Somewhere in Jalisco, a lonely mom-and-pop grocer puts a homemade sign on his rack of Gansitos and Bubulubus.

Lakeside artisan Brad Mowers fills his days doing what he loves – spinning, weaving and dyeing. As someone who’s self-taught when it comes to weaving, and with 38 years of experience in all techniques working with fiber, he will soon be sharing his knowledge through a series of classes in Chapala.

Queen Michele was only 52 and living in Atlanta, Georgia when she retired from teaching school for 27 years. Once she realized that she wouldn’t be able to live comfortably in the United States with her meager pension, she got to work researching affordable places to retire. That’s when she discovered Ajijic.

After Steve Leveen retired from business, took a foray into learning Spanish and returned to university for two more years of education – he already had a PhD – aimed at kindling a second profession, he began to describe himself as a “recovering monolingual” and set his sights on inspiring his fellow Americans to embrace bilingualism.

A lofty long-term goal of Sin Planeta B (Without Planet B), a non-profit organization in the town of Tamazula de Gordiano in southeastern Jalisco, is to see environmental education implemented in every classroom in the state.

“Talento que transforma” (talent that transforms) – the opening mantra of Laboratoria’s website – reinforces how this international non-profit helps thousands of talented Latin American women land careers in the evolving tech industry.