Dear Sir,
Words and declarations do not make a Pueblo Magico!
If Ajijic wants to be a Magic Town, it has to fix its roads and sidewalks which are a danger to the health of its citizens and visitors. Weak sand bases and uneven rocks leave us with holes and surfaces on which we turn ankles, fall, get broken bones and sometimes precipitate a decline to death.
San Antonio Tlayacapan has roads and sidewalks we would envy; even a poorer village like San Juan Cosala has better roads and sidewalks. In Ajijic, we pay a hidden tax to all the damage to our vehicles by such neglect to the infrastructure. Almost everybody, foreigners and Mexicans, old and young, have been hurt on our streets and sidewalks.
We cannot be a Pueblo Magico if there is dog excrement on the sidewalks and streets. There is nothing magic about the smells and health hazards. Public officials have to enforce the law, maybe with high fines, with an information campaign, and a public works clean up.
Ajijic’s streets are not a junk yard for abandoned and vehicles. The streets are public infrastructure, not to be used as private property for junk cars with weeds growing up around them. We need the extra parking for both residents and visitors, especially at pressure points in Ajijic. Clearing our streets of abandoned cars might free up to 100 new parking spaces throughout the village. It would improve the appearance of the village, and be appropriate for a Pueblo Magico.
An Ajijic that does not improve its infrastructure, physically and esthetically, harms its residents. Should we be called a Pueblo Magico or Tragico?
James Novak