It was a good choice to take the Lake Chapala tour. As bad as the previous tour experience was, today was great. The tour company made up for the previous experience by giving me this tour at no charge.
It began by being picked up at the hostel by the same person who had picked me up the other day. Of course she was not going to be the tour guide, but she was as pleasant today as she had been on Wednesday. I really enjoyed her good spirits and her humor--though some was lost on this gringo whose Spanish could stand a lot of improvement.
We headed for the rendezvous with the big buses. Sure enough we had a full bus to head to Lake Chapala. I was seated across from a US couple who live in Monterrey. He travel all over Latin America, managing the administration for hospitals. Their Spanish was absolutely fluent. The guide on the bus was a nice woman who was quite bilingual. I usually understood most of her Spanish, but she could readily give me any lacking information in English when I missed.
Along the way we stopped at the enormous ranch of Vincente Fernandez. Lots of photos of horses and people. I focused on the gate guards and their interesting expressions. Then a brief stop at a store on the ranch which sold gaucho clothing, boots, buckles, jackets.
Arriving in Lake Chapala, the guide explained that the lake had been showing signs of serious diminution due to the increase in population around it and the use of the water for industry. It also became quite polluted. However, the lowered water level was so obvious that it focused public attention and the area began to take the problem seriously. While it still has not returned to the same size as it was earlier, the pollution has been abated and it has become usable even for swimming and fishing again. It is a real ecological success--well on the way, at least.
We had about an hour to just enjoy the shore and the air. Really quite pleasant a place. A few folk took a short boat ride out into the lake with a tour guide explaining the sights.
After a while, I found a nice restaurant for a cup of coffee on the veranda with a great lake breeze.
We climbed back aboard the bus and headed for Ajijic, a few kilometers west of the town of Chapala and along the lake. Ajijic (pron. Aheehik) comes from the Nahuatl language of pre-Spanish times. Ajijic is a major retirement area for US and Canadians. Of the more or less 13,000 population, over 5,000 are these retirees. Many of the Mexicans owe their livelihood to this group as the economy was quite deteriorated before, people leaving in droves for Guadalajara.
We had a late lunch in Ajijic at a very nice restaurant right on the shore under palm trees and palapas, the delicious breeze gently caressing us. I must admit that the Huachinango Veracruzana that I ate was probably the best I have ever enjoyed. OK. Huachinango is red snapper. A true red snapper has a head almost as long as its body. Veracruz sauce includes all manner of spices with tomatoes as a base, onions and olives, all baked deliciously.
I came to enjoy it many years ago when I ate it in a restaurant in Mazatlan. But it is difficult to find unless you are lucky. It will rarely be on the menu at "Mexican" restaurants in the US. I walked into a small restaurant in San Rafael, not long after we moved there. The woman who ran it was in her early 80s. I saw a note in the menu, to ask for anything special. When I asked if she could make Huachinango Veracruzana, her face lit up and she easily agreed. I had to settle for another fish as she didn't have the red snapper, but the Veracruz cooking sauce was marvelous. That established our relationship. She said to let her know the day before I was coming and she would buy the snapper just for me.
We headed back to GDL at around 4pm, a bit later than the schedule, but that was fine with me. I had nothing else planned and knew that I would not be looking for dinner anyway.
So writing this blog is my final action for the day.
Tomorrow is at present quite unplanned, but I may head out to one of the major neighborhoods that I've been told are pleasant places to visit. Then tomorrow night will be the beginning of the Independence Day celebration. I do want to buy a Mexican flag pin for my shirt.
Good night all, and thanks for reading my blog.
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