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Gringos, Gringos and More Gringos!  

03/08/05 - Ajijic, MX (Photos - Same as other Ajijic photos)

Getting the lowdown on living in Mexico, Gringo retiree style

 

Hola!  Well, after 3-and-a-half days on the road, we've officially arrived in Gringo-land.  It was about a five-hour drive from SLP to Ajijic, much of it on winding mountain roads (think southern Spain), passing semis in between dangerous curves.  The mountain roads eventually turned into farm country, with miles and miles of prickly pear cactus (tuna) fields, which they appear to grow as a crop here.  For our first night in Ajijic, Monday, we booked a room at the very charming and romantic Casa Mis Amores (if you are ever in Ajijic, you must stay here), which is about a block from the town square.  We loved it so much upon checking in that we immediately booked another night.  It is decorated in Colonial Mexican style with rustic wood furnishings, bright colors and a private patio overlooking the garden.  As a bonus, it has a brand new bathroom and a very comfortable king size bed.  It is reminiscent of someplace you might see in southern California for upwards of $200 per night.  We are paying about US$70 and people consider this to be very expensive here.

 

After all the driving we've been doing, we've decided to stay here for awhile to get some practical questions answered and to plan our next move.  As luck would have it, the local Gringo association, the Lake Chapala Society is just blocks from our hotel, so after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we went to pay them a visit.  A conservative elderly gentleman named Skip was most helpful with regard to answering our questions about water sanitation, phone service and apartment rentals.  In fact, he even knew of an apartment his friend Jack was renting for US$200 per week that was available and he was getting off duty, so off we went with Skip to check it out.  (We would have LOVED to stay here at the Mis Amores for another week, but alas and alack, money doesn't grow on trees, you know!)  The apartment is not quite the Mis Amores but that's what you get for 200 bucks, I guess.  It's got cable TV, at least, so Caroline will be able to watch The O.C., and that's worth a lot.  It's also got potable (i.e. drinkable) water, which is pretty cool.  Lucky for us, the previous tenant died recently, so it was available; weekly rentals this time of year are hard to find here.

 

So we agreed to rent the apartment starting tomorrow and then Skip insisted we come and check out his place.  He had torn down the existing buildings on his lot and had a fancy architect from Guadalajara come and build this super modern-style house in the middle of his very Mexican neighborhood.  We spent the next couple of hours touring and hearing all about it.  Caroline got very dehydrated and had to go and rest after that.