note: you can 'click' on any photo to enlarge......................................
Hwy from Guadalajara to Tonala
Tonala Market basket area
There are rows and rows and rows of stuff
Where they make the statues and sculptors
Lots of people
Wood carving area
Upscale statues and ceramics
Finally, after miles of walking and a little shopping, we head home. I like the look of the lush hillsides visible from Hwy 23 on the way to Chapala/Ajijic.
Coming over the crest of the hill and seeing Lake Chapala in the distance
Home and tired from shopping, we hop into the pool to get refreshed.
October 23rd, We decided to take a tour of the area properties and see what we could learn. We had made arrangements with Noe from Remax to view some houses and so we met at 10:00 am and off we went. Noe is a really nice fellow who was born and raised in the area and who is a married and expecting their first baby girl early November.
Noe told us he work as a bartender at the #4 restaurant. It is owned by a Canadian woman from Toronto. He suggested we drop by for dinner tonight as the piano player is Ricky Day who played with the Ink Spots and the Platters way back when.
When we got there, we were impressed with this 6 star restaurant. These places are tucked in behind ugly street fences and gates, that when opened, lead into fabulous courtyards and great buildings. We experienced excellent service, great food, (Bob had lamb, I had filet mignon) great decor, spotlessly clean and fantastic music. Noe came right over and introduced us to Ricky.
This is Ricky Day
Some photos of the Restaurant # 4. This is upstairs
This is the garden patio
This is Bob with Ricky
This is Noe, who introduced us to Ricky
"The kids" in the complex were invited to their first Mexican Wedding. Here they are all dolled up.
This is Barb and John who live here but are originally from Guelph/Wales
This is Helen and Albert who also live here now and are also from Guelph...Scotland
Bob and Noe having lunch
Bob out shopping in Ajijic
You never know when you'll run into a dancing chicken.................
On Halloween day, Chiquita dawned her best witches outfit and her mom, Barb took her trick or treating.
On Halloween night, a dozen of us went to a dinner dance at Roberto's restaurant. We went to John and Barb's for drinks first.
This is Danny and Sonia. The socks were a joke, she really did take them off before going to dinner.
This is Horst who is visiting from Florida talking to Ziggy who lives here
Barb and John
Now Ziggy, who is German and very quaint, is a talented artist. She had little bones in her hair and bone earrings on and looked like "Pebbles" from the Flintstones. What we didn't realize at first, was that the bones were real. They had been her chicken lunch, and she had boiled them in soap and water. However, Chiquita, Barb and John's dog, knew right away that the bones were real. Get a load of the look on her little face...............
On the 2nd, we celebrated Albert's birthday with a party on the mirador.
Our friends and neighbours, Lloyd and Mabel, from Sandhills Drive arrived this week and we were delighted when they joined our group.
We had perfect weather
Then another morning, we met Dave for breakfast. Dave is Bob's friend who lives here full time and was very helpful with valuable information when we first arrived.
Later we just hung out by the pool. This beautiful bird is always there.
These gorgeous cana lilies are all around the pool
Barb and Sonia joined us.
That evening, we went to Lloyd and Mabel's place for a lovely dinner. Their home is truly beautiful. The grounds are amazing.
Now, one of the more interesting facts about Lake Chapala is the White Pelican population. We had read about this cool bird, but could not find it. Our friends, Lloyd and Mabel sent us the following photo, which is how we learned that we should have gone around the lake to the south side to see these guys. Photo was taken by Lloyd who really needs to rethink a new career in photography!
Now, although we missed out and didn't get to see these guys, I had already done my homework. You all know how much I love the birds, so here I go again!!!
It is a very large and plump bird; its overall length is about 50–67 inches (130–170 cm), courtesy of the huge beak which measures 13–14.4 inches (330–370 mm) in males and 10.4–13 in (260–330 mm) in females. It has a wingspan of about 95–120 in (240–300 cm) and weighs between 11 and 20 lb (5.0 and 9.1 kg). The plumage is almost entirely bright white, except the black primary and secondary remiges, which are hardly visible except in flight. From early spring until after breeding has finished in mid-late summer, the breast feathers have a yellowish hue. After moulting into the eclipse plumage, the upper head often has a grey hue, as blackish feathers grow between the small wispy white crest.
The bill is long and flat, with a large throat sac, and in the breeding season vivid orange like the iris, the bare skin around the eye, and the feet. In the breeding season, there is a laterally flattened "horn" on the upper bill, about one-third the bill's length behind the tip. This is shed off after the birds have mated and laid their eggs, and outside the breeding season the bare parts become duller in color, with the naked facial skin yellow and the bill, pouch and feet an orangy-flesh colour
Apart from the difference in size, males and females look exactly alike. Immature birds have light grey plumage with darker brownish nape and remiges. Their bare parts are dull grey. Hatchlings are naked at first, then grow white down feathers all over, before moulting to the immature plumage.
American White Pelicans nest in colonies of several hundred pairs on islands in remote brackish and freshwater lakes of inland North America. The most northerly nesting colony can be found on islands in the rapids of the Slave River between Fort Fitzgerald, Alberta and Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. They also spend the Spring in Saskatchewan. About 10-20% of the population uses Gunnison Island in the Great Basin's Great Salt Lake as a nesting ground. The southernmost colonies are in southwestern Ontario and northeastern California.
They winter on the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts from central California and Florida south to Panama, and along the Mississippi river at least as far north as St. Louis, Missouri. In winter quarters, they are rarely found on the open seashore, preferring brackish estuaries and lagoons. They cross deserts and mountains but avoid the open ocean on migration. But stray birds, often blown off course by hurricanes, have been seen in the Caribbean. In Colombian territory it has been recorded first on February 22, 1997, on the San Andrés Island, where they might have been swept by Hurricane Marco which passed nearby in November 1996. Since then, there have also been a few observations likely to pertain to this species on the South American mainland, e.g. at Calamar
Wild American White Pelicans may live for more than 16 years. In captivity, the record lifespan stands at over 34 years.
________________________Back to the present!
Thursday, Danny, Sonia, Bob and I went with the Red Cross bus into Tlacapaque. The town is a suburb of Guadalajara and is famous for its pottery and artisan crafts.
The statues and artwork around the town are stunning. This fellow serenaded Sonia
This store had amazing stone chairs
Get a load of the giraff
More metal art
And then we found the carousel horses
And unicorns
These pictures are for our friend Dot!
(She has her very own carousel horse)
After seven hours of walking and shopping, we returned home, tired and happy. Bob and I went to Roberto's for dinner.
Friday, our last day here in Ajijic, dawns beautiful and sunny again. Although it is a little cooler, it is good weather to pack up the car and get ready for tomorrow's departure. Tonight, 16 of us are going to Tango's for dinner. It is Sonia's birthday. She is the 'baby' of the crowd at 54.
Our last morning in Ajijic and we are sad to leave our new friends. Saying goodbye was particularly difficult and Danny and Sonia were up to see us off. We have planned to stay in touch and we know we will see each other again. They are in the market for a car and once they get one, will have to do a test run to Mazatlan.
We decided to head to the ruins at Teuchitlan then go to Tequila and head to Maz on Sunday. The drive to Teuchitlan is lovely and meanders through fields of agave and jicima farms.
This is a field of jicima
Teuchitlan is the name of the nice little town which lies below the ruins.
Well over two thousand years ago, a unique civilization arose in western Mexico. It created a metropolis of 25,000 people and its economy was built on mining, working and trading in obsidian, one of the most precious substances in early Mesoamerica.
It developed an ingenious irrigation system capable of feeding its entire population and used geometric formulas to design the only circular monumental architecture on earth.
These people controlled northern and western Mexico for 2000 years. They were neither Aztecs nor Toltecs nor Mayas. In fact, to this day no one knows who they were.
Obsidian Blades and Mysterious Mounds
In 1970, an American archeologist and a Mexican historian were relaxing at a hot spring located in the state of Jalisco, some 50 kilometers due west of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. Celia Weigand found several black objects in the hot pool and showed them to her husband Phil. They were razor-sharp prismatic obsidian blades.
Local people told them that similar items could be found lying on the ground in the hills just above the spa.
The couple investigated and soon found several huge, man-made mounds. “I stood on the largest pyramid,” says Phil Weigand, “and thought, ‘This is unexpected.’”
It was unexpected because in those days, all archeological textbooks flatly stated that in western Mexico there had never been a highly organized society nor any sort of monumental construction such as pyramids.
Circles within Circles
In reality, the structures found by the Weigands turned out to be much more than pyramids. They were complexes of concentric circles with high, round-based mounds in the center. These were ringed by wide, circular walkways around which were situated evenly-spaced platforms for administrative buildings.
Realizing they had come upon vestiges of a large and unique civilization, the Weigands have dedicated the last 38 years to unraveling the mystery and restoring the pyramids.
The town nearest the ruins is called Teuchitlan, which in the Nahuatl language means the Place of the First God and, in fact, archeological digs unearthed evidence that these pyramids—which the local people call Guachimontones—were dedicated to the worship of Ehecatl, the Bird Man, also known as the god of the Night Wind.
Among the most dramatic finds were 25 clay models, each around 2000 years old, depicting how the pyramids were used by the ancient citizens of Teuchitlan. Unlike hard-to-interpret codices, these are simple clay figures showing ordinary people making music, playing with their dogs or chatting with their neighbors
View from ruins overlooking the town
After checking out the town of Tequila, which was cute, but very "theme" driven, we decided that we didn't really want to stay the night and although it was already nearly 3 pm, we decided to keep pushing. We arrived in Mazatlan around 7:30 (Maz time) and decided to go to the Holiday Inn for the night. It is great to be 'home'.
Bob in the Infinity pool
And so begins another season..................... Adiós para ahora, nuestros amigos.
To view earlier chapters, scroll down and click on "older posts" in the lower, right corner.
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