Monthly Archives: April 2016

Last month I joined the Lake Chapala Garden Club.  This is a really cool organization.  For only $100 MXN pesos a year (or about $6 USD), I get to tour a beautiful new property every month.  Afterwards, we meet at La Nueva Posada to have lunch and learn about gardening.  The drinks (though not all) are two-for-one and the pear salad is especially good.

Last month, I was thrilled to win a wind sock from a lucky raffle ticket.  I ran home (after my two sangrías) trailing it behind me like a kite.  This month was even better!  The topic was topiary and I charged into the live auction and won an adorable little bear that was sculpted on site by the presenter.  I named him “Chewy.”  Not only is he shaped like a gummy bear, but Chewy is a pretty popular name down here so it seemed to fit.

I also made two new friends named Judy and Myrna, and lucky for me, Myrna offered to drive me and “Chewy” home.  He’s planted in a nice clay pot which was a little too heavy to carry a couple of miles.  It was a wonderful day!  Thank you Lake Chapala Garden Club and my new friend Myrna.  Hard to beat.

Below are a couple of the locations I’ve gotten to visit this year.  As you can see, the properties are pretty impressive.  Every month I look forward to seeing a new property and learning about flowers and plants.  It’s definitely one of the best clubs I’ve ever joined!

1) This property is only a few blocks away and Ryan and I walk past it all the time.  I was thrilled to get to go inside and see what was hiding behind the gates.  It was gorgeous!

2) This property was almost downtown and you never would have known how big it was from the outside.

3) So, we don’t generally get to do inside the homes, but on this occasion we did.  This is my DREAM house.  (You can tell I was a little more interested in the house than the gardens…)

4) This one had all kinds of fun stuff to find!  It had a wonderful homey feeling and the people who owned it were especially nice.

5) By a lucky coincidence I’d already gotten to see this property.  Judy invited me to stop by after one of our Garden Club meetings while she was house-sitting.  It was even more beautiful the second time!

Ryan and I had been living in Mexico for about three months when we had our first visitors!  Ryan’s parents, Matt and Sheree, are our all-star travelers.  They came to visit us the year before in Ecuador, Colombia, and Argentina.  They are awesome and their visits are something that I always look forward too.

When they accepted our invitation to visit us in Mexico as well, I was thrilled!  For weeks I eagerly anticipated their arrival.  Finally the big day came and I wasted no time.  I immediately confiscated Sheree and we enjoyed a mother-daughter day at the spa.  Monte Coxala is the nicest spa I’d ever been to.  It’s located in San Juan Cosala in the Raquet Club vicinity.  This is about twenty minutes out of Ajijic.  Not only are the grounds gorgeous, but it has an incredible view!

Matt and Ryan had some nice father-son time as well.  They went to a car show in Guadalajara.  All the while, I continued to hog Sheree.  I asked her to help teach bunco to my gaming group on Monday.  The next day I took her to play bingo.  On Wednesday we had massages and were surprised to have our manicures and pedicures done while we were still lying down.  That was a first for both of us, LOL.

Ryan and I (especially me) love Ajijic so much that we hope to someday establish a home base here.  One of our goals for their first visit was to get Matt and Sheree to fall in love with the place as well.  We wanted to try to entice them to consider snow-birding in Ajijic away from Wyoming’s harsh winter weather.  It was 37 below the last time we went home to visit and I got chilblains.  Yikes!

Knowing his parents (especially his mother’s) interest in real estate, Ryan craftily signed us up for a real estate tour with Access Lake Chapala.  This was something Ryan and I had done when we first visited Ajijic in October the previous year and we thought it was a great way to get familiar with the area.  Alex drove us around the different towns and neighborhoods, taking us in to view the three properties Sheree had selected ahead of time.  I think Matt and Sheree both liked the la Floresta area the best, which is also one of my favorite neighborhoods.  It has wide streets, beautiful flowers, and is nice and quiet.

Another way we were hoping to win them over was by feeding them great food.  Both Matt and Sheree love Mexican food and we made sure that they had as much as they could eat.  In between meals we played cards and read and relaxed at home.  We also drove to explore the nearby towns, including Jocotopec and the Chapala market.  It wasn’t an especially long visit but we filled it full of fun and laughter.  By the end, they assured us that they would come back for another visit.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s a great start!  Thank you so much Matt and Sheree.  I cannot express how grateful I am for these special times we have together.