Checking out real estate, conversing with neighbors, and shooting the birds

March 7

We continue to explore neighborhoods in Ajijic. After a great breakfast at Chile Verde, we wandered west to look at neighborhoods on the west side of Ajijic. As we were walking, I smelled an aroma of baking bread and then we discovered a bakery on Ocampo that had fresh trays of cinnamon rolls. I had to have one of those. The baker invited us back for croissants at 1:00 but we didn’t get back there.

There was an open house on Flores Magon. It was a two bdrm/two bath house that was turn-key. Turn-key here means the house comes fully furnished down to dishes and linens. The owners are Spanish and have a new grandchild in Spain so want to sell the house and spend more time in Spain and only a couple of months a year in Ajijic. It is in a gated community of about six homes and all the residents but one is Mexican. It is very attractive and we liked the smaller scale community. There was a lot available right behind the house which made it attractive. The house had been upgraded with new furniture and fancy appliances, etc. $224,000 seems like such a steal compared to home. The neighborhood was pretty run down. The original owner of the land still resides in the original house. He is 94, a retired lawyer. He built three houses for his daughters on the property and only one daughter wanted to live there so he sold the other two to further develop the land. We love looking at property and imagining how we would live there or how we would change it. HA! Neither of us is ready to commit until we have lived in an area for six to 12 months. Oh, there is that matter of money…need to sell the condo first.

In the afternoon we borrowed Brad's car and drove to Chapala, a large neighboring town and didn’t get to the nicer neighborhoods. The waterfront was way busy with lots going on, but we weren’t drawn to it. Marianne said there was more crime there and she advised against it. They said they knew people who lived there and liked it. The more we look around here the more we are convinced we cannot make a decision without living in an area for at least six months.

Marianne and Peter invited us to join them for dinner at Viva Mexico in San Juan Cosala, a small community down the road. We both had a delicious dinner and a good time. They have really reached out to us. After dinner, we came back to the condo and visited before heading home and to bed.

March 8

After breakfast, we started on our laundry. After each load, we walked a short way to where we can hang our laundry on community clotheslines. All the community (28 homes) use this resource, although each home has a washer/dryer combo I am pretty sure. I love to line dry my washing. When we finished our third load of laundry and went to hang it on the line, there was a third person there starting to hang her laundry and we felt like we should not take any more lines.  So, we used drying racks from the closet and it worked. I see some ironing in my future. Marianne has graciously loaned me her iron and board.

We headed down the hill and ate a lovely lunch at La Vie En Rose where we ate last Sunday. This time we split a sandwich as the meal comes with a great fresh green salad. We also bought two croissants ‘to go’ as they are so yummy.

We decided to do more exploring and continued to walk further west near the Malacon (lakeside walkway). Unfortunately, we overdid it and thought we would never get back home. It had warmed up and the uphill climb was hot.

Sherill (Brad's hiking buddy) and Marianne arrived for a drop-in visit at the same time around 4:00. Ron took some bird pix from our patio while we talked.




After they left, we looked at real estate online and then around 5:00 Ann from next door came over for a visit we had planned. Ann has lived in Guadalajara and Ajijic for 60 years. She was a pure delight offering us advice and insights. She came from Detroit and she met her husband when he was attending medical school in the US. He was Mexican and wanted to return to Guadalajara when he completed his training. Ann was a nurse and her husband was the first person in Guadalajara to be trained as a neurosurgeon.  Ron found more birds to photograph:

A little after 6:00 we headed down the hill for a superb meal. Our meal included a lovely fresh green salad, Ron had tequila shrimp and veggies and I had duck breast with mole sauce. We ended the meal sharing a dessert of bananas flambe. OMG each bite of everything was perfect. And the bill was $25. HA! The chef/owner came to inquire how our meal was and chatted for a bit. He lived in Puyallup WA when he was 14-15.

After dinner I ironed while we watched the last episode of The Crown.