Polar bears
The third annual Polar Bear Swim on the Chapala Malecon on New Year’s Day was an astounding success in many ways.
Between 180 and 200 people on the shore watched as the 22 “polar bears” managed to stay in the water for the full 20 minutes in spite of the frigid 70 F outdoor conditions!
Cruz Roja succeeded in raising 297,000 pesos to help with its continued operation.
Names were drawn for the grand raffles but the winners of the 40,000-peso and 100,000-peso prizes were not present. Their identities remain secret.
The next Cruz Roja fund-raising event will be a Duck Race at the Tobolandia Water Park during the Chili Cookoff in February. First prize will be a 32” flat screen television set donated by Ajijic Electronics. Chances to purchase your duck for the race will begin next week. Stay tuned.
Trivia
Programa Pro Niños Incapacitados del Lago holds its Trivia Quiz on January 17 at Hotel Real de Chapala.
Tickets to the evening quiz are sold out but seats are still available for the afternoon session that starts at 2:30 p.m. (bar opens at 2 p.m.). Tickets are 250 pesos per person. Tables for teams of eight can be reserved, or, if people want to go on their own or with a friend, organizers will group them with other partial teams.
Food will not be provided so folks should bring their own munchies.
Tickets must be paid for in advance. They can be purchased at Riviera Alta on Monday, January 9 and Wednesday, January 11 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. They will also be on sale at the Lake Chapala Society.
For tickets and tables call Kathy Dingwall at 766-5829, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Kari Higgins at 766-3651 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Niños Incapacitados aids families with their children’s medical problems.
Music
There was some strange and beautiful music heard in the Ajijic plaza recently. The music was from a sarod, a classical string instrument from India and Pakistan. It was being played by Juan Castañón, a Guadalajara resident who plays in the Lake Chapala area on weekends. He explains that he learned the Hindustani music from an American who lived in India before moving to Mexico. The sarod is similar to the sitar, popularized several decades ago by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. Castañón, originally from Monterrey, moved to Guadalajara four years ago. He had spent the previous three years in Italy where he played classical guitar during the day on the streets of Rome and jazz guitar in clubs at night.
Meeting
The first Niños Incapacitados meeting of 2012 takes place Thursday, January 12 at Hotel Real de Chapala. There will be a chance to wish everyone a happy new year over coffee, tea and cookies served at 10 a.m.
The meeting and the opportunity to meet one of the children aided by the program begins at 10:30 a.m. This is a great way to learn about the organization and everyone is welcome.
Canadians register
The Canadian Consulate will host a seminar on Wednesday, January 18, 1 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. at the Lake Chapala Society Sala. The subject will be “Registration for Canadians Abroad 101”—Why you should register and how to do it in ten minutes. Be there and be counted. Questions? Call the Canadian Consulate at (33) 3671-4740, extension 3307 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
You’re invited
Linda Buckthorp, ace volunteer for the Jaltepec Centro Educativo hospitality university, is inviting everyone in the community to an open house at the school on Tuesday, January 24, 11 a.m.
Buckthorp will make a presentation on the school’s history, academics and the scholarship program. A tour of the facilities will follow.
Lunch is set for 1 p.m., prepared and served by the students. The free luncheon is the best way to show the quality of education the students receive at the institute, Buckthorp says. Graduates are sought after by employers in the hospitality industry and are often able to help their younger siblings get good educations.
A few students who are in need of assistance with tuition will be introduced after dessert is served.
E-mail Buckthorp at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let her know that you are going. (Hint: a visit to this distinguished school should be on your Mexican bucket list, anyway.)
Canadians
The leaders of five non-profit groups will share their remarkable stories at the Canadian Club of Lake Chapala meeting on Wednesday, January 18 at Hotel La Nueva Posada (Donato Guerra 9, Ajijic).
The social hour begins at 3 p.m. and the program at 4 p.m.
The five groups are Programa Pro Niños Incapacitados del Lago, Villa Infantil Nuestra Señora Guadalupe y Senor Jose, Love in Action Children’s Center, Cruz Roja Chapala Delegacion and Lakeside School for the Deaf and Children with Special Needs.
There will be no solicitation of funds during this program, but those attending the meeting might become interested in volunteering for these worthy causes.
Yearly Canadian Club membership fees are 180 pesos per person. Guests are welcome and pay 50 pesos each per visit. Drink tickets available for beer, wine or soft drinks are 25 pesos each. Check out www.canadianclubmx.com.
The quilt
The Lady of Guadalupe-themed quilt raffled by the English-speaking congregation of the Church of San Andres in Ajijic has gone to Larry Laframboise. The raffle raised more than 4,000 pesos for the Villa Infantil children’s center.
Learning
The LCS (Lake Chapala Society) Learning Seminar for January 10 will be chaired by Fred Harland. It will feature (via TED internet podcast) “My Four Environmental Heresies” by Stewart Brand, well known environmentalist and founder of the “Whole Earth Catalogue.” In this presentation and in his new book, “Whole Earth Discipline,” Brand shatters a number of myths and argues that cities are actually greener than the country side, how nuclear power is the future of energy and why genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management.
The Learning Seminar is available to LCS members only.
Navy League
The Lake Chapala Council of the Navy League of the United States installed new officers, who assumed their duties on January 1. They are President, Captain Denny Strole, USN (Retired); Vice President Captain Jim Sullivan, USCG (Retired); Treasurer, Commander Bill Wheat, USN (Retired) and Membership Chairman/Secretary, S/Lt Jack Norman, RCN (R).
The Council was chartered on December 7, 1996 and has been active at Lakeside since then. It meets on the third Saturday of each month at Manix Restaurant, Calle Ocampo 57 in Ajijic. The luncheon meeting begins at 1 p.m. There are administrative remarks before lunch and a program following lunch; either a speaker or a DVD. Due to scheduling conflicts, the first meeting of the new year will be held on Saturday, January 28.
The center of that meeting will be a discussion about the purpose of the Navy League and a short video about the organization. There will be a DVD following, explaining aircraft carrier operations.
Stole is asking all Navy League members, past and present, to attend the January meeting and assist in rebuilding the Council. All suggestions and recommendations for activities to ensure a viable Council are welcome. Send them ahead of the meeting to Denny Strole at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
You do not need prior military service to become a member of the Navy League. The only requirement is a desire to support the sea services (Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant marine). The Council is open to all, regardless of nationality.
Those planning to attend the meeting on January 28 should call 766-0485 to express your intentions before January 26.
Surviving cancer
The cancer support groups have changed their meeting times from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. The general cancer group meets on the first and third Monday and the women’s cancer group meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. The groups are free for people in treatment or recent survivors and others with life-threatening conditions. The groups are run by a professional counselor. Contact Valerie Rhoda at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her at 766-4522 for details.
La Ola
Kids at the La Ola Children’s Shelter in Jocotepec were tickled with the 40 filled piggy banks that they had the pleasure of breaking open over the holidays. The piggies held more than 10,000 pesos .. some for the kids and some for the operation of the institution. Those interested in filling other piggy banks for next year should call 766-5754.
Feed the Tarahumara
The Tarahumara “Eat n’ Feed” dinner is set for Sunday, January 22, noon to 5 p.m. at La Bodega Restaurant, Calle 16 de Septiembre 124 in Ajijic.
Meal tickets for the typical Chihuahua food plates are 100 pesos. The funds from sales will all be donated to buy food for the needy Tarahumara of the Copper Canyon.
Entertainment will be by Javier Raygoza and friends on their special stringed instruments. Tarahumara hand-made crafts will be on sale and jeweler Jose Meledrez will be on hand with his wares. Those wishing to order from the regular menu are free to do so and there will be a cash bar. Donations of cash or kind (blankets, sweaters, dried beans, peas, lentils and the like) will be greatly appreciated. All who purchase tickets or make donations will receive raffle tickets for special prizes.
Purchase tickets from Libby Townsend at the Guadalajara Reporter office in Plaza Bugambilias or La Bodega Restaurant, Jose Melendrez at Addiction, or call 766-1167 or 766-3338.
One hundred pesos will feed a typical Tarahumara family for nearly a week. The need is great. Crop yields were low this year and temperatures are currently at -18C (-1F).
Christ Church
Christ Church Anglican Fellowship (CCAF) will celebrate The Feast of The Baptism of Jesus (first Sunday after Epiphany) with the Holy Eucharist Rite II at Manix Restaurant on Sunday, January 8, 10 a.m. The sermon topic will be “Theophany” based on Mark 1:4-11. CCAF will hold its annual parish meeting after the service to discuss, among other agenda items, the mission and worship location of Christ Church , and the visit of Bishop Lion, scheduled for February 25. The lay delegation for CCAF at the Diocesan Synod to be held February 3 and 4 are Jim Powers, warden and Rob Wells, vestry member. Alternates are Frances Clemmons and Kay Borkowski.
Unitarians
The Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Sta. Margarita 113 in Riberas del Pilar. Sunday, January 8, Lew Crippen will give a talk entitled “Martin Luther King: Part of a Proud tradition.” Crippen will examine how deeply held religious convictions can result in a fundamental change in secular society. There will be a coffee hour social following the service. For more information please call 766-1119 or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
St. Andrew’s Anglican
Epiphany is a season in the Church year that, beginning on January 6, with a remembrance of the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem to worship the Christ Child and continuing until the beginning of Lent. Epiphany recalls all the ways in which Jesus’ followers came to recognize him as the long-awaited Messiah. The first Sunday after epiphany always focuses on Jesus’ baptism. The sermon, “Knowing the Secret” looks at how the Gospel of Mark gradually reveals the mystery of Jesus’ identity. Services are set for 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. with a social hour in between. The church is located at Calle San Lucas 19, just a block south of the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar.