Travels In Mexico: Mellow Days

Sunday....a day of rest....especially in Mexico.

The world seems to stop...and everyone spends time with family, friends, paseando....relajeando.

Wild Greens: Mizuna, Swiss Chard and Lamb's Quarter

We've been harvesting and finding wild food during our travels. These greens yielded a beautiful saute which our bodies crave.

First Harvest - Zucchini

Our lote's first harvest...these humongous zucchini...which I will turn into Zucchini Bread (once I figure out differences in elevation, degrees Fahrenheit v.s. Centigrade, my new oven).

Life is amazing....just when you think you've figured out your environment, you run into a place like the Historic Archives of Chapala, which sat on the same corner all this time and which I had not noticed until recently.

Historic Archives of Chapala: this nineteenth century building served as the Mayor´s office until 1998. Today it houses the Municipal Historic Archives, founded by the initiative of Professor Armando Hermosillo. It is one of the richest archives in documents in Jalisco.

Historic Archive Entrance

Archive Work Never Ends

Seal: City of Chapala

(Notice the chapulin - grasshopper, fishing nets, small ceremonial ceramic vessel

holding an Ojo de Dios)

Harmony of Elements: Sun, Earth, Water, Wind

Professor Armando Hermosillo, Founder

On Sundays, the town takes to the shore....relaxing, playing, exploring.

Our local balloon animal-makin' payaso

Local enjoying one of life's simple pleasures - elote with limon, sal y chile!

People of the 3rd Age

Sunday in the park with Jorge

Smiling local with fountain

Ice Cream Sunday

Happy local on the Malecon

Escaleras

We live in Mexico’s western mountain range, the Sierra Madre Occidentál. And as a result are surrounded by beautiful elevation changes throughout Chapala, which afford us vistas and stairways such as this one. The bird's eye view apartment at the top of the stairs is an artist studio...one I wish I had for my painting.

Music in the parque

More Nieve!

3 Hombres: 2 working, one not

Our vendors come in all shapes and sizes. Here a strolling, blind songstress

gifts us with her melody.

In Mexico, all ages play together...well

Our lovely Ribera

Lago Sunset

Sunsets here are magical...the light changes...ultra violets take center stage

and the mood slows a bit...yet left with plenty of life for the day is not done.

Anticipation

Strolling local

JOCOTEPEC

Las Olas

Being market day in Jocotepec, we ventured out to score some locally grown food. The mercado yielded freshly grown and harvested corn, tomatoes, onions, garlic, avocados. We also stocked up on much needed grains: lentils, frijoles, avena. And to top it off we also found small fish for our lot's rain catchment system.

Ensalada

Our shopping done and eyes sated, we headed back to Chapala. On the way one HAS to travel through San Juan Cosala and pass the seafood restaurant row there. And as is usually the case, one HAS to stop at one of the many, delicious eateries for comida...which we gladly did.

We chose Las Olas.

Aside from resting your dogs and having breathtaking views of the lake, you were also treated to a cornucopia of food choices. We ordered guacamole, green salads to start and Shrimp Stuffed Chile Rellenos and Stuffed Lenguado for our entrees.

Shrimp Stuffed Lenguado (fish)

The presentation was only second to the taste!

MEZCALA

Ivan

I had been itching to get back to Mezcala, to work on my friend Santiago's farm. It is harvest time so Santiago, his son Ivan and I headed east to their lake front rancho. The journey is filled with spectacular vistas, rivaling those of the French Riviera or Malibu coastline.

Cohuetes

We arrived in Mezcala at the end of their Fiestas Patronales and the rockets/cohuetes were still being launched and heard throughout the area, creating smoke clouds. Santiago said the local lore believed rockets kept the rains away....something that we definitely did not want to occur...

we need the rain for our crops.

Fco. preparing for the day's work

Ejotes - harvest for the day

Butter Nut Squash

Ivan with his catch

I told Ivan that Brad needed some small fish for our rain catchment container at the lote. Immediately Ivan was on the job...and managed to hand catch a baby Tilapia, which he deposited in a plastic bottle.

Santiago and his bounty

LOTE

Growin'

Our plants are happy, relatively pest free (knock on my head) and growing!

We've arranged to have the fencing completed around the property so that cows and horses don't wander in and eat all of the food.

Beauty abounds

Sexy squash

Our lot uses rain water which we also catch/harvest during this time of year. One of the challenges was to keep the mosquito larvae in check...so we found that adding fish to the water supply accomplishes this task efficiently.

Fingerlings