Saturday, February 21, 2009

Visitors, More Music, More Art in Ajijic





Our friend, Joan, arrived on Valentines Day, so here is a picture of her driver giving her a box of candy. She was thrilled because she couldn't remember the name of the town. The word, Ajijic is pretty easy to forget. We have tried to show her as much as we know and discover more with her.

We took a home tour (by this time Helen Z and Doug were here) and saw examples of houses in various areas that were for sale. I think we all agreed that only one would fit our needs but we weren't in the market really. We wanted to see different neighborhoods in order to get toknow the area better. We saw Rancho del Oro, The Racquet Club, an in town condo, and a really nice in town home. It was quite a day.

Joan discovered a wonderful b and b and relocated to it after the third night in her original place. She found Casamalcolm on the corner of Donato and 16 de Septembre. Malcolm is a great guy, very outgoing. The BnB has only 3 rooms and they are comfortable and well appointed. The price is reasonable and Joan says the breakfasts are excellent. This is located just up the street from the Hotel Nueva Pasodo where Helen Z is staying.

Helen decided to take a drawing class with me so she is working very hard. The class is taught by Karl Barnhart who insists he can teach anyone to draw. His method is to teach simple techniques whether it is by grid, tracing, or measuring. Then he teaches shading etc. All of this is done with graphite and eraser. Anyway, we are working hard and there are only 6 in the class so all get individual attention.

There was a Mariachi Concert at the Hotel Real in La Floresta which we attended. It was outstanding. A group of four or five violins, two trumpets, one or two guitars and a large bass guitar and each of the men had operatic voices. They were wonderful and really a bit of a surprise, we had no idea what we were getting into. One of the violinists did a solo that sounded like Paganini. Surprisingly beautiful, it way exceeded expectations.

Took a trip to Chapala yesterday with Joan. We had lunch in the Beer Garden Restaurant which has been there since - the beginning. We walked along the malecon and visited some vendors along the way. We saw lots of white pelicans and children swimming. The day was just perfect temperature wise. Almost all days here are perfect.

This is Joan's last day so we will take her to a nice restaurant which is close by our place - Roberto's then we have to get up tomorrow very early to escort her to the airport in Guadalajara.

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