Columns

All over the world, expatriates come together to socialize and chat about the joys, sorrows, strategies and surprises of living abroad. Until now, all such gatherings I’ve attended have been spontaneous reunions of people who have been “thrown into the same boat,” people who are often colleagues in the same line of work.

In June 2013, hundreds of lakeside residents were kept awake for 22 hours when an electronic music festival featuring “incessant high-decibel noise” was held in Ajijic.

Jalisco nature photographer Jesús “Chuy” Moreno has been publishing calendars featuring his outstanding photos of western Mexico’s flora and fauna since 2010. Whereas in the past he offered desk agendas in Spanish only, for 2014 he has produced a bilingual wall calendar which sells for 120 pesos.

Three river-running experts from the United States plan to take on a task more difficult – and disgusting – than Hercules’ cleaning of the Augean stables. They plan to raft down the Santiago River from its source at Lake Chapala all the way to the estuary near San Blas where it pours into the Pacific Ocean, a distance of 562 kilometers.

In a previous article, I wrote about a hike to the Indian Ceremonial Grounds, located 1.7 kilometers north of Ajijic. These grounds are located on a wide, flat, grassy meadow where we found a very large circle of stones encompassing a lone tree decorated with long red, white, blue, green and yellow strips of cloth.

Long-distance hiker Cam Honan says that in December of this year he will attempt to walk, cycle or kayak to the three major types of volcanoes, all of which lie within a 50-kilometer range of Guadalajara.