First Kayak Paddle
Maria Isabel Restaurant at Morelos 1 in Ajijic is sponsoring the First Annual Kayak Paddle to celebrate the third anniversary of the Lake Chapala Kayak Club on Sunday, July 27.
The day of kayaking begins at 8:30 a.m. on the beach in front of La Vieja Posada. Participants can chose to kayak to the middle of the lake and back in a trip that is expected to take two to three hours, or take a five-hour paddle across the lake and back.
Experienced club members will be on hand to help rookies participating in the morning events and then will teach a kids’ kayak class around 2 p.m. after the Maria Isabel Restaurant’s 99-peso brunch buffet.
The Lake Chapala Kayak Club meets at the restaurant at noon for lunch every Thursday.
Bling
The group of international businesspeople are meeting for their July Breakfast Mixer at 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 26 at The Market Café. Michael Fortier will discuss the possibility of starting a local currency at Lakeside. In recent years, the old concept of each area producing their own trade funds has returned to popularity and has been helping to shore up communities. Fortier’s “Hometown Money: How to Enrich Your Community with Local Currency” may be just what Lakeside businesses need.
Wildlife Charity Bazaar
Support volunteers are hosting a bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 27 at Flora Exotica, at the intersection of the Carretera and Libramiento. The Wildlife group’s mascot, Niño the macaw, and some of the other critters will be on hand to greet shoppers and for photo opportunities.
With a number of charities participating in the sale there are bound to be lots of treasures and no reasonable offers will be refused.
Genealogy Forum
Pre-1850 United States Research Methods is the featured topic for the 2 p.m. Monday, July 28 meeting of the local Genealogy Forum in the Sala at the Lake Chapala Society (LCS). Finding the locations of ancestors in the era before the U.S. census records started listing more than just the head of household. Those attending the meeting will hear a webcast on additional sources of information. The Forum meets on the last Monday of each month.
Toastmasters Club
Following a change in meeting day and location, the Lake Chapala Bilingual Toastmasters Club now meets on Mondays from 7-8:30 p.m. in the LCS Sala. Attendees should use the side gate.
Installation of new officers is scheduled for the regular meeting on Monday, August 22. New officer training will be held in English and Spanish on Saturday, July 26 in Guadalajara.
For more information contact Tim Schubert at (376) 766-0920 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit the website: www.toastmasters.org.
Niños de Chapala y Ajijic
A fundraising dinner to benefit Los Niños de Chapala y Ajijic is slated from 3-7 p.m . on Tuesday, August 5 at the Restaurant Viva Mexico in San Juan Cosala.
Entitled “Celebrating Mexico,” the benefit will feature a team of local artists demonstrating and selling their work. The 250-peso tickets include a buffet of Mexican dishes created by restaurant owner Agustín Vazquez, a cash bar and 50/50 raffle. The creator of the famous Viva Mexico mural will also be on hand.
With a limited number of tickets available, those who wish to attend should reserve a space immediately by calling Shannon at (387) 763-5145 or (33) 1695-6422 (cell).
Tickets are also available at the organization’s bazaar across from 7/11 in Riberas del Pilar.
Woodstock Anniversary
The bash of the year is a party to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the three-day festival of music and peace at Woodstock, New York – an event that changed the music world forever.
Where were you on August 16, 1969? Come to the Saturday, August 16, 3-7 p.m. event at the Lake Chapala Society (LCS) and share your story. A Guadalajara group, the Cosmic Rockers with Edgardo Cedeño, will appear and cover the music of Woodstock: Jimi Hendrix, Santana, The Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, CSN&Y, Joe Cocker and many more.
Get your Hippie on and enter the costume contest. Dress as if you were there (or wanted to be). The winner takes home a bottle of Boone’s Farm. A free brownie goes to the first 100 guests through the gate. There’ll be other surprises including the cash bar featuring Electric Kool-Aid. Get groovy dancing down your own strawberry lane.
Purchase the 100-peso tickets at LCS or Diane Pearl Colecciones. There’ll be parking available on the beach. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow LCS events on Facebook. Go to: facebook.com/lakechapalasociety.
British Club
Member David Harper will take the podium at the Saturday, August 2, 1 p.m. meeting of the British Club to share tales from his recently completed historical novel, “How Teddy took Panama.” The release of the book is timely as the centennial of the Panama Canal will be marked on August 15. Harper will relate some of the history of the Republic of Panama, the canal and its operation.
A promotional blurb of the book, Harper’s second, has deemed it “pure history with a love story and a bit of swashbuckler thrown in. A real page turner.”
Those wishing to attend must call Alicia at (376) 765-4786 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to register their choice from the three menu offerings. The grilled pork chop with mushroom sauce or the quiche and fresh fruit include a small salad or soup for 120 pesos. The dinner salad is 80 pesos. Carrot cake is included in all selections.
ACT4Life
Academic Computer Training 4 Life, a computer school, has recently opened in Jocotepec where it is offering computer classes in both Spanish and English, as well as English classes for Spanish speaking students.
Students are opening a small onsite restaurant, David’s, to help support the school. For more information email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her cell: (33) 1434-2289.
Buddhist Community
The Heart of Awareness Buddhist Community meets at 4:30 p.m. each Wednesday in Ajijic for meditation and dharma teachings. The dharma talk on Wednesday, July 30, will be based on John Makransky’s DVD, “Listening Deeply.”
Heart of Awareness is a non-sectarian Buddhist practice community grounded in the original teachings of the Buddha as preserved in the Theravada/Vipassana tradition. Membership includes people with Zen, Tibetan, and Shambhala backgrounds as well as people who have no prior experience with meditation. For more information about the meetings at Encarnacion Rosas 9, call Karin Miles at (376) 766-0020.
Unitarian Universalist
The Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will not meet on Sunday, July 27. Regular 10 a.m. Sunday services will resume on August 3.
Open Circle
“Pilars of the World,” the indigenous Tarahumara from Mexico’s Copper Canyon, will be the topic presented by Karuna at the Open Circle meeting on Sunday, July 29, 10:30 a.m. She notes, “The central orientation of Tarahumara belief is to maintain the continuity of existence in the universe.”
During the meeting Karuna will share a great deal of information about the culture of the Tarahumara, which has remained surprisingly intact compared to many other of Mexico’s indigenous groups. Due largely to their isolated location they have survived the expansion of foreigners with their language, dress, cosmovision and traditions largely intact.
Karuna chooses to define herself as a spiritual being temporarily living a human experience and reports that she continues to work on creating inner silence and keeping her ego at bay. She has learned the joys of community service from Lakeside’s expats. She currently supports fishermen’s efforts to improve the quality of their lives, and fundraises for Luz de Malla by conducting ethnic tours.
Attendees of Open Circle gather at 10 a.m. every Sunday in the rear patio of LCS for fellowship over coffee, tea and sandwich bites. The presentation follows at 10:30 a.m.
Little Chapel by the Lake
The interdenominational congregation of the Little Chapel by the Lake and the congregants from Christ Church Lakeside will share an old-fashioned cook-out with with Abbeyfield residents on Saturday, July 26.
The Sunday, July 27 worship and fellowship schedule starts off with the 10:45 a.m. refreshment period for the Little Chapel and the Anglican congregation from Christ Church Lakeside. At 11:15 a.m., Rev. Gene Raymer returns to the pulpit with a message he calls, “Hey Jude.” “There are great spiritual truths in this epistle despite its brevity,” Raymer says. Members of the congregation will continue their fellowship over lunch in a local restaurant.
The Little Chapel by the Lake is east of the Chula Vista Golf Course on the Carretera.
St. Andrews Anglican
In the Sunday, July 27 Gospel reading at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Jesus gives several images of heaven, some of them seemingly inconsistent. In his message, “Professors of Paradox,” Father Winston Welty points out that it’s entirely possible for something to be both true and false. To put it in terms of faith, God, or the world, or heaven, or a relationship can be truly understood in one way, but just as truly understood from an opposite viewpoint. Christians are called to hold apparently contradictory understandings of God.
The summer morning worship is at 10 a.m., followed by a time of welcome and fellowship in the garden. The children’s bilingual Sunday School program begins at 9:45 a.m.
St. Andrew’s is at Calle San Lucas 19, one block south of the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar.
Christ Church Lakeside
Father Danny Borkowski will celebrate the Liturgy of Holy Eucharist Rite II at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 27 with the message “The Kingdom of Heaven,” based on Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52.
Christ Church Lakeside and the Little Chapel by the Lake enjoy a 10:25-11:10 a.m. common coffee fellowship between the services. Christ Church Lakeside meets in the the Little Chapel by the Lake at Carretera 10 near the entrance of Chula Vista.
Deacon Rob Wells leads a Bible Study group at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays at the Little Chapel. The current topic is the Gospel of Mark. Each weekly session lasts about an hour. There is no need to have attended previously. Wells uses the Jerusalem Bible as the study text because of its ample notes and commentary.
English Catholic Mass
“The Treasure We Have Found” is the homily topic selected by Rev. Basil G. Royston for the 9 a.m. English Mass on Sunday, July 20 at the Templo de San Andrés in downtown Ajijic.
Royston notes that Solomon prayed for the wisdom to discern the true value of things. He adds, “We scarcely need the Wisdom of Solomon to realize that in finding the love of God and the Kingdom of God, we have found a treasure beyond price. It is in the joy of this realization that we hold our celebration this Sunday.”
A group of expats interested in learning more about the Catholic Church and wondering why Catholics do the things they do and what they believe is forming at San Andrés Catholic Parish (English Mass). For more information email Royston at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..