Coffee lovers
A free coffee tasting will be held at El Barco Friday and Saturday, February 9 and 10, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Miguel Hernandez, a Colombian citizen, will soon be importing coffee from his country to lakeside. He is offering tastings of five coffee varieties from different regions of Colombia.
Dances of peace
The Center for Spiritual Living is sponsoring Dances of Universal Peace Saturday, February 10, 2 p.m. at Nicolas Bravo 17 in Ajijic, in recognition of the Season for Non-violence.
The dances are spiritual practice in motion, drawing on the sacred phrases, scripture, and poetry of the many spiritual traditions, blending chant, live music and evocative movement into an experience of unity, peace and integration. The dance leader is Rev. Farishta Karen Lindsay, certified dance leader with a Masters of Divinity from Seattle University and ordained as a Sufi Minister in 1999.
During the past ten years, Lindsay has served as a hospice chaplain for Group Health Cooperative/Kaiser Permanente in Tacoma, Washington. The dances involve walking and simple movement. No prior experience or dancing skill is required. All are welcome. Information from Tim Schubert 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..
Open Circle
A long tradition at Open Circle has been to feature the love poetry of Jim Tipton during St. Valentine’s week. If Lakeside were to have a poet laureate, there would be no doubt that such a distinction would go to Tipton, an award-winning writer of poetry and fiction, a beloved mentor to many.
Tipton never just read his poetry, he performed it in a booming voice, every line loaded with meaning, no syllable wasted. This year, owing to health challenges, the reading has been lovingly assumed by distinguished professional actors Roseann and Tony Wilshere and Cindy Paul, under the direction of Rosann Balbontin. The date: Sunday, February 11, 10:30 a.m. at the Lake Chapala Society.
For more information on Open Circle, see opencircleajijic.org.
Jewish Film Fest
The Ajijic Jewish Film Festival celebrates its ninth year at Cine del Lago. Presented by the Lake Chapala Jewish Congregation and shown each Sunday at 1:30 p.m., the festival donates a portion of its 80-peso ticket price to a lakeside charity.
On February 11, “The Women’s Balcony” will be shown. The women in an Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem are appalled when their synagogue gets a strict new rabbi who preaches rigid gender roles. The ladies soon decide to fight back against his ultra-traditionalist beliefs, while raising money to repair the “women’s balcony” in the synagogue.
Carnival facts
A free presentation of “The History and Tradition of Ajijic’s Carnival” by Ajijic archivists Lalo Ramos and Paola de Watterlot will be held at the Wilkes Education Center (Biblioteca Pública) Monday, February 12, 3-4 p.m. Learn about the traditions of the sayacos, the parade and the toros, and be ready to be part of it. Lots of learning and fun included! Confirm your attendance 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..
Toastmasters
Susan Weeks will give the speech “One Voice” at the Lago de Chapala Toastmasters Club meeting on Monday, February 12, 7-8:30 p.m. at the Lake Chapala Society. She recently won the Mexican National Toastmasters Table Topics competition held in the state of Campeche.
Toastmasters is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills. To attend, enter the LCS grounds via the entrance on Ramón Corona closest to the lake. For more information, contact Sarana Donaldson 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..
Democrats Abroad
The next meeting of the Lake Chapala Chapter of Democrats Abroad begins 4 p.m. (not 3:30 p.m.) on Monday, February 12, at Salvador’s Restaurant in Plaza Bugambilias. Featured speaker Paul Crist will review some of the races where Democrat candidates have favorable chances to win in the November 2018 midterm elections.
Crist has academic and Legislative Aide experience in the areas of energy, environment, agriculture and healthcare legislation. He founded an HIV/AIDS services organization in Puerto Vallarta and has been a strong advocate for Medicare coverage for U.S. expats living in Mexico. New Chapter efforts to “Get Out the Vote” campaign for the midterm elections will also be discussed which will include voter registration support that will start at the Lake Chapala Society Tuesday, February 13, 10 a.m. to noon and continue weekly thereafter.
For more information on local Chapter activities join the monthly meetings or email 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..
Progressive Action Group
The Lakeside Progressives have changed their name to the Progressive Action Group. This was done to redirect the focus to actions the organization can take to influence pending legislation and elections. The February 13 meeting will discuss immigration and review letters to be sent to U.S. senators and representatives. They will also look at a mission statement and a declaration of values.
The Progressive Action Group are like-minded people looking for progressive solutions to political problems. They meet the second Tuesday of each month, 3 p.m. This month’s meeting will be at the Sunrise Restaurant, Carretera 119 in Chula Vista. The group’s Facebook page is Progressive Action Group.
Comments can be posted on 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.. Also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions.
Meet the children
Niños Incapacitados is holding a “meet the children” event, Thursday, February 15, 10 a.m. at the Eucalyptus Room of the Hotel Real de Chapala. The non-profit, all-volunteer charity has worked to help lakeside children with disabilities or life threatening illnesses since 1974. See programaninos.com for more information.
Mexican migrant stories
Judy King will mentor six weekly sessions of a new Personal Enrichment Program (PEP) class at the Lake Chapala Society (LCS) beginning Wednesday, February 21, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. “Coming Home: Real Stories of Mexican Migrants” hears migrant voices relate the cross-border experience in novels, non-fictional literature, interviews and movies.
The class will listen for the echoes of immigration in a variety of interactive ways. Several former migrants will visit class sessions to share their own experiences. Participants will view the satirical and often humorous, award-winning movie, “A Day Without a Mexican,” and King will add an overview of the migration dialogue from the Braceros of the World War I to today’s Dreamers. Class members will share the stories and situation from the three books they selected to read from the book list available after registration.
Hearing the stories of the migrant voices and the echoes of the border history gives expats an immigration experience far different from their own and insight into the lives and experiences of many of their neighbors – the artists, teachers, wait staff, business owners, doctors and construction workers of this community.
Sign-up for the class is currently underway from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday to Saturday at the LCS office.
Lakeside Freethinkers
The Lakeside Freethinkers will discuss the topic of evaluating evidence, with the events of September 11, 2001 serving as the focal point at their next meeting, Wednesday, February 21, 4-6 p.m. at La Nueva Posada.
The group define a “freethinker” as a person who is an atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, or skeptic. Freethinkers reject supernatural and other unsupported claims, and rely instead on reason applied to evidence to guide their lives.
If you would like to attend, or just obtain additional information, email 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..
LCS bus trip
The Lake Chapala Society will go to the ceramics and crafts centers of Tlaquepaque and Tonala, Wednesday, February 21. Tickets, 350 pesos for members and 450 pesos for non-members, are on sale at the LCS service. The bus departs 9 a.m. from the sculpture in La Floresta.
Rib Fest
The Shriners are preparing for their 12th annual Rib Fest event Wednesday, March 7. The Ajijic Jam Band will entertain while you enjoy Adelita’s famous ribs and chicken at the Cumbres Events Garden on the top of Chula Vista Norte with fantatic views of the lake. Get tickets, 500 pesos, now from any Shriner, Diane Pearl, O&A Investments or call David, 331-017-1724 or Perry, 763-5126.
April Fools
It is that time of the year again. The annual Tepehua April Fools Fun-Raiser is right around the corner. This year’s event will be held Tuesday, April 3 (Easter Sunday is on April 1), from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Sunrise Restaurant. The focus of this Fun Raiser will be to acknowledge Tepehua Community Center’s very special volunteer corps. Without their enthusiasm and devotion, Tepehua would not exist. Volunteers to serve the volunteers are needed. In addition, several sponsorship opportunities are available. Tickets will be available soon at Tepehua, Tepehua Treasures and Sunrise Restaurant or e-mail Harvey 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..
Buddhists
The Heart of Awareness Insight Meditation Community offers multiple opportunities each week for silent mediation. All sessions are open to the public and chairs and cushions are provided. One-hour sessions are a mix of sitting and walking and the 45-minute session on Wednesday is a sitting meditation.
One-hour meditation periods are offered Sunday and Monday at 9 a.m. and on Thursdays at 11 a.m. Wednesday, February 14, the meditation period begins at 4 p.m., followed by a video presentation from a series titled “Moving beyond the Mirage: Practicing with Buddhism’s Five Aggregates”. In this dharma talk series, Pascal Auclair, a cofounder of True North Insight in Ontario, Canada, presents methods outlined by the Buddha in the Phena Sutta that can help you find congruence among body, heart, and mind. The talk on February 14 is about “feeling tone” – our responses of liking/not liking or neutrality toward all that we experience and the mostly unconscious conditioned behaviors that result. Auclairnotes that it is “worth paying really close attention to (feeling tone) because of all the suffering that can come from an unwise relationship with this aspect of our life.”
The meditation center is located at Guadalupe Victoria 101 in Ajijic. For more information, see heartofawareness.org.