“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” Matsuo Basho

On: June 3, 2018
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We took a leap of faith decision this week after a month’s stay of our 3-month ex-pat experiment. We have decided to make Mexico’s Lake Chapala area our new home. Starting October 1st we have signed a lease for a house with spectacular lake views in the town of San Juan Cosola, in a subdivision called Racquet Club, where all the streets are named after famous tennis players…….. ours: 19A Ilie Nastase.

This week, we met friends for lunch twice and proceeded to hit a few consignment shops – with ex-pats moving in and out of the area there are some treasures to be found. Cheryl found a beautiful oriental rug for a bargain price; after a good cleaning it will be spectacular……..had to hold back not to wrestle her over it.

The week’s highlight for me was cooking and shopping the weekly Tianguis market class with Abuelinda(Linda), a charming Venezuelan woman, who most of her life has resided in various parts of Mexico. After shopping the Tianguis and learning a few new things to further explore on my own, we made our way to her well-equipped teaching kitchen. She showed us how to cook a few delicious dishes that we gorged upon at the end of class.

Here’s the menu:
Roasted Poblano Chile Sauce served with pasta, Jicama, Mango, and Carrot Salad, with other spices – almost a vegetarian ceviche. Cauliflower and Rice mixture that was served with a five-ingredient chicken mole (I just had the sauce and it was delicious). But hands-down favorite dish was “the Huitlacoche Tacos” (a fungus that grows on ears of corn) – just think of as “Mexican Truffles” Dessert consisted of Jericalla (Mexican custard) served with a very moist chocolate cake. What a way to spend the day … the best part of it that the experience was shared with new friends.

You might ask where was David; well he was out on an experience of his own with our friend, Arvada (toilet paper animals), in search of decorating materials and ideas for the upcoming Ferias Maestros del Arte – an event that happens every November. It’s organized by a band of volunteers that provides free exhibition space to the artists in order to support Mexican tradition and history. It brings together artists from all mediums and all of Mexico in a 3-day event…….we are now part of the decoration band of volunteers.

Saturday night we attended a Ukelele concert performed by the students from the music school at the Ajijic Cultural Center. This was their fundraising concert. The concert was divided in 4 parts by student ages. The first group of 6 to 9 years old adorable, but not one note was hit. But as the evening progressed the music kept getting better culminating with an orchestral setting of ukeleles, when the oldest group took the stage and started playing … closing my eyes I could have been transported to any music hall in the world.