Mainecoons

Interestingly rode motos in that valley on the other side of the mountain from San Juan Cosala and it has obviously been very wet up in there. Puddles everywhere and the corn was quite tall and looked great. Also, although the area is well below normal this year, the lake is higher than last year and still going up. Again riding east and south of here it has been quite wet there and that is the lake's primary watershed area. Last night was more like one of those June/July downpours than we normally see in late September. They are still predicting rain well into October this year.

GREAT posts Harry!

If the government is going to attract hordes of tourists here the local government should, as it used to, do street cleaning in the areas where they frequent. And the multitudes of gaping potholes in Ajijic are NOT the responsibilities of the citizens. These also used to be repaired regularly. Under the thankfully outgoing regime, both of these services disappeared. At the end, no doubt realizing they were going to be voted out they came up with this last minute bike path to nowhere. That, along with over 2.5 years of the trash mess, was pretty much their "legacy" as far as this town is concerned. Lots of nice new streets and sidewalks in Chapala however, paid for by all of us including the even more grossly neglected taxpayers of Riberas. And let us not forget the 50 percent increase in the city hall payroll reported on by the GDL Reporter. We should all be very thankful to our Mexican neighbors who clearly had their fill of the graft and ineptitude of this government and voted for reform more than two to one against the incumbent. Now we have reform minded government in Jalisco and hopefully here as well so maybe we'll see better days. For starters, the last three years should be audited top to bottom and maybe some diverted funds recovered. In any case, things couldn't go much further downhill outside of Chapala in this municipio so there is at least some hope. For certain, If the level of tourism here continues to increase in the face of these dismal services, I cannot imagine what we'll be living in a few years for now. It is sad to visit other local tourist towns like Tapalpa and Mazamitla and see towns with the same heavy tourism manage to keep their streets clean and in good repair and their public spaces and benches well maintained. Heck, I just got back from another long moto tour and didn't see any town, tourist or not, as dirty and pot hole filled as Ajijic is these days. It truly deserves the moniker of "Pueblo Trashico." ☹️

Put mosquito repellent on before you go.

We had a lot more dust than this when we lived in Albuquerque New Mexico.

Went over there (Zaragoza) on Wednesday 11AM people standing around in front, no sign of the testing people. What a royal pain in the butt to be stuck with so few options for getting this done short of slogging into GDL.

When have you all found to be the best time to go there? Morning or afternoon? Midweek?

Actually why not in the centros of all our lakeside towns? https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/paradise-life-spanish-city-banned-cars-pontevedra

Thanks!

Huh???? Posted in the wrong place?

El Gordo is probably looking for more virgin territory now that most of the locals closer to Chapala are on to him. Speaks volumes about the Chapala government he's still around doesn't it? Corruptos spawn and protect corruptos.

Best and only real RV Park in the north lakeside area is Roca Azul, just south of Jocotepec. I understand there is also one on the south side of the lake but don't know much about it. Definitely use toll roads, expensive but the wear and tear on your rig from the mainly poor free roads will make the cuotas worth the price. You did not say from which border crossing you are coming, post that and I'll give you some routing ideas. Easiest is from Arizona, shortest is from south Texas. We used to drive a 36' Country Coach DP. We kept it in Texas for 5 years after moving here but finally decided since we would only want to use it here at the beach it was not worth keeping. Ironically we sold it to a Mexican couple from Tepic, friends of friends, who use it at the beach. We still miss driving it and "camping" in the U.S. and Canada. Mexico in general and Lakeside in particular is not very wheelchair friendly. Very few sidewalks are wide enough or in sufficient condition to facilitate their use. Of the towns here, Chapala is the most wheelchair accessible but I know of no RV parking there. RVing is just not well developed in Mexico and what there is mainly focuses on the beaches. Before fuel got really expensive a fair number of folks would bring their RVs to the beach towns from PV south to Manzanillo.

We've found several here whose reviews seem to reflect our own tastes well so we pay close attention to their posts. Also if a place gets a significant negative response we've generally found it not worth a return visit if we go at all. Trip Advisor seems to have more than its share of starry eyed reviewers so we generally don't consult it. In this group Gringal is our favorite reviewer. Thanks Gringal!

So today is not a legal holiday?

It is suggested the three most traumatic events in life are death, divorce and moving. Thus far we've avoided the first two and we avoid the third by owning. We probably could have made a better choice and spent less but having watch a number of people we know who rent long term have to move up to 3 times in 11 years we are grateful we haven't had to move since arrival and hopefully never again. If you are a renter and have managed to find a suitable, stable and affordable long term rental you are the lucky one.