Better Now: To Shop or Soak, that is the question...

10/25

CM—I can’t believe we are more than half way through our visit to Mexico. This is such a beautiful colorful country. You can’t go for a walk without being immersed in color—red, gold, orange, yellow, rose, purple, lavender, blue and greens. It is in the flowers but also in the walls of the houses and stores, the weaving of table cloths, runners, napkins, the weaving of rugs, beaded jewelry and artifacts, everywhere you look—color!

Karen and I spent yesterday shopping in Ajijic. We went into galleries of local artists, shops where women designed and made clothing, a shop where men and women wove table cloths, runners, placemats, and napkins. We discovered a gallery opening for this weekend of a painter and photographer, (the “boys” will love it—wine and food). I found a few items that I think Brooks and Giana will enjoy, each shop held some delightful item. The Katrinas at Diana Pearl’s are wonderful, a tall blue Katrina carrying crates of birds, one of terra cotta with a twirling skirt with roses sculpted and painted. If only I had an airplane just so that I could pack it full.

Dennis and Jim were going to spend the day at a a natural spa with pools of naturally heated water. I said good bye to them with only a few words of advice—going to the spa be sure you take a shower before you get in the pool, don’t get your backpacks wet. They waved adios and left for the bus.

We are ready to get healthy!

DM—Yesterday Jim and I tool a short trip up the road to a health spa on Lake Chapala. Who couldn’t use a little more health in their lives, right? The girls passed on this opportunity for more shopping. We got on a local bus (10 pesos/50 cents) and in 15 minutes we were there. It’s in the small town of San Juan Cosala. We paid 400 pesos ($20.00) each to enter and were among 4 other people who were already there. A number of pools are available for soaking and the waters are volcanically heated to around 200 degrees F so it must be cooled. After cooling they range from about 100 degrees to about 110 which after two minutes, was too hot for me. The pools also contain many natural minerals that relieve aches and pains and possibly hangovers. Massages are also available but Jim had noticed how the women in Ajijic were constantly undressing him with their eyes, so he didn’t want to torture them further. Good choice, Jim! I too felt it would have been torture for them.

After spending a few hours at the spa it was time to once again add toxicity to our bodies so stops were necessary at a number of cantinas for beer and tequila on our way home. We thought that we shouldn’t risk being too healthy. More to come—

What? How did they find us???

CM—Today we went to the Wednesday Market and I found a few things, hmmm enough things so that I used up all the pesos I had... Oh boy! Dennis bought small bananas and a pineapple. Great breakfast tomorrow. After breakfast with the Brickners at Salvador’s we got on a bus for Jocotopec. The bus follows the lake shore around until we reached our destination. Once off the bus we walked toward the lake hoping to arrive at the Plaza Mayor. When the road ended we asked a young man on a motorcycle where it was. We pretty much had to retrace our steps to the bus station. We varied it by walking one block over and back up where we came from. Guess what? We found the Plaza Mayor and the church on the square. Very beautiful and tranquil. Tequila and Negro Modelo were needed to quench our thirst after our little jaunt around the town. Our bartender was very patient with our horrible Spanish and our attempt to get an ice cube (hielo), not helado (ice cream), not frio (cold).