Well, I'm in Mexico!

Lake Chapala

¡Hola amigos!

I've been in Mexico since Monday, and I've had nothing but a wonderful time.  I've been staying with family (Dorothy and Ed) who are retired in Ajijic, a village on Lake Chapala.  The lake is 30 minutes to an hour from Guadalajara, and just beautiful as you can see from that picture.  We've dined at restaurants, visited the cemetery, wandered around the shops in the village, lounged by the pool, and had quite a lovely time.

For anyone who was wondering, no it's not dangerous.  No more than any other place in the states!  The people that I've met so far are all very nice!

On Tuesday one of the first things we did was drive to the old part of the village.  We stopped at the cemetery on the way there, and it's beautiful!  What amazed me the most though was the way that the people honor their dead.  All of the graves have some sort of elaborate decoration or building on them.  Some just had flowers, others had buildings built over them, others with statues.  Dorothy told me that family and friends of the deceased will come and visit the graves and basically party there!  They'll eat and drink, hang out all day, or whatever.  They celebrate and remember their loved ones instead of being afraid of it all.  I'm not doing it justice, but it was very cool to see. 

The peacocks and chickens like tortilla chips, and
Dorothy was happy to oblige them!

Wandering through the shops was fun too, and I have a beautiful new pair of earrings to show for it!  The interesting thing about this part of my day, was discovering what was hiding beyond the doors on the street.  We would go into these shops, and would find a huge amount of space back there that you never would have thought existed!  Some were just merchandise, but others were gardens, like the restaurant we went to.  They even had chickens and peacocks there.

Other pros:  STORMS!  I love watching thunder and lightning!  We're having a wicked one tonight, but the rain is needed!!
The food is delicious (what I've eaten of it so far anyway).  And it's lovely to take a swim in the pool when it's 86 degrees (which feels hot to me still).

Cons:  Cockroaches.  I know we have spiders and mice and things at home, but I just don't think I could much get used to the cockroaches.  They usually come out at night, and I need to watch my step if I'm outside...
And it is a little warm for my taste, though I will get used to it soon.  It's pretty close to the hottest time of the year though.  It usually only gets to 90 degrees or so (up by the lake at least).

Tomorrow I leave here and head back to Guadalajara to meet my host family.  I'll be going from a house of English speakers in a village, to a house of completely Spanish speakers in a city of 4 million!  But I'm excited to see what it's like, even if I'm a little scared.  The experience is what I came for, and I'm sure that's what I'll get!