Michael McLaughlin warns us of the upcoming “Carmaged

By Michael McLaughlin

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

‘Til it’s gone

They paved paradise

Put up a parking lot —Joni Mitchell

The biggest threat to our little fishing village way of life is not the cartels, break-ins or plagues. It is the automobile. Now, the bad news— and don’t kill the messenger—there is nothing we can do to stop this. AND, don’t hate me for saying this, but all the Mexicans Lakeside cannot have cars and all the expats cannot have two or three cars. Can you imagine a Lakeside with 5,000 more cars on a daily basis? You can? No, you think you can.

Cars are choking the good life out of Ajijic. On any given day traffic is backed up . . . well, I don’t need to tell you. Just try finding a parking space in the village at 11 a.m. in high season, or on weekends when the tapatios roll in from Guadalajara.

What can be done to mitigate our traffic problem? Nothing, but let’s put on our civil engineering thinking caps and look at the discounted solutions to all this traffic:

Let’s build a causeway out over the lake around the city? This proposal is—how do they say?—DOA, and we all know why. No one wants to look across the lake and see a concrete causeway.

Let’s build a tunnel under the existing road. One word on that idea: WATER.

Let’s build a bypass above the city in the mountains. That won’t work either because of land issues and the NIMBY (not in my backyard) of the people living up there. And, NO, you cannot use existing streets that wind through the neighborhoods unless you can condemn houses and widen the existing streets.

Let’s just widen the road through town and make it into a four-lane road? Again, you would have to use Mexican “eminent domain” to bulldoze through town. It would take money, as in BIG money to build a wider road through town, or around town, or above town, or underneath town.

How about a light rail system from Chapala to Jocotepec? That concept is way too progressive for Mexico.

How about these solutions:

Alternate days of driving depending on your license plate? This is similar to what Mexico City does. Understand, the business interests run the town and will not go for ANY PROPOSAL that limits the amount of people coming into Ajijic. They want wall-to-wall customers. The realtors will moan that their agents won’t be able to drive their cars every day and it will hurt business. (The real estate business is the largest employer of expats and another powerful force in town.) The sick people here—we have many—will ask for an exemption because they have to drive their spouse to the doctors and if they can’t drive, the person will die. The handicapped will say they cannot walk far and their car is their only way to an independent life and they can’t afford taxis. The Mexicans who are involved in construction trades (one of the biggest Mexican employers) need their trucks for their business every day and will either get an exemption or just ignore the law.

How about we limit norte americanos to one car? Make me laugh. Again some of these people who own two cars will use their “old people’s card” to nix that idea.

What about parking?!

One thing we can do, and it is only a symbol, is to eliminate the quaint Mexican custom of putting out chairs or buckets next to the curbs to “save” parking spaces. That really doesn’t do much but it is a symbol. Also, we could increase parking space in Ajijic by towing away “memorial” vehicles that have flat tires and a heavy coat of dust and have not been moved this century.

We could put parking meters on Ajijic streets. Right. Make me laugh.

The Chapala government could impose a tax on households with more than one car. Think that will work? No, Señor.

Prediction: As the traffic continues to multiply, the only feeble attempt will be traffic cops in the streets, especially on weekends, to move traffic through town. I predict (not hard to do) one day there will be traffic gridlock and a lineup of cars from the libramiento to Colon to the west and bumper-to-bumper traffic from Colon to the fish restaurants in San Juan Cosala. What? There is already?

So, we are back to the inevitable. The car traffic will increase and increase and especially on weekends until we reach traffic carmageddon. It is coming and there is not a thing you can do to stop it.

All suggestions for a realistic solution can be mailed to this publication. The answer is out there someplace, probably stuck in traffic.

Michael McLaughlin

Vying For The Needle

The race is on! Our salvation, inoculation with the COVID-19 vaccine, has finally come. After ten months of quarantine, one of the weirdest chapters in my life, there is hope for a future.

Of course, it has become political. Damn politics, inserting itself in every breath we take. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determined the rank order of who they thought should get the vaccine first. There were physicians, ethicists, and heaven knows which other specialists who met and hammered out a recommendation. They gave it to the states and surprise, surprise, the states changed the criteria.

Now, I have to say, I benefitted with the state change in Texas, so I am not railing against this interference with common sense. Doctors, nurses, and other front liners were supposed to receive the shot first. Hospitals were allocated the doses. Next would be the l(b) phase comprised of those sixty-four and older and those with high-risk conditions.

The city directed users to an interactive map showing fifteen locations in my area offering the desired serum. I began trying to get in to one of them. One site was a dermatological clinic (go figure). They assured me my category was up for scheduling, but I was not a patient of theirs and existing patients had priority. I was added to a wait list.

I rushed to enter other sites. I was on hold once for fifteen minutes and didn’t advance one position in that queue. Two sites were still inoculating front liners. I wait listed again. After two hours, and development of a fierce headache, I gave up.

The plot makes a jog here. I woke the next morning to an interesting text. A knowledgeable, streetwise friend sent me a link to schedule the shot. I have been online shopping for groceries, meals and holiday gifts for ten months. I have become masterful at working sites and understanding the importance of timing.

I hopped on that site like a rabid bat seeking a host. The site was complex, and the required data had me sprinting all over our condo looking for critical numbers on insurance accounts. Nomenclature of what was required did not match what was on cards, so I played roulette, guessing what the system needed. Critical health questions were answered as fast as I could type. I was doing this in early morning darkness, as other citizens slept soundly in their beds.

When I told my husband I had an appointment, he begged me to run a second heat and get him one. He doesn’t have my practice with navigating these systems, so I obliged him and got him in too. We were euphoric as we printed our confirmations.

Katina Pontikes

—MUSIC TRANSFORMS

By Rob Mohr

“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” Leonard Bernstein

When I was a child my uncle John Edmond MacQueen, a Davidson graduate, played Opera every

evening. The tragedy of Puccini’s La Boehme haunted, and the simplicity of Verdi’s La Traviata lifted my spirit. My uncle loved them all and ensured that my mind would be filled with the power of their sounds. Later, Bach’s simple melodies enchanted me, and nurtured my creative instincts. Music transforms and fortifies my humanity.

Artists, from the Paleolithic period until today, have risen above social norms to create worlds of sound, visual masterpieces, literature that opens vistas, and dramas that feed the human soul. I have recently added Quantum scientists to this creative family. Artists and Scientists collectively sift through the sand of the earth for flakes of gold. Their music, paintings, sculptures, stories, and interpretations of reality are imbued with the power to enchant, and through ritual performance transform us and bring into being spiritual formations never before imagined.

They are the true sorcerers of the earth.

“Artists, as anti-world, sorcerer, creator of myths and images far removed from reality … challenge human minds and hearts.”

Felipe Padilla de Leon

Quantum physicists have recently discovered that music uniquely effects the basic mechanism of our minds and bodies. More astounding, their research indicates that the universe is sustained by musical harmonic vibrations. The universal soul, of which we are a part, is structured according to the geometry of these musical tones. The information imparted guides and informs matter (including all life forms), energy, space, and time. Art and science have a universal connection.

Music is the language of creation.

Harmonic waves (musical tones), connect via an intrinsic cosmic energy exchange with field-receptive entities (like the human mind and body). This exchange integrates the past and anticipated future events, and enables rapid brain response to stimuli. We, via this spiritual exchange, are informed subconsciously. This vital musical connection links humans (and all living beings) with cosmic information which enables evolution, consciousness, intuition, providence, serendipity, extra-sensory perception, and qualia. Reception and recognition of this information forms the complementary unit we perceive as reality.

Artists, connected through all of the above modalities, assemble previously unknown creative works that point to new worlds of understanding.

Music, which humanity creates, the sound, beat, rhyme, and meter, is also causative in the development of human consciousness. Throughout human history the sound of the human voice, through both music and rhythmic poetry has lifted our humanity. Mothers sing to their babies to put them at peace, but the impact on the baby’s awareness is much greater. In all human societies, from our Paleolithic beginnings, to the piano concertos played by Murray Perahia, music conveyed by the human voice and instruments, has been a core element of human communication and culture.

Embed ritual music is also a component in a trans-formative process which is central in spiritual encounters during human religious and secular ceremonies. The ritual beat of music brings order to human life. Music is spiritually engaging and amplifies the flourishing of life, while proclaiming hidden tones of meaning which enriches our existence. It enables the evolution of human understanding and liberates us from the restraints of our egocentric cravings.

We humans melt into tears when we hear the soaring sounds of primitive pan pipes. We are lifted into the heavenly realms, when we hear Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. In every arena of life, the arts, collectively, offer a creative doorway into our human soul. The arts exist on the cutting edge of an evolutionary process that pulls us into new and yet unknown futures.

I give thanks for the plenitude of musical and art offerings we have here at Lakeside. They enable our renewal.

Words Of Thanks To The Ojo

Rob Mohr

For many years my columns in the Ojo del Lago, Focus on Art and Mirror to the Universe, have been an essential part of my life in Mexico. My February 2021 column will be my last offering of Mirror to the Universe. My hope is that in the future I will be able to write an occasional poem or story for publication. To my readers I am very thankful for your encouragement.

The Ojo del Lago has consistently given me a creative outlet and a unique opportunity to explore life, and the arts at Lakeside. I have gained great respect for the many talented writers and artists who have shared their art and interest in each publication of the Ojo.

Alejandro Grattan, Editor Emeritus, (Alex) wisely cultivated a cadre of writers through the twice monthly Ajijic Writers’ group which met in the patio of La Nueva Posada. His critiquing skills, experience as a published writer, and intuitive wit offered important insights which helped those new to writing grow and mature. He ensured that each issue of the Ojo del Lago had a stimulating mix of articles, stories and poems. My friendship with Alex continues to be a personal grace.

Victoria Schmidt, the current Editor, brings her organizational skills to bear, and is doing a excellent job encouraging writers and guiding the literary and art content of each issue.

Richard Tingen the founder, and David Tingen the Publisher, have enabled and administered the Ojo del Lago with wisdom, and consistent encouragement for their writers. Under their guidance the Ojo has provided an important forum for the writers and artists at Lakeside.

Richard and I became friends through our shared interests in the arts. His support for Focus on Art gave me an opportunity to develop lasting friendships with many of the fine artists at Lakeside. My interactions with these artists has been a high point in my life.

The staff of the Ojo del Lago have been consistently helpful in working through the details of every publication. Sally Asante has recently been doing the thankless work of proofing each issue. Roberto Rojas, ‘mi tocayo’ has consistently done an excellent job pulling the advertisements and creative works together within each issue. And, Diana Morales has given him essential support. For communication Rosy Madrigal has been outstanding and wonderful to work with.

My sincere thanks to you all. Rob Mohr

Rob Mohr