Friday, April 13 was an auspicious day for U.S. Army veteran Hector Barajas.

On a Wednesday evening in Oaxaca City the opening amuse bouche of El Destilado’s generously portioned, unpredictable tasting menu was set down on the restaurant’s “chef’s table” – essentially a bar top affording a view of the establishment’s cramped kitchen. 

Joy Laville, a transplanted English artist born on the Isle of Wight in 1924, died last week in Cuernavaca, Morelos, the state she had made her home for more than three decades.

As retired high school teacher and financial writer Andrew Hallam and his American wife Pele relax near their camper van parked at Lakeside, it seems a good moment for general reflection. 

While people from distant lands have been putting down roots in Lake Chapala area for more than a century, the influx of new foreign settlers appears to be growing by leaps and bounds, with no end in sight. 

“Nonfigurative” may be the perfect word to describe the work of Danish-Norwegian artist Nils Erik Gjerdevik, whose collection fills six large rooms in the Instituto Cultural Cabañas until July 29.