Pueblo Magico Again?

[CHILLIN]

Your honor, the gnasty gnome is up to his continous disruptive nonsense again. Changing the tone of this forum, his specialty.

[happyjillin]

51 minutes ago, CHILLIN said:

Your honor, the gnasty gnome is up to his continous disruptive nonsense again. Changing the tone of this forum, his specialty.

I believe that you're the champion of that, self admitted look alike to Randy of trailer park boys and perhaps the persona of that character-eh senor chillin, oh saintly one!

[moderator-2]

Creative and entertaining though it is, please knock off the personal sniping and stick to the topic.

Gracias!

 

[mexijims1]

I think most of  us who have lived here a while will live to regret this Pueblo Magico designation.  Our streets are already overcrowded with traffic and people, without any real infrastructure improvements possible to make the situation any better, (unless you just ride a bicycle).

Then you have organizations like AMAR (Asociacion Mexicana de Asistencia de Retiro) who are already advertising this designation and telling Expats to retire here. 

We need a Pueblo Magico designation for Ajijic like a whole in our heads!  We will regret it!  More illogical decisions made without thinking of the consequences of quality of life for those of us here !!  

This is very sad !

 

[Whipstock]

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.

Yogi Berra

[Ian Greenwood]

Mexi? .... Perhaps it may just help the local restaurants , artisans and retail stores etc .etc .  as they have suffered so much this past year instead of thinking of your temporary traffic problems,,, in case you haven’t noticed the restaurants , villages streets , the plaza , malecon etc are pretty much deserted . ..it’s not just about you .

 

[#HarryB]

Is it possible that this designation will be able to focus the gov on the issues of the village and the committee will try to address them?

[bmh]

I believe the center maybe affeced but I doubt that our live will change much. If the retaurants get more crowded good for the people who make a livng there,  As Harry it will put a focus on the village and will put pressure on the governemnt to up keep the place better so all in all it will be a plus for the residents not a minus..

[bmh]

I lve in an Cristobal de las Casas , another pueblo magico and I am not affected by it status down there so I do not believe we will be affected negatively here.. Ok it may get more crowded in some areas.. We are already getting too crowded, better by people who go through than by more fracc that are way more taxing on the infrastructure. Of coure the way it is now , I am afraid we will get both..

[mexijims1]

How bad is your traffic in Cristobal de las Casas ??

Ajijic's is pretty bad and gets worse by the month.  I also bet you are not inundated with Guadalajara traffic every weekend as we are !  

Sure we need to care about small businesses and restaurants.   Get rid of Covid and those will be fine !   Wear a mask, social distance and hope for a vaccine here soon ! 

I also doubt you will get the money for infrastructure improvements like previous Pueblo Magicos.   Besides, now that you are improving the ciclopista, which is needed due to high gasoline prices for the average Mexican,  there is no way to improve on the two lane carretera.   Therein lies your problem. 

 

   

[#HarryB]

I grew up in and lived most of my life in a seasonal tourist area. I have seen changes good and bad before. The question is how to influence the reaction to them!

 

[Mainecoons]

With our Oaxaca family we visited San Cristobal several years ago.  None of us were impressed.  A small area in the historic center is nice but walking just a few blocks we found it to be dirty, badly rundown and covered in graffiti.  None of us found it to be magico at all.

I wouldn't expect the limited funds available to this program to have much impact here at all.  The basic problem in Ajijic of lack of basic services of street and malecon maintenance, which had grown steadily worse over the 12 years we've been here are not going to see much if any improvement as a result of this designation IMO.

 

[AlanMexicali]

Were not all malecones in Lakeside  completely redone about 3 or 4 administrations ago by borrowing millions of pesos from the federal government?

 

[Mainecoons]

29 minutes ago, AlanMexicali said:

Were not all malecones in Lakeside  completely redone about 3 pr 4 administrations ago by borrowing millions of pesos from the federal government?

 

They still need maintenance.  It was necessary in Ajijic for concerned citizens to raise money to repair rotting benches and bridges in the last several years.  I know of no similar effort needed for the Malecons of other lakeside towns.

[#HarryB]

My wife walks the malecon in Ajijic and is impressed with the cleaning work of the gardeners.

When you say other communities don't contribute to village repairs , how do you know? I know of towns building schools, skate parks and playgrounds...

The Delegado Juan Ramon works with the men himself every tuesday to clean an area in the village. The SIMAPA office is responsible for cobblestone repair and has a crew working on it any days when water pipe repair isn't needed.

Could more be done, sure. 

[AngusMactavish]

20 minutes ago, #HarryB said:

Could more be done, sure. 

Could less complaining be done, sure. 

[Mainecoons]

23 minutes ago, #HarryB said:

My wife walks the malecon in Ajijic and is impressed with the cleaning work of the gardeners.

When you say other communities don't contribute to village repairs , how do you know? I know of towns building schools, skate parks and playgrounds...

The Delegado Juan Ramon works with the men himself every tuesday to clean an area in the village. The SIMAPA office is responsible for cobblestone repair and has a crew working on it any days when water pipe repair isn't needed.

Could more be done, sure. 

Can you cite an example where a citizen group got together and raised money for basic repairs and maintenance of another Malecon here?  I've seen no reports here or anywhere else of any other than what people in Ajijic did.

I can easily count 20 major pot holes in a 2 block radius of my house.  Be glad to take you on a walk to see same.

 

  

 

[bmh]

16 hours ago, mexijims1 said:

How bad is your traffic in Cristobal de las Casas ??

Ajijic's is pretty bad and gets worse by the month.  I also bet you are not inundated with Guadalajara traffic every weekend as we are !  

Sure we need to care about small businesses and restaurants.   Get rid of Covid and those will be fine !   Wear a mask, social distance and hope for a vaccine here soon ! 

I also doubt you will get the money for infrastructure improvements like previous Pueblo Magicos.   Besides, now that you are improving the ciclopista, which is needed due to high gasoline prices for the average Mexican,  there is no way to improve on the two lane carretera.   Therein lies your problem. 

 

   

The traffic s very bad in the center, the town is very old and there is no easy way to cross town  so you have gridlock in the center. You can walk faster in the center than drive and then there is very little parking.. I walk everywhere there and sometimes take a cab back through back streets. One plus the cabs are 35 pesos to go anywhere n town so t s cheap to hop n a cab to go wherever you want to go. THe cabs make their living from the locals not the tourits.. there.

Ajijic i not pretty bad except for the bad garbage pick up and dicipline.. Many Mexicans come here and love it.. Yes roads and idewalks need attention but that is the case in many other towns , we are in Mexico and that is the way it is.

Mainecoon , you and Zeny may not have been impressed but many people love the town... and it is a pueblo magico like it or not. 

[Bisbee Gal]

We loved our trip to San Cristobal.  Beautiful cathedral and other churches including the hike up the many steps to the Guadalupe church.  Interesting Amber Museum.  Lots of pedestrian-only streets.  We saw no American tourists, mostly young EU backpackers which may in some way account for the number of Italian eateries, with a lot of budget friendly pizzerias. 

One of the best artisan markets with crafts not seen elsewhere.

Side trips to the Mayan villages of San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán were fascinating.  

[bmh]

It is a fun area to visit with lots of natural beauty in the State,, The town is a throw back in the past and fun to visit, It has not been gentrified like Antigua or San Miguel  yet.. It can be a little anarchist but always fun, full of young people  having a good time.. It is not the town for older stuffy expats but it can be enjoyed for its historical monuments . for the nice day trips and for its exotic culture. It is a town for the young at heart, not for everyone..

[#HarryB]

Perhaps malecons are not a priority for the local mexicans? the people of Poncitlan built the skate park there. The people of San Nicholas built the elementary school.

If you want to influence the potholes , convince the No Cemento people to come up with a viable alternative. No cemento means no adoquin even though there are two excellent examples of it in Ajijic.  Perhaps the PM committee can ban large beer, soda and propane trucks on the cobblestones. You complain ad nauseum on here about it. But, have you ever visited the Director of Simapa who is responsible or the regidor? How many years have you lived here!

[Mainecoons]

22 minutes ago, #HarryB said:

Perhaps malecons are not a priority for the local mexicans? the people of Poncitlan built the skate park there. The people of San Nicholas built the elementary school.

If you want to influence the potholes , convince the No Cemento people to come up with a viable alternative. No cemento means no adoquin even though there are two excellent examples of it in Ajijic.  Perhaps the PM committee can ban large beer, soda and propane trucks on the cobblestones. You complain ad nauseum on here about it. But, have you ever visited the Director of Simapa who is responsible or the regidor? How many years have you lived here!

I've lived here 12 years.  For at least half that time SIMAPA managed to keep the potholes pretty well repaired.  Same size propane trucks now as back then, ditto for the delivery trucks. 

Difference is they put a lot more effort and were organized about pothole repair.  

Malecons seem to be a priority in Chapala, the town that is far more Mexican than Ajijic.  You moved out of Ajijic to a fracc, on the west side, maybe you aren't as aware of things here as you used to be.

If you really don't think the "management" is aware of the proliferation of potholes in Ajijc, Harry, I have some ocean front land just outside of Phoenix I'll sell you for a big discount.   

 

[happyjillin]

36 minutes ago, Mainecoons said:

I've lived here 12 years.  For at least half that time SIMAPA managed to keep the potholes pretty well repaired.  Same size propane trucks now as back then, ditto for the delivery trucks. 

Difference is they put a lot more effort and were organized about pothole repair.  

Malecons seem to be a priority in Chapala, the town that is far more Mexican than Ajijic.  You moved out of Ajijic to a fracc, on the west side, maybe you aren't as aware of things here as you used to be.

If you really don't think the "management" is aware of the proliferation of potholes in Ajijc, Harry, I have some ocean front land just outside of Phoenix I'll sell you for a big discount.   

 

jaja! thingie

[bmh]

well there is a whole lot more traffic now than 12 years ago o more wear and tear.. They used to have a team of people coming out after heavy rains and they would fix the road.. do not know what happened, they do not do that anymore..

[Out1]

Now that a Mexican won an F1 race there are a few motocross racers practicing on the malecon tonight. I can't remember the last time I saw any police presence at the park or on the malecon in Ajijic. Yup, a real magical village.