Having grown up studying ballet in New York City, and with dreams of being a ballet dancer, 79-year old Suzanne Salimbene continues to take ballet classes in Ajijic, with no plans of stopping any time soon.

In a recent session, Raúl Ruiz, a lakeside psychotherapist, witnessed a patient talking about waking up in the middle of the night and, not for the first time, anguishing over the current president of the United States.

“I’m amazed at how many people in Guadalajara have never been here,” said my hiking companion, Rick, as we took our first steps along the fabled trail known locally as La Barranca de Huentitan or simply La Barranca. 

Poignantly, William Rodriguez, a janitor at the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001, attacks, will talk of his experiences at the Palcco events center in Zapopan on the 17th anniversary of that fateful day next month.

When Anita Strehlow closed Anita’s Animals in May 2017 to return to Germany for health reasons, she left behind a shelter she had run for 20 years and that was in complete disarray.

“Before I arrived at Lunas de Maluri I didn’t believe in God, I didn’t believe in anything. I didn’t want to live.”