Chapala - Mexico's Shangri-la
Ford Times, the monthly magazine of the Ford Motor Company. John Russell Clift, the author and illustrator, was born in 1925 and at the peak of his career in the 1950s when he wrote this piece, one of the earliest to promote the attractions of the Chapala area as a retirement haven. His thoughtful prose and fine silkscreens paint a vivid picture of what life was like at Lakeside 50 years ago.
read moreDid You Know? Mathieu de Fossey
Mathieu de Fossey was born in France in 1805, and educated in Dijon. Politically disillusioned following the end of the reign of King Charles X in 1830, Fossey responded enthusiastically to an intrig...
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Lake Chapala: attractions for all
The earliest human inhabitants of the Lake Chapala area were probably nomadic tribes of Indians who had settled on the shores and islands of the lake, catching fish, extracting salt, and trying to herd...
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Did you know? Mexico's Domesday Book
Mexico's equivalent of the Domesday book was compiled in the sixteenth century.
History shows that conquerors often have very little idea of what they have really acquired until it is firmly within th...
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Did you know? Mexico's largest bird is the American White Pelican
The American White Pelican is Mexico's largest bird, while its relative the Brown Pelican is one of the most fun to watch.
White Pelicans on Lake Chapala;
photo: John Mitchell, Earth Images Foundat...
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Did you know? Mexico was a very different place fifty years ago
G. M. Bashford's Tourist Guide to Mexico was first published exactly fifty years ago in 1954. It was one of a spate of motoring book guides written after World War II as Americans began to hit the open...
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Did you know? Lake Chapala under attack from water hyacinth
Masses of beautiful violet and yellow flowing water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes) add an attractive splash of colour to the Lake Chapala landscape during the rainy season but are a serious problem for thelives and economy oflocal residents.
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Linking up with the Chapala Lakeside: to rent or buy?
Once upon a time, in the previous century, an old journalist and his still-beautiful bride were pondering retirement and escape from Washington, D.C.
They had roots and land on the original TVA lake i...
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Enough water hyacinths, more than enough
Ancient Chinese proverb say ox in ditch bad news. Really bad if your ox.
Lirio (water hyacinths) on Lake Chapala, in the colorful state of Jalisco, in this magical country called Mexico, is bad news. ...
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The Chapala lakeside as it was
As Yogi Berra might say, 90 per cent of the world is changing. The other half is making adjustments.
Among relatively recent arrivals to the shores of Lake Lirio (formerly Lake Chapala before water hy...
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Amazing Grace
This little story of life along Lake Chapala probably belongs in a movie or a museum dedicated to strange and unusual happenings. You can believe it or not.
Our kind and gentle friend, Grace Contrades...
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Good doctor makes house calls
The good doctor really does make house calls.
Juan Barbosa Gallego arrives with a reassuring smile. His personality is perfect for his mission. He is calm, soft-spoken and confident he can produce a c...
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A slight exaggeration...
Back in the previous century, at about the time Albert Gore was inventing the internet, clean air, space stations and probably diet Coke, we got hooked on Lake Chapala.
This was an era when Gordon Wea...
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Mexico coming and going
Edd Bissell, 64, almost retired as a Tennessee pharmacist and gentleman farmer, has found a new home, at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, on the Bay of Banderas, on the left bank of Mexico, in the edge of Nayar...
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Shootout in Chapala at Paris Cafe
Alas and alas, this may be my/your final dispatch from the Grady Allen treasury of tall tales. The scrappy little survivor of Texas oilfields has departed this life and Mexico is poorer for his passing...
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Chapala has character and characters
Chapala has character.
This distinctive town, very near an up-and-down lake with the same name, in the colorful state of Jalisco, in central Mexico, doesn't have enough parking places but it has genui...
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Huellas ...en San Pedro Itzicán
As a home-based working mother I recently found myself faced with an annual quandary: how to keep my two restless pre-teens entertained over their summer holiday and simultaneously squeeze some quality...
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A Season Of Hope
If Lake Chapala could speak for itself,
Mark Twain's famous comment might come to mind:
"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Since torrential rains began battering much of ce...
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Life in Mexico: bugs, disease and puppy dog showers
One of my readers asked me to talk about bugs and diseases. These are simply my experiences or observations and they apply to the Chapala/Ajijic lakeside area south of Guadalajara. I'm sure different p...
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Palm Sunday in Ajijic, Mexico
Yesterday was Palm Sunday and I observed, with a feeling of respect and rapture, the local Mexicans begin to celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week).
As I drove to meet my friend who lives on Hidalgo, the ...
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Impressions of Mexico: interview with a couple from Calgary
This month, I'm interviewing a couple from Alberta, Canada who've come for a six-week vacation. This is the end of their third week. I actually met Julia and Marc over the Internet as a result of this ...
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What's the down side of living in Mexico?
My editor asked me to share with you some of the down sides of living in Mexico. He said, "no one will believe it's all wonderful." He's right of course, but for me, the good far outweighs the bad -- u...
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Chapala and Ajijic, Mexico: drinking, dining and dancing
The most often asked questions by visitors when they get here is "Can I drink the water?" followed closely by, "Is this okay to eat?"
Okay, I admit I asked those same questions when I first got down h...
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Mexico: a typical day in paradise
One of my readers asked me to describe a typical day here in the Lake Chapala area of Mexico. Others have asked, "What do you do all day?" So, I am inviting you to spend this day with me in the charmin...
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Buying property in Mexico: watch out for landmines
Anyone interested in purchasing land Lakeside has watched the prices skyrocket over the last two years. It's next to impossible to find single lots because the contractors are buying open land, subdivi...
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