We only were able to get one hike this week with the Ajijic hiking group. We walked up a steep hill close to our house in the Chula Vista area. It’s a total of 2.7 miles round trip with a 20 minute hike to the top. When you get to the top, there are great views of the lake. We also try to find our house down closer to the lake. We actually asked a homeowner to look in their backyard so we could see it. LOL It's an easy hike to do as it starts and finishes at our house. Cuts out the driving time. Since we had many other obligations this week, we got in walking and hiking wherever we could. The hike with Jutta and Carmen from the group was a good one. Not too long but it was super steep right at the beginning. After you reached the top, we meandered through a meadow that is covered in wildflowers that will be blooming near the end of August….
I hope we see them. They are wild marigolds and it’s supposed to turn the mountain orange! This hike took us to the hidden waterfalls. Jutta and Carmen are Pros and guided us through the new trail. We really enjoyed their company. Carmen brought her dogs...well only 4 of them! She has 5 Whippets but one declined the hike on this day. Interesting dogs, they look like greyhounds and are very well behaved. We had a small snack at the waterfalls and then continued to the Tepalo waterfalls. With all the rain we have been having, they were flowing very well. There were many more folks out hiking as well. It’s so green and fabulous!
We have been doing work on the house and the mural on the wall is coming along very nicely. We got birds this week.
We met a bunch of new people this week too. First, we received an invitation from our neighbors, Lyn and Gary, to a music event at the Hotel Smart Hotsson in Chapala. It was an open mic thing but the talent was very good. Many Mexicans were at this event. They sang in Spanish and did some english songs as well. We heard some very good Frank Sinatra from this old crooner! We sat at a large table with our neighbors Lyn and Gary. A few of our other neighbors came too plus a few friends we’ve met at parties. Our table had about 12 folks. We enjoyed the music for a few hours and had a small snack. They had a large terrace with a fantastic view of the lake. On the way out of the hotel, we looked at the pool. I found a tiny snake in the hallway and had to catch it. It was bitey!! We were confident it wasn’t poisonous.
Afterwards, we all went back to Cheryl’s house. She lives 5 minutes from the hotel. Cheryl’s house was amazing! She had a better view than the hotel too! We hung out at her place until after dark! More folks filtered in after they were done at the hotel. Cheryl had champagne and wine with more snacks. Her neighbors from 2 houses down, stopped by. They were a very nice couple, also from Atlanta Georgia, like Cheryl. Funny thing, she had to come to Mexico to meet them! John and Mia are both flight attendants for Delta. They were funny and smart. We enjoyed their stories for hours! I have a new respect for their jobs now too. (They told me a super crazy story….if you want to hear it, ask me at tellrhondyourstory@gmail.com.
We spent some time with two Sharons….well one Sharon and another Sheron! We had breakfast with Sharon at Sentito’s. She had read some of my stories and wanted to ask about places we would recommend on the beach to stay for many months. We had a good visit but I’m not sure we helped much. She is looking to rent a house and we do the camping thing. A little different. She took some notes on good beaches. The other Sheron is from the Little Lakeside Theater. I was hoping to do some volunteer work there. She was the production manager until this year but now she is in charge of set design. It looks super interesting and I hope we can find a job to do. We had a late lunch with her and her son, Loic. The restaurant on the Carretera was called Zarandeado pero Feliz. It was started by the chef from Tango. Their specialty was shrimp so we all ordered the same. Afterwards, we went back to see Sheron’s house in the Villa Nova community.
Sheron is super interesting. She was a ballerina with the Royal Ballet in England for many years. See the two photos two the right, photos #1 with the dark hair is the Lilac Fairy from Sleeping Beauty and picture #2. with the blonde hair, is Helena from Midsummer NIght’s Dream. Sheron is in her 70’s and living her best life here in Ajijic helping with the community theater. Her son Loic is visiting as his job in Vancouver is on hiatus because of the pandemic. He still is doing some of his video work here and has made a video for Black String, the band with Victor the violin player. Cool! We enjoyed the time we spent with them. On the way back home, we stopped by el Camaleon to hear Black String play again.
Friday was an exciting evening. It was just Larry and I, but I remembered to watch my friend Sarah play in the Women’s football national championship game streamed on a sports network! What an exciting game on the Hall of Fame field in Canton Ohio! I’m not a huge football fan but we are both big Sarah fans! She’s amazing and has been committed to women’s tackle football since I met her about 15 years ago at Sonoma State University. She has dedicated her free time to getting to this place in her life and we love to support her whenever we can. Two years ago, Larry and I drove to Colorado to see her team play in the Nation’s and Win!! We were there and it was spectacular. We were happy to be able to be a part of this day remotely from Ajijic, Mexico. They missed a year of play because of Covid but came back with vengeance to retain their title of National Champs! WE love you Sarah and the Nevada Storm!
We got in one bike ride to Chapala. This time we drove all over the Malecon and through Christina Park. We ended up at the old train station. It’s a museum but it was closed. Sad face! We drove down some random street until we finally found our way back to the bike trail. We were out for about 2 hours. Not too bad. On Sunday, I did a 1 kilometer walk into the San Antonio Plaza to buy some fruits and veggies from a street vendor. All in all, a pretty good week all around!