Chapala

Yesterday, I went to Salvador’s for coffee and breakfast. I saw Brian and he had some errands to run and asked me if I wanted to come along. We went to Chapala to some shops. We stopped and had some more coffee and met some friends of Brian’s that live in Chapala. We went to the town square and looked around. Brian purchased some candies for Halloween. Chapala seems like a nice town. This was the first time I had been there.

Brian planned to go help his friend Kas on the re-modeling of Kas’s house in Chula Vista so he dropped me off in downtown Ajijic. I walked around for awhile and decided to check out a couple of bars. One I had noticed on Colon previously. It is called the Beer Saloon but it also has mixed drinks. I sat down next to a fellow smoking a cigar and found out his name is Bob and he has owned the place for about a year. His Mexican wife, Rosario was doing the bartending. I really liked the ambiance in this small bar. There was a Mexican fellow in the bar who was selling fake Rolex watches for about 150 pesos.

Another gringo had told me of a bar called “Tom’s Bar” on Ocampo. I had noticed the place from the bus when I was on the local bus that runs down Ocampo. Tom’s Bar is owned by an American who is also married to a Mexican. In the past, Tom had lived for a few years at Lake Tahoe and worked for ski resorts. His place is larger and he also sells meals there. He has several satellite TV feeds of US and Canadian programming for the TVs in the bar but he was playing old rock and roll music which was nice for a change to the Mexican music that I have been listening to on my radio in my rig.

I caught a ride with a fellow named Darryl who rents a place in the Racquet Club which is near my camp site in San Juan Cosala. On the way we stopped at another place called Vicki’s Hideaway on the lake. It was still happy hour and we got two beers for 20 pesos.

Last night was punctuated by the sounds of rockets exploding, a prelude to the Day of the Dead celebration. It continues today. I took a photo of three young men firing the rockets this morning in the plaza in front of the Ajijic cathedral. I took a walk to lakeside to visit a painter I had met at Salvador’s but he wasn’t home and I left a note with his maid. Nearby is the Lake Chapala Society so I stopped in there. The grounds are very nice with a large garden and you can get coffee and brownies, etc. It seems it is also a meeting place as several Norte Americanos (middle aged and older) were lounging around at tables on the plaza. Everyone seems very friendly here lakeside. I heard of another potential parking place for the rig right in the center of Ajijic.

This evening I plan to go back to meet Brian and friends at the Old Posada to see the Ron and Sally musical group. Since it is Halloween people may be in costume.