| Lake Chapala |
When we're chatting with our friends and family on Skype, one of the most common questions we're asked is "How on earth do you fill your days in a new country?" Well believe me or not but our days just fill up so quickly we're having to turn down invitations as we're finding ourselves double booked!
Some mornings, while Dave is walking the dogs on the lake shore, I drive 6 or 7 minutes into town and join a group at Lake Chapala Society to do a 45 minute weight and resistance band training programme, then we meet up for coffee (or not - it depends!) and three times a week we head off to our Spanish lessons. Two of these classes are grammar classes and one is pure conversation. We have a Mexican teacher who hails from Guadalajara, so that's a huge advantage because she teaches us how things are said in this area rather than the way we might have been taught to say something in the past.
There's no shortage of folks to help you pass the time of day here. In fact, on Friday I was sitting in Cafe Grano Cafe having a cuppa before my Spanish lesson when a head appeared through the open window yelling "Barbarita! Como estas?" The head belonged to Luis, a Mexican guy who sells locally made jewellery, who'd been chatting with us on Christmas Day on Ajijic pier - or to be more precise, the guy with whom Lyn had spent a happy half hour bartering over a pair on earrings in her own inimitable type of semi drunken Spanglish! And so, another pleasant 20 minutes flew by with Luis asking how the girls were doing back in Scotland, what the weather was like there and to be sure to bring the girls back down to Ajijic pier when they next visited! In fact, all you have to do is sit down in any cafe and someone will start talking to you.
During the day, there are so many activities going on in the area that you'd be hard pressed not to find something that interested you whether it's bridge, hiking, canoeing, board games, trips into Guadalajara, line dancing, history clubs, going to exercise classes and much more. This week alone, I've played golf, worked out, been for coffee with friends, done 3 Spanish classes, been to a dog training class, attended a wonderful Viva Mexico buffet and entertainment afternoon and joined in a Western BBQ at the Golf Club. And that's just the social part of our lives - add in all the nitty gritty day to day stuff and you'll understand how our diary is FULL! In fact we still haven't explored San Juan Cosola which is only 2 kilometres west of us or the town of Jocotepec just 8 km away - it's going to take some time!
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| Viva Mexico! |
There are also masses of eateries to explore; some small, family run affairs, others more upmarket restaurants. People brunch, lunch and dine depending on their mood or their schedule and most places are very reasonably priced - we usually eat out about three times a week for the cost of one meal out in Scotland. Every day, you can find somewhere to eat where there's live music ranging from gentle background music to rock banks, singers, piano music, karaoke or just about anything that takes your fancy. We're just spoilt for choice!
