Dawn & Gordon's last day

We did climb up the mountain on Friday morning. We went early enough that it was still cool. We drove up to the end of the residential area and the beginning of the path up the mountain. We took our time so that no one got very tired and it still took only about 25 minutes. The views as we went up and at the shrine were great as it was a clear, sunny day. It was well worth the climb up.

About a week ago, Matthew called to ask if we were alright as he had heard that there was a bad storm and flooding. We were fine and said that there was nothing here. However, when the weekly newspaper came, it turns out that on Sept. 19th, the day that Gordon and Dawn arrived, there was a huge storm in Guadalajara with lots of flooding and damage, although no deaths. During that night here in Ajijic there was rain, but not that heavy and certainly no damage.

The water level in the lake is still rising. It is to the top of the wall in the waterfront park and they are piling sandbags 3 feet on top of the wall so that they can pump out the park, which is completely flooded now. Many places along the lake shore, people bagan to move farther out and build where the lake had receeded. Now they are getting flooded out.

Today is Dawn and Gordon’s last day in Ajijic as they must get up and leave for the airport at about 4:30 a.m. It was also Gordon’s 65th birthday. He is now officially a senior citizen. We walked around Ajijic for a while, including down to lake, and had a cappucino at the LCS. We then got into the car to go to San Juan Cosalá. We intended to go to the Spa restaurant up on the mountain, but it is not open on Monday. Instead, we went back to Reuben’s Grill at the other spa. This time we looked around. It is a hugeestablishment with many motel like rooms and 6-8 pools. This is the spa that most Mexicans go to and the prices are very inexpensive compared to the upscale spa on the mountain. The pools seemed to have warm, rather than hot water. There was a sign on one pool saying that the temp. was up to 41 C and that people should stay no longer than 15 minutes, but it was only warm to the touch. The food and service at Reuben’s was as good as when we were there before. Reuben and the staff even sang ‘Happy birthday’ for Gordon. Actually, they first sang a Mexican birthday song, before doing the one we know at the end.

BTW, notice the name above, San Juan Cosalá. There are quite a few towns around that have a saint’s name followed by another. It turns out that some time, I think in the 18th C, a fanatic Catholic prelate was sent over to Mexico and considered that the Indian population were still far too pagan in spite of being nominal Catholics. He brought the Inquisition and a lot of persecution and was trying to stamp out as much of indigenous culture as he could. A lot of towns were renamed with saints’ names being tacked on the front. The town next to us is San Antonio Tlayacapan.