is a wonderful venture.

Greg's 60th birthday was today. I can't believe I married someone so much older than myself! He ran to Chapala and back and when he returned announced that he was giving up running for now. That really scares me but because there will be something else for sure and I brace myself as I await his next hobby. I bought him a dangling earring which he had mentioned wanting and some of his favourite food treats. I also bought a cake and two bottles of Champagne to take to Happy Hour with all of our other ranch Gringos. We sang Happy Birthday and took pictures and enjoyed the company. Greg really wanted a big flat screen t.v. but I'm the frugal one in this relationship. He calls it cheap but he's not one for being politically correct.

Tomorrow we are getting up early, at least by 8:30 and climbing the mountain to the Chapel. We will pray for all of you while we are there. After the mountain, we will drive to Guadalajara to the Galleria Mall.....yup you heard correctly, and Greg wants to buy himself a new pair of jeans as his old ones have got a hole in the tush.

It was warmer today and the winds died down. We've had a very cool and miserable week, weather-wise, but the forecast for the coming week looks promising.

Jan 10 update - South Lake Trip

We've been having some cool weather here. We had to buy a space heater to keep warm in the evenings in our little casita. I think the cool weather has turned us into "home bodies" and since Jordan and Sara left we've haven't been doing much more than eating and watching very bad t.v. We only have 4 English speaking stations....and re-runs of Miami CSI are starting to become boring. Greg can't stand Horatio at the best of times. Greg has been doing some web work and I have taken up knitting again and have been doing some writing. We've both started Spanish Lessons with Lina, an American gal, about our age, who was raised here in Ajijic by parents who moved here in the early 60's. All that being said, we haven't done much adventuring lately.

More Puppy Pictures

Yesterday, the sun poked out again in the morning and Greg was inspired to drive around the lake. We set out at around 10 p.m. When we got to the cut off on the highway for Mazitmitla we decided to check it out. Our rental agent, Gonzalo had told us it was a really interesting and very different little town. The road took us up a mountain and I mean ear-popping up and up. Once again, the change in vegetation was very interesting. The higher we went the more pine woods appeared. We drove past Mazatmitla to the little town of San Jose de Gracia. It was quaint and of course had a big chuch and a lovely square with the pervasive shops surrounding the square. These were a bit more high end stalls than those we have become accustomed to in our area. We also notice more indigenous people and the town seemed cleaner and there were less stray dogs roaming around. I had packed a little lunch for us and we sat on little benches in the square facing the church and watched as proud parents exited the church with their newly Christened babies, dressed in miniature bride gowns. Children flocked around the entrance of the church and called out for candy to get thrown which happened over and over again. Greg asked permission to photograph one of the more elaborately dressed babies and we chatted with the proud Papa who is Mexican but lives and works in Missouri so spoke perfect English. We used the banos publicos in the Town hall. The mayor's office seemed modest at most.

Greg bought his third Mexican hat in a store on the square. I think he finally got the one he likes.....and says he know looks like a happy Mexican instead of a mean cowboy.

South Shore Trip Pictures

We left San Jose de Gracia and headed back down the road to Mazitmitla. We chuckled to find a combination Gravenhurst, Lake Placid, Swiss Alpine town here in the interior of Mexico. Because they have pine woods, they use the lumber to trim and decorate their white adobe houses giving them a very Swiss Chalet kind of look. The high fences and gates of Ajijic and Chapala were not as prevalent. A beautiful church and square and the requisite shops were the scene of much activity, laughter, and general life with a buzz. We talked about how different life is here compared to at home where everyone has their own electronic device to plug into and interactivity seems to occur only as a planned event. That's part of what we love about living here. There is exuberant, racous life on the street and especially in the town squares and around the churches.

I bought some fresh ground coffee to bring back home and a pair of dangling earrings that I've been wanting to buy since arriving in Mexico.

We drove down the mountain and stopped in one last village before heading back home. San Pedro was a dusty little place with a vacant square, no vendors and an empty church yard. We aren't sure if it was the time of day....maybe everyone was having their siesta, or a small population that contributed to this phenomenon. We photographed the interior of the church and the list of donations made by townspeople to the church. This was all written by hand on paper ripped from a notebook and displayed for everyone to see in a glass case set into the wall of the church. Interesting.

I didn't feel like cooking last night so Greg bought himself 3 pieces of chicken and a big tub of cole slaw for 35 pesos.....about 3 dollars. I did however notice him spending an unprecedented amount of time in the washroom last night.

And so, dear friends and followers, that is the latest chapter of La Vida en el ranchero.

Puppies and Christmas Pictures

I finally got around to posting some pictures. The first group here are the pictures from Jordan and Sara's visit. I HAD to start them off with the picture of the fellow we found asleep in the middle of the town square at noon on Christmas day.

Too much Christmas cheer?

The second group are of the puppies. There are two German Sheppard's here on the ranch. Samson and Delilah. Delilah had pups a couple of weeks after we got here. One of our neighbors complained about the noise, so the puppies were moved up behind 'The Motel' as we call the building that the local resident groundskeepers live in.

We don't see the puppies much unless we walk up there. They are kept in the backyard of the building there. We don't like to intrude. The other night, the puppies got out.

All night long we heard the whining as they chased Delilah around wanting to get fed. I went out for a run in the morning. When I got back, two of the pups were playing by or front door. I grabbed them and brought them in. I was waiting for Lynne to yell at me to get them out but, she fell instantly in love with them too. We played with them for a while. I fed them a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Lynne, being a bit more thoughtful, warmed up some milk and broke us some bread in a dish and fed them that.

Click here for Puppy pictures

They hung in here for about and hour and a half. They'd play, then snuggle in my arms and fall asleep. Delilah came around looking for them eventually and they tore off after her again.

Sun Jan 3 - Two Week Catch Up

Wow - I can't believe that it's been so long since we've updated the site here. More so - I can't believe I haven't re-designed it and cleared out a lot of the old stuff yet!

I've done a TON of studying on different technology from what I've been using for years. I'm looking forward to introducing it all on the new site.

So - what's been happening since we updated last?

1. I climbed the mountain.

2. Jordan and Sara visited for 8 days.

3. We installed Windows 7 and have both computers running again!

4. Christmas came and went.

5. So did New Years.

6. More people moved into the ranch here.

7. We signed up for Spanish lessons

1. The Mountain.

So, there is a Shrine part way up one of the mountains from here. I was talking to a guy who hikes around in the mountains and he invites me out to go with hi. I'm told it's about 20 minute up and 20 minutes down. A great introduction to climbing in the mountains I think.

Well, I've got a lot of catching up to do here so, to make a long story short . . 6 hours later we return from the top of the 8,000' mountain. (We're at 5,000' here) Cuts bruises scraps and legs muscle aches from muscles that I didn't know existed. Holy crap - what an adventure.

The really fun part was when we lost the trail cut through the bush, got all tangled up in vines and then slipped on the loose gravel and slid on my back until I could catch a branch to hold me until Doug came back and tossed me a line.

Yup - mountain climbing - something new to add to the list of somewhat insane things to fill in time doing!

2. Jordan and Sara Visit

We picked up the kids from Guadalajara on the 22nd. It was late in the day so there wasn't much for them to see while we drove the 30 minutes back from the airport.

It was really fun having them here. Sara hadn't traveled at all prior to this so everything was a new adventure for her.

We took them out to all the local, 'way cool' restaurants We did the Wednesday 'Tiengas' local market. The next day we headed off to the Hot springs and the Spa. The hot springs are only about 10k from here. The springs themselves were a bit of a disappointment because the springs now feed manmade pools and hot tubs, but it was great to be able to swim in huge warm pools!

The Spa was a riot. They offer two packages. A 1.5 hour or a 2.5 hour package. It cost 40 or 60 pesos for the packages. 60 pesos is $4.80 Canadian so we figured, 'Go big or go home' and spent the $20.00 for the bunch of us.

Now - I'm not a Spa guy. I'm really not sure about all this laying in hot tubs of with all sorts of minerals, or flowers or teas leaves or whatever sort of plant they can think of. There were signs beside each of the first 6 hot tubs explaining what was in them and what they were good for. All I know is that and hour and a half later, I smelt something like tea and flowers, was wrinkled like crazy, and pretty damn relaxed!

Then we headed over to the other side where we covered ourselves in mud, ad I mean covered. Hair to toes - crazy! Just these little white eyes blinking through all this crap! Then sat in the sun while it caked dry. More hot tubs to wash it off, steam rooms, inhalers and saunas. All in all, quite the adventure. We all fell asleep totally relaxed pretty early that night!

We did the Tonala and Tlaquepaque tour with them. We went to the movies, we spent some time just hanging out, we did Christmas dinner at the local hotel restaurant.

The last day here the kids opted for going back to the hot springs over going and touring the town of Tequila. I guess Lynne and I will go there ourselves again one day and do the tour.

We took them back to the airport on the 30th. They had wanted to be home for New Years. We were both pretty sad and lonely for a couple of days after they left. They're god kids and they were a blast to have around!

3. Windows 7

Yup - It works. It seems pretty stable. It's always such a pain in the butt to reinstall all that software, but it seems like it was worth in. Now if we could only get a solid reliable internet connection, computer life would be perfect!

4. & 5. Christmas and New Years

Christmas pretty much didn't come to Ajijic. I've always wanted to live somewhere that there wasn't all the snow, the cold, the hustle and bustle of running to the mall, shopping for all kinds of stuff and running around like a crazy person. Now I had the experience, I missed all of that frenzy. We both missed all of the people, our friends.

Christmas here is very subdued. Santa doesn't exist in Mexico. Almost every house has a 'Creche', a nativity scene all done up with lights. The one here at the ranch was huge. Not the size of the people and animals, but the ground that it tool over and the number of people and scenes within them. All of these had the flashing colored tiny lights, but you houses aren't lit up like at home.

New Years was quiet for us. We usually don't do much. I did my 5k Resolution run in the morning of the 31st. I thought about that unbelievable cold windy Running Room rn we'd done with a few friends the year before. I missed 'the gang' again then. Oh well, there is a cost of living here with all it has to offer!

6. The invasion of the Other People

The ranch here has 6, one floor buildings. There are a total of 10 rental units within these buildings. Several of the units are duplexes. Ours is a single unit. I think we have the best one on the ranch actually. It's not big, but we face east. We get the morning sun in the front and the afternoon sun in the side. Our front room runs the length of the building and is made totally of patio windows.

We were the 2nd couple to move in. It seems the place is pretty much empty during the summer months.The couple that were here when we came, John and Joan, were quiet but friendly. They seemed a tiny bit stand offish, keeping to themselves, but nice folks. The more we get to know them the more we're enjoying them.

A coupe of weeks ago, Paul sand Kay from Nova Scotia moved in. They have been combing here for years. They have a ton of friends here and seem to be out almost every night. Great folks! Fun. Stereo typical 'down east' folk. We're liking them allot.

The day before yesterday another couple arrived from Toronto. We were eager to meet some folks form 'home'. We don't know them well yet, but, it was a bit disappointing that they seem to be complaining and demanding. Nothing is good. There's problems with everything. they are making lists to 'get things straightened out'.

It's very interesting to see how, slowly our little ranch is acquiring every bit of all of the entities that make up the world.

There's another couple arriving today. The locals at the ranch here have been working furiously at getting their place ready for them. They are moving into the building directly across from us. Paul and Kay know them and say they are nice. I understand he's a photographer. I'm looking forward to learning some stuff from him.

7. Spanish Lessons

It's always bothered me at home when I met people who moved to Canada years ago, but they had no idea of the English language. I felt they were rude in not at least attempting to learn. Well, time to put up or shut up I guess!

Lynne has been doing great with her Spanish. I on the other hand . . . . not so much.

We found a teacher who does 'one-on-one' classes. She's taught people for years and says that "everyone can learn, but we all learn differently". I hope she's right. I feel like such a dummy. I start tomorrow (Monday) going 3 times a week for an hour each time.

Ok - that's it. All caught up. Happy New Year to everyone from Lynne and I. Here's hoping that we all have a great 2010. "Thanks" to everyone who has been keeping in touch. We love hearing about what everyone is doing back home too.

Wednesday Dec 17 - Tonila and Tlaquepaque

by Lynne

Today was a wonderful day. We woke to the sound of the alarm at 6:30 a.m. - first alarm clock awakening since arriving here 5 weeks ago. We walked up to the Carretera to the corner where the Lloyd's bank is to meet our van for our day's outing. We were early, so we went across the road to Donas Donuts where I bought myself a coffee. We chatted with another fellow who appeared to be waiting as well and sure enough he was booked on the trip. His name was Marten, born in Mexico in Jocotopec, a couple of towns down on the Carretera and now living in L.A. where he teaches kindergarten. He's home visiting his father's family. He spoke fluent Spanish and English. Then Vivienne arrived. She is a tourist from Boston and today was her last day after being here for two weeks. She has the Lake Chapala fever and is already scheming to get back here as fast as she can. Our driver Hernandez, was a lovely man and he spoke English fairly well.

We drove to Tonala where we were in huge traffic jams. The Tienges (open air market) takes up several streets there and seems to go on for miles. The item that was available there that we don't see at our own market was birds in cages and on sticks and in wooden cages on men's backs. Fascinating.

We stopped first at a Potter's studio. His name is Salvadore Vazquez and he works in a dark, cold dingy space producing beautiful work. He learned his art from his mother and his grandmother and the work he produces has been shown in galleries in Sante Fe, Albuquerque, and San Diego. Everything is hand painted, the colours are burnished and gorgeous. He has a metal tool used to polish the completed pottery to give it a glazed look, that was handed down to him from his grandmother. The home gallery where his work was displayed wasn't a very lovely space either. The ceiling was leaking and the paint was peeling and there was dog poo on the mirador......such a disappointing and very humble space for a renowned artist. We ended up buying a gorgeous plate, 22 inches in diameter - lunes et sol....moon and sun. We will hang it in our rental for now, but if we ever own a home again, I will be proud to own it. Greg took a picture of me and the artist holding our purchase. It cost 800 pesos, about 65 dollars.
No wonder his space was so humble.

Next stop, the paper mache factory. Not the kind of paper mache we all did in grade 3 although much of the process is the same. The layers and different glues produce a finished product that looks like ceramic.....all also hand painted and glazed. There were 7 foot giraffes and a lion lying on it's back so that it's feet produced a base for a piece of glass and voila, a coffee table. We didn't love this stuff and didn't buy a thing.

On to the glass blowing factory where about 20 young guys were working in scorching heat. No work place safety here. Everyone was running around with metal rods with burning globes of glass on the end but somehow they seem mindful of each other and as Greg said, they don't need government mandates, they just use common sense. It was fun to see the shapes being formed by blowing down the metal rods and rolling the blobs on metal slabs and voila all that gorgeous Mexican glass that I've always loved. In the shop here, I could have easily bought 12 drinking glasses priced at about 1.50 each and in great colours, but with no home of our own it seemed pointless. Greg bought one glass for him and one for me although we do have a set in our casita, these are our own. The "stuff" thing is a challenge. When we had roots and owned a home we were always buying more stuff. Now we don't have a home and all of our "stuff" is in storage and yet we still seem to want more lovely things when we see them. Consumerism is a hard habit to break.

We left Tonala, again through snarled traffic. We were starving at this point. Hernandez dropped us off at the Tlaquepaque and we went to a traditional Mexican restaurant called El Patio. We ate delcious lunches. I had sole diablo but told the waiter to go easy on the diablo. Greg, the carnivore, ate steak and sausage in a sauce. There was a cactus plant on his plate. We've seen them for sale at the market and haven't tried them up til today. It was interesting....a bit bitter. The setting of the restaurant was gorgeous with a fountain in the center and the lush gardens that you see everywhere here and start to take for granted. There was live music.

We walked around Tlaquepaque looking in wonderful galleries at lovely pieces made by very creative people. Greg brought his G.P.S. to enter the way points so we can now get to these places on our own without any difficulty. The square in the Tlaquepaque is delightful and the feel of the whole area is very European. We could have been in Italy.

We were like worn out kids after a day at the playground on the ride back to Ajijic, all of us quiet and tired after a day that nourished our senses.

When we got back home we joined the neighbours with a glass of wine to watch the sunset over the lake at the back of the ranchero.

Here, finally, are some pictures from the day.