Expat Life

Since Sunday we have have the opportunity to experience expat life in Mexico. No, we didn’t relocate to Mexico, we spent the last few days with friends who moved to Mexico back in 2017. Our friends Sarana and Mark moved to Ajijic on Lake Chapala following the 2016 election. Needless to say he had a few conversations about the upcoming election.

Sarana and Mark live 30-45 minutes outside of Guadalajara in a community that is one third American expats, a third Canadian expats, and a third Mexican. Sarana volunteers at the library which is located in the Lake Chapala Society (gathering place for expats with tons of activities, sort of a mini Chautauqua Society) and Mark does a lot of acting in community theater (look for him soon as Schroeder in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Bravo Theater).

After celebrating the SeaWitch Festival in Rehoboth Beach on Saturday, we caught a late flight out of Philadelphia to Dallas. We arrived in Mexico Sunday after an early morning flight from DFW. After taking a tour of Sarana and Mark’s hacienda, we took a quick walk down the hill from their house and had lunch at a local taco restaurant, Las Palmas, where Jane had breakfast and I had got a shrimp burrito.

After lunch we walked around San Antonio (not the one in Texas). I was even able to watch the last couple minutes of the Browns game on my phone (they actually beat the Ravens).

Sunday evening we went to the lakefront area of Ajijic. There were hundreds of people out along the promenade. We had dinner at an Argentina steak house on the pier, Barrio de Quilmes.

On Monday, Sarana took Jane and I to Chapala. We walked along the lake and around town. We watched a procession for Our Lady of the Rosary.

In the afternoon the four of us drove up to Guadalajara. We walked around the neighborhood of Tiaquepaque and had a late lunch at a beautiful restaurant.

Tuesday we went exploring as we drove around Lake Chapala, which happens to be the largest lake in Mexico. We stopped in the small town of Petatan, which is known for the white pelicans that hang near the fish processing plant. We read that there would be thousands, no make that tens of thousands of white pelicans. We counted around fifty pelicans during our stop. The place was pretty much a ghost town.

After our stop in Petatan we drove for another hour or so and got to the town of Jamay and had a delicious late lunch at El Senador.

Tuesday evening, we met Sarana’s friends who relocated from Columbus, Ohio. We had margaritas at their beautiful house as we watched the sunset before heading out for dinner at a very charming restaurant in town.

Wednesday we walked around the market in Ajijic and then came back to the house and Sarana and Jane hung out on floats in the pool. We had dinner at home last night and watched the final game of the World Series.

The area they live in is not a tourist destination which made the visit much more authentic. It was nice spending time with Sarana and Mark as they visited us last year in Rehoboth Beach.

Now we are off to Mexico City to explore this megacity and watch the Day of the Dead celebrations.