Embroidery Gift from my friend Peggy

 

My friend Peggy has been visiting for a couple of weeks. It was her first time in Ajijic. We had lunch together today for the last time and she gave me this beautiful gift. All hand embroidered.  Thank you so much Peggy. 

My Trip to the Teuchitlan Pyramids

My friend Peggy treated me to a day trip to the pyramids on Charter Club Tours. It was a lot of fun. Here are some photos of the trip and soon I will write about it for AccessLakeChapala.com. I will have information on that article if you are interested in the pyramids. 

 

This is Rosie, our excellent tour guide.

 

Here she is, telling us the history of the pyramid in the background.

 

This is a museum on the grounds.

 

A mural on the wall of the museum.

 

 

This is a movie of what the homes looked like when the culture was alive and active.

 

View from the back of the museum.

 

We had lunch at a restaurant by a nearby lake.

 

Chihuahuas and Healing Asthma

Yesterday while I was resting on a bench in the plaza, a Mexican man came over to sit next to me. He talked to me for about an hour about his desperate life. He spoke perfect English. He said his parents taught it to him. They died in a car crash a few years ago. I felt so sad for him but his needs were too great for me to fulfill.  I just bought him something to eat. He told me a story that I am passing along here. The Mexicans have many unusual beliefs about ways to heal the body. This is the strangest belief I have ever heard. 

He said that when he was a little boy his parents bought him a chihuahua to sleep with him and be with him all the time. He said that the little chihuahua took away his asthma. It went into the dog's body and the dog coughed all the time but he no longer had asthma... It had gone into the dog. He said, All Mexicans know about this. He then turned to another Mexican man who was resting next to us and asked him if he knew about it. The man said NO, he knew nothing about that way of healing asthma.

I have not asked anyone else about this so called popular Mexican way of healing asthma. So maybe it was just part of his story that he was weaving for me on a quiet Saturday afternoon. It was a long, complicated and desperate story about getting deported from the States, having no money, his toe being cut off, (he took off his sock and showed me his foot with the missing toe) sleeping in a garage filled with scorpions, etc. His command of the English language gave him a real edge over other people asking for money and help. His needs were so great that I couldn't have fulfilled them. All I could do was buy him something to eat. I think that as an older American woman, I am an easy target for desperate people. Older women usually have money and even more important, Compassion... 

It was a sad story that he told me and when I left that bench I was feeling very appreciative of my good luck in life and also very guilty that I couldn't change his bad luck.  I hope that one day soon he can make his way back to his home where he said his little chihuahua is waiting for him, coughing with the asthma that he took away from him when he was a child. 

WAIT A MINUTE!!!  I have been played!!!  If that chihuahua was with him when he was a child and he is fifty years old now, that dog could not possibly still be alive and waiting for him!  That man is GOOD!  I am a sucker..... He almost talked me out of a thousand pesos for a bus ticket home, back to that little asthmatic dog.  I should add GULLIBLE to that list of qualities that older women have but maybe it is just me that is gullible.  My mother used to tell me that but it only made me angry. Now I know. She was right! I AM GULLIBLE......

Saturday Afternoon in the Ajijic Plaza

Yesterday I sat in the plaza for an hour, enjoying the sunshine. We have had many days of clouds and no sunshine. It was beautiful here yesterday. A little breeze, lots of people out enjoying the plaza. I had lunch with my friend Peggy in the Sazon restaurant which is above the cultural center. I took some photos from there. 

 

 

I think the people in the two photos above were walking to a wedding in the church.

 

I like the above photo because of the child in front and the old man walking behind. Both were having some problems with walking.

 

 

 

Sazon restaurant

 

The food is good at the Sazon restaurant.

 

Fruit from the Local Fruit Truck

 

The local fruit truck drove by my house just now. I bought a huge cantaloupe, very large mango, small pineapple and two large limes from them. The cost was 70 pesos which today is three dollars and seventy six cents. I am guessing I paid the gringa price but it was still worth it for me to get it so fresh and next to my front door.  I can't imagine what this much fruit would cost in the States. Does anyone have an idea? 

Sunday Evening in the Ajijic Plaza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Babies everywhere.

The Lake Chapala Society garden in the rainy season

Yesterday my friend Peggy arrived from Portland. This is her first visit to Ajijic. I love seeing this place through new eyes. We took a walk through the LCS gardens and then walked up to meet my friend Ivanka and her dogs. Here are some photos of the gardens and Peggy with one of Ivanka's dogs.

 

The new American flag is up. Thanks to the American Legion in Chapala.

 

Peggy with Chico. Check out how bright the colors are of the leaves in the garden. They are almost fluorescent.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Sunday in the Ajijic Plaza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning Thoughts

Sunday morning and it is still overcast. It looks like the sun is trying to come out. Maybe it will turn out to be a beautiful day. We had thunder this morning. This weather is very unpredictable. I bought a small umbrella that I carry around with me all the time now. 

We are between two foreign holidays, Canadian Independence Day which was the first and the Fourth of July Independence Day which is of course on the fourth. A couple of years ago the Lake Chapala Society had what they called Can Am Day. It was fun. Big party celebrating both Independence days but they aren't doing that anymore. I heard that they got the new American Flag up. I haven't seen it yet. I am glad that happened. The old flag was shameful, a rag flying in the wind. 

This morning I am going out to breakfast with my friend Nicks. Maybe I will walk to the plaza with Chico if it is warm this afternoon. Sundays are always interesting there. Lots of people. Here are some more photos of my garden.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a star Jasmine. 

 

 

I bought this fish at the Weds market. It is on my hallway wall. Just a stupid impulse buy! It watches over my water bottles.