Gringo Pics

Or, how to be an idiot in Mexico

I’m visiting some friends who moved to a town on Lake Chapala, the biggest lake in Mexico.

This is the first time I’ve been out of the USA since 1979, except for a two-day jaunt over the border from Vermont to Quebec last year, which hardly counts.

Ajijic is a strange place, a mix of wealthy expats who drive huge SUVs, and locals who ride bikes and horses, and who milk cows by the side of the very busy main road. If the locals’ cars no longer run, they get decorated in interesting ways.

You can tell this place really caters to expats by all the signs in English, including this one with a charming typo:

Most of the architecture here is very square, and you’ll see new buildings going up next to ones that look modern but abandoned, like ruins in the making.

Thankfully, the place I’m staying at has a more pleasant architectural style.

Once you get off the main drag, you see what feels more like the real town: narrow stone-paved streets with narrow sidewalks and many open-air businesses. If you sit down in one of these cafes, you’ll be visited by dogs and street vendors carrying their wares in big baskets. It’s all a bit anarchistic and a refreshing change from over-regulated life in the USA.