A typical narrow street in the old section of Ajijic. Notice the cobbled streets and narrow sidewalks. Sidewalks were not always present and walking the cobbled streets could present the occasional challenge. Good walking shoes do help!
The town is nestled between the hills and Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico.
I was impressed by the large number of murals on many streets and a refreshing lack of graffiti.
This mural was on the bathrooms in the children's playground. Ajijic is home to many talented artists.
Before leaving Oregon, we had been given an introduction to Efren Gonzalez by our friend Elaine Frenett. Efren is a very successful artist who lives in Ajijic and has many murals and art installations throughout Mexico. He was very generous with his time and we were fortunate to visit him in his studio and get a tour.
This is one of Efren's installations, a commemorative wall on a local school in the middle of town.
Streets are closed off, (I think fairly often). This was a typical scene on a Sunday when many families go to the park along the lake to picnic and "hang out".
Hanging out, no worries!!
I think it was someones birthday celebration.
Lots of decorations everywhere.
The central plaza gardens, and below, the coffee cafe where we spent quite a lot of time watching the world go by.
This fellow was around everyday selling his hats and baskets. He had quite a system of carrying everything in a way that he could walk everywhere.
This little girl was just beautiful. She was helping her mother sell potted plants.
Again, artwork everywhere.
This evening there were even waves on the lake. This lake, as I said earlier, is the largest in Mexico, some 50 miles long and 10 miles wide at some points.
Pretty nice sunsets as well.
There was a three-day Chili Cook-off event taking place just as we arrived, so we had to explore. It was quite a walk to the area where the event was taking place, but well worth it. There were many stage performers, bands and dancers, with the music system turned up to 11. Boy was it loud!!
There were also a large number of vendor booths selling food, clothing, jewelry, tequila and all manner of crafts and fine art.
Even horse dancing.
After a long day at the Chili Cook-off, these hammocks for sale along the highway were very tempting.
We took the local bus to the town of Chapala, which was about five miles away, to visit their weekly street market. Again a lovely day with a lot of bright artwork everywhere. A ten cent bus fare each way.
This was a big market with many stalls of fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, as well as stalls selling clothes and imported goods.
For lunch we headed to this restaurant on the lakefront in Chapala. It had a very large open dining area, which was fairly quiet. Hard to imagine what it would be like when full.
This large group of pelicans kept us company.
We had not seen any evidence of police since arriving in the area, but these two showed up when we stopped at what seemed to be City Hall and/or the Office of Tourism. They were all pretty friendly, I think they were picking up lunch!
Another lovely meal with Norman and Janie at The Peacock Garden.
Hence the name!
I haven't mentioned our dining experience, but every meal was absolutely delicious, from breakfast at Jimmy D's to lunch of ceviche (above) at Charala's, to dinner at Go Bistro, owned and operated by Pedro, a Cordon Bleu trained chef.
We usually ended our day walking back to our lodging along the Malecon.
Past more works of art on the way. Another one of Efren's amazing murals.
Beautiful doorways.
The "beacon" on the local church.
Our neighborhood grocery store. Fortunately, a few are open late so we could pick up breakfast for the next morning.
And we met the local dog walker upon arriving back at our lodging.
Adios Mexico!
