If you would like make any comments or ask any questions, you can email me (Brenda) or Bob at bwb819@aol.com

We have enjoyed our hummingbird feeder, watching the four hummingbirds come from sun up to sun down.  We recently discovered what happens when  you leave the feeder out after dark.  About 12-15 fruit bats swarmed our balcony and as many as four of them landed on the feeder at one time.  It was hard to capture their picture as they fly so fast.  I sent Bob out to retrieve it. It was like a scene from a horror movie!

 

 



 

 

Today we decided to shop at the weekly Chapala market.  Each small town has it's own once a week market.  Chapala is on Monday.  As I am the cook every other Mon.-Thurs., it made more sense to shop the Monday market than to wait until Wed. and shop the Ajijic weekly market.  We had heard rumors that the Chapala market was less expensive.  It was definitely larger and had more Mexicans than Americans.  We found the prices to be less expensive as they sold mostly to Mexicans.  The Ajijic market caters more to American and Canadians.  You can not find certain  things like string beans and "sweet corn" on the cob at the Chapala market.  The vendors there were very friendly and had each of their produce marked as to the price per kilo.   In Ajijic there is  no price shown, you can ask them, but you must know Spanish to understand the answer and we are still learning! 

 

 These are Cornish hen eggs.

 

 Chapala is preparing for Halloween also.

 

 I don't know what this food was.

 

 These iguanas were very glittery in the sunlight.  I love iguanas.  I raised a  6" one to become 3 ft. named George. 

 

 

Bob at the market.

 

 

 

 I really wanted one of these...and only $15!  I picked one up and had a hard time not giving the guy the $15.  Good thing Bob was with me to say "no".  The guy was saying something about in 3 months...delicious.  That is not what I had in mind.

 

 

 This man had sweet potatoes in this wheelbarrow.  Bob's sister said to be sure and get her some sweet potatoes from the man with the wheelbarrow!

 Fruit and veggies in plastic cup, plus coconut juice.

 

 Need some skinny pants...they have everything at the market.

 

 These containers have things like fabric softener, glass cleaner, detergent in  them and you can buy as little or as much as you want.  Bring your own bottle or they will put it in a plastic bag.

 

 Glittery sandals.

 

 This is our purchase from the market. 1 papaya, 1 jima, 7 cucumbers, 2 onions, 2 1/2 lbs of grapes,   3 cantaloupes, 1 pineapple, 5 mandarin oranges, 5 carrots, 6 tomatoes.  It came to $5.50.  The same items in the Ajijic market would probably have been about $11.00.

 

Next stop...Walmart.  Walmart is everywhere!  But, this is not exactly like our Walmart as it is 95% in Spanish so you'd better know the words for sugar, ham, cheese, bread, sour cream, etc.  Also just because it looks like a brand you know, like Cheetos for instance, you can't be sure it is the same.  We bought a bag and yes it was Cheetos, but with some kind of really hot stuff on it!  We buy some of our meat there.  Mostly staples, milk products, some fruit or veggies we can't find elsewhere.  Their bakery section  is very good.  I had gone into the restroom to wash my hands, and all of a sudden a woman with a full cart of groceries wheeled her cart into the bathroom and into the handicap stall!  Never seen that anywhere before! 

 

 

 

Tomorrow is our gardener's 21st birthday.  His name is Angel.  He is an extremely hard worker.  He is one of the oldest in 7 children and rides his bike about 10 miles each way to take care of our property.  We are just one of his many jobs.  At his young age, he has saved his  money and bought a piece of property and wants to begin building a house.  We are totally impressed!  It is the custom to break open a piñata with your family so we gave him one filled with candy and a card with money. 

 

 



You may wonder what it is like to drive in Mexico.  You will need to purchase Mexican car insurance.  I have driven only once since arriving.  I am not anxious to drive here. Cars and buses pull in front of you, pass you on the wrong side and much more! Bob has done the driving.  I am afraid if it were me driving down those narrow cobblestone streets, I would be the one knocking off someone's side mirror! There are many one way streets off the main road called the carrethera.  They are all very narrow with people parking along them.  To find out whether a road is one way, you need to look on the side of the building at the corner you want to turn onto for an arrow or on a nearby tree or sometimes there is  not any indication. You will see cars parked in all different directions on the road, but that is  not a true indication either.  Sometimes it is just a guessing game and you hope you are going the right way and don't get a ticket! The Mexican people however, don't seem to get too bothered if you are driving the wrong way down the street.

This sign means both ways.

 

 

 This sign means that if you want to make a left turn at the next intersection, you must take a right here and go around the semi-circle and then straight through the next light.

 



 This picture shows the semi-circle.

 

As you can see, the streets are very narrow and this Volkswagen is very small compared to suv's and vans, etc.

 

 

Stop lights are different here also.  They are two reds (don't know why), a yellow and a green.  The yellow lasts about 3 seconds, so you'd better stop fast on yellow or you might get a ticket.  At some lights, after the green and yellow or after the yellow and red,  the stoplight doesn't show the next color...it is just blank.  That is because they haven't changed the light bulbs for a while, so you just need to see what the other traffic is doing and follow them!  Most of the people we have spoken to have said the police in this area are very nice and often give you a warning if you are stopped.

 

  

 

 This wild sign is for a business that does about everything from plumbing, electrical and other repairs.

 

An unusual picture on a street wall.

 



Finally we have received forwarded mail.  Bob put in the address change the middle of July and we picked up our forwarded mail today!  Apparently the post office uses a sub contractor to print the mailing labels and since our address seemed too long they shortened it. That meant our mail could not be delivered correctly.  They left off our post office box of all things??  We had a bunch of mail
in Texas waiting for a post office box and then it had to be delivered to Ajijic.

It is beautiful day here as is almost everyday.  We took a 45 minute walk on the Ajijic malecon and it was breezy and about 74 degrees.

 

 

 

 

This lantern was on a fairly large estate facing the lake, but looked unkempt. There were many of these lanterns scattered on the grounds and the glass was broken in most.  I loved them.  I could imagine how lovely they would have been when lit at dusk and into the night. 

 

The malecon is constantly being cleaned by workers with these brooms.  Doesn't look like these brooms could sweep much, but the park is always clean.

I caught this bird at the top of a palm.  It is frequently seen in the area and a beautiful bird.

This is some artwork being displayed in a lakeside restaurant window.

 I thought these two pieces of art work also on display were funny.

 

 

 

 

This is a beautiful little tree that our neighbor is nursing along as ants keep eating the leaves. 

 

Bob and I ate at Fonda Dona Lolas for lunch.  It has good food and a nice view.

 

 Little birds fly in the windows and land on the back of chairs looking for food.

 

The orchid on our balcony is finally blooming.

 

 We found this beautiful bug on the balcony chair.  It's underside was bright orange and iridescent blue.  It was about 2 inches long.

 

 

Today was a nice lazy sort of day after going to the market for fresh fruit and vegetables ,walking on the malecon, having lunch out, we relaxed and read on the balcony.

 





Today we visited Abundant Life Church for the second time.  The worship is contemporary.  The minister preaches, his wife sings and his two twenty something sons sing, play the keyboard and guitar.  The people are friendly.  I counted about 25 people present, but I hear that when the Canadians show up in October they will have a full house...that probably being about 75. The English service is at 10:00 am and the Spanish service is at noon. The church has a Wed. Bible Study and is starting another church in Jocotepec.

After lunch we decided to take a walk down the street and try and find some Americans we knew lived nearby. Their address was in a gated community and they were not home.  Just across the street from where we live was a beautiful horse tied to his owner's truck.

 Passing by us was an RV with 5 people stuffed in it!

 

 This is a beautiful place just 2 blocks from us.

 

 This place has beautiful doors on the second floor leading onto their balcony. 

 

 Another place with a beautiful stone wall with a huge entrance.

 This is one of it's smaller entrance doors.

 And this is one of 3 windows in the wall.

 

 

It was getting too hot to walk in the neighborhood so we decided to go to the Ajijic  malecon.  It was so crowded it was difficult to find a place to park.  Many vendors and families grilling out and in chairs and under umbrellas on the boardwalk and also beside the lake fishing.

 

 

 

 These boys were having a good time riding beside the lake.

 

 People were even fishing from a kayak in the lake.

 

 We sat on a bench and watched inline skaters go around the wall and up the ramp.

 This little boy (about 9 yrs old) decided to run down into the cement bowl.  It was about 12-15 feet deep.  It took him about 8 tries getting a running start to reach the lip the bowl and climb out!

 

 

 These were the first people I had seen actually go swimming in the lake.

 

There were lots of children playing.

Another beautiful day in Mexico!