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. ... read more

Here's an unusual volume with ten individual authors, each of whom is independent of the other nine except for the fact they all reside - either full or part-time - in the Lake Chapala area of Mexico. Their book consists of some 45 or more pieces of fiction and non-fiction plus a poem or three. The non-fiction includes travel tales, accounts of significant events in the authors' past lives, recollections of interesting people and other offbeat memoirs and anecdotes. read more

Here's a story that takes in a complete life, from childhood well into adulthood, and from rags to riches. It's a story that is of interest to we residents in the Lake Chapala area as it starts out in Ajijic and covers a fair number of years there - or should I say here. On page one we encounter ten-year-old Francisco Obregón, a homeless barefoot orphan outside the Old Posada on the Ajijic waterfront. It's 1940 and Francisco is hustling for odd jobs and tips. It's the only way he can manage to survive. read more

I'm filled with admiration and respect for The Insider's Guide. Its 368 pages are so complete and comprehensive and so well thought out and so well organized. Teresa Kendrick and her colleagues have done a wonderful job of providing and packaging a full authoritative range of information, not only for long and short-term residents of the Lake Chapala area but also for those many people who seem to be contemplating coming here either to live as permanent retiree-residents or as snowbirds. read more

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... read more

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... read more

.Dru Pearson begins her account of her first four seasons in Ajijic starting in the summer of 2000 when she loaded or, rather, overloaded her VW van with as many belongings as it would hold, and she and her dog, Bailey, drove (slowly, she emphasizes) to Laredo. However, before she even reached the U.S./ Mexico border, the vehicle broke down and she found herself by the roadside in 110 degree temperatures, unloading twelve boxes of belongings, plus a TV, a computer complete with monitor and printer and other sundry items. However, a mechanic answered her call and the car was repaired and she made it across the border at Laredo, starting the 750 mile stretch to Ajijic on the shores of Lake Chapala. read more

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... read more

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... read more

Clickable interactive map of Jalisco: Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, Tequila read more

Edited by Anne M. Hansen and Manfred van Afferden (New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, 2001)   This article is Part 5 of Tony Burton's series: "Can Mexico's Largest... read more

Santa Semana (Easter week) captured center stage last month in Ajijic. For me, it was a chance to really appreciate both the Mexican customs as well as enjoying some from back home. The celebrations o... read more

Someone was playing a Spanish radio station full blast in the car next to mine as we stopped at a red light in Hollywood California. The cacophony of mariachi brass, not a shy sound, bombarded my ears ... read more

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... read more

Living in New York and Los Angeles, while good for one’s metabolism, is not that great for one’s patience. Who has time to stop and smell the roses? Who stops? Who smells? What roses? When I moved... read more

I reviewed Chandos's other book, "House in the Sun", in Mexico Connect a couple of months ago and now I'm catching up on what was actually the author's first book, published four years earlier. We're given a good long loving look at the various events that mark a typical year in a Mexican village - like The Day of the Dead, the Day of the Cross, Navidad, birthdays and the other festivals that are customarily celebrated. It all adds up to an attractive narrative. read more