In Guadalajara’s Centro Historico -  parts of which after sundown are semi-abandoned moonscapes of dark, silent streets swirling with dust and lined with terribly neglected but graceful colonial architecture - a few old hunks of coal refuse to die out, warming the bones and spirits of the loyal drinkers clustered around them. 

Two Saturdays a month, David Rosett hops on a bus headed to Riberas del Pilar from his home in Guadalajara, dons his prayer shawl and yarmulka, and leads congregants in morning services at Lake Chapala Jewish Congregation (LCJC).

Three business partners, who also happen to be good friends, have transformed the Ajijic store once known as Marlowe’s Marvelous Market into “Alquimia” – alchemy in English.

Combined with the low cost of living, open-mindedness, welcoming environment and large population of English speakers, it’s no wonder that many practitioners of the spiritual path, A Course in Miracles, are choosing Lakeside as their new home.

Bringing a motley assembly of traditional mariachi youth ensembles to the headquarters of Jalisco’s Secretary of Culture (Edificio Arroniz) was the inaugural event of a festival brought into existence, seemingly, in order to draw a line in the sand between traditional mariachi and the “modern” version, which came into being in the 1930s.

A major health crisis is what motivated Jaime Navarro into organic farming and probiotic beverages.