A MONTH - ALMOST - IN AJIJIC

This is a photo of part of our garden.

We are sitting in the garden on another beautiful day. Birds are seranading us with songs. Afternoons, when it gets the warmest, the garden is the place to be- reading and talking.

This morning Pete went to the gym and worked out. Then we went to breakfast at a lovely little hotel with a garden room in the middle. The food was great and we met the owner who is from Pennsylvania and very charming.

I stopped by a salon and got a hair cut. Badly needed. The square was filled today with many older gentlemen sitting on benches. They all looked as if they were having a relaxed day. Everyone, Mexican and Gringos, are very friendly. Everyone has been negatively effected by the bad stories about the violence in Mexico. Of course, it is not here, there is no reason for the narcos to come to this "retired community". We feel we are perfectly safe here.

MORELIA AND THE MARIPOSAS

After spending a lot of time on the internet, we decided to take a tour to see the Monarch Butterflies. The trip to Morelia is some distance and so it turned out that we stayed two nights in Morelia. The tour included a walking tour of historic Morelia with a wonderful informative guide. Morelia is so beautiful. There are over 1000 buildings which are on the Unesco Heritage list and the ones we saw on our walking tour were well kept up baroque buildings with a great history. There are many squares and wide boulevards. The city is a planned city because they wanted it to be the capital of Michoacan State. 62 spanish noble familites were directed by the queen of Spain to come and settle the city. Of course, they were given lots of land and indian servants (slaves) as incentive. Anyway, it is about 6500 feet in altitude and the air is beautiful and clean. The people are beautiful too. There is a large university so there are many young people. There are the standard beautiful, ornate, golden cathedrals and churches.

Our trip to find the where the butterflies come to overwinter, mate, lay their eggs and to die, was all up hill. Up hill in the van (14 of us) up hill after we got to the parking lot and more up hill to 11,000 feet elevation, where the butterflies COVERED the trees. The sun came out for a while and the butterflies warmed up and started flying around. An amazing sight. We were lucky to see it because the clouds came back and it cooled down and the butterflies settled down on the branches of the huge fir trees again. You have probably seen all of this on the Discovery Channel but in person it is magnificent.

Now, I have to confess that the altitude did bother me as it always does. Maybe it is those many years of smoking or maybe it is the fact that I was born and have lived at sea level. (It could not have anything to do with my advanced age.) So, I took a horse up the mountain and Pete walked. Going straight up hill on a horse which was led by a Tarascan Indian young man was also a work out. Then I was going to walk down but on the way down I slipped on soft sand which was like ice. Didn't hurt myself but I was very dizzy for a few minutes and all of the tour guides thought that the horse was a better way for me to go down. So on the horse I got again. Well, going straight down the mountain on the horse was a workout. I made it but those horse riding muscles are a bit sore today if I sit very long.

We stayed two nights in Morelia and came home last evening (Sun. Feb 10). Our friends here has expected that we would be very hungry and had dinner for us.

Now I will get a lovely photo from Pete and talk to you again soon.

BACK IN AJIJIC

Here we are again in Paradise. We arrived Februay 1st and met the owners of the house we have rented. They showed us around and were very friendly and helpful. This house is hacienda style, an open concept, with a garden in the middle. Of course, from the street it looks like nothing. The decor is very tasteful, the kitchen is terrific (as if we really cared, but we are doing some cooking). There are lots of flowers and plants and even a fountain in the middle of the garden.

We have friends staying with us now and we are happy that they seem to be enjoying the town and the atmosphere as much as we do. We try not to eat out every day but we are sampling some of the excellent restaurants that are here.

We have visited the tianguis (outdoor market). It is here every Wednesday and in Chapala on Fridays. They have almost everything that you might need and a lot of stuff you just have to exclaim about. All the fruits and vegetables you could want.

We have been deprived of seeing parades so far and look forward to next Sunday. We have signed up for a tour of the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary near Morelos for next week. The week after I have 4 days of painting with Efren Gonzales. I am really looking forward to that. Others of our friends are going on day tours to Guadalajara and around the lake. Enough for now, I'll keep you updated on our adventures in beautiful Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico.