Volume 10 - Issue 1, February 15, 2008 - Lake Chapala Review

Page 4 Lake Chapala Review
February 2008
by Louise Drummond
It is almost March and the high season is in full swing. The amount of traffic at
Lakeside is impressive. Between our foreign visitors and the weekend influx coming
in from Guadalajara for Carnival and for the general ambiance here, it is hard to merge
onto the Carretera, and dangerous to cross it. Growth in the area is phenomenal. The
peso is strong, the budget deficit has been reduced each of the past four years and
inflation is not severe. There is a lot of interest from foreign investors, and as the baby
boomers start reaching retirement, a growing number will turn their thoughts south
of the border and continue to inundate our shores, as well as San Miguel de Allende,
Guanajuato, Puerta Vallarta, and Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit are all popular destinations for
tourists and investment opportunities.
We have observed that one of the most popular types of reading material is romance
stories. To better serve our readers, The Lake Chapala Review will now carry a story
about the yearnings of life in each, or almost each, issue. We are introducing this genre
to this issue with a story by local resident, Jim Tipton. Jim is a noted writer, once the
Poet Lauriat of Colorado, and a mighty good person to have living here. The Diamond
Shamrock Goddess is a story about a woman that he actually knew, up in northern
Colorado, with its ebbing population and lonely landscapes.
El Dia de Amor y de Amistad, day of love and friendship, in Mexico is on February
14. Let us try to extend the good feeling all year round by realizing that Love is an
irrational, ”sense,” and Fear is irrational “nonsense.” Be open and let those whom you
love give to you, while you let them know that you, too, care.
In April, we publish our yearly Lake Issue and ask writers and the community t large
to contribute pieces for inclusion that either touch directly on the state of Lake Chapala
or treat the topic creatively. Pictures, stories, poems, myths and anecdotes are all
welcome. We are looking for pieces of between 650 and 1,500 words. You can e-mail
us your submissions or drop them off at our office located above Prisa Paint on the
carretera in Ajijic.
Being the people watcher that I am, this place is a gold mine of fascinating
happenstance and jumor. We see Gringos put down Mexicans, Gringos putdown
Gringos, we see Mexicans put down Gringos and finally Mexicans putdown Mexicans.
It bothers me most when a group puts down its own; it’s not just simple ignorance, it’s
guilt, judgement and degradation. Gringos saying how boorish and selfish we Gringos
are in comparison to the Mexicans, cut it out! Banks, large companies, workers in
general are not better or more efficient North of the border --- be honest! We have no
reason to apologize for Mexican workers or to praise them to the sky, either. There is
good and bad everywhere, here as well as at home. Let’s not use the same measuring
stick, but at the same time, let’s not forget that there is one.
Well, that’s another LCR in the can; it’s been a tight squeeze. We offer you this issue,
exhausted but happy and hope that you get a chance to enjoy it during your stay here,
or if you live here, in the moments you can steal away from this busy high season.
Traffic has never been his heavy in the almost 8 years I’ve been living here and I don’t
think it will let up any time soon. Easter is almost upon us, but I don’t think that the
traffic will stop it. Lakeside seems to be rising on the fortune of Lake Chapala and the
misfortunes in other parts of the world. We expect to see many changes over the next
several years: let’s make them possible and positive.
Finally, to all the Snow Birds out there, you can read the LCR over the internet. When
you are back at your home, whether in Ontario or Seattle, and feeling nostalgic about
Lakeside, go to lakechapalareview.net. You can read the Review and catch up on much
of what is going on down here, and at the same time, remember the warmth both of the
weather and of the people.