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The
Heart of The City
 People
flock to Guadalajara (pop. 3.5 million, elevate 5,214 feet,
1,589 meters) for the same reason that Californians frequently
go to Los Angeles: to shop and choose from big selections
at correspondingly small prices.
But that's only part of the fascination. Guadalajara
are calling themselves, uniquely, “Tapatíos”.
Their city is renowned as the “most Mexican” of
cities. A host of visitors, both foreign and Mexican, come
to Guadalajara to bask in its mild, spring like sunshine,
savor its music, and admire its grand monuments.
After the bloodbath of the 1910-17 revolution,
Guadalajara's growth far outpaced the country in general.
From a population of around 100,000 in 1900, Guadalajara ballooned
to more than three million by 2000. People were drawn from
the countryside by jobs in a thousand new factories, making
everything from textiles and shoes to silicon chips and soda
pop.
Handicraft manufacture, always important in
Guadalajara, zoomed during the 1960s when waves of jet-riding
tourists came, saw and bought mountains of blown glass, leather,
pottery, and metal finery.
During the 1980s, Guadalajara put on a new
face while at the same time preserving the best part of its
old downtown. An urban-renewal plan of visionary proportions
created Plaza Tapatía - acres of shops, restaurants,
and offices beside fountain- studded malls- incorporating
Guadalajara's venerable theaters, churches, museums, and government
buildings into a single grand open space.
A
Walk Old Around Guadalajara
 The
twin steeples of the cathedral serve as an excellent starting
point to explore the city-center plazas and monuments. The
cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption when
it was begun in 1561, was finished about 30 years later. A
potpourri of styles- Moorish, Gothic, Renaissance, and Classic-
make up its spires its spires, arches, and facades. Although
and earthquake demolished its steeples in 1818, they were
rebuilt and resurfaced with cheery canary yellow tiles in
1854.
Inside, side altars and white facades climax
at the principal altar, built over a tomb containing the remains
of several former clergy, including the mummified heart of
renowned Bishop Cabañas. One of the main attractions
is the Virgin of Innocence, in the small chapel just to the
left of the entrance. The glass-enclosed figure contains the
bones of a 12-years-old girl who was martyred in the 3rd century
and forgotten, then rediscovered in the Vatican catacombs
in 1786 and shipped to Guadalajara in 1788. The legend claims
she died protecting her virginity; it is equally likely that
she was martyred for refusing to recant her Christian faith.
Somewhere near the main altar you'll find either
a copy of, or the authentic Virgen de Zapopan. Sometime between
June and October 12, the tiny, adored figure will be the authentic
“La Generala”, as she's affectionately known;
on October 12, a tumultuous crowd of worshippers escorts her
back to the cathedral in Zapopan, where she remains until
brought bat to Guadalajara the next June.
Outside, broad plazas surround the cathedral:
the Plaza Guadalajara (formerly Plaza Laureles), in front
(west) of the cathedral, then moving counterclockwise, the
Plaza de Armas to the south, Plaza Liberación to the
east (behind), and the Plaza de los Hombres Ilustres to the
north of the cathedral.
Across Ave. Morelos, de block-square Plaza
de los Hombres Ilustres is bordered by 15 sculptures of Jalisco's
eminent sons. Their remains lie beneath the stone rotunda
in the center; their bronze statues line the sidewalk. Right
at the corner you'll find the figure of revered Jalisco Governor
Ignacio Vallarta; a few steps farther north stands the statue
of José Clemente Orozco, legally blind when he executed
his great works of art (see the special topic José
Clemente Orozco).
Adjacent to and east of the Plaza de los Hombres
Ilustres, the colonial building behind the lineup of horse-drawn
calandrias housed the Seminario de San José for the
six generations following its construction in 1696. During
the 1800s it served variously as a barracks and a public lecture
hall, and , since 1918, it has housed the Museo Regional de
Guadalajara, 60 Liceo; tel. 33/3614-9957; open Tues. Sun.
9a.m.- 5:30 p.m.
Inside, tiers of rooms surrounding a tree-shaded
interior patio illustrate local history. Exhibits begin with
a hulking mastodon skeleton and a small garden of petrified
trees and continue through a collection of whimsical animal
and human figurines recovered from the bottle- shaped tombs
of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima. Upstairs, find galleries
of Jalisco history and colonial religious art, and life-size
displays of contemporary but traditional fishing methods at
nearby Lake Chapala and the costumes and culture of regional
Cora, Huichol, Tepehuan, and Mexican peoples.
Back outside, head east two blocks down Ave.
Hidalgo, paralleling the expansive Plaza Liberación
behind the cathedral. On your left you will pass the baroque
facades of the congreso del estado (state legislature) and
the palacio de justicia (state supreme court) buildings. Step
inside the latter (open Mon.- Fri. 9a.m.-7p.m. Sat. 9a.m.-1p.m.)
for a look at the mural above the staircase, off the patio
to the right.
Finished in 1965 by Guillermo Chavez Vega,
(see his signature in the top right corner) the mural dramatically
interprets 19th century Mexican and Jalisco history. The mural,
although obviously Orozco- influenced, is not as arrestingly
graphic as those of the master. A bilingual explanation, atop
the staircase, identifies the main actors. In the center,
Gómez Farías, Father of the Reform, Benito Juárez
(“Respect for the Rights of All Is Peace”), and
Melchor Ocampo, author of the Laws of Reform, stride down
the path of Mexico's nationhood. On the left, arch-villain
López de Santa Anna holds the chains of slavery. On
the right, white-bearded Jalisco governor Ignacio Vallarta
lionizes Miguel Hidalgo: “The Reform Revolution Would
Not Have Occurred Without the Push That Hidalgo Initiated
at Dolores.”
Outside, at the eastern end of the plaza, rises
the timeless silhouette of the Teatro Degollado. The theater's
classic, column facade climaxes in an epic marble frieze,
depicting the allegory of Apollo and the nine muses. Inside,
the Degollado's resplendent grand salon is said to rival the
gilded refinement of Milan's renowned La Scale. Overhead,
its ceiling glows with Gerardo Suárez's panorama of
canto IV of Dante's Divine Comedy, complete with its immortal
cast-Julius Caesar, Homer, Virgil, Saladin- and the robed
and wreathed author himself in the middle. Named for the millionaire
Governor Degollado who financed its construction, the theater
opened with appropriate fanfare on September 13, 1866, with
a production of Lucia de Lammermoor, starring Angela Peralta,
the renowned “Mexican Nightingale”. An ever-changing
menu of artists still graces the Degollado's stage. These
include an excellent local folkloric ballet troupe every Sunday
morning; tel. 33-3614-4773 for information or see Entertainment
and Events, later in this chapter.
Just to the north of (on the left as you face)
the Teatro Degollado, stands the austere silhouette of the
Templo de Santa María de Gracia, Guadalajara's original
(1549-1618) cathedral. The present building, initiated in
1661, was completed about a century later.
Walk behind the Degollado, where a modern bronze
frieze, the Frisa de Los Fundadores, decorates its back side.
Appropriately, a mere two blocks from the spot where the city
was founded, the 68- foot sculpture shows Guadalajara's cofounders
facing each other on opposite sides of a big tree. Governor
Cristóbal de Oñate strikes the tree with his
sword, while Doña Beátriz de Hernández
holds a fighting cock, symbolizing her gritty determination
(and that of dozens of fellow settlers) that Guadalajara's
location should remain put.
West
and North of Downtown
For longer than anyone can remember, the march
of Guadalajara's history has always pointed west. Nuño
de Guzmán, Guadalajara's conquistador, hurried west
after pacifying the Valle de Atemajac where the city now spreads.
Later, explorers, mission fathers, governors, and the crowd
of settlers that followed them did the same. To most Guadalajarans
the east represented the old and the settled. The west represented
opportunity.
That's still true. Guadalajara's 20th-century
history has been largely marked by waves of west-ward development.
A glance at a map of metropolitan Guadalajara reveals successive
rings of peripheral thoroughfares- Ave. López Mateos
and the northern and southern circunvalacion boulevards built
during the 1970s, and now the periférico that marked
the border between city and country at the beginning of the
second millennium.
Within those expanding western boundaries,
new-style tree- shaded neighborhoods were founded, beginning
around 1900, when moneyed merchant and professional families
began building stylish, landscaped mansions along broad boulevards
beyond the old colonial town's western edge.
Most of those mansions still line the streets
of the earliest western district, known as the colonias antiguas,
now part of the Minerva-Chapultepec district that spreads
west from old city boundary, marked by Ave. Federalismo. Here,
in the Minerva-Chapultepec district, many of those old houses
are still occupied by descendants of the first families -
some as residences, but many as smart restaurants and shops
that decorate the east-west thoroughfares.
Later, during the 1960s and 1970s, a checker-board
of development spread west, south and north, notably in the
southwest-side Plaza del –Sol shopping-convention-luxury
hotel complex achieved phenomenal success, side by side with
the charming tree-shaded Chapalita residential village-within-a-city.
Zapopan
 The
midsize provincial town of Zapopan (sah-POH-pahn) is one of
Guadalajara's best-kept secrets. It is the cabecera (headquarters)
of a spreading 345-square-mile, famously productive municipio
(township, municipality) with a population well over one million
and more than six-fold the land area of the municipio of Guadalajara.
A glance at a detailed map of the Guadalajara metropolitan
zone reveals that much of Guadalajara metropolitan zone reveals
that much of Guadalajara's upscale western suburb is actually
part of the Zapopan municipio. Within its jurisdiction, Zapopan
encompasses the metropolitan area's three top shopping plazas,
the Plaza del Sol, Gran Plaza, and Plaza Patria, and a big
fraction of Guadalajara's super-deluxe hotels, including three
of the top four: the Crown Plaza, Presidente Intercontinental,
and Camino Real. Add to that the burgeoning new Zapopan industrial
parks, from Ave. Lopez Mateos Sur (Motorola, Kodak) to Belén
in the north (Interlub, Bardahl Oil) and the hundreds of thousands
of acres of fertile corn and cattle hinterland and you have
the fifth-richest municipio in Mexico, producing a larger
peso gross product than any one of several entire Mexican
states.
It requires a look at history to understand
how all this came about. Once upon a time, Zapopan was a small
rural town, with miles of country separating it from the center
of power and wealth in Guadalajara. At that time, Zapopan
people were much more concerned with corn and cattle than
politics and power. Zapopan's municipal leaders looked to
their western hinterland, home of their patrons, the rich
hacendados who tended cattle on huge swaths of valley and
mountain territory.
Meanwhile, Guadalajara's prosperous investors
gradually pushed development westward; they bought great tracts
of land, which they filled with the streets, homes, and businesses
that inexorably overflowed the west side, from south to north,
engulfing the small town of Zapopan.
Nevertheless, old Zapopan lives on, home to
those who quietly adhere to the old-Mexico values that are
reflected by their credo that Zapopan is the “Land of
Friendship, Work , and Respect”.
And as part and parcel of their traditions,
Zapopan people proudly continue to welcome the multitudes
of faithful who arrive to pay their respects to the miraculous
Virgen de Zapopan.
Get to Zapopan from downtown Guadalajara, via
local bus 275 diagonal (which runs northwest, all the way
from Tonalá through Tlaquepaque to downtown Guadalajara),
running north along 16 de Septiembre to the Normal Circle.
From there, it continues northwest along Ave. Avila Camacho,
past the Zapopan entrance arch, then up west along Hidalgo.
It returns southeast along virtually the same route.
By taxi or car, follow Ave. Manuel Avila Camacho,
which diagonals northwest at the Normal Circle about a mile
north along Ave. Alcalde, from the Guadalajara downtown cathedral.
Continue about three miles form the Normal Circle to Zapopan,
marked by the monumental entrance arch on the left.
The Virgen
of Zapopan
Although the early history of Zapopan , “place
of the zapote trees”, as a settlement of the mystery-draped
“Chicomoztoc” people, is uncertain, the origin
of Zapopan's miraculous Virgin is not. The Virgin, considered
to be the very founder of the town, was first known as the
“Virgin of the Pacification” because, probably
more than anyone of anything else, she was responsible for
extinguishing the fiery rebellion feted in grand procession
of many hundreds of thousands of Guadalajarans every October
12.
East
and South of Downtown
Guadalajara visitors flock to the southeast-side
towns of Tlaquepaque and Tonalá to buy the renowned
handicrafts that these town's many hundreds of family factories
produce. Although Tlaquepaque and Tonalá are each headquarters
of their respective sprawling municipio (township or municipality),
the core village-centers, arguably Mexico's most important
handicrafts sources, are the main attractions.
About five miles southeast of downtown, Tlaquepaque
(“tlah-kay-PAH-kay”) town, although completely
surrounded by the Guadalajara metropolis, is nevertheless
separate, with its own church, town hall, accommodations,
restaurants, and locally owned shops and businesses close
by the old village jardin (garden).
Although replete with village charm, Tlaquepaque
is not sleepy. Visitors swarm in, by day to stroll and shop,
and by night to savor the delicious snacks and delight in
the bright mariachi entertainment for which Tlaquepaque is
famous. On the other hand, Tonalá, another five miles
farther east, at Guadalajara's country edge, retains a measure
of its drowsy rural past.
Nevertheless, an initial glance inside a few
of its multitude of handicrafts shops reveals Tonala's mission.
Behind the street-side adobe and brick walls, thousands of
Tonalá people are hard at work. Their labor and know-how
is the source of Tonala's celebrated ceramics and its renowned
papier-maché and brass, in a plethora of human, animal,
and floral designs.
With only five miles separating them, Tlaquepaque
and Tonalá share virtually the same history. Most historians
agree that the early tribes of the eastern Atemajac Valley,
the Cocas and Tecuexes (tay-KWAY-shays), whose traditions
reflected much of the ancient Toltec heritage, were ruled
by monarchs whose seat was located at present-day Tonalá.
The original name, Tonallan (toh-NAH-yahn, “Place of
the Rising Sun”) reflected its preeminence. The sun,
long a popular Tonalá decorative theme, was at the
center of the pre-Conquest religion, a faith probably similar
to that of the present-day Huichol people. Tonallan's dominance,
as source of local military, political (and consequently,
religious) authority, probably also led to its strong ceramics
tradition. Early Spanish missionaries labeled Tonalá
as a “factory of paganism”, because every members
spent their working hours crafting pottery images of their
gods.
Just prior to the Spanish Conquest, an underage
child-heir named Xuchitzín (Precious Flower) became
Tonala's ruler. Consequently, a distinguished relative, Lady
Tzapotsingo (Fruit of the Zapote), was chosen to temporarily
take charge as Cihualpilli (queen). According to tradition,
Cihualpilli (see-wal-PEE-yee) was a benign and wise ruler,
who encouraged the arts and crafts, including a renowned metalworking
factory, famous for gold jewelry.
Tlaquepaque
Tlaquepaque was once a sleepy village of potters
miles from the old Guadalajara town center. Attracted by the
quiet of the country, rich families built Tlaquepaque mansions
during the 19th century. Now, entrepreneurs have moved in
and converted them into restaurants, art galleries, and showrooms,
stuffed with quality Tonalá and Tlaquepaque ceramics,
glass, metalwork, and papier-maché.
Tlaquepaque's primary axes are east-west Ave.
Independencia and north-south Ave. Madero, which intersect
beneath a grand rectangular white arch that stretches diagonally
between the pink, portaled El Parián restaurant-mariachi
center on the southeast and the jardín plaza with a
bandstand on the northwest. Stand (or imagine standing) under
the arch and diagonally face the jardin. Ave. Madero runs
north, on your right, and on your left, pedestrian shopping
mall Ave. Independencia heads west. On stand, rises the old
Santuario de la Soledad, while on the jardin's north side
rises the popular Parroquia San Pedro parish church.
Much of Tlaquepaque's charm flows from its
village ambience, which allows most everything to be easily
reached on foot. Start at the town center, beneath the arch
at the intersection of Avenidas Madero and Independencia.
Since you can't avoid them, you might as well check out the
offerings of the regiment of handicrafts stalls up and down
the streets.
After that, had to the Westside of the jardín
(named in honor of insurgente Miguel Hidalgo), to the beloved
old Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. The
Augustinian monastic order, who began construction in 1742
and finished in 1813, dedicated it to the Virgin of Solitude.
Inside, around the crucifix-shaped nave, see
the graphic prints of all the stations of the cross. Up front,
in the left transept, pay your respects to La Imaculada, the
Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, and in the right transept,
the Virgin of Guadalupe. In the center, above the altar, on
an austere Gothic stone retablo, the Virgin of Solitude reigns
from beneath her gilded cupola, while at the tip-top of the
retablo, the omnipresent Eye of God surveys all.
If you have time, see if the sacristan (keeper
of the church) is around. Ask him to show you inside the sacristy
(sacristia, behind the altar, offer a donation). Inside you'll
find the more precious paintings, including the noted Jesus
Visiting the Home of Mary and Martha in Bethany, dating from
1685.
Walk to the jardin's adjacent north side, to
the Parroquia San Pedro, Tlaquepaque's popular parish church,
modified extensively since its construction around 1700. After
a few minutes wandering through its beautifully restored interior,
head into the courtyard, through the door at the nave's north
(left) side. Here, enjoy the preciously detailed miniature
pageant of dozens of Bible stories, from Noah and his Ark
and Rachel at the well to Jesus on the Mount and Paul on the
road to Damascus.
Lake
Chapala and Vicinity
The folks who live around shallow Lake Chapala,
Mexico's largest lake, pride themselves on their lake's brilliant
sunsets, its quiet country ambience, and its famously temperate
weather. Formed by gigantic earth movements millions of years
ago, the lake originally spread far beyond its present cucumber-shaped
50- by 12 mile (80-by 20-km) basin south of Guadalajara.
Now, rounded, gentle mountains shelter the
sprinkling of small towns and villages that decorate the shoreline.
Chapala's sleepy, rural southern lakeside contrasts with the
northern shore, which has become both a favored holiday retreat
for well-to-do Guadalajara families and home to sizable colony
of American and Canadian retirees. The 10-mile procession
of petite, picturesque towns- Chapala, Chula Vista, San Antonio,
La Floresta, Ajijic, San Juan Cosala, and others- scattered
along the northern shore have collectively become known as
the “Chapala Riviera”. Here, a stream of visitors
and an abundance of resident talent and resources sustain
good restaurants and hotels as well as fine shops that offer
the works of an accomplished community of artisans and artists.
Bands of hunter-gatherers, attracted by the
lake basin's trove of fish, game, and wild fruits and grains,
may have occupied Lake Chapala's shores as early as 10,000
B.C. Interestingly, they probably used the strategy of driving
wild animals into the lake, where they could be subdued more
easily. The Paleontology Museum in Guadalajara displays remains
of a number of species, such as antelope, camel, horse, and
a very complete mammoth, all unearthed at likely hunting grounds
near the prehistoric lakeshore.
Recorded history began for Lake Chapala during
the 1400s, when a tribe known as the Cocas, after victorious
campaigns against Purépecha (Tarascans) of Michoacán,
established themselves at Cutzatlán (now San Juan Cosala)
on Chapala's northwest shore. Under King Xitomatl, Cutzatlán
flourished. A Flurry of new towns, such as Axixic (now Ajijic),
Xilotepec (now Jocotepec), and later Chapala (around 1500),
was established.
In contrast to Ajijic, the origin of the name
Chapala remains an unsolved puzzle. Every scholar seems to
have a different explanation. It's tempting to believe that
the name has something to do with grasshoppers, which the
Aztecs called chapulín. Another possibility stems from
the name Chapa, a local chief at the time of the conquest.
The name also might originate with chapala, which translates
as “wet place”. On the other hand, the word chapaltlán
(place of many pots) provides the most intriguing explanation
of all. It seems that warriors of the Coca tribe used to scarify
themselves by ritually splattering the blood of their vanquished
battlefield victims on themselves. Later, as a ceremonial
substitute for their own bodies, they sprinkled the victim's
blood on small clay jars and figurines, which they tossed
into the water at the Chapala lakefront as offerings to their
lake god. Fishing nets still bring in little ceramic human
forms or animals from the lake-bottom.
Chapala and Ajijic are the Chapala Riviera's
most visited towns. Chapala (pop. About 10,000), at jara,
is both the main business center and a weekend picnic spot
for Guadalajara families. Ajijic (ah-HEE-heek, pop.about 5,000),
by contrast, is the scenic, artistic, and tourism center,
retaining the best of both worlds- picturesque rustic ambience
and good, reasonably priced restaurants and hotels.
The paved lakeshore highway runs about five
miles west from Chapala to Ajijic, through the tranquil retirement
communities of Chula Vista (marked by the golf course on the
uphill side), San Antonio and La Floresta. From Ajijic, the
route continues another five miles past lakeshore vineyards
and gardens to San Juan Cosala Village and hot springs resort.
About five miles farther on, you reach Jocotepec, the lake's
wet-end commercial center, just before arriving at the Morelia-
Guadalajara Hwy. 15 junction.
On the opposite, eastern side of Chapala town,
the lakeshore is much less developed. The road, which runs
east as Paseo Corona from the Chapala lakefront, is paved
for about five miles to San Nicolas (pop. About 1,000). After
that, it changes to gravel, passing small inlets and tiny
isolated cliff-bottom beaches en rout to sleepy Mezcala (12
miles, 19km, 30 minutes from Chapala).
Drivers headed for Ajijic, La Floresta, and
San Antonio who want to avoid Chapala town traffic do so via
the libramiento (bypass road) that forks from Hwy. 44 two
miles uphill from Chapala. The libramiento continues for four
miles, joining lakeshore highway about a mile east of the
center of Ajijic.
Generally light traffic makes and automobile
the most convenient way to explore Lake Chapala. Car rentals
are available either directly at the Guadalajara airport (see
the By Air section, under Getting There and Away, in the Heart
of the City chapter) or through a Chapala travel agent such
as Viajes Vikingo, tel. 376/765-3292, fax 376/765-3494.
Or catch one of the red-and-white local minibuses
that run frequently form curbside across from the Chapala
bus station (about six blocks uphill from the lake, along
main street Francisco I. Madero). Most frequent is the west-bound
bus, which heads along the lakeshore to San Juan Cosala and
back via Ajijic, and which will stop anywhere along the road.
Other lakeshore destinations (departing from inside the terminal)
include Jocotepec every half hour 5 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. and San
Nicolas eastbound every half hour 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
A walk around
Chapala Town:
Start your Chapala walk beneath the great shady
trees in the old town plaza, three blocks from the lakefront,
on main street Av. Francisco I. Madero. Stroll toward the
lake a block and a half, to the town church. Although dedicated
to St. Francis of Assisi when founded in 1538, the church
wasn't completed for more than 200 years. Inside rest the
venerated remains of Padre Miguel de Bolonia, one of the pioneer
local Franciscan missionaries. He was probably instrumental
in building the 16th-century former hermitage (now merely
a crumbling foundation) on Cerro San Miguel, the hill that
rises just west of town. A white summit cross marks the spot.
Continue across lakefront boulevard Paseo Corona,
past the curio stands, to the municipal pier. In good times,
the adjacent anchorage if free of lirio (water hyacinths).
Otherwise, boaters must frequently chop a navigation path
through the thick green vegetable carpet. (In the worst of
times, the lake recedes, leaving the pier high and dry).
From the pier, a number of excursions are possible,
from a one-hour ride along the lakeshore to extended lake
and island tours. These could include a two-hour visit to
Scorpion Island (Isla Alacranes), with its regional food restaurants
and bird- watching; or four hours round – trip to Mezcala
Island (Isla Presidio) with its ruins and bird-watching. Rental
rates run about $15 hourly per boat while running, $10 hourly
while waiting.
For Mezcala Island (see the special topic The
Battle of Mezcala), bring food and drinks; none may be available
on the island, which is a national monument.
If you continue east a quarter mile, past the
curio stands lining the lake front walkway, you'll reach spreading
green Parque Cristiania, one of Mexico's most complete public
parks. Appropriately built for the droves of Sunday visitors,
Cristiania has a children's playground, a picnic area, good
public tennis courts, and a big swimming pool, all usable
for modes fees.
Exploring Ajijic:
 Continue
west by car or bus, about five miles along the lakeshore highway.
Past La Floresta, marked by a shady stretch of great trees
over-arching the highway, an old church tower poking above
the left-side neighborhood identifies Ajijic. Its main street
is Colón, which runs downhill toward the lake, on the
left from the traffic signal.
A good first stop would be Ajijic Fine Arts
Center (Centro de Bellas Artes de Ajijic, CABA) at 43 Colón.
It's a community center as much as.
From the church-front, head downhill along
Castellanos; after two blocks, turn right at 16 de Septiembre.
Not far, on your left, will be the Neil James Library, open
Mon. – Sat. 10a.m.- 2p.m. and the lovely garden it shares
with the adjacent Spanish-language library. Open Mon. –
Sat. 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 4-6 p.m. The garden is
a delight for quiet contemplation. Before you leave, look
over the notices of local performances, exhibits, and fiestas
on the walkway bulletin board between the two buildings.
Continue half a block west along 16 de Septiembre
to the corner of Morelos, where you'll enjoy browsing through
the excellent arts and crafts shops clustered here.
Note: Although Morelos has a different name,
it is actually the downhill continuation of Colón.
The reason is Ajijic streets change names midtown. Streets
that run parallel to the lakeshore change names at the Colón-
Morelos line. Streets that run perpendicular to the lakeshore
change names at the Costitución-Ocampo line.
Ajijic Lakeshore:
Continue another block downhill to the Ajijic
lakeshore and pier. Late afternoons, a gentle breeze often
cools the lakeshore. Overhead, great white clouds billow above
blue mountains bordering the far lakeshore. On the beach by
the pier, fishermen mend their nets, while at the beach's
uphill edge, a few indigena women in native costumes weave
their colorful wares beneath the great trees that shelter
the Restaurant Posada Ajijic.
The restaurant is the present incarnation of
the Hacienda de Cuije, founded here by the Saenz family in
1530. In 1938, Englishman Nigel Millet turned the building
into a hotel, the Posada Ajijic. By the 1970s, the Posada
Ajijic was attracting a loyal clientele, which included a
number of artists, writers, and film stars such as Elizabeth
Taylor and Charles Bronson. New owners, the Eager family of
Vancouver, Canada, took over in 1975 and stayed until 1990,
when they moved to another hotel nearby. The current propiertors,
who operate it as a restaurant exclusively, remodeled the
Posada Ajijic to its present state of rustic elegance.
For a look at the showplace Hotel La Nueva
Posada, which the Eager family built in 1990, stroll four
blocks east (left as you face the lake). Their gorgeous neocolonial
creation at the foot of Donato Guerra spreads from its intimate,
art-decorated lobby through an airy, romantic terrace restaurant,
climaxing in a verdant, semitropical lake- view garden.
If you time your Ajijic arrival right (winter
only), you might be able to join an informative tour of Ajijic's
lovely homes and gardens. Local volunteers conduct the programs
regularly and give the donations (customarily, about $10 per
person) to the Jocotepec School for the Deaf. Call 376/766-0589,
376/766-0652 , or 376/7660376 for information.
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