Our life in Ajijic

March 2, 2020

I managed to make breakfast quicker as I am getting used to the kitchen. After getting our day organized, we headed down the hill to the tour agency to book a tour on Thursday to some pyramids nearby and buy our bus tickets to SMA next Tuesday. I have been unable to find a cleansing cream here but we popped into two pharmacies with no luck. All the creams had ‘aclara’, an ingredient for lightening one’s skins. Not for this old hippie.

We continued back to Centro and found the ‘healthy food’ store. I got some dried black beans, brown rice, granola, and ginger cookies.  We went back out of the store and referred to our map to get to the plaza (newbies still). A man walked up to us and offered to help. He said he was on his way to the plaza and to follow him and his wife there. Maurice and Kim are from San Francisco and he is a realtor and he never stopped talking on the way to the plaza. 

We sat on a bench in the shade and did some people watching and read reviews of restaurants. After reading some reviews we headed to Gossips, a place Brad, our host, had recommended. We walked by the place and didn’t see the sign so kept walking. We asked a street sweeper if he knew where it was and he pointed in the direction we were headed.  When we realized we were past the street number, we asked a gringo and she said ‘follow me, I’m on my way there now.’

Our experience has been ex-pat communities are extremely friendly and helpful. There is no such thing as a stranger. We sat outside, but unfortunately, our table was right on the road /highway that goes through downtown. Currently, the road is under construction to build a bike lane. We sat next to a Canadian couple who couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful Ajijic is. They should work for the Chamber of Commerce because of their enthusiasm.

After a light lunch, I decided to go back to the grains store which was right next door and get some nuts for the granola. I got pecans, almonds, and cranberries; making good granola, great granola. Back up the hill in the heat of the day to Brad’s house. A cool breeze was blowing, something that is really nice. Ron took a siesta on the lounge chair on the patio. I think we both are pretty tired from moving, traveling in Thailand and coming home to a bit of construction chaos.  I am delighted to see Ron relaxed enough to take a siesta.

I decided to make a black bean soup so I made a shopping list. After Ron woke up, we talked about what to do for dinner. The truth is we didn’t have much on hand to make a meal. The next step was to find out which restaurants were open on Monday…NOT many. Alex’s Pasta Bar was open on Monday from 4:00-8:00. Around 5:00 we headed down the hill and had a great meal of fresh pasta. Ron had a Cesar salad and fusilli with Amatriciana with pork cheeks and I had linguini with pesto made with almonds. Neither of us could finish our pasta. My motto is ‘today’s leftovers are tomorrow’s meal’

After dinner, we walked around the neighborhood. We love looking at homes and we really want to think about how it would be to live here. The neighborhood was high end with gorgeous homes on large plots. I went to the grocery store to get soup ingredients. I got most of what I needed. Back up the hill. It is much easier to climb in the cool of the day, but it is always a bit difficult due to the terrain-cobblestone and narrow sidewalks that are not even or solid ... and the altitude. We ended our evening streaming The Crown.

March 3

We had our granola, fruit and coffee breakfast this morning on the patio and watched birds flying to and from the palm trees. 

After that, I did some hand washing and one load of machine washing before going with Marianne to the ‘gringo’ farmers’ market. She generously drove us there. Since we were early, we explored a local cemetery that was nearby, all festooned for the recently past day of the dead celebration.

This market is out of town a short distance and in a facility perfect for multi-vendors. I only saw gringos shopping there which is why I called it a gringo market. It also catered to gringos with prepared salads such as chickpea, quinoa and lentil salads, delicious pastries and such. Afterward, we walked a short distance to a French bakery and met two women Marianne knew who are from Seattle. We sat outside and enjoyed coffee and lovely cinnamon rolls made with croissant dough. Does it get any better than that?

We returned home and hung out the clothes in a sheltered place (a walled area that isn’t visible from the drive that goes through the community). The electricity was off when we arrived. Yesterday we didn’t have the internet for several hours. This is a developing country and these things happen. I don’t know how frequently it happens here. I hope to make soup after lunch.

Our clothes were dry in less than an hour. The jeans’ waistband was slightly damp but otherwise, our clothes were dry. YAY! We won’t have the luxury of a washer and clothesline in SMA.

It’s almost 3:00 and still no electricity. I worry about the contents of the refrigerator here. I hope the electricity comes on sooner than later. I can cook without electricity because the stove is gas and Brad, fortunately, has a lighter that can be used to light the burners when the power is out.

We went to the grocery store around 3:20 to get some ingredients for a black bean soup but decided to explore more of Ajijic before coming home. We walked to the Malecon, a beautiful promenade along the lakeshore. It is a lovely development. We walked almost to the end. We wandered into the Bazaar Barbara and loved it. It is a huge warehouse of estate sale items. They have been here since 1985. It made me want to move in somewhere and find fun items there to decorate with. We didn’t get home until 5:00 and I was ready to cook until I read the recipe and discovered it took two hours. We decided to go out to eat and had two appetizers and a shared salad at Go Bistro. We picked it out from the list of restaurants Brad had given us without realizing we had already eaten there Saturday night (We were jet-lagged that first night after the red-eye flight). We are starting to acclimate here because we find walking up this steep hill easier each day. For the past two days, we made the trip twice.

We have been sleeping really well. Ron’s arm pain has abated for the last two nights. I have a feeling the pain was greatly exacerbated by his building shelves and carrying 60 boxes to the garage in the ‘couve. Let’s hope this continues. We had a good talk with Marianne about Ajijic and SMA. We continue to weigh our options about where we will find our next home. Ajijic is a lovely place.