Our 3rd Week In Review. Gettinga bit lazy about keeping up every day!

Okay, so we all knew that this time would come.  I had planned on trying to Blog every day, but as we all anticipated, life starts to happen and we get really busy.   So this weeks recap goes something like this… 

Monday back to Chapala walking the Malecon and exploring the city.  Tracy stumbled on the Market and we shopped the Open Tienda that is there on Tuesdays.  Andrew bought a really cool cross bow and Zach found a package of Power Rangers to play with.  Our friend Sarah turned us on to an incredible beverage called a “Yurba Buena”; it is a shot of Squirt soda, Jarabe (syrup), ice, water and a big handful of mint leaves.  They throw it all in a blender, it is the most refreshing drink to date.  Oh, and it looks really pretty too!  Relaxing evening at home.

Sarah with a "Yurba Buena"

Tuesday; we continued our search for the perfect house.  Off to look at a few houses for rent and we actually were stood up at the first one.  So, being the people we are and realizing that the Universe is always conspiring on our behalf, we went back to the house and walked to the second house on our list of appointments.  Upon walking in the front door, I was in love with it.  It has everything we were looking for.  Three Bedrooms (yes one for company), 2 bathrooms, the “boveda” ceilings and “copala” domes.  The fun colorful walls, nicely furnished, a tub for Tracy and the boys, small backyard with automatic sprinklers, and the frosting on the cake is a small community pool just outside the front door.  We didn’t want to appear to excited, but it was hard to hold back the feelings.  We decided not to jump on it and finish our tour of rentals for the next few days.  We spent another day just doing our due diligence and looking at a few more possibilities.  In the process we met a super nice family from Alaska.  They have three kids and have been living here for the past 2 years.  We hit it off immediately and have plans on Monday to hang out all together.  It’s so cool how easy it is to bond with others when you are all living a similar dream.   This was the reason we got stood up on the first house today.    Later that evening was “Circo Ayala”, wow was this an experience.  We went with Sarah, Lila and Ben to the touring circus in town.  They actually drive through the town in a brand new big red pickup truck with a huge sign in the bed and a loud speaker blaring about the circus.  The price was $20 Pesos of kids and $50 Pesos for adults.  That is just around $11 Dollars US.  The animals were amazing; they had mountain lions, camels, monkeys, horses of all sizes, pigs and more.  We walked into the tent at 8:45pm and the music was a bit loud, but appropriate.  Within about 10 minutes poor Lila just couldn’t take it.  Something scared her pretty bad and our three compadres had to leave and take her home.  It was most likely the announcers voice that got 10x louder then the music.  We four of us were a bit bummed, but decide to stick it out anyway.  The first half was like watching a small-scale version of Cirque de Sole.  Then came the second half.  It was rather depressing, because that is when the animals came out.  Well, not to get into to many details, we have decided as a family that the only circus we will attend form now on will be the human kind.

Circo Ayala

Getting ready for some fun

Wednesday:  “Sarah and Lila’s last day in Mexico”.    Well, we finally did it; we pulled the trigger and signed the lease for one year on the great house mentioned above.  Then, jus to solidify our decision, we went to the Mailbox Etc. and got copies of all our documents for the kids school.  With papers in hand, we headed over to the school that we have decided on for the kids and tried to sign them up.  They wouldn’t let us sign up until next week and invited us to come on Monday and drop them off from morning to early afternoon, so they can try it out, do a little testing and see how well they fit in, very cool!  Now with a house and a school lined up for the year, this truly means we are staying for at least one year, holy cow!  That night we headed to San Juan Cosala, back to “Viva Mexico” for dinner and then walked the downtown for their fiesta.  The kids rode on huge bouncy slides, rode on rides and played a few games.  We waited as long as we could for the fireworks, but left at around 11:00pm.  We heard from Fred the next day that they finally went off at around 11:20pm.  Oh well, guess we got to go back.

Thursday;  (sniff, sniff) Feeling a bit sad and bummed, we missed saying our goodbyes to Sarah and Lila.  They headed back to Colorado early and unfortunately, we were all so tired we slept right through our intended goodbye!  Hey you two, it was so awesome meeting you and we had such a wonderful time hanging out.  Please stay in touch and come back soon.  We miss you already  

Ran a few errands and then I took the boys over to Scot and David’s new place in El Dorado.  It’s super cute and the amenities (gym, pool, club house) are awesome.  The kids played video games until it was time for dinner.  We went out to “Hacienda Ajijic”, an amazing Argentinean Steak House.  Scott, the girls and his parents joined us and the food was great.  The best part of it all was that every steak was only $90 pesos and it was so good.   After dinner, we headed to our now favorite ice creamery ‘Blue Bell” and almost everyone got a single scoop cone.  Another day done, we headed home for bed.

Handmade on the Lake front

Friday;   went into tow today to get our CULP number.  This is the registration number like the Social Security number in the US.  It allows us to register the kids in school, we can get prepaid cell phones and a few other things that we are not yet aware of.  We tried to get a Mexico Cell Phone today, but the main location was closed, the other spoke no English and we couldn’t figure out what to do and how to do it, and the third was about $40 pesos more then the closed one.  Went to Café Grano, our favorite coffee shop right off the Plaza and had our traditional Carmel Frappacinno.  Oh, back to the coolest part of getting our CULP, we walked into what would be equivalent to the County Clerks Office/DMV office back in the States, it was a tiny, but functional office.  There was no line at all.  We walked in, asked where we get our CULP and within 15 minutes we all had our numbers and headed out the door.  Now back in the US, it would have taken at least 45 minutes to just wait in line.  It  was so smooth and easy!  We wandered a bit more, walked down to the lake and the Malecon and enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the lake.  Headed home, the kids watched a movie and Tracy and I read and did Spanish.  Then off to bed for some good sleep.

County Clerks office inside to the left

Hanging at Cafe Grano

Our Local better then Starbucks

Inside 60'ss in Paradise

Good food when your wanting something American

Saturday:  Got up and headed to the LCS Art Class for the kids.  Met a super cool family from Indiana.  Once the entire unit is here, it will be a grandmother, mom (Shannon) and young daughter.  They moved here about 2 months ago and are planning on living here indefinitely.  We also hung out with Scott and the girls and had a really nice visit with the two adults while the kids played and painted.  Scott and Shannon decided that they were going to caravan into Guadalajara to go to the Costco way downtown and the new Galleria Mall, we had plans at 5pm, so we chose not to go, but are looking forward to that as one of our next adventures.  Or lunch, we headed over to 60ss in Paradise, a really cool burger joint in Ajijic.  We met the new owner Laurie “Laura”, super cool woman who has been here 12 years and moved down from San Francisco.  We met her husband and stepdaughter also, such an incredibly kind family and the food was fantastic of course.  We had burgers, fries, onion rings, root beer float and funnel cake of course.   

Tracy, Anna and Brandi on top of the world.

After lunch, we headed home, took a siesta (read and did Spanish) then at 5:00 we took the boys to our new friends Brandie and Joe house.  They have two kids (boy and girl) and live just down from us.  We left the kids with a sitter and then off to a going away party for one of the ladies in Tracy’s yoga class.  They are doing a house trade with a family in Ireland for 6 months, so cool.  Their house was awesome, you walk up a few flights of stairs and up to the Mirador, where you can see the lake and everything around for 360 degrees.  We had a blast.  I met the Yoga teacher, a massage therapist and a handful of retirees from the US ad Canada.  Great group of people to hang out with and very helpful with information necessary for making life easier down here.  Then off to Tom’s Tavern and hung there just visiting with Joe and Brandi and a few others that they know.  Had a really nice time getting to know Joe and Brandi.  They are also from Denver originally and have been down here for 3 years now.  Well night is over and I am toast, more next week.

“Día del Padre”

What a fantastic “Día del Padre” I had.  I woke up to a tapping noise out in the living room.  I jumped out of bed thinking it was someone knocking on the back window, to find Andrew drawing something on the glass table in the dining room.  Andrew instructed me to get back in bed, so I did.  That was followed by a bowl of yogurt, glass of mango juice and a beautiful “Fathers Day” card. 

 He was even kind enough to sign his brother’s name and Mom to it, that’s my Andrew.  We got up and went to breakfast at the Sunrise Restaurant in San Antonio, Mexico.  The place is really cool and all the tables surround a big open area that is outdoors with a beautiful fountain in the center, the table and seating area is covered.  I ordered, Huevos Mexicana y frijoles con queso fresca, with fresh tortillas and jugo de naranja all for $20 Pesos and the food was fantastic.  Tracy had the same and the kids had “Pan de Frances” and “Hot Cakes”.   

Skateboard Park in Chapala

We finished up breakfast and headed into Chapala to the “Malecon”, it’s like a boardwalk.  Look for other references to it on past posts.  The weather has just been wonderful and sunny with a slight breeze off the water.  There were hundreds of people walking, boating, swimming, shopping, eating and just hanging out everywhere.  The church bells rang out as people flooded out of the local church a block from the waterfront.  Chapala is a really great city here in the area.  It has a much more Mexican feel to it then where we are living.  We headed back to town and stopped for some groceries at El Torito, then explored the little mall hat it sits in.  Upstairs is the cheap movie theatre and we found out that X-Men was laying in the later afternoon.  We went home, had lunch and then headed back for the matinee.  The kids loved it and so did Tracy and I.  Then we headed back home, had dinner, went for a walk, put the boys to bed and Tracy and I watched “Inside Job” narrated by Matt Damon.  Great movie, but incredibly depressing to see that there really is so much greed in our financial institutions, Wall Street and the government.  I now see what a joke our political system really is.  Oops, sorry about throwing that in, momma always told me it’s not polite to discuss politics or religion.  Well off to bed after such a fun Fathers Day, more fun tomorrow.  Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads in the world!

Door in Chapala

Friday and Saturday all Rolled into One

Front of Manix

Friday and Saturday wrap up.  We spent most of the day on Friday just hanging out at the house and doing some more exploring.  The highlight of the day was our trip downtown to a restaurant called “Manix”.  We were the only people there and it was really cool inside.  It had that old world Spanish look and feel to it.  We were seated and I picked up the menu to look at the food and was a bit thrown off by the high prices.  Now you have to remember that being here for almost two weeks has tainted us around the priced of good food.  The typical really good meal here in town is around $60-80 Pesos per person, so when I saw the prices at $100-160Pesos, I flinched big time.  I even looked at Tracy and said, “Should we leave”?  Well after a few minutes we decided to give it a try as someone we met at the LCS had recommended it.  Once again to our surprise, the food was superb.  Tracy had Chicken Marsala, I had the Pork Chops, Andrew had the battered shrimp and Zach samples everyone’s meal.  They all came with fresh rolls, butter, salad, vegetables, a sweat corn mash (everyone’s favorite, it was like dessert) and potato wedges.  The food was absolutely amazing.  So, it’s not really in our budget to go there very often, but it was a nice treat.  Another really cool thing was the sign we saw in the back of the parking lot.  There was an old sign there from what was a Chiropractic Office many years ago, called Lakeside Chiropractic.  We took it as a pretty cool omen.   

Once dinner was over, we just walked and explored the village a bit more.  It is so cool, because every turn is something new and even the areas already explored; there is always something unseen from before.  Then, home and off to bed.  The boys were still recovering from Tobolandia the day before.

Saturday, we were invited to our new friends, Scott and David’s house.  It was spectacular.   

They also had a pool, which the four kids played in for 3 hours while we all chatted. 

It was a really nice time and they even were so kind enough to serve us lunch.  We had fried chicken from “Tony’s “ and it was the best.  Wow, right this moment it has just dawned on me that I sure do talk about food a lot in this Blog.  Interesting that we move from Boulder, CO to Lake Chapala, Mexico and we are finding as many if not more incredible restaurants here as we did in Boulder.  Maybe this is the “foodiest” place in Mexico, like Boulder is for the USA?  We did a little bit in town before lunch and I just have to reiterate how amazingly kind the Mexican people are, they are always helpful, friendly, don’t’ make fun of my Spanish and VERY hard working.  After out late lunch, we headed home and took London for his walk.  We stopped by to say hello to Ben, Lindey, Sara and we ended up hanging out until really late of course.  So, now it is around 11:30pm and I am pooped, more to come later.  Happy Fathers Day Dad (I love you and can’t wait for you to come and visit) and to all the other Dads out there.  

Tobolandia!

We ventured off to Tobolandia today.  It is a huge water park here on the lake, where families from “Guad” (Guadalajara) come to cool off and play in the sun.   The boys have been begging since the day we got here to go to the water park, so we finally did it.  I gotta be honest that I didn’t anticipate liking it all that much.  Huge surprise people, it was so freaking much fun!   We played in the pools, rode on some the most incredible water slides and just really enjoyed the sun and water for the first time since arriving in the Chapala area, us boys were in heaven and Tracy had a blast also.   Andrew's first comment after the biggest and fastest Water slide was, "I can't wait to bring my cousin Alder here, he will love this place.

We took along with us our friend Ben’s daughter Sara and granddaughter Lila.  They are both from Denver also and Tracy has really hit it off with Sara.  They seem to have a ton in common and a lot to talk about and share.  It has been really nice for Tracy to have someone to shoot the ______ with and relate on the mommy front.  Oh, I forgot another cool part of the story.  We have been in touch with a family from Illinois since before we left Boulder.  They arrived last Saturday and finally got settled.  Well, I invited them to the park today and they showed up.   

The funny part was when Andrew and I were in the pool, I see a Caucasian man with two Caucasian girls around 6 and 10 years of age walking around and looking for someone.  I take a chance and yell out “David” and the man turns and calls out my name.  Andrew says to me “how did you know it was them Dad”?  I try to explain racial profiling and he just looks at me and says, “It was the two girls, right”.     

So, we hang out for a couple more hours and finally have to go, because we have an appointment to see another rental property at 3:00.  We head out and arrive at the property right at 3:00pm.  One of the Chiropractors from the other day owns the place and we met up with her to have a look.  The house is really nice as we tour through it, until we get to the second bedroom part.  You literally had to walk outside and up a set of stairs to the roof.  The kids room and bath would have been on top of the house.  Andrew came over to me, grabbed my arm and pleaded with me not to rent the house.  He felt that the set ups was not safe enough for Zach and he would miss being able to just crawl into our bed in the middle of the night.  Well, you guessed it; we didn’t rent it and the kids were both incredibly relieved.  Afterwards, we drove around the little town of San Antonio and headed to Wal-Mart for some bubbly water.  We have become addicted to “Agua con gas”, with a squeeze of fresh lime in it, thanks to Fred.  Picked up our loot from the store.  Seems we always walk out with 10 times more then we went in for.  Headed home, had dinner and took London for his evening walk in the neighborhood.  Kids were exhausted and both fell to sleep very quickly.  Another long day in paradise, what can I say?  Buenas noches a mis amigos

How Our Adventure All Started and The Picture That Launched Our Ship

There are so many of you out there that don’t have any idea what this whole Mexico thing is all about, so I thought I’d write a “blog addendum” to Brian’s wonderful work to catch you all up.

Then

Now

 

 

Once upon a time……  Brian and Tracy met and married while in Chiropractic College in the bay area.  Their initial idea was to practice for a year or two in Guatemala after graduation, but just before making their plans to move, they found out they were to have a baby and plans changed.

They spent the first years of practice and of their first son’s life in beautiful Santa Barbara and when the second son came along, their little rental was feeling kind of small.  They decided then to move to Boulder, Colorado, open up another practice and buy their first home.  They loved their house, their neighbors (well, most of them), their friends and their practice.  It turns out that 6 months of winter wasn’t so easy to handle.  They gave it 3 ½ years and formulated the “Mexico plan.”

Some of you know, that Brian spent his early years moving around quite a bit-dad was a flight surgeon in the Air Force and that guaranteed a move roughly every 3 ½-4 years.  He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, his brother in Okinawa, Japan and his sister in Nova Scotia.  An internal clock in Brian actually goes off after being in one place for about 3 years.  Sometimes a new office or a new house will do the trick, but the clock combined with winters that were too cold and too long made a move out of Colorado imminent. 

We put the house on Craigslist and posted the office on a few different Chiro college sites and within a week had both under contract.  We figured that the Universe was conspiring on our behalf and that what we were about to attempt was a move in the right direction.  We knew a few things…… we wanted to have the kids experience living in a different (dare I say, slightly less entitled culture), we wanted to learn spanish very well, we wanted to live less expensively and with less in general, we wanted to live in a temperate climate, we wanted to live near water, and we wanted to simplify our lives even more that we had accomplished in the states.

After much research on Brian’s part, we packed the car with what we could fit (and boy was it full), strapped the boys in, sat London the dog in between them and lifted Scooby the cat onto his perch above the boys, and set off for a 5 day journey to Ajijic, Mexico in the state of Jalisco.  The rest of what we still own is in a POD near Denver somewhere, waiting for when and where we decide to move it.  We have committed to living here for a year, but if we love it and the boys seem to be somewhat bilingual by the end of the year we may stay.  Or, we may move further south with our new found command of the Spanish language.  All in all it is a rather large scale adventure for someone that only called California home until just 3 ½ years ago. 

Most of the folks here are retirees from Canada and the U.S., which makes learning Spanish a little harder but easier to adjust to a new culture in some ways.  All of the shop owners and folks you come into contact with are very kind as long as you try to speak the language.  The kids start school in a private bilingual program in mid August, but have picked up a bit by just listening to the kids on the playground and watching Spanish television.  In kindergarten in the school we are looking at, they only speak, read and write Spanish.  We anticipate there will be some tutoring hours needed for Andrew, as half of his instruction day will be in Spanish. 

I am actually faring well.  I met a young woman (I call her young as we are at almost 37, very young as far as gringas go here) who brought me to a yoga class that I LOVE yesterday.  The teacher is Mexican, but trained in Canada and is honestly one of the best teachers I’ve yet to experience.  Thanks to some new American friends (and Fred Schultz and Rita Harrington-who some of you know from chiro college, yes they have retired here to an AMAZING lakeside house) we have dialed in where to go for all our necessities and where to go for good eats.  It is still a bit warm as far as evenings go, but the impending rainy season should cure that rather soon I hope.

All in all, an adventure well worth taking-alas I must go, Brian is ready to do our Spanish lesson.

Hasta Luego Amigos,

Tracy

POWER, Food and a Beautiful Place!

We have POWER!  So, after our crazy storm last Friday, we finally have power back at full.  The weirdest thing are the rolling brown outs, where the lights will all just dim a bit and then go out or come back on.  We lost complete power on Tuesday nigh and had it restored by yesterday afternoon.  I spent the day with Dr. Youcha and two other Chiropractors from San Antonio and Guadalajara.  We covered some really cool stuff.  I am actually learning some Motion Palpation from Dr. Youcha along with the other two docs.  They all graduated back in the mid to late 70’s so they are full of knowledge.  I feel like a kid in school again, trying to soak it all in.  We had lunch at a rally great place on the Caraterra.  I don’t recall the name, but it the owner/chef is from Nairobi, Africa and the food was just incredible.  I am blow away at all of the really great restaurants down here. 

Stunning

There are walls like this everywhere here in town

Last night for or anniversary, we went to Simply Thai, owned by Thip and Jim, they are from Canada.   Thip’s parents are the cooks and the food is really good.  The market was going again today and Tracy and the boys did our fruit and veggie shopping.  We then wandered around town and just walked.  We are doing really well and finally feeling a bit more settled here.   Still looking for a long-term rental and have seen a few really beautiful homes.  Actually, the kids want the one we saw yesterday, because there is a pool in the back yard.  Tracy and I are not jumping at anything yet, as there appears to be a lot on the market.  Here are some pictures from our little adventure around town.  We hope you will come and visit sometime soon.

My favorite front door downtown

Rest, Brunch, Dr. Youcha, Gym and Our 13 Year Anniversary!

Sunday:  We went to the Hotel Real de Chapala for brunch.  It was absolutely beautiful, with its lakeshore setting and lush tropical grounds. It has something like 85 suites a heated swimming pool, tennis courts, a children’s playground, and restaurant.  Its Sunday Mexican Fiesta is very popular with the wealthy Guadalajara’s that come down for the weekend.  The brunch is held in the garden overlooking Lake Chapala, with, it was is a wonderful experience.  One of the more expensive meals we have had here, it still only cost the 4 of us around $28 including tip.  The local Chiropractor, Victor Youcha and his lovely wife Linda accompanied us.  They were introduced to us through Fred Schultz and we had such a nice time with them.  The rest of the day, we just walked the village and then headed home for siesta.  For dinner we went up to the Mall and had amazing “Tacos Nicos” and man was it awesome food.  I have learned to love pickled jalapenos and horchata (rice milk with lots of sugar).  Off to bed and then the rains came late, actually early morning on Monday, around 3:30am for an hour.  The thunder here is so loud and the lighting is so bright

This is not a house in the expensive neighborhood.  Just thought it was really cool. It is made of mud bricks.

Monday:  Woke up to no electricity.    We have had rolling blackouts since the storm on Friday duet o all the trees falling and taking down the power lines all over the village.  I headed out to join one of the local gyms in town. I figure I will join each one for a month and then decide which I prefer more.  Got home, showered and then we all headed down to the LCS to pick up our membership cards and check out some books from the lending library.  The LCS library is actually huge and has all kinds of books and everything is in English.  They also have a video library with almost every movie ever made, eat your heart out Blockbuster.  Then Tracy and the boys dropped me off at Dr. Youcha’s office, where I shadowed him for a few hours.  Victor is possibly the most gifted Chiropractor I have yet to meet.  He has been practicing for over 30 years and his tool bag is full of some of the coolest moves I have seen.  Now, I have been practicing for over 12 years and thought I knew a lot.  Wow, am having the best time learning from Victor.  Tracy and the boys went shopping and dropped by the local Animal Shelter, where the boys fell in love with every kitten they had.  They came back to get me around 1pm and they smelled of little kittens, big time.  Home we went and had lunch.  Tracy and I both took siesta naps and the kids played on the computer for all we know.  We woke from our naps and took a pleasant walk around lower La Floresta.  Some of the houses around here are just breathtaking.  The prices on most of these homes in this particular neighborhood, ranges from $300K up into the millions.  Once back home, we had dinner and watched a movie.  Got ready for bed and Tracy and I staid up until 12:20, when I realized that it was our 13^th Anniversary.  I asked here if she ever imagined that we would be living in Mexico 13 years after we got married and she said that she imagined the possibility of being in Mexico for our anniversary, just never imagined the living part.  Happy Anniversary to us!!

 Inside of one of the local churches.

Sunset from "Tacos Nicos"

Day of Rest

Hello everyone. We are taking a day off and just hanging out today. I have gotten a few emails about people not being able to make Comments on the Blog. You need to become a Member of the Blog to make Comments. Just click the Follow Button near the top right corner of the Blog and follow directions. You may need to create a new Google account to do this. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday. More to come...

School, Jardin, LCS, Storms, Power Outages, Great Food and Friends for Friday & Saturday Blog

Friday: So, we have been told many times now that rainy season is here and on Friday we found out exactly what that really means.  We started the day by taking a really nice walk through the neighborhood and admired all of the beautiful homes.  The roads are cobblestones here except for the main road (Carretera) that goes through town and everything looks so tropical.  After our little walk, we got in the car and headed out to visit the last of the three schools we are interested in.  The staff was so nice and the school itself was terrific.  We really, really  like it and now we are in the tough position of  having to decide between two schools we really like a lot. 

After our school tour we stopped by the local market and filled up on eggs, milk and a few other staples.  There are three markets in the local area that we shop at now.  There is Wal-Mart as mentioned before, El Torito and Super Lake.  To compare tot anything back home, I would have to say that Wal-Mart is a bit more like a cross between itself and target back home.  El Torito is a lot like King Supers and Super Lake is the local Whole Foods, minus the organic stuff.  It's very expensive and where you can find anything you could ever miss or want from the US or Canada.  We returned home for siesta and just hung around, read books, played catch in the backyard did our Spanish class on the computer and chilled. 

For dinner we headed to Fritos Pizzeria on the Carterra and met up with the Colorado Meet Up group.  We met a bunch of super nice people and actually a couple from the Denver Metro area that have 2 kids (ages 4 and 6), but the husband was away on business.  She and Tracy really hit it off and even invited Tracy to a Yoga class.  Tracy is in heaven and we hope there is space for her to go a few times per week, starting next week.  Well, the pizza was great, the kids and I played pool for a few hours and while eating, the rains came and "WOW" did they come! 

 The rain was preceded by winds of 50-70mph, and then a sheet of rain for about an hour followed by hail the size of marbles.  We waited out the storm and headed out to the car, to our dismay, the parking lot was full of water almost up to the bottom of the car (we have a small SUV) and it actually has good clearance, whew!  Now, in defense of the restaurant, it was all my fault for parking where I did.  I should have know better, because, the parking lot is a very steep hill and they dug a huge hole in the dirt and built the restaurant on the side of the hill facing the Highway (Caraterra).  It’s like a giant swimming pool now with about a foot of water.   I have learned my lesson and will always try an park up top, amazing the things you learn by just doing them.   I waded out to the car in knee high water, started the car and pulled up the hill to the Hwy. so Tracy and the boys could get in.  On the drive home, the streets going up the mountains had rivers running down them and cobbles from the roads were washed down all over the side of the highway.  There were downed trees, and a car submerged in about 3-4 feet of water.  It was absolutely incredible.  I have never seen so much rain in such a short period of time, well maybe in Texas when I was living there as a kid.  It even took 100 year old trees down.

Home safely now and we walk into the front door and there is a river running through our house.  The drain in the back porch has backed up and the water is flowing from the kitchen, into the living room and out the back door.  Fortunately, the house has a natural slope towards the back yard and water obeys the laws of gravity.  The rugs were soaked, the furniture was wet on the bottom, but everything could be easily moved outside and it all dried by 3pm today (Saturday).  The back laundry room was flooded though and it still as of tonight (Saturday) has a bit of standing water in it.  Oh, and all of this with no power in most of the house until Saturday afternoon.  The kids were a bit freaked out and kept calling it a natural disaster and poor Zach kept saying, “This is why we should have staid in Boulder, we never should have moved”.   The most amazing thing of it all is that I kept my cool through the entire evening from parking lot to river in home.  We finally got everyone off to bed and it was an incredible night of sleeping due to the drop in temperature, from 78 down to 65 and a light breeze. 

Saturday:  Everyone got up early so we could get down to the Lake Chapala Society (LCS) for Children’s Art Class.  It is amazing there, a few dozen Mexican kids from town were there and they were all paining, drawing and getting instruction form three professional artists.  A few of the kids were very talented and being tutored by the artist instructors.  There is one young man tha tis so talented that he is applying for University in Guadalajara for architecture. School in Mexico is absolutely free for Mexican kids, but the entrance exam is incredibly hard and it is very difficult to get in because of all the competition.  The town here is incredibly poor and most of these kids have nothing in the way of art supplies.  The Lake Chapala Society specifically raises funds that provide the instruction and supplies for the children and it was so touching to see.  We stayed awhile while the boys painted, drew and visited with the Mexcian children.  The hit of the morning was that one of the kids brought a pet duckling to use as a model for drawing class.  After the art class, we headed up to the Jardin (Plaza) to explore and for a coffee drink at the locals favorite coffee shop.  Tracy and I actually had a “Carmel Frapo” (Starbuck style, but actually better); the boys split a water and Carmel roll.  We then walked into a few of the local realtor offices looking at rentals for August.  

Once we got home, the power was back on and we all settled in and read books, did our Spanish class and played catch waiting for our dinner date with Fred, Rita, Ben and Lindey.  Ben drove us and we headed into the town of San Juan Cosala, to Fred and Rita’s home and wow is it fantastic.  It is exactly the like the house that Tracy and I are dreaming of living in here in Mexico.  It is a true Mexican Casa in every way, with the bright colors, beautiful tile and amazing furnishings, it is stunning!  We sat outside and visited, then just a short walk to the restaurant, Viva a Mexico.  The food was wonderful, 6 adults and 2 kids all ate and drank for under 700Pesos, about $65 dollars.  We had such a nice time visiting and eating.  After dinner, we headed back to home and I just finished tucking the kids in for the night and now I am off to snuggle withe senora Johnson.

Buenos Noches!

Yoga, Loyola de la Chapala shcool and exploring downtown

On Thursday we got up and headed out to explore the area a bit more.  We went go see another of the possible school choices for the boys. It is less then a mile from the area we are thinking about living in, so that is very attractive to us.  The school was very beautiful and it appears to be a traditional school setting with all grades on one camp.  They start as early as childcare and go all the way up to High School.  Zach would be starting in what is considered Prescolar (ages 3-5) and Andrew will start in Primaria (1^st-6^th)/Bilingual Curriculum.  Zach’s class will be all in Spanish, but the teacher is bilingual.  The school system here has a break from July through the 22^nd week of August.  They get a 2-week break in December and a 2-week break in the spring.  Andrew will start at 8:00am and Zach around 8:30.  They will go until 2/2:30, but Zach can hang out and play until Andrew is finished.  

After the school tour, we headed into town and took Tracy to a Yoga class.  She enjoyed the 1.5 hour class and met some really nice ladies there.  The boys and I explored the village more and just wandered the streets just soaking in the sites.  We stopped and had ice cream at the Plaza Jardin, but the kids didn’t care for it much.  In their defense, it did have a different taste from what we are accustomed to back in the States.  I finished the cones for them.  We wandered a bit more and then went to pick up Tracy from class.  We met a really kind gentleman named David who had been a Realtor back in Santa Barbara in the 1970’s.  On the way home we stopped to look at another local gym and it was actually very nice and clean.  You won’t find 24HR Fitness or Gold’s Gym here, but everything is functional and clean. 

We headed home and had some lunch, when we all of sudden hear a knock at the door.  Our neighbors a few doors away and friends of Fred and Rita came by to introduce themselves.  They were so kind and were loaded with great information for living in Mexico.  I am finding the Ex-Pat community down here is like one big family.  Everyone looks out for one another.  We will be dining with them again on Saturday.  

 

Fast forward now to dinner and getting the kids ready for bed.  Tracy and I tucked the Munchkins in and moved out to the living room to do our Spanish lesson.  About 30 minutes into our hour, the rain started and man did it pour.  The most amazing thing was the lightning storm that came with it.  I have never seen so many lightning flashes in all my life.  It was literally like a fireworks display on the 4^th of July. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhXsQnVNR1E

Street Market, Malecon, Schools and Costco

We woke up and got busy right away.  The local street market in Ajijic was underway and we wanted to get there and take a look.  They had everything from clothes, DVDs, Music CDs, fish, meat, veggies, fresh fruit, hats, toys, small appliances.  You name it you can find it here.  There was even a gentleman who had a very friendly guinea pig in an open cage set on top of another very small cage with a white rabbit and 2 chickens in it together.  The boys were really rallying for taking them all home.  They do this market every Wednesday of the week all year long.  Then it moves to Jocotepec and Chapala two other days per week.  We decided to get our fruit here at the advice of our local friends, Fred and Rita.  It was amazing.  The fruit was so fresh, ripe and sweet and the very best part was we paid only $100 Pesos for all of it and boy did we get a lot.  You will see in one of the photos that a small bucket of berries is only about $1.50 US.  The kids stopped at every toy and art booth to look at things.  They really loved the beaded art, glass artist and of course anything with knives and toys.  The dead fish and meat vendors were incredibly busy, but we are not feeling brave enough yet to buy our protein at the market yet.  We have been told that on many ocassions, Mexcians do not throw anything away and sometimes, not a lot, you will find things that have expired. So we have decided for now until we know more about the people at the market we will stick with local stores.  Even though they too need to be watched.  The best advice we have gotten is to use caution when shopping anywhere. 

We returned to the house and unloaded our booty.  Down here, it is suggested that you rinse your fruits and veggies in a cleaning solution made from colloidal silver.  We found a big bottle of it at the local market “El Torito” and soaked the berries for about 10-15 minutes.  They were fantastic tasting.  We all devoured them in less then 10 minutes and I tell you there were a lot of berries in that bowl. 

Next we headed to the Malecon down at the Lakefront so the kids could get their "Yah-Yahs" out.  They played on the swings, slides, jungle gym and that thing that you spin around on and that makes you puke.  We walked the Malecon and watched a group of kids fishing.  They actually caught a few good size fish.    I read that the Lake is super clean and all heavy metals are very low if any.  The bottom feeding catfish are the ones to be most concerned with.  The toxicity of the lake and its fish inhabitants have been tested by the University and they tend to have a lower mercury content than a can of tuna from the USA.  The fish here that are caught and eaten on a regular basis are Tilapia, Catfish, Carp and a few others I don’t know how to translate.  

Moving on… we head toward Jocotepec for some more exploring and stumble upon one of the schools we are considering for the kids.  We pull in and I jump out to see about getting some information.  I am introduced to the director and he offers to give us a tour of the campus.  Terranova is the name of the school and the facility is really nice.  The students are from grade K-12 and it is a bilingual school.  They teach from 8-11 in Spanish and 11:30-2:30 in English.  The principal is incredibly friendly and answered all of our questions.  We just need to look at the other 2 and make a decision.  School for the boys will start again in mid August.

Back in the car now and we keep heading towards Jocotepec, about another 10 minutes down the road.  It is only 15 minutes from or house.  We decide at the last moment to keep going through town and go the back route to Guadalajara and try to find Costco.  We come up on a bit of roadwork and it is crazy.  These huge machines on the side of the mountain, excavating it away to make 2 more lanes for traffic.  We wait 15 minutes as we watch huge boulders pushed down the hill close to the road and then they stop for a few minutes to allow cars to pass.  Driving a bit further, we see the berry farms and a roadside fire.  After about 45 minutes of driving we are entering the heart of Guadalajara (now I hope most of you read about our trip to the Lake through Guad.).  We find the Costco without a hitch.  There are parking attendants and one that speaks very good English approaches me and he asks if we need any yard/Landscape work. I get his number and head on in to the store.  It looks just like any other Costco I have ever been to.  The prices for things American and Kirkland are priced higher then they are back in the US.  You can find meat, eggs, and items from Mexico and other parts of the world at a cheaper price.  All in all it’s pretty nice.   We stop and have our traditional hotdogs, Shrimp Bake, Pina Colda Smoothie and of course Churros.  We walk out with some really great juices, lunchmeats, bread products, and maple syrup…

Heading home, we are cruising along on the Hwy and somehow miss our turn of for Lago Chapala.  We get lost in Guadalajara again, but this time we manage to easily find our way back to the proper road and are back on track.  It’s a bit scary when you do get off track, because you typically have to drive for a few miles to find any kind of turn around.  Not being familiar with the area and still not reading Spanish well, the nerves get a little irritated and flustered.  So, back on track, we find our road back to Lago Chapala and Jocotepec.  We pass the big Jesus in the road and wander into town.  The photo of the truck with all the sacks of rice was taken on our way back through Jocotepec.  I can’t believe anyone can get that much in one small pickup.  Thanks again for keeping up with our adventure and more to come soon…

Love Brian and the gang