Irving Wallace said: “We live in a world full of beauty, charm and adventure.  There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

“Life is a fatal adventure.  It can only have one end.  So why not make it as far reaching and free as possible?”  Thornton Wilder

How lucky we are to have known a place that is so hard to say goodbye to.

We are off on another adventure…a pursuit of life…if you will.  I have often felt we are here on Earth to do good for others.  What the others are here for, surprise, surprise…is the very same thing.  Have David and I fulfilled that thought?  Have we done well for others?  Goodness only knows.  However, we have met so many people who are doing well for others here in this sleepy little former fishing village.  The art community is robust and active.  By far, the Mexican people are the treasure of this land.

When we first told some friends of ours, Charlie and Linda, we were moving here Charlie, who is of Mexican heritage, said you will meet many people in Mexico.  Most of the people are good and caring people.  You will also meet people who are not and you need to bear that in mind.  Charlie’s good counsel stayed with us as we journeyed to this place with weather that can’t be beat anywhere else in the world except, I’ve heard,Kenya.  Charlie was right…we have met gracious and fun loving people here who far out number those that are not.

We have made so many friends in our little corner of the world and have learned something from all of them.

Heck, let’s face it…quite honestly I long for immortality and yet often find myself wondering what to do on a rainy afternoon.  Here, in this place, I’ve learned to relax and simply enjoy..as the life is quite simple and yet so full of warmth and love.

There is no foolproof system of living life…I know this because people seem never to account for the ingenuity of a fool such as myself.  David and I have decided to travel yet again because we do so hate to have our lives disrupted by routine.

Our Mexican neighbors have taught us so much.  Their love of family, their faith and their ability to throw themselves into a celebration…any celebration…with good humor, great music and impromptu parades and I sincerely hope that very attitude will remain with us forever.  I am not sure how many people we’ll be able to convince a parade is in order, but we will certainly give it a Mexican try!!

Yes, there have been problems here, of late, and we sincerely believe they will be dealt with in time as the Mexican government and its military are working hard to curtail the problems.   However, David and my choice to set out on another adventure began as 2012 dawned and the road beckoned.

We live in the village.  We live three blocks from the Ajijic Plaza the center of life here and in any Mexican community…the plaza and the church.  We have spent our days walking hither and yon though, perhaps, not tripping over the cobblestones fantastic…tripping yes….falling too!  We’ve simply enjoyed life here immensely and are so very thankful to these gracious and wonderful Mexican people. Some people come into our lives and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never ever the same.  These people have done just that.

Today I am posting photographs of our house.  We have spent three years here and have loved every minute of it.

The house has approximately 2,000 square feet of space most of which is on one level with a studio located on the mirador (read roof with balcony) that boasts windows that look out over the village, the lake and the mountains behind us.

They grounds, over ¾ of an acre, are lush and green with touches of every color imaginable in the spring and summer months…even more so after the rainy season.  Banana tress, lime trees, orange trees, mangos, peaches and every hot pepper imaginable dot the yard. Flowers beautiful colors are present throughout the year bobbing their head in the gentle winds off Lake Chapala.  A pool to refresh us in the heat of summer and to sit beside throughout the year.

The house itself has a veranda that forms an “L” with doors opening from the grand room, the master bedroom and the guest room with bath or, as David uses it, another studio.  The large kitchen has a huge window in it that brings sunshine but is situated in such a way that it stays cool on the warmest of days.

The home is not new having been built in the 1950’s.  If one is interested in many amenities, this would probably not be the place as there is no dishwasher, microwave or automatically filtered water.  We have water delivered as often as we want it as the water people drive through the streets every day.

There is a large gate with a pad for parking two cars and the place is fully surrounded by the brick walls of other houses and gardens.

Our landlord’s, the Perez family, are well known in the area and the most gracious and friendly of people.  The rent for this house is $850 a month US and includes someone who takes care of the pool and a gardener.

If you are interested in renting our “home”, please let us know and we will put you in touch with the landlord.  If you are in Ajijic now and wish to visit it…just sent me an email at leslielynnelawrence@yahoo.co.uk and David and I will be happy to give you a tour.  If you are moving down here and are interested, just email me as well.  We will be leaving here on or around September 4^th.

We will continue to write our blog until early September telling you of our new adventures in moving.  A new blog about our move to South Carolina will take the place of this blog once we have moved.  We will post the URL of the new blog for all to read and if you wish to continue to receive blog notices…just let us know at the email address above.

Gilda Radner wrote: “I wanted a perfect ending.  Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.  Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what is going to happen next.”

Enjoy the photographs of this lovely place.

Hidalgo Street and the Entrance to our Home

Parking Pad and Steps to Yard

 

Pool

 

 

 

House and Mountains

 

 

View from Master Bedroom

 

View from Grand Room

 

 

View Looking Toward Master Bedroom

 

 

View Looking Toward Guest Room/Studio

 

 

Living Room Area

 

 

Another View of Living Room Area

 

 

Living Room Area and Back Door

 

 

Dining Area

 

Dining Area, Kitchen Entrance

 

 

Breakfast Area in Grand Room

 

 

Kitchen Entrance

 

 

Kitchen

 

Kitchen

 

 

Kitchen Window

 

 

 

Bath

 

Master Bedroom

 

Master Bedroom

 

 

 

Master Bedroom

 

Guest Room/Studio

 

Studio on Mirador

 

Studio on Mirador

I have it on good authority…it goes to your hips….that being said….

“All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.”  Casey Stengel

“A signature reveals a man’s character…and sometimes even his name.”  Evan Esar

Why is it that Casey Stengel’s quote makes perfect sense to me…because I hear what I want to hear and lining up by height is less challenging then remembering names particularly when first or last name isn’t specified?  Also, lining up in our village means for probably the first time in my life I’m actually considered tall…at 5’4”!  Needless to say, but say it I will, David is considered a giant and children, in particular, absolutely love him.

People line up for things in our tiny village and I, if I’m walking somewhere and come upon a line feel compelled to join them…heck, I used to do that back home in the States, as well.  Lots of crazy adventures ensued.  Here, however, is the problem….at home I spoke the language…here is an entirely different story, as you all know, my command of Spanish is sketchy at best.

Consequently unable to ask what it is they are in line for, I simply remain happily standing in place until the line moves and…if there is a front….I finally arrive at it.  Of course, by the time I reach the front and find out what I’ve been in line for I often find I’m still confused…again, welcome to my world.

A large container of cactus with a side of silky white flowers is confusing to me.  A basket filled with oddly shaped fruit…prickers all over the fruit in various colors (they look to me like the Sci Fy movie with the pod people)…you guessed it…is confusing to me.  And the list goes on.

Usually I smile brightly while making circle motions on the side of my heard (the universal language for nutso) sputtering “Lo siento mucho, loco Americano no sabe lo que esta hacienda.”  (Translated…I’m so sorry, crazy American doesn’t know what she’s doing.)  The response I usually get, as most all Mexicans in this village and anywhere in Mexico are most gracious…is a bright smile and an “adios”.

That brings me to the whole “signature” thing.  David and I absolutely love being able to walk to the various stores we want to visit.  His comment just recently went something like…I can’t believe I’m looking for new glasses and we can walk to the three establishments in town, from our home, which offer not only the latest in fashion (or what we assume is the latest in fashion) and an eye exam as well.  He was positively delighted with this development.

However, though David’s Spanish is mucho better than mine, we do find ourselves in the position where, perhaps, writing out on a piece of paper might help the person we are talking to understand what we are looking for….NOT.  David is usually the person who grabs the pen and paper and begins writing while I stand back and smile…broadly…for two reasons…first it is a natural past time of mine…smiling that is…second I know what  will happen when the recipients of the written word that David is laboring over receive the note and see his….script…for lack of a more descriptive word.

Once the paper is handed over…you guessed it….they smile too!  They smile and look at me, smiling inanely, and look again at the piece of paper in front of them.  Writing isn’t so much the challenge…reading what’s been written is a whole other ballgame as David seems to write in his own font…or more likely hieroglyphics come to mind.  Imagine anthropomorphizing the printed characters to take on an essence of a comedic spirit…dancing across the page and bringing  joy to the beholder.  Well, quite honestly, his writing does bring  joy to the observer….however; frequently what he is trying to write/say gets lots in the humor of the whole episode.

Well, dear reader, we’ve found the solution…as any great photographer would do…David takes pictures of things….door handles…..stepping stools….the little floaty thing in the toilet…and hands them to those we approach…and all goes really well!  Frequently we even get what we are searching for!!

And…David has done it again…he has another picture in the Daily Dozen at National Geographic.  Go to http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/your , choose “Daily Dozen” at the top of the page…and scroll through the photographs to

National Geographic Pick

What David can do with a camera is amazing and it is wonderful to see his talent acknowledged in such a grand way.

Here are some more of David’s recent photographic excursion throughout our neighborhood.

The Many Masks of Mardi Gras