Don’t look back, somebody might be gaining on you — Satchel Paige, American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime.

Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.
Steven Wright, American comedian, actor and writer.

It was Wednesday…again….consequently we decided to go to the market.  When we first arrived in Ajijic I made a resolution to be spontaneous…unfortunately it usually happens tomorrow.

All one has to do is go to the Wednesday market to see how driven the majority of us gringo’s seem to be.  Please do no think of this as a critique for I include myself as well….both gringo and driven.

It is difficult to forget old habits….especially if they’ve been part and parcel of your ENTIRE life.  Someone 20-something probably wouldn’t understand that.  However, most of us over middle age shouldn’t have a problem.  Take me for example, most of my life I’ve gotten up at between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. and hit the ground running.  It has come as a major shock finding myself in this little village of Mexican Nationals who certainly work hard but also believe in Siestas.  Many of the little stores that are open at 8:00 a.m. close between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. or 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. so that a leisurely lunch can be partaken of each day.  This is, in my estimation, a very healthy attitude toward life which seems pretty difficult for me to learn.

Getting back to the Wednesday market….extremely fast paced.  People are in a hurry.  Goodness knows to do what?  I get lost easily.  Heck, I am constantly losing thoughts because they are definitely in unfamiliar territory!  If you slow down to take a look at items in the marketplace it is easy to become separated from the person you’ve traveled to the marketplace with….like David.  Well, I guess David isn’t a good example as at 6’5” it pretty hard to lose him, but you get my drift.

Pulling over to the side will often put you “knee deep” in people anxious (for lack of a better word) to make a purchase….particularly near the fruits and vegetables, the fish market and most assuredly near the local software dealership (hee, hee).  Get in and get out seems to be the mantra.  A lot of the colorful beauty is lost in an effort to move at a pace more suited to a New York street at mid-day.

I did notice, yesterday, one thing seemed to slow everyone…who noticed it…down a bit.  There, in the middle of all this chaos, was a lovely little Mexican girl carrying a yellow mesh bag cradled in her arms and a huge smile on her little face.  As some of us looked closer we were delighted – almost as delighted as she appeared to be – to see a tiny little newborn kitten.  As this little girl traveled through the market next to her mom and younger brother, she turned many a head.  The smile is what got you first – the kitten was a bonus!

Please enjoy more of David’s great photographs which clearly show what a wonderful adventure the Wednesday market can be!  In closing I’d like to quote George Carlin who said “I think I am, therefore I am.  I think….” and add to that trying to gear down a bit!  Wish me luck.

Aren't the blues beautiful in the picture?

Working hard.

The food smells great and is authentic.

A mixed crowd.

Fruits and vegetables...a popular place.

The cactus is not for sale.

Preparing produce for sale.

More nautural color.

We saw this little girl as David and I walked home from the market. Isn't she lovely?! It is about a mile walk..up hill, down hill, on cobblestones and we truly enjoy every minute of it.

In Mexico we have a word for sushi: bait. Jose Simons, American humorist

Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I’m halfway through my fish burger and I realize: Oh my God…. I could be eating a slow learner. ~Lynda Montgomery, humorist

David and I have fallen in love with the Wednesday Farmer’s Market.  It is odd when we lived in Dallas we walked often through our neighborhood.  It had wonderful walking paths, a cute pocket park and lots of activity.  We were near Baylor Hospital and loved walking through Landry rehab park just behind the hospital.  Why do I say it was odd?  Well our neighborhood bordered some pretty rough areas of Dallas.  People often wondered how safe it was to walk there.  It was safe.  There were many people out walking and we met many “walking friends” – you know those people who nod, wave, say “how you doing” without need of response.  These were walks on which we did nothing more then walk.

Now that we are in Ajijic we have fallen in love with the idea that we do not have to take walks simply to walk – though we do that too.  I’m not kidding folks; we can walk to pick up almost anything we need without getting in the car, driving somewhere and parking. 

Hard to believe?  When we first came here I mentioned the small shops that dot every street in this village.  They are not the boutique shops you see in the big cities…believe me.  They are tiny little shops crammed full of fascinating, unique, mysterious and lovely items.  You don’t have to go far to find bakery, vegetables, fruit, meat if you need groceries.  We have also found many a papeleria’s – they are shops with paper, art supplies, crayons, ribbon, inks, everything the mind can imagine.  There are Internet shops and printing shops.  One of the best frame shops is “right up the block next to the casket makers shop” is what we’ve been told constantly.  And, low and behold, sure enough – right next to the casket makers shop is the frame shop that David and I use to get the matting done our his exquisite photographs.  We mentioned the farmacias (pharmacy) and ferreterias (hardware stores) in the past.

So, we were not sure what to expect at the Wednesday market.  We have been pleasantly surprised.  This market has the simply best fresh fruit – bananas to die for, oranges and tangerines fresher then we’ve either had in our lifetimes, apples, and some vegetables and fruits I’ve never seen or heard of before.

There’s, of course, the fresh fish booths, fresh flowers the colors brilliant and the fragrances hypnotic, clothes so colorful you often are caught staring at the designs.  Beautiful pottery – bowls, dishes, plates and statuary that takes our breath away.

You do see more gringos in the market then Nationals.  Because there are more gringos’s the travel through this narrow cobblestone street with booths on both sides can be a little more hectic then the markets set up in the plaza.  I admire the Nationals ability to walk slowly and look.  We have had to learn to slow down and enjoy the sights.  They tell me there are still a lot of “snowbirds” down here right now and the market will not be as packed once April and May hit. 

There are other items you can find that cannot be described in this blog but are a lot of fun to peruse and even more fun to buy.  

Picture us, not only walking for our health, but also walking to shop, go out to dinner, go for an ice cream (helado) or a margarita.  (Okay, my friends can stop laughing now – I’ve actually learned to live without Pick N Save!…a Wisconsin thing.)  All we have to learn now is to grasp the fact that we are now a part of a slower – but not quieter – society of passionate, parade loving, church going, party at-the-drop-of-a-hat people and we’d be even healthier.  Thank goodness they are patient with us, for this is a place where you actually can slow down and smell the roses….beautiful roses!

Viva Mexico.

Wednesday Market

Busy, huh?

Fresh fruites and vegetables.

Carry alls.

Candies and nuts.

Fresh fish.

Fresh flowers. A popular booth.

“Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, and of course, this being America, it will be followed by Even Fatter Wednesday, Obese Thursday and Fat-Ass Friday.” –Jay Leno

Festivities – the Twelfth Night Feast of the Epiphany, when the three kings are supposed to have visited the Christ Child, and build to a climax on Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, which always occurs on the day before Ash Wednesday. The parties and parades will continue until Lent begins at the stroke of midnight on Fat Tuesday.  Mardi Gras (“Gras” is French for fat and “Mardi” is French for Tuesday) begins 46 days prior to Easter.

Guess what dear reader….another parade took place in our village as, I am sure, it took place in all surrounding villages.  No surprise there.  What is interesting is everyone seems to stop what they are doing and join in the festivities – smiling, waving, and joking.  Water, soda, beer are offered to the participants by the spectators as they traverse the cobblestone streets.  Dogs bark in cadence with the music and roosters (yes, one of my favorite topics) cackle at the top of their lungs as though they were practicing for sunrise.  Quite honestly, I don’t think any of the rooster within our earshot have ANY idea when sunrise is!!

David managed to get out and take more pictures.  Since most of the major parades take place on the street where we live – we rarely miss them.  This parade was no exception.

Beside the bands there were numerous floats and it was a somewhat family oriented parade.  No one shouted the mantra of New Orleans (its not “Go Saints”) – though young, well-endowed women were a prominent fixture in the parade, they remained clothed.  Children ran beside the floats, up and down the street or simply jumping in place trying to get those in the parade to either pepper them with confetti or blast them with flour.  It is my understanding flowers or perfumed water can also be thrown, however flour seems the most popular item here.

As always excitement prevailed and the culmination of the parade, in the town square, was met with booths of food and drink accented by music and much merriment.

An observation about living in Mexico: It certainly helps to have tapped into your inner child.  The child of your youth.  The child who welcomed whimsy with open arms, great abandon and laughter that emanates from the diaphragm and bursts to life as music to the ears of those around you.

Viva Mexico!

Lovely Lady One

Lovely Lady Two - Don’t you just love her chapeau?!

Lovely Lady Three

Lovely Lady Four

Conjures up.....Mystic, Eerie, a bit Bizarre

Not sure what this has to do with anything!

A gaucho and his trusty steed.

Yet Another Lovely Lady

Notice her selection of eye shadow. She also had lovely crimson painted hoofs

“I once saw a photograph of a large herd of wild elephants in Central Africa seeing an airplane for the first time, and all in a state of wild collective terror….As, however, there were no journalists among them, the terror died down when the airplane was out of sight.” – Bertram Russell, Welsh philosopher, mathematician, historian who led the revolt against idealism in the early 1900’s.  He is also considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy.

While sitting out on the square last Saturday David and I were approached by a young man, tablet in hand, bag swung cockily over his shoulder and an “intrepid” expression on his face.  My first thought, he looks remarkably like Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent – or would that be visa versa?!

It isn’t fair to call him paparazzi, as he seemed to have the credentials of an actual reporter from a Guadalajara newspaper.  Either way it was fun talking with him.  In a most eager and candid way, he asked us if we spoke Spanish or English.  I’m not sure why he seemed both eager and candid about whether we spoke Spanish or English, as he had a command of both languages – however such was the case.  After finding out David spoke both, he proceeded, in English, to ask us what we knew about the big robbery that had taken place in Ajijic.

Well, I’ve got to tell you folks; we are the last people to ask about anything that might be going on in Ajijic.  Its not that we aren’t interested, as we are.  Its not that we don’t try to pay attention to customs, activities, events, etc, because we do.  AND, its not that we ever seem to be on top of any of the aforementioned items, as we aren’t.

Big robbery you say?  Here, you say?  By here, exactly where do you mean?  On the square? Up Colon (one of the major streets in the village)?  Near Hidalgo (of personal interest as we live on that street….in Ajijic…not to be confused with a street by the very same name in Chapala, Guadalajara, Jocotepec and probably ever town in Mexico)?

His answer, “I’m not sure where” was delivered with all sincerity.  They sent me out here to find out about it and, so far, no one seems to know anything about any robbery.  He soon realized we were going to be of absolutely no help either and headed down the street only to walk past our table several times as he diligently tried to ferret out any information he could find about the local heist.

That was the last we saw of him and the last we heard about the heist.  He did not have a photographer with him but we both felt confident, had we actually known anything at all, David could have jumped to the quick and offered to take a picture of both of us……on the spot.  David has really long arms and he did that once….took a picture of both of us that turned out surprisingly well.

Another little adventure one wouldn’t actually anticipate in the small Village of Ajijic.

David has taken photographs of many, many celebrities and politicos over the course of his life.  Below are a few you might know….or not. 

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.
Ansel Adams – American photographer and environmentalist.

“A contemporary American artist’s art is assuring himself and others his art is art.”  David Lawrence – American photographer and artist.

Where have we been for the past week?  It is sometimes astonishing to wake up one morning realizing you have spent your life wanting to be somebody.  Followed by the recognition, to your shock and horror, you should have been more specific.

“Somebody” is such an ambiguous word and certainly not something one should wish for without a follow through – like…somebody in the medical world or somebody in the art world, etc.

David is, in my mind and many others, an artist.  What he does, what he captures with his camera is beyond what a simple shutterbug is after.  Shutter bugging is fine and lends itself to many hours of happy memories as one re-visits family trips, children’s accomplishments, or simply capturing a special moment.  My pictures don’t but, then again, I usually cut off people’s heads or only get odd parts of them to show up in my photos!

What David has tried to do while living in Ajijic Mexico is, among other things, to use his ability to capture the physical Mexico along with its culture, its people, its lifestyle.  The humor of every day life here is finite.  Getting to know it has been our honor and privilege.

So, you say, what is our point?  Where are you going with this?  We decided, since so many people reading our blog mentioned how much they loved his photography, to put a portfolio together and bring it to the town square the past two Saturday mornings. (I’ve attached some of our collection to this blog piece below).

As you can imagine, it was difficult to make a choice between all of the photographs he’s taken.  We wanted to depict the beauty of daily life here and the exuberant and often humorous way it is embraced by the people of Mexico.  Not an easy task.

We’ve come up with a saying when either someone tells us they will take care of something or we decide we want to do something – but know in our hearts it may never get done.  The saying goes – we’ll do it at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.  Telecable – our television provider – would tell us each time we called or stopped in with a problem, we’ll stop by at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.  We spent several “tomorrows” waiting for the Telecable people who never showed up.  We’d stop back into their offices and were usually met with the same admonishments….we are so sorry, we will truly be there at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.  Never happened.  Truly.  They simply never showed up however they did give us an expression we can both laugh at when something doesn’t get done.

David joined the Ajijic Society of the Arts in January.  This has given him hours of enjoyment shaking up the system a bit.  Ninety-five percent of the people who belong to this group are women of a certain age.  The freedom they are experiencing now allows them to “work” their art, perfect it if you will, and a venue in which to share that “art” within the wonderful world of Ajijic.

David, as David can do, has kicked up some dust and thrown a wrench into some of the conventional thinking of members of this arts group.  Let’s just say the forum for conversation is hopping with the pros and cons of some of the ideas and thoughts he’s shared with them over the past week.  These thoughts are all culminating in an art show, for works of art that have NEVER been seen before, at the arts center in Ajijic.  I happen to agree with his thoughts and ideas and have encouraged him to continue sharing through this forum.  Some of the people have not agreed, others have, and the forum has actually, go figure, become a place were differing thoughts can be shared and expanded upon.  Prior to this time posts usually consisted of “where can I find the case I need to place my art in for the next show?” or the like.

Any who, while on the square these past two weeks we’ve had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what others are drawn to in his art and to hear comments.  We’ve met several people – locals, those from other countries and other exhibitors as well.  This past Saturday there was a parade.  (Me thinks parades are pulled together at a moments notice when a rag tag group of great musicians decides “let’s march” and are then followed by men on horseback picking up steam as they traverse the cobblestone streets to everyone’s delight!)  As always, there were kids running ahead of the parade and some filtered into the town square where we were set up.  Suddenly our table was surrounded by 10 to 15 kids pointing at David’s Aristocratic Couple (see below) and excitedly remarking – that’s so-and-so (sorry I didn’t catch his name) all the while hollering for him to come over and see.  He did.  David handed him the picture and they left in smiles.  What a wonderful experience!

Now that we have an inventory we will be setting up an online store in the near future where people, if they are so inclined, may pick up a print or a matted print.  For now, I’ve included some of our selections for your enjoyment below.  I’ll be putting the rest out “tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.”!

In all candor, I’m still hoping to become somebody some day and working on more specificity while David has always been a true artist in the finest sense of the word.

Young Arsitocrats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beauty of a Door

Girl With Flowers - Quadalajara

Display Table

Enjoying the Art

A View of the Street

Yet Another View of the Street

Setting Up Across from Us

Parade Beginnings

Parade Continuing

Oh Heck, I'll Join the Parade!

“There will be a rain dance Friday night, weather permitting.”  George Carlin – American stand-up comedian, actor and author.

On the first day – What is that I hear?  Could it be thunder rolling across the sky and rain falling on our clay tile roofs?  We won’t have to water our gardens today.  Looks like a great time to curl up with a book or work with the photographs we’ve taken or simply sit on the porch and enjoy the quiet time.  We can still go out.  We’ll simply add an umbrella to our layers of clothing.

On the second day – My gosh it’s still raining.  We are beginning to see small rivers building on the streets.  We are on a hill consequently all water journeys to Lake Chapala.  While there is some concern about pollution – commercial and residential run off and the fact that there are veritable islands of sea weed chocking the lake, it is still interesting to watch the water heading back to one of the largest lakes in Mexico.

The weather gives us an opportunity to watch the lake from our mirador – gray against the stormy, cloud filled sky.  Palms blowing in the breeze and all of nature fed by this gift from the rain gods.

On the third day – Look at that there are actual streams developing as rain water runs off everything it touches.  The saturation level has been met.  You begin to wonder if you step in one of the streams will you too be deposited into beautiful Lake Chapala.

On the fourth day – you begin repeating the cobblestone idiom again – if I want to look I can’t walk.  Because of the wetness we must take into account the “slippy slide” effect.  Cobblestones are a challenge under dry conditions – when wet they are tantamount to cruising for a bruising…as you slid butt-first to town central.  Not a particularly graceful way to make an entrance into one of the lovely café’s that dot the square.

On the fifth day – we decide we need to go out regardless of how wet it is.  To our amazement there are actual waterfalls gushing from various places that, though fascinatingly interesting, weren’t there before – if memory serves correct.  Forging ahead, people, though wet and soggy, go about their lives with determination and fortitude.  The phase “what’s with all the rain” is often heard spewing from the mouths of visitors as well as locals.  Industrious sales people not only have rugs, purses, toys, etc strapped to their backs they have added the obligatory “bumpershoots” (my Welsh background surfacing) and windshield wipers to the list of sale items.

One fellow, with windshield wipers in hand, grabbed our wipers – once we stopped the car thank goodness – and held us hostage for the better part of five minutes trying to complete a sale.

Have we angered the rain gods in some way?  Isn’t the rainy season, according to my research, supposed to take place between May and October?  Are the gods not aware there are snow birds down here that have left cold and gloomy climes to feel the hot sun?

For heaven sakes, it now looks like we have an infinity pool in our backyard.  If either of us decided to take a swim it could be dangerous for our neighbors.  Jumping into the pool would most certainly cause a title wave of gushing water. Said neighbors would have to exit their houses and traverse their property via canoe as walking would not be an option.

The sun has risen today.  The ark we started for lack of better things to do will lay dormant, we hope, until May!

Not even an inch to spare.

No wiggle room.

Our new roses are enjoying the rain.