El Ojo del Lago - February 2020

Saw you in the Ojo

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Saw you in the Ojo

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 DIRE C TOR Y  PUBLISHER Richard Tingen

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alejandro Grattan-Domínguez Tel: (01376) 765 3676, 765 2877 Fax: (01376) 765 3528 Associate Publisher David Tingen Graphic Design Roberto C. Rojas Reyes Diana Parra Morales

Index...

FEATURE ARTICLES

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COVER STORY

Shep Lenchek takes another look at some of the more prevalent ideas concerning the Spanish Conquest of Mexico—and thinks that more than a few of them are in need of serious re-evaluation.

The School for Special Children in Jocotepec announces that one of their fund-raising ideas this year is to have an event which showcases Mexican Talent.

Associate Editor Victoria Schmidt Theater Critic Michael Warren

16 FAMOUS AUTHORS Robert James Taylor, a Brit by birth, fondly looks back at Jane Austen, one of his country’s most illustrious novelists.

Book Review Panel Margaret Van Every Margaret Porter Clare Gearhart

Pag. 40 LAKESIDE LIVING

Sales Manager Bruce Fraser Carmene Berner Office Secretary Rocio Madrigal ADVERTISING OFFICE Av. Hidalgo # 223, Chapala Mon. thru Fri. 9 am - 5 pm Sat. 9 am - 1 pm Tel. 01 (376) 765 2877, 765 3676 Fax 01 (376) 765 3528

20 BOOK REVIEW Alice Hathaway reviews Annette GordonReed’s The Hemingses of Monticello—An American Family.

COLUMNS THIS MONTH 6 EDITOR’S PAGE 12 JALTEPEC 14 BRIDGE BY LAKE 18 IF PETS COULD TALK 22 PROFILING TEPEHUA

36 POETRY

26 FRONT ROW CENTER

Martin Bojan entitles his poem Forever Young, which is bound to capture the attention of many of our readers.

28 WELCOME TO MEXICO

50 TRIVIA

40 LAKESIDE LIVING

Tom Nussbaum serves up some amusing trivia in remembering a Broadway musical called A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine. (What a title!)

56 MEXICAN GRACE

Send all correspondence, subscriptions or advertising to: El Ojo del Lago http://www.chapala.com elojodellago@gmail.com ojodellago@prodigy.net.mx Ave. Hidalgo 223 (or Apartado 279), 45900 Chapala, Jalisco Tels.: (376) 765 3676, Fax 765 3528 PRINTING: El Debate El Ojo del Lago aparece los primeros cinco días de cada mes. (Distributed over the first five days of each month) Certificado de Licitud de Título 3693 Certificado de Licitud de Contenido 3117.

Reserva al Título de Derechos de Autor 04-2011-103110024300-102 Control 14301.

Permisos otorgados por la Secretaría de Gobernación (EXP. 1/432 “88”/5651 de 2 de junio de 1993) y SEP (Reserva 171.94 control 14301) del 15 de enero de 1994.

Distribución: Hidalgo 223 Chapala, Jalisco, México.

All contents are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the written consent of El Ojo del Lago. Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publisher or the Editor, nor are we responsible for the claims made by our advertisers. We welcome letters, which should include name, address and telephone number.

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8 Cover by Jan McCusker

10 SPECIAL NEEDS

Special Events Editor Carol D. Bradley

Roving Correspondent Dr. Lorin Swinehart

COVER STORY

VOLUME 36 NUMBER 6

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

Saw you in the Ojo

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COLUMNIST

Editor’s Page

By Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez

Remembering the “World’s Greatest Athlete”

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is was a life right out of the Great American Success Story, but with more than a half-dozen unique twists, the first being that he came from a race that has been called “the first Americans.”

Born and raised near the Sac and Fox Indian reservation in Oklahoma, he would go on to attend Haskell College in Kansas, the first Indian college financed by the federal government—a belated act of generosity toward a race of Americans that had long been dealt a cruel and unforgiving hand. (It was not until 1924 that Congress would grant Native Americans the rights of U.S. citizenship.)

At Haskell, he would discover sports and his God-given ability would, in short order, bring him under the tutelage of the legendary coach Pop Warner, today remembered for making football America’s favorite sport among its young boys.

Soon, Haskell was playing much larger and far better—known colleges—and beating them. The young Indian was a one-man wrecking crew and before his second season had ended, he was considered the finest running back in the entire country. In time, he was also considered the finest all-around athlete, excelling in not only football but track and baseball, as well.

Toward the end of his senior year, he was hoping for a coaching job at a small college but lost out to a rival sports hero. Deeply disillusioned and thinking he had lost the job because of his Indian ancestry, his competitive spirit was revived only when “Pop” Warner told him of the upcoming 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.

Try-outs were being held all over America, and when the finals were announced, he had made the American team, qualifying for several events.

Later, in Stockholm, he would do well in those events and then, though exhausted, he entered two long-distant events, one of 5,000 meters, the other of 10,00 meters—and amazingly, won them both. At the closing ceremony, the King of Sweden, handing him his trophies, said,” Jim Thorpe, you are the greatest athlete in the entire world.”

But at the height of his fame and success, Lady Luck threw him a curveball. Seems that during his years at

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Haskell, he had played Class D baseball during one summer vacation for some seventy-five dollars a month plus room and board. That, in the unforgiving eyes of some had made him a professional—and he was ordered to give back his Olympic trophies. Then bad luck, as it sometimes does, hung around for an encore. In short order, Thorpe ‘s son died, his wife left him and toward the end he was, sadly, performing as a whooping Indian War Chief in a sleazy side-show in Los Angeles.

That year, 1936, Los Angeles was hosting the World Olympic Games and the story goes that “Pop” Warmer, Thorpe’s old friend and coach, happened to be in the city for the event. Tracking Thorpe down, he took him to the opening ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a moment that must have brought back bittersweet memories to the now middle-aged and badly dilapidated Jim Thorpe.

Very little is known of Thorpe’s last days. He died in 1953, having spent his final days living in a small trailer in Lomita, California. But the world has not forgotten him, and today his name is synonymous with excellence in the world of sport and few can argue that once upon a time, for a brief and unforgettable moment, he was truly “the greatest athlete in the entire world.”

PS: His story was revived in the 1950’s when Warner Bros. Studio made the excellent Jim Thorpe--AllAmerican, which starred Burt Lancaster, himself a terrific athlete and one of the very few actors who could have done justice to the role.

Alejandro GrattanDominguez

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THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO—Re-Examined

By Shep Lenchek (From the Ojo Archives)

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he high priests of the Aztecs were frantic. Their tribe had lived comfortably in what we now call the Valley of Mexico since 1325 and built a capital, Tenochtitlan, in Lake Texcoco. Because their myth of creation told that the sun had been still-born, moving only when offered a human heart, freshly torn from a living body, they needed daily sacrificial victims.

Only a constant supply of blood would postpone the final destruction of their world.

But in 1519, things were going wrong. For the past few years, there had been droughts, floods, frosts and famines. They had dragged thousands of humans up the 114 steps that led to the top of Tlaloc´s pyramid where their hearts, still beating, were offered to the God, hoping for a return to normal rain-

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fall and weather. It was all they knew how to do.

They also believed that their gods responded only to the organs of brave warriors, captured in battle. This dogma would prove fatal, for though they ruled an area that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it was not really a kingdom.

Each tribe simply paid tribute to the Aztec Emperor. Also, they deliberately refrained from subjugating some of their more war-like neighbors. They needed them for sacrificial material. Hatred of the Aztecs by the Tlaxcalans and Cempoalans would play an important role in the military defeat of the Aztecs.

Then news reached Tenochtitlan that the country had been invaded by white-skinned, long-haired, bearded people from the east. Was this the legendary Quetzalcoatl? A benevolent God/Emperor, he had ruled the Aztecs, then sailed off to the east. Legend had it that he would someday return. Reports also said that some of the invaders were super-natural: half-man, halfbeast. Arrows could not kill them.

Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico with armor-clad men, some mounted on the first horses the Aztecs had ever seen. History describes Cortes as the man who destroyed the Aztecs. Actually, he was but the catalyst. The Aztec Empire fell at the hands of those it had subjugated and abused.

The people themselves disappeared when disease, slavery and the total failure of the Spanish settlers to understand and protect the environment led to a population crash and finally extinction. Sailing from Cuba in February of 1519, Cortes had orders to reconnoiter, bring back gold and silver, liberate any Spanish prisoners the natives might hold, look for another Spanish explorer, Juan de Grijalva and

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

thereafter return to Cuba.

The plan to conquer Mexico, hatched by Cortes, was never approved by his superiors. First stop was Cozumel, where he did find Geronimo de Aguilar.

Shipwrecked, he had been a prisoner for two years and spoke the Mayan dialects. Then on to Tabasco where Cortes met some resistance, quickly overcome. Before he left he won over the Tabascans by showing them respect and treating them gently, though he had defeated them.

In return they gave him Marina, a woman of a noble Aztec family who understood the languages of the Mayans as well as the language of the Aztecs.

Called “La Malinche” by the Spaniards, she remained with Cortes, first as interpreter, then secretary, and finally mistress.

Bernal Diaz, a member of the expedition whose book, The Conquest of New Spain gives a complete eyewitness report of events, says that she was the most important gift Cortes ever received. She spoke no Spanish, so translated into Mayan. Then de Aquilar translated into Spanish. Soon, she learned Spanish and replaced de Aguilar completely.

Moving on to Vera Cruz, Cortes again met armed resistance but the combination of firearms, armor and fear-inspiring mounted men, enabled the Spaniards to defeat the Aztecs. Now Moctezuma himself intervened, sending envoys with gifts of gold and jewels, who begged the invaders to leave the country. This had an exactly opposite effect on the Spaniards. Now, with concrete evidence of the wealth of the Aztecs, they determined to move forward.

Had Moctezuma ordered an all-out attack on the invaders, the course of history might have changed. He could have raised an army that outnumbered the Spaniards by more than 1000 to one. Perhaps his indecision was based on the report of Quetzalcoatl´s return.

By the time Moctezuma made up his mind to resist, it was too late. Cortes had met the chiefs of Cempoalla who asked his aid against Moctezuma and promised to be his allies. Cortes accepted and started to convert them to Christianity.

Again, he consolidated his position by giving gifts and treating all with great respect. Secretly, he sent gifts to Moctezuma, declaring his friendship and asked permission to visit him. With his flank secured by his alliance with the Cempoallans, on August 16, 1519 Cortes moved toward the Aztec capital.

The expedition numbered 400 infantrymen, 15 cavalrymen and 6 canons, as well as 1300 Indian warriors, plus 200 other natives to carry equipment. He left behind 900 soldiers and four horsemen to insure the co-operation of the

Cempoallans and to guard against any forces sent from Cuba to stop him.

His first encounter with the Tlaxcalans resulted in battles but while defeating them, Cortes so impressed them that they now sought him as an ally against the hated Aztecs. When he left, Tlaxcala on Oct. 13th, 6000 Tlaxcalan warriors went with him. At the very same time, another unseen but even more deadly invader was moving toward Tenochtitlan: Smallpox.

On the 8th of Nov. 1519, he and his army entered the city peaceably, the guests of Moctezuma. What happened thereafter is also common knowledge.

However, on “The Sorrowful Night” of the 1st of July, 1520, the invaders fled, suffering heavy losses. If it had not been for the Tlaxcalan haven, none would have reached the coast alive.

The years of Tlaxcalan mistreatment by the Aztecs had doomed Tenochtitlan.

Cortes remained in the haven for five months and re-grouped.

By December, 1520, Cortes commanded 520 Spanish infantrymen, 40 horsemen, 9 cannons. He also had 150,000 Indian allies. Again they headed for Tenochtitlan, where a small-pox epidemic was raging. Cuitlahuac, who had succeeded Moctezuma as Emperor, died of the disease. The new ruler, Cuauhtemoc, resolved to defend the capital to the last man.

On August 13, 1521, after a 75-day siege, the city fell, almost totally destroyed. Perhaps as many as 150,000 Aztecs died, at least 40,000 from smallpox. Though held captive, the Aztecs were treated by Cortes with respect.

Cuauhtemoc was still regarded as the Aztec Emperor. Tenochtitlan was rebuilt. The end of the Aztec Empire came in February, 1525, when Cuauhtemoc was put to death.

But the final demise of the Aztecs did not come about from military action. Disease and slavery plus the Spanish settlers’ destruction of the environment by deforestation and overgrazing delivered the final blow. In 20 years, they turned once fertile fields into a wasteland. Loss of land on which to raise corn—the Aztec staple food, led to a population crash and extinction. Ultimately, they fell to the very forces of nature they had feared and sought to appease by offering thousands of human hearts.

By 1600, the Aztecs were extinct.

Many of the conditions that destroyed them burden Mexico today. Vast, once fertile areas are still desert. Corn production no longer meets demand. Perhaps we all must await the return of Quetzalcoatl.

Shep Lenchek

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THE SCHOOL FOR SPECIAL CHILDREN PRESENTS THE CHAPALA TALENT SHOW

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he Board for The School for Special Children in Jocotopec has been working diligently to raise much needed funds. Our organization, which owns the school, provides 100 special needs students a bus to take them to and from school, a hot meal, school supplies, help with special projects, maintenance of the school and its grounds, and paying all nonteaching staff.

One of our fundraising ideas this year was to have an event which would showcase Mexican Talent.

We began by auditioning talent for six shows. Shows have been held through November, December, and January, with one winner chosen from each show. The finale will feature these six finalists where one winner will receive the grand prize of 25,000 pesos.

We are excited to have contestants from Puerta Vallarta and Guadalajara, as well as from the lakeside area of Ajijic, Chapala and Jocotopec. Our judges are as follows: Mark Rome, owner of The Spotlight Club who has been booking cabaret acts in PV, Toronto and Lakeside for over 20 years: Michael Reason, an orchestral conductor who has worked all over the world including the Taipei Symphony, Mexico City Symphony and also Czech ​Symphony; and last,

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Collette Clavadetscher, current President of the Lakeside Little Theater who has directed many plays both here and in Switzerland.

We have completed five out of six shows and our goal has been to highlight as much variety of talent and ages as possible. From a 9 year old mariachi singer to a trio of musicians. Each contestant performs twice allowing the judges to see their wide range of stage presence and likeability.

Winners include: Victor Garcia, a brilliant violinist and composer. He is from Lakeside, but is known to classical musicians in Guadalajara as well.

Roy Cruz, a Freddie Mercury impersonator. Roy is from Guadalajara but studied at Northwestern University in Chicago and has a PhD in Performance.

Luis Sanchez from Guadalajara who placed 2​nd​last year in Mexico’s The Voice.

Yanen Saavedra, a singer songwriter who has performed all over Europe and is currently living and performing in Guadalajara.

A tie with Mariana Vigueras and Gibran Lopez, two amazing singers with completely different styles.

Our last show was held Sunday, January 26 at the Spotlight Club when our last finalist was chosen. We have recruited celebrity judges from Guadalajara and PV for the Grand Finale. During that show we plan to have a group from the School for Special Children open the show with a special song and dance. A reminder of why we do what we do and to showcase some of our amazing children.

Please join us for the Grand Finale SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16th, 7:00 p.m. at the Auditorio De La Ribera in La Floresta. All proceeds benefit The School for Special Children. Tickets are available at the Auditorio and the Spotlight Club. Middle Seats $350 pesos and Side Seats $300 pesos.

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Centro Educativo Jaltepec Transformando mujeres para la vida Transforming Women for Life

Our Annual Open House for the local community who are interested in learning more about Centro Educativo Jaltepec, the Tecnico Universitario en Hoteleria y Hospitalidad, (Technical University for Hotel and Hospitality) will take place on Monday, February 17th starting at 11:00 AM. Young women from all over Mexico strive to earn their Degree in Hoteleria that in turn will change their lives There will be a Presentation on the history of Jaltepec, the Academic Program and the Scholarship Program. Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be offered and the presentation will start at 11:00 AM followed by a tour of the facilities and a complimentary luncheon at 1:00 PM prepared and served by the stu- María Fernanda González Jiménez dents, demonstrating the high standards and quality of education they are receiving at Jaltepec.

Seating is limited to 60 guests. For information and reservations please contact Linda Buckthorp at buckthorplm@gmail.com or call her at 766-1631.

The Sinatra event hosted November 3rd by Linda Buckthorp, the Community Facilitator for Centro Educativo Jaltepec was another successful relaxed and entertaining Sunday afternoon. Bill Dingwall presented an enjoyable selection of recorded music featuring many of Frank’s favorites and the stories behind them.

Thanks to Patron Darryl Raymaker, Q.C. an avid Sinatra fan who flew in especially from Calgary, and Wine host Maestro Timothy G.R. Welch, all expenses were covered and $40,000.00 pesos were raised for the General Scholarship Fund to benefit the needier students of Jaltepec.

From left to right, Darryl Raymaker, QC, Linda Buckthorp & Bill Dingwall. Missing

is Timothy G.R. Welch who had to attend a dress rehearsal at the Bravo Theater.

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COLUMNIST

BRIDGE BY THE LAKE

By Ken Masson

When I was preparing to write this month’s column, Herself reminded me that I hadn’t featured one of her well-played hands lately, so this is an opportunity to redeem myself.

Among the things that make bridge so challenging is the wide variety of ways that are used to achieve our goals. Choosing the right method at the right time can often make the difference between success and failure. In the illustrated hand Herself sitting South dealt and opened the hand one club. I responded one diamond and she bid one spade which we play as forcing for one round, I had a simple rebid of 2 diamonds which was all Herself needed to jump to 3 no trump.

West led the nine of hearts, the unbid suit, and Herself paused to plan her play. It was obvious to her that the diamond suit would play an important roll in her success or failure. She also needed entries to cash diamonds once they have been set up. If she were to cover

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the opening lead with the king and East played low Herself would no longer be able to make the contract, first inclination from many players in the East position would be to cover the jack with the king but if East plays low, as he should, declarer would go down.

Armed with this analysis, Declarer won the opening lead in hand with the heart ace and ran the diamond jack which East ducked so Herself continued with the diamond 3 and was now sure to win 11 tricks But the sad fact is that many declarers would impulsively play the jack of hearts at trick one and after East played low, declarer then starts to think about how to play the hand. They would play in haste but repent at leisure.

I’m glad I was playing with the right partner that day!

Ken Masson

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The Legacy Of Jane Austen

By Robert James Taylor

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egarded as one of the greatest English authors of all time whose novels have been adapted for movies and TV no less than 40 times, and yet Jane Austen died in obscurity – 1817.

She was the supreme social satirist who possessed a sharp tongue, a caustic wit and a great sense of humor- and yet her name was unknown in her lifetime. Countless biographies written on her life and work abound, and yet so little is known about her- providence would leave little trace of her short life: she left no diary and most of the 2000 letters she wrote to her beloved elder sister, Cassandra, were burnt on her death. The only accepted real portrait of her, an unflattering water color painted by her sister, is all historians could use.

(Over the years more complimentary images of her have appeared on banknotes, stamps and publications.

And so why is Jane Austen one of the most celebrated authors, whose novels, written over 200 years ago, transcend time? Throughout her six great novels, written with both reverence and ridicule, her observational skills showed her keen appreciation of the absurdity of others- their pretentiousness, their affectation and their insecurities, which, to her credit, amused rather than annoyed her. A common theme throughout her novels is the importance of marriage. Romance is central- the pursuit of true love was often depicted with rejection, turmoil and heartbreak, but leaving the characters triumphant in the end. Family upheavals, unrequited love, social standing disparity, she lets the characters actions and their diction carry the story with both kindness and mischievous-

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ness.

The well spring of her writing was her attitude that comedy is ‘the saving grace of life’. Regarded as her greatest novel throughout the world is ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the irony of which is that she sold the copyright to a publisher for 110 pounds sterling- had she sold the book on a commission basis, common in those days, she would have made a profit of 500 pounds- twice her father’s annual income.

Here are some famous quotes, both from her (to her sister) and some from the characters in her novels.

“Selfishness must always be forgiven you know because there is no hope of a cure” “Vanity and pride are different things…..a person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would others think of us” “I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.”

“Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”

“Those who do not complain are never pitied.”

“Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken.”

“Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony.’”

Jane Austen, died on 1817, aged 42.

She lies in Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire. England. Her last two novels were published after her death, and the author, hitherto anonymous –written by ‘A Lady’- would now be known by her Robert James real name.

Taylor

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If Our Pets Could Talk

By Jackie Kellum

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hat food your pet eats is important to their well being. There are a whole variety of brands and kinds of pet food. It is important to be an educated consumer for your pet’s food, as you are about your own food. The FDA regulates U.S.A made pet food and it’s labeling. The most important thing you can do is read the food label. When deciding on a food, you need to keep in mind: your pet’s age, breed, weight, and health status before choosing a brand and/or diet.

Ingredient percentages are usually given, but you also have to consider the sources of them. The list of ingredients is presented in order of weight.

For example, if you see ‘real’ meat, poultry or fish as the first ingredient; it means that meat is the most abun-

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dant ingredient by weight in the total volume.

Being aware of new information about pet food in the news is also helpful. There has been a push by many pet food companies to sell their newest fad diet - grain free dog food.

Human and pet food companies alike are in the business of selling their products, and thrive on fads. There have been several relatively new official nutritional studies surrounding grain free dog food and an association relationship to Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). Talk with your Vet, and do some research yourself.

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

Reading the pet food labeling helps you to know what some of the ingredients they have listed are, and what they really mean. Some examples: By-products: (chicken / beef ) is clean non-rendered “parts”, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, may include lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, blood, bone, fatty tissue, stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. By-product meal: made of waste material left over after the parts for human consumption have been removed. They can contain things like feet, bones, heads, feathers, beaks, etc.! Chicken meal: only chicken muscle tissue, but the chicken source can be questionable. Generic byproduct meals do not identify the source of the ‘meat’ – AKA: Meat meal, Meat and bone meal, Meat by-product meal, or animal by-product meal. This generic title can contain: road kill, dead zoo animals, diseased and dying livestock, slaughter house waste, and euthanized pets from animal shelters.

Preservatives help keep your dog food fresh. Some preservatives such as tocopherols and ascorbic acid come from natural sources. But, avoid BHA and BHT as these preservatives have been banned in human foods in many countries due to increased cancer risks.

In researching and writing this article about pet food, I came across a very informative book on the subject. The book is titled: “Feed Your Pet Right”. It has two authors - Marion Nestle, a human nutrition expert who has a doctorate in molecular biology and a Master’s degree in public nutrition. The other author is Dr. Malden Neshein, an animal nutrition expert, a professor of nutrition emeritus at Cornell University who has a Doctorate in Nutrition and a Master’s in animal nutrition. They became interested in the pet food industry as a whole, the nutritional value of commercial pet food, it’s ingredients and their sources, and pet food company marketing, Their particular interest involved what dogs and cats eat and should eat to keep them at peak health for as long as they live, and what is and is not known about the best ways to feed our pets. I have no vested interest in mentioning this book, but think it offers a lot of helpful information on the subject of pet food, which is a big business and a big expense for pet owners.

Jackie Kellum

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The Hemingses Of Monticello

By Annette Gordon-Reed Book Review by Alice Hathaway

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he sub-title of THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO is “An American Family.” The first known member of that family was a young African woman who was impregnated while being transported to slavery in America in the 1730’s, She named the daughter she bore Elizabeth Hemings, using the name of the ship’s master, Captain Hemings, the white father of the child.

Elizabeth became the matriarch of a large family of Virginia slaves who became lighter-skinned with each generation fathered by white men. How they settled on Thomas Jefferson’s plantation and how the sons and daughters, half-brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles interacted in slave culture is a fascinating story told by Annette Gordon-Reed.

Elizabeth Hemings grew up on the plantation of John Wayles, rich owner of much land and many slaves. He was an Irish immigrant who married a Virginia woman with inherited property.

They had several children before her death, including an attractive daughter named Martha Wayles, who later met and married Thomas Jefferson, a prominent Virginia politician at the time. She brought along Elizabeth Hemings and her several small children fathered by Wales, when she moved to Monticello.

The children’s grandfather and their father were both white men whose genes gave the young slaves very light complexions. They received special status on Jefferson’s plantation, living in the immediate vicinity of the big house rather than in cabins near the fields.

The children were half-brothers and half -sisters of Martha Wayles Jefferson.

Jefferson was devastated when his wife died after bearing several of his offspring. When he was appointed by President George Washington to be Ambassador to France, he took one of his daughters and one of Elizabeth’s sons with him to Paris, leaving the younger children with their aunt. He placed Martha (named for her mother) in a Catholic boarding school in Switzerland, and apprenticed James Hemings to become a French Chef.

On later hearing that one of the children left behind had died, he sent

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for his other daughter to join him. He asked that she be chaperoned across the Atlantic by an older slave woman, but apparently the only slave available was just thirteen-year- old Sally Hemings.

The boat trip was long and hard for the nine-year- old child and the pretty teenager, but they eventually made it to Jefferson’s luxury hotel residence.

He sent his daughter to school with her big sister in Switzerland and kept Sally in Paris where she was delighted to be reacquainted with her older brother, James Hemings.

During the next five years, Sally enjoyed her Paris freedom while she did her master’s mending and handled his personal needs. Their relationship became closer and by the time they returned to Virginia Sally was pregnant.

He had promised that any children she bore would be free when they were adults. He intended to return to Paris, but President Washington persuaded Jefferson to become Secretary of State and come to Philadelphia. Sally remained at Monticello in her own living quarters and served him on his visits home.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written book about the many descendants of Thomas Jefferson and the two attractive half-sisters who partnered with him, although the genealogy of the clan was at times confusing. The interaction between slaves and free society in that era was particularly revealing.

Slaves were subjected to laws different from those of free men in spite of a line in the constitution that said “all men are created equal.”

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COLUMNIST

PROFILING TEPEHUA

By Moonyeen King

President of the Board for Tepehua

moonie1935@yahoo.com

N

eil Armstrong stepped onto the moon and said “That’s one small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind!”, Queen Elizabeth said in her 2019 Christmas speech “It is the small steps that make change, not the giant leap!”.

The Tepehua Team has been taking those ‘small steps’ for ten years now, trudging up Martin Luther King Jr.’s Mountain Top trying to reach equality. That will not come in our time, but we will get a wonderful view from the top. Perhaps if we take enough people with us, they will see the vision also.

Equality starts with small steps

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such as equal opportunity for pre/ postnatal care and the right to education whether the child has a uniform or not as long as they bring their brains to school. They should need nothing more. If a child makes it to the school gate they should be allowed entry. Birth ID or not. Shoes or not.

Everybody needs a dream, especially the young, and the dream catcher is education. After that the dreamer can choose a higher education or be a worker bee creating a work force with educated choices. Creating a strong middle class.

Some will also take their poorer brothers with them.

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One such young man is Roberto Serrano, a young entrepreneur who sells shoes. His business is called Plazapato, with stores in Ajijic (just off the plaza) and Chapala. They specialize in Mexico’s famous Flexi shoes and also designs for Diabetics. This young man is making big strides, not small steps, as he collects shoes from his customers for those who have none. Those that he cannot sell he donates to the Tepehua Community Center for those with no shoes.

It reminds this writer of an English poem, where a son goes to the funeral of his mum, in brown boots.

The congregation was appalled when all the rest wore decent black and mournin’ suits. “We didn´t say ‘ullo at all. We didn´t know! ‘e didn´t say! ‘e’d give ‘is other boots away! ‘e gave ‘em to a pal...Jim Small, a bloke who ‘ad no boots at all!. And when ‘e got to ‘eavens gate, the angel there said ‘come in mate’, where’s yer brown boots?” Brown Boots by Stanley Holloway. Google it. Guaranteed to jerk a tear!

Roberto volunteers in many things and is always looking for volunteers to take with him, helping people wherever help is needed. He claims when he is volunteering and

helping his fellow man he feels full of life. Roberto reached Second grade.

At 14 he stepped onto the mean streets, so most of his “education” came from tackling life as it came along. It teaches shrewd awareness and how to survive in difficult situations. How to read people by first instinct, how to embrace everyone but to be aware of the other´s agenda. So as long as you have that basic education, nothing should hold you back. Whether education is limited or it is taken all the way, it isn’t for everybody.

Wise Geek says that “street smarts” is a colloquial slang term meaning knowledge not obtained by education, only life experiences, which also draws a line between economics and social classes. So you can be educated and book smart but have very little common sense.

(Common sense does not have a socio-economic agenda, however.)

If you do not know how to start volunteering contact Moonie. It starts with one step, or look for Plazapato and speak with Roberto who can point you in many directions to fulfill who you are. Plus sell you some brown boots! You will be happy you did.

Saw you in the Ojo 23

Local Clinic Sponsors Cataract Surgery For Chapala Citizens

By Delia Perez

W

hat is a cataract? A cataract in the eye is a condition produced when the natural lens in the interior of the eye that permits one to focus on objects near and far becomes opaque and loses its transparency. This condition occurs naturally and due to ageing.

Cataracts are the most common cause of vision loss in people over 40 years of age, and the principal cause of blindness in the world.

Fortunately, modern cataract surgery is one of the safest and most effective surgical procedures performed today. In a cataract surgery, the natural lens that has deteriorated is removed and replaced with an artificial lens

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(called an intraocular lens or IOL) to restore clear vision. In general, the procedure is done on an outpatient basis and does not require overnight stays at a hospital or other medical institution.

In the month of December, thanks to the collaboration of the Alta Retina Ophthalmology Center, the Cinepolis foundation and DIF Chapala, several citizens of the municipality of Chapala were the beneficiaries of totally free cataract surgeries.

The beneficiaries were selected

by DIF Chapala after a socioeconomic study. Subsequently, they were assessed and diagnosed at the Alta Retina Ophthalmology Center where their post-operative review also occurred.

On December 4 the patients were transported to Guadalajara where their operations were carried out at the San Angel Eye Center with great success.

Thanks to partnerships like these, the visual health of these people in need has been improved. We look forward to continuing this program in the coming months.

For both adults and children, eye exams are an important part of general health care and maintenance. Eyes should be checked regularly to make sure they can see their best. Regular eye exams to also check for signs of eye diseases or conditions that can affect not only one´s vision, but also overall health.

Saw you in the Ojo 25

FRONT ROW CENTER

By Michael Warren Twentieth Century Blues

By Susan Miller Directed by Kevin Cook

S

usan Miller is a prolific playwright best known for her moving onewoman show My Left Breast. This play is about the trials and some of the pleasures of aging, a subject to which many of us can relate.

The play opens with “Danny” giving a TED talk where she tells us about how she and three friends met in lock-up in the swinging ‘70’s.

The four women have kept in touch over the next forty years, and Danny – a professional photographer – has taken a group photo every year at their annual reunion. Now the Museum of Modern Art is offering her the opportunity of a retrospective exhibition of those pictures. And so we have the scene set for a sentimental one-act play. Unfortunately Ms. Miller tries to expand it into two long-winded acts, and the result is saccharine sweet and rather boring.

Debra Bowers plays “Danny” with some skill, and her friends “Gabby,” “Mac” and “Sil” are well portrayed

by Collette Clavadetscher, Connie Davis and Georgette Richmond. But nothing much happens in a long first act that lacks pace and tension. The only issue is whether the three women will sign a waiver that MOMA requires for the proposed exhibit. Sil, who is a realtor and who incidentally is planning cosmetic surgery, doesn’t want people to see her pre-surgery face. And Mac is an investigative reporter who wonders

about displaying her past.

This is not exactly high drama, so there’s also a lot of hugging and some humorous reminiscing.

I enjoyed the reference to The Vagina Monologues when one of the characters wondered why she ever looked at her vagina in the mirror.

There are no husbands around, they are either divorced or dead. Actually Gabby has a live husband, but she is already rehearsing widowhood by living at the YWCA. She’s a vet, and at one point in the play she gets a phone call about one of her patients. The dog died – oh well, it was probably for the best. To pad out the play, we get to meet Danny’s mother “Bess” and her adopted son “Simon.” Chris L’Ecluse plays Bess with remarkable vigor, considering that she is living in a nursing home and has mental lapses. She can remember the first lines of “Stand By Me” and belts it out as she leaves the stage. And newcomer Nicholas Cumplido (“Simon”) gets a hug from Danny and permission to go look for his birth mother.

The problem with the play is that it’s all too predictable – there’s no discovery about the past, and the author puts sugar icing on an already sweet cake. “Are you ever going to reveal your secret French toast ingredient?” Sil asks. “Love,” Danny replies. All the same, I have to report that the audience gave the cast a standing ovation at the final curtain, so the play was a box office success. Congratulations to cast and crew, and to director Kevin Cook.

Karen Lee was Stage Manager, and Douglas Voet was Producer. Next up is the musical My Fair Lady which opens on February 21 – it should be great entertainment.

Michael Warren

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El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

Saw you in the Ojo 27

COLUMNIST

By Victoria Schmidt

Changes

S

itting at the Libramiento intersection to Walmart waiting for the light to change, I took a deep sigh. I closed my eyes and remembered what it was like there when I first came to Mexico. I remember driving over the crest of the hill on the Libramiento and taking in the beautiful panoramic vista of Lake Chapala.

There was no Walmart to block the view. There was a field to my left; there was no mall there. That got me thinking about all the changes that have happened, gradually in the 13 years we’ve been here.

There’s a new hospital in Jocotepec, in San Antonio, and they are building one on the Libramiento.

This is wonderful for all the people who live here. There are many more medical clinics and more medical options for treatments. Both allopathic and homeopathic. More places to get ultrasounds, and XRays, and even a CT scan without the mandatory pilgrimage to Guadalajara.

When we first moved to Mexico, there was really only one place available for senior or assisted living. Now there are many places available, and more have been planned.

There are more housing developments, new restaurants and an additional movie theatre. There was once only one acting theatre. Now we have a number of options.

All this growth and change has brought in business, brought in more residents, and more entertainment. But it has changed some of the things I hold dear about living here. I can remember a time when there was not so much traffic. When you could actually tell the difference between “high” season and “low” season, just from the amount of traffic. No more. It’s busy all the time. Parking has become a nightmare, especially for the disabled and elderly.

Rents are up. Way up. Too far up.

What was once a nice rental at a nice

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Mexican price is now an expensive rental at a USA price. And the local people are having to move further up or out in order to afford housing. But that makes it more difficult for them to reach their employment.

Are we crowding out the very people we came to share the Mexican experience?

Sometimes a trip out would yield some fantastic column fodder. Like the time when the pick-up in front of me was transporting a bull in the bed of their pick up. Oh my. I loved seeing the donkeys or burros on the street. The cows and horses at the side of the road grazing. Or rows of taco trucks, hand carts or “dusty” chicken places that once lined the roadside. Gone for another building.

Condos and storefronts. I miss those unique food trucks and outdoor cafes.

It used to be a fairly sparse trip between Chapala and San Antonio, but now there are new businesses everywhere. And Riberas is becoming a happening place.

It is with mixed emotions that I welcome the new businesses. And I feel a great sadness as I watch the number of them turn over. Especially the eateries. Old friends select restaurants by saying, “Let’s go to that new place, you know, the one that used to be…”

The hotels are even feeling the bite with many people opening their homes to Airbnb, and the taxis aren’t happy with the Uber competition.

Of course, changes such as these take place wherever we chose to live. I moved here for the small town experience, as I was no longer happy with life in a supremely large city.

It’s my hope that we can keep the intimate feeling and the culture here at Lakeside and it will continue to hold its charm.

Victoria Schmidt

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Novels Mexicanas

By Juan Gregorio H.

E

arly in the 19th century, a gentlewoman from New England visited Mexico City. In her diary she wrote: “The rich, aristocratic ladies do nothing useful or enlightening. All day long they laze about in dishabille. They never open a book. In fact, most of them cannot read.”

Judging by what was then available, they weren’t missing much. The first printing press arrived in Mexico City in 1537. The city of Guadalajara did not have one until 1793. But for nearly two centuries, the bulk of printed material consisted of tedious religious tracts, geographic chronicles, and dictionaries of Indian languages.

Permission to publish anything had to be obtained from both the viceroy and the bishop. Even poetry was carefully scrutinized for the slightest hint of heresy, or dishonor to the Spanish King.

Later in the colonial period, creative writers began to appear. Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi (1776-1827)

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published what is considered the first novel in Spanish America. His novel, the satirical El Periquillo Tormiento (The Itching Parrot) is a picaresque depiction of life in colonial Mexico. The book was translated into English in 1941 by one of America’s most famous authors, Katherine Ann Porter.

During the chaotic wars of independence and revolution, the presses

came to a halt (except when they were turning out worthless paper money).

But in the intervals of relative calm, Mexican writers produced novels of outstanding quality which had great influence on the populace. Because of space limitations, we can only mention here a few of these writers.

Armando Nervo (1870-1919) began his career as a newspaperman in Mazatlan. In 1894 he moved to Mexico City where he wrote El Baccalaureate (The Baccalaureate). His poems and short stories have been collected in 29 volumes.

Martin Luis Guzman (1887-1926).

After studying law, Guzman joined the revolutionary forces as a coronel with Pancho Villa. His experiences are recorded in his memoirs El Aguila y La Serpiente (The Eagle and the Serpent), which was translated into English in 1930 by Harriet de Onis. Guzman is also famous for La Sombra del Caudillo (The Shadow of the Leader), which depicts the political corruption of the 1920s.

Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes (18951966). Though his initial attempts at poetry were unsuccessful, his first novel Tierra (Land) about Emiliano Zapata was widely read. His most celebrated novel El Indio (The Indian: They That Reap) appeared in 1935.

Octavio Paz (1914-1998), perhaps Mexico’s best known writer, received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1990.

His Labyrinth of Solitude is considered the most profound depiction of the character and culture of Mexico ever written. His later works, some written in English, touch on the ability of people to overcome solitude through love and artistic endeavor.

Another writer worthy of mention is Carlos Fuentes, whose novels The Death of Artemio Cruz and The Old Gringo are considered classics. In addition to his literary endeavors, Fuentes has had a distinguished career in the Mexican diplomatic corps, and his political observations and social essays are widely read.

Saw you in the Ojo 31

Lakeside Adventure Queen

By Queen Michel

T

oday, started out as any normal Wednesday, I headed to Wednesday market early, so as not to be late for my Meta Mind discussion group at 11:15 am.

Everything was going well. I had gotten everything intended at the market and the bus had just pulled up back in front of my place (which is right next door from where MM meets) at 11:00 am. I had time to drop my groceries off, and head over. I mentioned I was doing so to another lady as we crossed the street together.

She was on the bus too, and I recognized that she was going to group.

When I got to my gate, I reached for my backpack/purse for my key to

32

open it and realized that I had left it on the bus in the empty seat next to where I was sitting! COMPLETE PANIC sets in. I ran back across the street and started frantically to flag down ANY car that would help me run down that bus.

Two cars passed me up and looked at me as if I were some maniac, although I’m sure I probably looked wide-eyed and crazy.

The next car was actually a taxi, it didn’t say taxi, but it was white and yellow and small like they are. I jumped in and begin stammering out in English, and pointing dramatically “I left my purse on the bus! Please go!” “I have to get my purse” “I’ll pay” “PLEASE CATCH THE BUS!! Thankfully, he understood

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

and spoke decent English. Off we took at what I thought was a snail’s pace.

Traffic was in the way and I kept urging him to go faster, to pass cars, to hurry up!

Finally he motioned as if he were going to pull over and he told me...”you get out!” I said, begged and whimpered...”Oh no! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, okay I’ll be good, okay I’ll be quiet, please no.” He kept going. I took several deep breaths to calm down and told him my name, how I appreciated him, and asked his name...Ricardo.

A block before we get to Chapala, traffic bottled necked. With the bus in sight, I jumped out the car and ran 5 car lengths up and startled the bus driver as I banged on his door. I stepped up and in noticing an older Mexican man, rather ragged-looking sitting in the seat I had been sitting in, with no one next to him.

He had 2 or 3 big bags at his feet. I spoke with my eyes, hand gestures and mouth...”Did you see my purse?! My purse was there! My purse? He looked me in my eyes, raised his head up slowly, then bent down untied one of those raggedy bags, pulled out my purse and handed it to me without saying a word.

I grabbed my purse, quickly checked the contents (all good) I held up both hands and victoriously howled loudly before exiting the bus.

I run back to the taxi and jump in elated. Ricardo did a U and headed back West. I only had two 100 peso bills in my wallet and I handed him a 100 peso bill. He was upset and said that it wasn’t enough. I showed him that I was giving him HALF of what I had. He was clearly upset, which made me say...”Hey, it’s only 70 pesos to go from San Antonio to Chapala and besides you did a really good deed today and that should count too.”

He wasn’t hearing it and continued to voice his displeasure with the 100 pesos saying, “you made me go fast, I could have crashed my car” I told him, “yeah but you didn’t.” He turned left at the 7-Eleven in Riberas, said some-

thing about making a pick up, coming back that way in a few so I could catch the bus or maybe wait...in other words... get out. I said, “fine, thank you.”

As I cross the street, the bus was coming. I was happy to have my purse and be heading home. As the bus approached, I reached for change for the bus in my front pocket, cool, got it. I then reached in my back pocket for my phone...and realized I had left it in the taxi! COMPLETE PANIC sets in again. I didn’t board the bus because I remembered Ricardo said he was coming back that way shortly.

So I found a patch of shade from the blazing heat and started waiting and pacing. I was thinking...he’s not coming back this way, he wanted more pesos so he’s going to keep my phone.

I waited, and paced back and forth for 20 minutes or so until I accepted defeat and would catch the next bus home.

Telling myself at least I have my purse.

A short time later a bus came into view. Sad, I got on the bus. As soon as he pulled off, I looked up and saw the taxi pulling up at the OXXO!! I yelled to the bus driver to let me off!! He looked at me as if to say, you sure? I reiterated to let me off. He opened the doors and I ran in front of the bus and across the street to the taxi. I pulled open the passenger door. It wasn’t Ricardo in the driver seat, it was a woman.

I blurted out his name, and she said, “Si”. I told her I was in this taxi and left my phone. She motioned and looked around the car then said, “No phone.”

She went one step further and called Ricardo, they spoke Spanish and she opened up the glove compartment and there was my phone!! She handed it me, and I said, Gracias a few times holding the phone to my chest.

I walked back across the street to finally catch the bus home. Standing there waiting for the bus with my bag of groceries, my backpack/purse on my back, and my phone in my purse I bust out laughing. I couldn’t believe I had lost my purse on the bus, and my phone in the taxi that chased the bus and all this happened within an hour’s time. What the hell had just happened?

I swear, I just continued being SO tickled by it all. I know y’all. I must do better. And I will. But one has to admit...THE UNIVERSE GOT MY BACK! So, needless to say I missed MetaMind, but I was there waiting to tell them all about why I missed when the group finished up at 12:45 pm. I continued my day attending a 2:30 pm Murder Mystery Party, and a rooftop margarita party at 5:00 pm.

Both events were fun and added to the weirdest, funniest, victorious, wild, adventurous days I’ve ever spent Lakeside.

Saw you in the Ojo 33

Sustainability

By Patricia Hemingway

R

osa, my Mexican neighbor, sells plants on the sidewalk outside her home.

Right away I notice the schefflera, the umbrella plant, in a small, cracked plastic pot. With pride Rosa tells me she found it as a tiny seedling—she illustrates with her fingers barely an inch apart—and that she has cared for it for 3 years.

To sustain: to comfort, to assist, to keep alive With the gratitude and tenderness of a new mother, I take the schefflera home. The plant is now ready to become a tree. I buy a pot the size of a laundry basket from the plant store; also coconut husk fiber, rich humus, and the tiny pellets of minerals it will need to grow tall. It will live in the mixed sun and shade just outside my back door, the spot that is my sustenance.

Here, in a small chair, I sit beneath the tangle of bougainvillea, and the jasmine vines’ long green arms, feathered with the tiniest of leaves. In this quiet place hangs the aroma of sweetness.

Every morning I observe the new tree: one day it has a bright green sprout! Each succeeding day, I do what any new mother would do: I check to see that it is

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safe, that the soil is damp. How much it has grown overnight.

Is it because entire forests are burning, because I feel so little control, that I am devoted to this fragility? Making sure the cutter ants have not invaded it? Until one day, there it is: a new umbrella thrust higher than all the others.

Sustainability is possible here.

Sustainability is in great jeopardy in our world. We know this.

We see it in vivid color on the television screen, and on the internet.

We mourn. We are angry. Natural resources are our heritage, and we are meant to worship in the cool shade of our ancestors. In these repositories of wisdom, lies our true identity.

How we have taken comfort in this beauty: In the sun’s warmth on our faces. The rain on the windows and on the tent where we huddled inside in a sleeping bag.

The clear coolness of the new morning when we built a camp fire and made coffee outdoors. O world, you have been ours for so long.

Among humans, sustainability is confronted by aging. Our beauty, our physical strength, our brain functioning and our mobility erode. We no longer feel sustainable. We grow dependent on a cane or a walker, work countless sudokus and crossword puzzles.

Our physical bodies diminish.

Our task is to sustain the human heart.

To practice devotion.

To keep on going.

To preserve our connection and identification with others.

To keep the bonds of family and friendship alive; to nurture, and to treasure, and to provide comfort when we must let go and say goodbye.

Saw you in the Ojo 35

Forever Young Ajijic, high above the lake, a day’s no more than what you make.

A hotel on a cobble street, a lady there, I chanced to meet.

Her villa perched upon a hill.

An autumn day can fan a chill.

An afternoon, a brief repast, a time to rest, respite at last.

A cup of tea, a room to hire, discourse beside a roaring fire.

Two glasses, a smile upon a tray, a lovely way to spend a day.

A bottle uncorked, to decanter, an afternoon, two souls to banter.

A lady of classics versed and learned, language, letters deservedly earned.

Immersed in art, and well pleasured evinced well read, qualities treasured.

Phrases turned with style and grace, her simple dress, linen and lace.

Her face a façade, so abiding, wondered what she might be hiding.

Each a special tale to tell, a deep dark pit, a wishing well.

On the mantle a frame of white, in its hold, her picture tight.

Drawn a stare, so deep so dark visage unsettling, emotion stark.

Eyes spoke volumes, expression cast, a tunnel to a distant past?

Her youthful face, there her yearning, foreboding smile, sad yet burning Eyes, pierced, black as night seared, emitted a blinding light!

A story unwritten, not yet told, a hidden history to unfold?

And so recounts the years gone bye, her face aglow, hear her sigh.

Smile ablaze, her youthful glory she narrates a wondrous story.

Her life, her love, her heart’s desire, tales of passion, lust and fire.

Desire’s a weight that’s not abated, pierce the veil that time’s created.

Embrace her life, hear her story rejoice, rejoice celebrate her glory!

A song to be forever sung, an old woman now, forever young.

—Martin A. Bojan— 36

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

Saw you in the Ojo 37

The Hero Of Molino Del Rey

By Herbert W. Piekow

B

y September 8, 1847 the invading American Army had fought their way from Veracruz to the outskirts of Mexico City. Two miles from the gates of the Mexican capitol rose Chapultepec Castle and separating the castle from the countryside a dense forest at whose southern edge stood the old King’s Mill; which had been turned into a cannon ball foundry. Lopez de Santa Ana, who was both political head of Mexico and its army, asked convents and churches to ship bells to the mill to be melted and turned into cannons. The Americans were ordered to take the mill, break up the factory and destroy all munitions.

Although the American victory was almost certain because they were

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better equipped and outnumbered the Mexican by nearly four to one, the Mexicans were fighting for their homeland. The outnumbered soldiers felt resolute in the defense of their country and its capitol. The battle started about five thirty in the morning and no one doubted that the costs in lives would be great. The invaders were better armed, but the Mexicans fought with ferocity and exacted a raising toll amongst the foreigners.

Despite the fierce hand to hand combat of the encounter and the hopelessness of being greatly outnumbered the Mexicans fought with the love of their homeland. As in every battle there are always anonymous heroes who fall during combat and there are sometimes a few valiant soldiers who

remain in the minds of their countrymen as heroes for the cause. Margarito Zuazo, from the Mina battalion was a young man who gave his strength and his life defending his homeland from a superior invading foreign force.

After hours of fighting his comrades lay dead and wounded around him. The flag of his country had been torn from the pole on which it flew when he valiantly ripped it from the stanchion and wrapped the symbol of Mexico around his body. Although wounded and badly bleeding, with the strength that remained the young soldier climbed over the broken stones of the nearly destroyed mill and the dead bodies of his countrymen.

When he reached the top of what remained of a broken wall, which was about to be overrun by his country’s enemies he stood in defiance of an invading army. They stormed the last defense and found Zuazo’s body wrapped in the symbol of Mexico. The Americans pierced his body with their bayonets and turned Zuazo and the Molino del Rey into a sacred pavilion and a symbol of glory for Herbert W. all Mexicans.

Piekow

Saw you in the Ojo 39

Carol D. Bradley

Email: cdbradleymex@gmail.com Phone: 33-2506-7525

Lake Chapala Writers Conference Announcement from the Organizing Committee: “It is with a very heavy heart that I announce the cancellation of the 2020 Lake Chapala Writers Conference... your organizing committee needs healing time, both physical and emotional for either themselves or family...We will be back, though, WITH BELLS ON when we are all better and ready to bring on the 2021 Conference...Stick with us!!”

Like them on their Lake Chapala Writers Conference Facebook page for updates.

The Lake Chapala Society hosts Open Circle every Sunday at 10 AM, a popular community gathering in Ajijic every Sunday morning to enjoy a diverse range of presentations.

For more information see their website: opencircleajijic.org.

Open Circle Presentations for February: Please note that David Truly and Loretta Downs have changed dates.

February 2 The Lake Chapala Riviera: A Mature Retirement Destination?

Presented by David Truly While the Lake Chapala Riviera has always been a destination for some retirees, its popularity and recognition over the past decades has resulted in a dramatic increase in home sales and development. While this area has a history of boom and bust, this recent trend suggests the maturation of the area as a retirement destination. This presentation focuses on the cycle of retirement destinations and this area’s position within that cycle, so that we may better understand the various forces shaping its evolution and the issues that affect the long-term sustainability for both the foreign and Mexican communities.

Dr. David Truly, a former resident of Ajijic, has a PhD in Cultural Geography from the University of South Carolina and has studied this area since 1997. He will offer an overview of not only his own research but the current work of other researchers on this topic.

February 9 How to Die When You’re Ready Presented by Loretta Downs Self-determination is the process by which individuals control their own life, including the end of it. Learn about the ethical, safe, and legal ways available in the US, Canada, and Mexico to exercise this basic human right to die on our own terms—how we miss opportunities to use it and what obstacles prevent us from achieving it.

Loretta Downs, MA, CSA, has been companioning people at the end of their lives for nearly 40 years—listening, serving, and observing the many ways we die. She sees natural death as a sacred passage deserving of recognition and fervent support. Loretta founded Chrysalis Endof-Life Inspirations (www.endoflifeinpsirations.com), is a member of a hospital ethics committee, an Advance Care Planning Facilitator, and a Certified Senior Advisor. She has a master’s degree in gerontology with a major in thanatology. In summer she raises Monarch butterflies in Chicago; in winter she hibernates in Ajijic.

February 16 La Compañía de Ópera de Jalisco Loretta Downs The Compañía de Ópera de Jalisco has delighted Open Circle audiences for the last five years. Today’s program will include arias from diverse operas, some of which will make you shamelessly weep, some of which will make you rejoice, all of which will make you crave more.

The vocalists are María de Jesús Cárdenas (soprano); Teresa Banderas (mezzosoprano); José Maria López Valencia (tenor); and Ricardo Lavín (baritone). These vocalists have received multiple awards and have established a name for themselves nationally and internationally.

They will be accompanied by an ensemble of instrumentalists: Cesar Castro (piano), Monserat Velázquez (bassoon), José Luis García (violin), and Juan Fernando Magdaleno (violin).

February 23 What If What You Believe about Yourself – Isn’t True?

Presented by Jan Miller “You’re so smart” – “cute” – “shy.” Or “boisterous” – or “trouble.” All our lives we’re defined

and labeled. We live our lives according to these labels that others have pinned on us. What if we create a different version of ourselves? Who would we be? What would our life be like?

We can empower ourselves to be who we want to be. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Jan Miller, a three-time author, was a sign-language interpreter for twenty years. She then went onto private practice offering seminars, counseling, and motivational talks to individuals and corporations. Her books reflect her philosophy that each of us does the best we can with the choices we make but we all have more potential for change than we realize. Jan lives in Verona, Ontario, Canada, with her husband Dick.

March 1 The Universal Power of Music Presented by Michael Reason Music is all around us. It is an integral part of the human experience and has the power to transform our lives in myriad ways. Pianist and conductor Michael Reason will lead us on a journey to discover how music can be the inspiration for change, how it can heal mind and body, and how it connects with the soul.

After leaving music college, Michael worked on numerous theatrical productions as Music Director in England during the 1980s and emigrated to Canada in 1991. Since then he has had a highly successful career as a professional orchestra conductor working with orchestras across Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. In addition he has held the position of Music Director for the Prince George Symphony, the Niagara Symphony, and the Hamilton Philharmonic in Canada.

He now lives in Ajijic where he founded the Michael Reason Lake Chapala Community Orchestra and has assumed the roles of conductor and artistic director.

BARE STAGE THEATRE presents: Lips Together, Teeth Apart

By Terrence McNally / Dates: February 21st, 22nd, 23rd / Directed by: Bernadette Jones / Caption: “Ambitious, Poignant and Riotously Funny” A beachside home on Fire Island proves a strange setting for two straight couples -- sister and brother Chloe and Sam, and their spouses John and Sally-- on the Fourth of July. Upon his recent death from AIDS, Sally’s brother David bequeathed her the Fire Island house, surrounded by friendly, partying gay neighbors on either side of the fence. Lips Together, Teeth Apart, a ‘Dark Comedy’ by Terrence McNally, is a powerful look inside dissolving marriages, lost hopes and dreams, and the looming, capricious nature of death.

Cast: Greg Custer, JeanMarie Harmon, Peter James, Joanne Stuart Tickets $150 / Reservations: barestagetheatre2018@gmail.com / Showtime 4 p.m. / Box office & bar open at 3 p.m. Seats are held till 3:50 p.m.

Located at #261 on the mountain side of the carretera in Riberas del Pilar across from the Catholic Church.

Please, no parking inside Baptist Church lot.

Please Like, Follow & Share our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/barestagetheatre2018/ PUBLISHED LOCAL WRITERS READ THEIR WORK: Come Join Us for Our, GALA OPENING! Tuesday January 28.

4 – 6 pm.

Arrive by 3:30 to get your drink & take your seat. Upstairs* at El Gato Feo Café (next door to Barbara’s Bazaar) Parking at Ajijic malecon** This is the first of a new monthly event showcasing the work of Lakeside authors. Each event will have a different topic. Come by the café anytime to browse our bookcase just inside the front door! *We will have a helper for anyone who needs assistance in going upstairs. **If you cannot walk from the malecon to Independencia, phone Patricia 331-790-5028 and we will arrange for someone to drop you off at the Café.

Continued on page 44

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El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

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The Met Live HD 2019-20 Season Join the Chapala Opera Guild ... Local dues $1,300p. Join us at MovieSpace!

Don’t miss Handel’s Agrippina – February 29th!

Individual performance tickets are available at the MovieSpace taquilla / Box Office. Select the season shows that best fit your calendar and order them for only $300 pesos per Seat. See special pricing for Guild members.

Tickets are available daily at the box office. Mon - Fri 3pm - 10 pm / Sat - Sun 1 pm - 11 pm. Location: Carretera Chapala - Jocotepec 206 A1, Col. Centro; Chapala, San Antonio Tlayacapan, C.P. 45922. Teléfonos: (376) 766 2580.

Email: hola@moviespace.com.mx MovieSpace is in the Centro Laguna Mall across from Walmart. Ample parking lot nearby. English and Espanol Sub-Titles: Pick your language sala!

Premium Foods and Beverages: Enjoy the renovated spaces with upgraded coffee bar, offering coffees, teas, wine and beer.

Little Lakeside Theatre presents:

Adapted from Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion / Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner / Music by Frederick Loewe Directed by Dave McIntosh / Music Direction – Ann Swiston / Show Dates: February 21 – March 3, 2020

Show Sponsor: Jeff & Connie Pecsar Lerner and Loewe’s award-winning story of a cockney flower girl transformed into an elegant lady – widely considered to be one of the greatest musicals of all time.

This show is the standard by which all other musicals are measured. Based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, with book, music and lyrics by Lerner and Loewe, MY FAIR LADY is gloriously triumphant. The tale of a cockney flower girl transformed into an elegant lady features one of musical theatre’s greatest scores. Songs include “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?,” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.”

Reviews: “My Fair Lady is wise, witty, and winning. In short, a miraculous musical.” (Walter Kerr, New York Herald Tribune) “One of the best musicals of the century.” (Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times)

Cast Photo: January 8, 2020 Front: Donna Burroughs, Robbin Moore, Don Chaloner, Lynn Gutstadt, Michala Swanson, Maxanne Swanson, Julian Zamora, Elizabeth Zamora, Connie Pecsar, Laina Dicker Middle: Meredith Miller, Rob Stupple, Tom Nussbaum, Jeremy Swanson, Anne Swanson, Barbara Pruitt, Mark Heaton Rear: James Viers, Russ Huber, Brian Fuqua, Robert Thieme, Mark Donaldson, Catherine Thieme, Roy Haynes, Kathleen Pharis, Peter Luciano, Allyson DeJong, Alexis Hoff, Jutta McAdam, Fred Koesling, Lois Vlahov, Garry Peerless, Marsha Heaton, Doreen Chaloner Missing: Mary Neill, Greg Clarke, Flemming Halby Production: Director: Dave McIntosh Music Direction: Ann Swiston Choreography: Alexis Hoff, Mary Neill Stage Manager: Win McIntosh LLT Box Office: 10am to noon, every Wednesday & Thursday. During Mainstage shows, 10am to noon, every day but Sunday, & one hour before curtain.

Show Times: Evenings 7:30pm Matinees 4 pm. First Saturday and both Sundays are mati-

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nees. Cuota de recuperation – 300 Pesos Email: tickets@lakesidelittletheatre.com Centro Educativo Jaltepec, the only Technical University in Hotel & Hospitality Management is holding an Open House to the General Public on Monday, Feb. 17th, starting at 11 am with a Presentation on the History of Jaltepec, our Academic Program and our Scholarship Program. Light refreshments will be served prior to 11 a.m. A tour of the facilities will follow and then a complimentary lunch prepared and served by the students, will give one an understanding of the quality of education our students receive. Seating is limited to 60 guests. Please contact Linda Buckthorp by email, buckthorplm@gmail.com or call 376-766-1631.

SAVE THE DATE!.....ONE NIGHT ONLY MAC MORISON Returns Friday, March 6TH at Club Exotica with his 7TH Benefit Concert, ¨LET ME TRY AGAIN¨ includes an all-star cast that will knock your socks off! Los Angeles stand-up comic Jeff Capri, the one and only Mike and the Suspects, The Ajijic Showgirls …. this year Mac will be joined by a very special guest; the phenomenal Songstress from Guadalajara Mariana Viqueras. If you like Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand or Linda Ronstadt this show is for you. Mac croons songs from the era of Jazz standards.

This years’ show will benefit the Turning Point Project, a program that provides classes and education in the art of dance to Lakeside children.

Tickets are $400 pesos for front 6 rows, $350 for general admission and available from February 8th at Diane Pearls and Mias Boutique.

DOORS OPEN AT 6PM SHOW AT 7PM Club Exotica in Jardin Plaza Restaurant, Jardin Norte #2, on Mac Morison the Ajijic Plaza.

More info- BARBARA 332 617 5965 Café Mortality Tuesday, February 18, 2020 3 - 4:30 pm An informal, respectful conversation about dying. A place to hear stories and perspectives. No agenda ATTENDEES DO THE SHARING. Space is limited (30 only); reservations requested. RSVP: CafeMortalityAjijic on Facebook or cafemortalityajijic@gmail.com Danny’s Restaurant, Carretera Oriente 2, Ajijic Centro, 45920, $65 pesos donation for tea/coffee; dessert is extra. All funds go directly to Danny’s Restaurant Volunteer Hosts Wendy Jane Carrel, Jane Castleman, Loretta Downs, Darryl Painter Days For Girls Lake Chapala gave a presentation to Drake University, Indiana students on January 11th at la Bodega Restaurant. 16 students and their professors visited Lakeside to study the effects of Americanism on the Mexican culture. Days For Girls empowers girls resulting in thriving communities. DFG Team leader, Darlene Macleod and DFG Ambassador, Hana Figueroa Urias explained to the group how sustainable menstrual supplies and education for girls and women in the communities around Lake Chapala is creating change. DFGLC was chosen to present by Drake University because of their innovative services and attention to Mexican culture while providing them. A lively Q&A period followed the presentation.

To learn more about DFGLC visit www.daysforgirlslakechapala.org DFGLC Ambassador: Hana Figueroa Urias:

Saw you in the Ojo 45

GUNS, GRIT and GLORY

By Michael Hogan Book Review by Mark Sconce

I

f you are a history buff or an antique gun enthusiast, or simply a lover of good stories, you have cause to be happy today because Michael Hogan has written a new book: Guns, Grit, and Glory: How the US and Mexico Came Together to Defeat the French. Yes, that would be the same historian whose 2016 book Abraham Lincoln and Mexico debuted to wide acclaim both in and out of academe.

It was nominated for the William M. LeoGrande Prize for the best book on U.S. Latin American relations.

In my review of that book, I couldn’t help but enthuse about the detailed information in the form of letters, manuscripts, primary source documents, diaries, and contemporary periodicals Hogan included.

He’s done the same in this book with

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the added benefit of colored photos and paintings, maps of the battlegrounds, and detailed photos of 19th century ordinance. But it’s not just the methodology that impresses the

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

reader, it’s the graceful writing that draws us into the events, attitudes, and thinking of a period before, during, and after the Civil War (18611865): Many monarchs felt that the US would be so preoccupied with holding their fragile Union together that they would have neither the will nor the resources to enforce the Monroe Doctrine which prohibited further European interference in the Americas. So, on the pretext of collecting debts, French forces invaded Mexico in 1861,and installed a puppet Emperor, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. President Juarez fled the capital and established his HQ near the American border. Imperial forces were ordered to track him down and bring him in and, kill anyone who had given Juarez or his ragtag army succor or shelter.

Back in Washington, President Juarez’s Ambassador, Matías Romero, was able to convince President Lincoln, General Ulysses S. Grant and other leaders that America and the Republic of Mexico had a mutual interest in driving out the French.

Maximilian’s Imperial government supported Jefferson Davis’s Confederacy as did every European monarch. Thus, the French occupation of Mexico was “inextricably tied to the US Civil War,” a war that consumed the time, energies, and treasure of the Union Army, leaving it unable to mount a realistic military campaign against the French. Nevertheless, President Lincoln decided not to officially recognize Maximilian’s government and thought it prudent to adopt a policy of neutrality. Realpolitik!

However, once the ink was dry on Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox, Union soldiers, black and white, were encouraged to help “throw the French out of Mexico.” Five days later, April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln. The unthinkable had happened. The Union deeply mourned the rail-splitter from Illinois who warned that “The whole family of man has a stake in the outcome of the Civil War.” Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay wrote of “The quaint great figure that men love; the prairie-lawyer, master of us all.”

During the war, Ambassador Matías Romero, age 25, proved so agreeable, earnest, and persuasive that he was able to raise an 18 million dollar war chest from wealthy well-wishers, investors, bankers and US businessmen. Even Generals Grant and Sheridan were taken by the young man and promised aid in the form of repeating rifles and eventually rifled canon laid at convenient

places along the border for pick-up

by Republican forces. The war between the Imperialist and Republican forces intensified.

The rest of Guns, Grit, and Glory I leave to the enjoyment of my readers. Therein, they will discover how the American Legion of Honor was formed and the role its members played in driving out the French in 1867. Gun enthusiasts will learn of the key role played by new and improved American arms (thanks to Winchester, Springfield, Spencer, Henry) and how they surprised the Imperialist forces by their accuracy and range. Animal Rights activists will learn why camels, both Dromedary and Bactrian, were shipped into Mexico from Egypt and Tunisia.

The American contribution to victory is best illustrated by one of the vignettes Professor Hogan fashions so well. It describes the action taken

by Colonel George Church of Massachusetts, assigned to protect President Juarez. Imperialist troops had all but encircled the President as he was attempting an escape on horseback. Colonel Church, seeing that capture was probable, gave his own swift steed to the President thereby enabling his escape while at the same time endangering his own life on the President’s slower mount. Hogan reckons that “Church undoubtedly saved the Mexican president’s life and changed the course of history.”

Hogan concludes his sprawling tale on a poignant note. His extensive investigation into matters of war and peace in Mexico pierced the veil and allowed him to see clearly that his heroes, Juarez and Romero, didn’t live up to post war expectations and, as often as not, had unclean hands.

President Juarez’s virtual abandonment of his fellow indigenous people probably stung most, for he was after all, a Zapotec Indian. His financial dealings, foreign and domestic, were often cynical and, in his zeal to separate Church and State, he razed Catholic churches much like Stalin did Russian Orthodox churches sixty years later. Yet Hogan is right to acknowledge that Juarez was the “savior of his country.” Our hats are off to him and the Americans who helped save the Republic of Mexico. Unidos en Amistad!

Ed. Note: Guns, Grit and Glory will be available at La Nueva Posada after Dr. Hogan’s March 8th presentation at Open Circle, and at Diane Pearl’s.

Mark Sconce

Saw you in the Ojo 47

Collateral Damage

By Robert Bruce Drynan

S

ixty years ago I stood in the ranks and saluted as the Stars and Stripes rose to greet the day, and again as the sun departed and the melancholy notes of taps echoed into the night. I have walked through military cemeteries and read aloud names on the gravestones; “John Smith, United States Army, born 1926, died June 6, 1944.” They earned the right to be remembered and their legacy should be respected. *** Khalid al-Hwasawi was a school teacher, a husband and the father of two small children. He went to the American base and reported what he suspected might be a bomb. Instead of thanks, the American MPs detained him, manacled his arms behind his back and threw him into a van. When he arrived at an un-named site he was thrown to the ground. An American kicked Khalid as he lay there. Another cut away his clothing with a knife.

Two more Americans dragged him into a concrete cell where the manacles were removed and he was chained with his arms above his head, only his toes supported him unless he allowed his chained arms to carry his weight. Naked, he was hosed down and left freezing wet in the cell. He had no sense of how long he was left in the cold except to remember that several times he was subjected to further hosing with cold

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water. Brilliant lights glared into his face and loud noises were broadcast into the narrow confines of the chamber.

Suffering from cold, severe pain and disorientation he was left alone. “What have I done?”

After what seemed an eternity his captors returned, removed the shackles and he collapsed to the floor. Again he was kicked and beaten with a club.

One of his tormentors urinated on Khalid’s face and chest. They invaded his anus with a broom handle and forced gasoline into him. Again they left him alone in the cell, now violated and supine on the cold concrete floor. The glaring light and noise continued. The pain of his injuries prevented rest and deprived him of the relief of unconsciousness.

Endless hours of agony passed and then Khalid was dragged into another cell where an interrogation began. His inquisitors demanded that he reveal his relationship to Saddam Hussein and to terrorist Al-Qaida conspirators.

He weakly declared that he had nothing to do with terrorists or Al-Qaida.

His hands and feet were again secured.

They placed a brace in his mouth to hold it open and a cloth was placed over his face. They began to pour water over the cloth into his mouth, into his throat. To take a breath was to inhale water. He felt he was being drowned.

They stopped the flow of the water and removed the cloth. He choked and gasped.

Water erupted painfully from his throat and lungs.

His tormentors demanded what he knew of Saddam Hussein and his hiding place and Al-Qaida. Khalid again replied that he was just a school teacher, a father, with a wife and two small children. They repeated the waterboarding several more times and he repeated his denials until finally he told them what they wanted to hear . . . all desperate inventions.

They removed him to the original torture cell where he was left naked and broken. Later he was given a bare minimum of food . . . sufficient to keep

him alive. Then countless miserable days later he was jerked to his feet, clothed and placed on an aircraft to an unknown destination, later identified by other prisoners as Guantanamo.

After ten years of imprisonment his innocence of any connection with Al-Qaida, terrorists or insurgents had been confirmed by investigators. He knows nothing of his wife and children, nor they of him. Exoneration by specially appointed judges have changed nothing. He remains incarcerated with no hint that he will ever be freed.

These acts of torture and illegal internments are taken from the investigations of independent journalists that have contributed to the exposé book American Nuremberg by Rebecca Gordon.

This short piece paraphrases reports Gordon included in her work by such highly respected investigators as Seymour Hersch and the International Committee of the Red Cross charged under the Geneva Conventions with protecting the rights of prisoners of war. Direct orders from Vice-President Cheney prohibited Red Cross representatives access to interrogation centers. American military police and CIA officials have been responsible for the greatest part of these travesties, but no one above the rank of sergeant has ever been prosecuted for war crimes.

Gordon reports statistics showing that 60-70 percent of these detainees were entirely innocent of any connection with terrorism or Al-Qaida. That is about the same ratio of civilian deaths to combatants on the battlegrounds of villages and cities during America’s War on Terror. Once an entire wedding party was annihilated by a drone attack in Yemen, al-Hwasawi is an icon for all those who have received American justice.

Gordon’s book is an indictment for the war crimes of two United States presidents, Bush and Obama, their vice presidents, their military leaders, the CIA and other cabinet officials from their administrations. The book was published before the beginning of the Trump administration, but the travesties continue. *** What of al-Hwasawi’s wife and children? Who but they will remember him? So . . . who now are the terrorists?

The orphans of the past who have now become the jihadists of the present and the future?

Or us? It has taken me a long time to shed my naiveté.

My heart bleeds for what we have lost, what we have Robert Bruce become.

Drynan

Saw you in the Ojo 49

A Day In Hollywood

By Tom Nussbaum

A

lthough not remembered my many, Broadway musical A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine won several Tony Awards in 1980. A few years later, a touring production came to Seattle. The 5th Avenue Theater and a local radio station, to promote the run, held a Win a Day in Hollywood Contest. It was based on Hollywood and filmdom trivia.

I was “in” before they finished the announcement, before the opening credits rolled.

Trivia, particularly entertainment and pop culture trivia, is an area in which I am rather adept. I know who won the first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

I know what Bruno Mars’s real name is.

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I know who ZsaZsa Gabor’s forty-third husband was. I know crap. Therefore, I felt I had a shot at going to Hollywood.

I arrived at the theater early on contest Saturday. I stepped into the classic lobby, ornate and stately, to find, to my surprise, more competitors than were dogs in 101 Dalmatians, animated and film versions combined. I milled about assessing my competition, categorizing them by age and nerdiness. I spotted two chairs and a table where the stairs to the balcony split. The table was covered in 3X5 cards, clipboards, and a microphone. A man and a woman, hovered near the table, eyeing the crowd.

Several minutes later, the man picked up the microphone and intro-

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duced himself and the woman. He was a disc jockey representing the radio station and she represented The 5th Avenue Theater. Neither was from Hollywood nor the Ukraine. The winner of the contest, he explained, would win air-fare for two, a stay at a well-known hotel, a “Homes of the Stars” bus tour, and dinner at an elegant, famous Hollywood restaurant. The woman then explained the rules.

We, the 200-plus competitors, were to line up. The line would pass in front of the table where each of us would be asked a question. Those who answered their question correctly moved to one side of the lobby, those who did not, moved to the other. With the rules explained, the contest began. The initial questions seemed rather easy. I, however, did not answer my question correctly. I was shocked and humiliated and, as a result, do not recall what that stupid,unfair question was.

“Do not lose faith,” the male emcee announced looking at me and the other incompetents. “That was only Round One. You get a second chance.” Sighs and audible whews surrounded me. I fell to my knees in prayer and thanked George Burns, Morgan Freeman, Charlton Heston, Whoopi Goldberg, and the other actors who have portrayed God on film for my good fortune. “But the questions will be harder,” he added.

We, the first-round losers, lined up and paraded by the table again, and, as promised, the questions were more difficult. Most of the people ahead of me were eliminated. But I was not. Those of us who remained went through two, perhaps three more rounds of questioning. Contestants young and old were eliminated. But I survived. Eventually, perhaps ten, maybe 20 contestants remained.

“OK,” the DJ announced, “the format now changes.” He motioned to the two curved stairways leading to the balcony.

“Would half of you sit on that side,” and he pointed to the left, “and would half of you sit on the right. Space yourselves so you are unable to see your neigh-

bors’ answers.” I, of course, chose to sit on the left. As we passed the table, we were handed a small clipboard holding one sheet of paper. We were also given a pen.

Once we were settled on the stairwell, the woman spoke. “Write your name at the top of the paper,” she instructed. She waited a moment. “Now, you will have five minutes to write down as many films as you can that won the Oscar for Best Picture.” She paused a beat. “Go!” she shot.

As fate would have it, I had, at that time, a book—tome would be a more appropriate word—commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Academy Awards. Each year had a two-page spread listing nominees and winners, and featuring pictures from classic films and of Hollywood legends. I knew that book like I know the dialog from Mel Brooks’s Silent Movie. And, as fate would have it, the last category I studied before leaving for the contest was Oscar’s Best Picture winners. I had all the early ones, the more obscure ones, fresh in my head, winners like Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front, Cimarron, Grand Hotel, Cavalcade, and It Happened One Night.

Therefore, while my competitors were scribbling the names of the most recent winners, I was listing the older ones.

But most of them got stuck after going back perhaps 20 years and began drumming their pens on their clipboards trying to remember any older films. I, on the other hand, moved on from my list of oldies to the more-familiar movies of my lifetime and continued writing until the time was up.

The crowd and, more important, the contest organizers were stunned at my margin of victory. I don’t recall how many films I listed, but I do remember the gasps from onlookers as the judges named the forgotten classics from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s that I had included.

I decided to take the trip to Hollywood in late June to coincide with West Hollywood’s Gay Pride Parade, something I doubt contest organizers considered the winner would do. I have long forgotten the name of the hotel at which my roommate and I stayed or the restaurant at which we ate, because they weren’t as well-known or elegant as we were led to believe. But I have a photograph of Pride Parade Grand Marshal Martha Raye waving at me from her car.

I waved back. But I did not tell her that I was there because I had won a trivia contest in which one of the questions had been, “Which comedic film actress and singer was known as Tom Nussbaum The Big Mouth?”

Saw you in the Ojo 51

Meet Your Local Artists at the ASA Studio Art Walk

A

Brief History of the Ajijic Society of the Arts (ASA) In the early 1980s, a group of artists (many of whom were graduates of Neill James’ children’s art program that was started in the 1950s), along with patrons, would meet at the Bernard Gallery in Ajijic (now the Enrique Velázquez Gallery). Even then, Ajijic was the heart and soul of the art colony that existed on the shores of Lake Chapala.

In 1986, this original group of artists chose the name Ajijic Society of the Arts for their informal group.

In January 2001, after a significant decline in membership, sweeping policies were put in place to increase the group’s exposure and membership.

Eighteen months later, membership had grown to more than 120 artists.

ASA had an active group of volunteers working with the Neill James Sat-

urday art classes at the Lake Chapala Society. ASA member Mildred Boyd headed the group, and took over running the Children’s Art Program from an ailing Neill James.

Many of the Society’s shows and events were held at the Ajijic Cultural Centre. At that time, the centre was a dilapidated structure, with a corrugated roof which leaked badly over the art

exhibits. To encourage the municipality to improve matters, ASA made frequent donations and was instrumental in constructing the present building.

The main yearly event became a judged exhibition taking place each Spring, with each member permitted to enter two recently-completed, original works. Prize ribbons were given in: oil painting, watercolours, acrylic, jewelry, fabric, photography, and miscellaneous/other categories.

Monthly garden shows were also held to give artists opportunities to exhibit and sell their art. Favourite venues for these Sunday events were La Nueva Posada, the Lake Chapala Society, and the Ajijic Plaza.

Today, ASA continues these traditions, and now has about 230 members.

History of the ASA’s Annual Art Walk ASA members Marion and Val Decker had taken part in art walks in California, and were impressed with how successful these were. When they moved to San Miguel de Allende in 2004, they found that someone there had set-up a similar event. Unfortunately, it wasn’t successful, and was not repeated. When they moved to Ajijic in 2008, and joined ASA, they had it in mind to do something here, under the auspices of the Ajijic Society of the Arts.

The first year it was held was 2012.

Unfortunately, as in San Miguel, it lost money. After some thought and debate, they decided that the public and sponsors would be more supportive if ASA shared the profits with a local charity. The Children’s Art Program was the perfect fit. Over the next few years, the Open Studios Art Walk grew, and became so profitable that it now makes the annual Summer Art Camp for the children possible.

Through the Art Walk, ASA truly continues the work of Neill James and Mildred Boyd by supporting the LCS Children’s Art Program both by con-

tributions from the Art Walk profits, and by tireless work by ASA volunteers with the Saturday art classes and the annual Art Camp. Every July, the Art Camp features art workshops in various mediums and techniques for over 125 local children over a five-day period. As with the Saturday art classes, these programs are free of charge, and include all materials the children need to complete their projects.

The sales from the Art Walk admission booklets, along with ads bought by the sponsors, allows the Children’s Art Program to fully support the most talented young artists, and will make this summer’s Art Camp the best yet.

The Studio Art Walk Now This year’s Studio Art Walk is the ninth, and is set to become the most successful yet!

The admission booklet for the first Open Studio Tour in 2012 was 19 pages, and featured 52 artists showing at 20 locations – there was one sponsor.

This year’s Studio Art Walk booklet has expanded to 80 pages, and there are more than 80 local sponsors supporting the event.

This February, on Saturday and Sunday, February 22 and 23, you can visit about 100 local artists exhibiting their work at over 30 locations in Ajijic.

You’ll be able to see displays of mixed media, oils, acrylics, photography, sculpture, jewelry, handicrafts… and so much more.

This is the best opportunity all year to familiarise yourself with your local art community, as well as to shop for that perfect piece for your home!

The admission booklets are being sold now at six locations: Superlake, Diane Pearl Colecciones, the Ken Gosh Gallery (Guadalupe Victoria #30, Ajijic), Art Connection (Centro Laguna Mall), Café Corazón at LCS, and the LCS Ticket booth. Once the event starts, you can also buy admission booklets at any of the Art Walk locations.

Each booklet admits one person to all 34 locations, and costs $50 pesos.

The booklet contains a directory of participating artists, as well as maps showing where each location is, and which artists are showing at each.

Please join us this year. Bring your visitors, friends, and neighbours… there’s something for everyone!

CORRECTION, PLEASE! On page 36 of our January issue, we published a poem entitled PROPHET. The poem as written by the famous Russian poet, Pushkin. Mark Sconce was the translator.

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El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

Saw you in the Ojo 53

Inventory And did you survive the nocturnal dark the bleak encounters with old mistakes and losses and shattered dreams in the drawn-out night?

Or did you step out before the night ended and watch the twinkling blue paleness of Venus rise in the west?

Did you forsake another hour in bed and head off with your dog to keep a dawn appointment in the park to watch the trees identify themselves among the mists and the roses arrange their colors from shades of gray to yellow and red and redundant rose?

Did you escape the blaze of self-righteous reaction to morning news and resist the weave of partisan rhetoric that erodes reason?

And did you remember to relish the solitary hour in the late afternoon when the hummingbird returns to its nest?

And did you remember to neglect yourself for love of a child or spend an hour with an aging parent with no regret?

Did you decorate your day with smiles?

Did you try not to make sense of the senseless in a world of reflections and glimmers and pettiness but to love it all anyway, maybe even concede the possibility of deity even though it was far from self-evident?

Did you discover how extraordinarily intelligent you are and how incredibly stupid?

Did you accept that most of what you lost, or did not accomplish because of carelessness, or miscalculation or even loving too much was not loss at all but rather another path which opened to new landscapes?

Will you at the end promise yourself that no matter what it holds (the real end I mean with its darkness and aloneness) will you promise in your essential solitude, with no one left to impress, to say: “Thank you, Life,� as it melts away like a rainbow fading after a summer storm and you are here no more?

By Prof. Michael Hogan

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Saw you in the Ojo 55

Mexican Grace Mexican Grace is a new regular feature column inspired by the September 15th 2019 Open Circle. El Ojo is looking for anecdotes that relate the many encounters, whether initiated by expats or locals, that exemplify the special manifestations of mutual giving and receiving that define the Mexican Grace that brought us to this unique paradise and that keep us here.

Please email articles of up to 900 words, typed in Times Roman 14-point font with a Title and your name at the top of each page to both grattanmx@gmail.com and loretta.downs@gmail.com. Photos are welcome.

FIRST FALL

By Loretta Downs

T

he day began as usual.

After I did what I do every morning, I caught the 8:40 bus on Constitucion to the pool in Riberas where I enjoyed an energetic water aerobics class.

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Also, as usual, when it was over I took time to talk with the regulars and Norma the instructor before showering and dressing. It was a great way to start the week.

With my backpack on my back, I

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briskly walked along the bike path stopping at some of the interesting shops along the way because I had time. It was impossible not to notice that the path was getting more bicycle use than ever, making me aware to stay to the right side and not put myself in the line of a collision. At this stage of my life a fall could be damaging.

My last stop was going to be the Monday Market in San Antonio where I find professionally prepared foods. Years ago, I rented a house a few blocks away and got in the habit of going. I’m always greeted

by Lulu smiling in her wheelchair and eager to share a hug. It’s a small market and easy to navigate.

I planned to buy as much as I could carry, and I’ve grown beyond fond of the smoked salmon, honey, salads, and Imelda’s homemade pies offered there. I was having three friends over for dinner and intended to collect two small pies.

Her selection is ample, and that day I chose a chocolate cream and a lemon tart. Imelda carefully placed them in a secure bag while I re-balanced the now very full backpack on my shoulders. I bought some candy from Lulu, dropping more pesos than she asked in the collection box that hangs off the basket attached to her chair, shared a long hug, promised “Hasta lunes!” and turned toward the street with the bag of pies dangling from my right hand.

It was one of those exciting moments when I saw a bus coming and knew I could make it across the street and catch it if I ran. I’ve done it a million times. I dashed to the corner, paying attention to where my feet were stepping, then stopped fast to wait for traffic to make room for me.

The bus arrived and the driver, seeing me lurching forward from where I stood, stopped and waved me across out his window. The

driver of the car approaching me stopped. I waved a “thank you” to her with my free hand, and took a giant leap into the street, swinging the bag of pies ahead of me and tying not to wave my right hand.

Two leaps into the carretera, right in front of the car that stopped, with everyone on the full bus looking at me, I tripped and fell. I tell myself it was a glamorous fall, but I hit the ground hard, with my rump in the air. The first contact spot was my left knee, followed by my left arm, wisely bent at the elbow to avoid breaking my hand or wrist.

Then my face hit the pavement.

Before I could move, the women in the first and second cars came to help me get up. The bus was still waiting, and no one was complaining about the wait, or laughing at an elderly woman who had failed to run across a street. Not one horn was honking from what had grown into a long line of cars. Not one honk. Both Mexican women driving the first two cars in line raced out to help me up and immediately and sincerely offered to take me to a doctor. I waved the bus driver on and assessed the damage. Pain emanated from here and there, but I could talk and walk. My doctor was in the opposite direction to the one the women were travelling, so I waved them on, too, and searched for a place to sit and catch my breath.

I’ve never fallen that hard before and I was lucky. My knee and elbow were scraped and hurting, and the ground took a significant patch of skin off my cheek. Thankfully my glasses weren’t broken. That fall, and its abrupt interruption and alteration of an ordinary day gave me pause. The bus driver and the women so generously wanted me to board the bus. They also were willing to not do what they had been doing in order to help a stranger who spoke their language badly.

My first fall taught me that I’m not quite as stable or strong as I once was. It also taught me how important being balanced is when traversing our challenging streets. I felt reassured that the people around me are willing to come to my aid in a crisis, a pretty good feeling.

Ultimately, the damage done was pretty minor. I was grateful.

Maybe I would not have fallen as hard, had I let go of the pies but I did save them and I fell in love with Lakeside once again.

Loretta Downs

Saw you in the Ojo 57

Heat an abscess of heat settles without a breeze the body sheds all of its excesses, bodies not conditioned to thermal air shut down, sweating bodies relieving the tedium of hot lazy down and dirty on clean sheets lubricating just below the surface melting away the doldrums of dry season decidedly uncanadian, but if you’re hot, working up a sweat, heat becomes a friend indeed. heat defined is the essence of hell: obsessive, cruel, stifling, heavy, yet it generates with touch stimulated by the gentle press of lips, begs to be naked, penetrating, in a sultry evening wearing a silk slip heat has a way of holding on to flesh the way it mirages off hot playing fields, spreads a fairy dust of fever, loins itself in a rash of fantasy—then wilts cleansing heat permeates the soul simplifies metal the heat of passion burns a firestorm of love ravishes through green patches parches then ferments heat burns the day away evening simmers love cools and tempers under silk

—John Dodds—

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Saw you in the Ojo 59

Bidding Farewell To My Singer

By Margaret Van Every

I

’ve arrived at the inevitable point in life where I’m wanting to give cherished possessions away. Better to do it now than have others haul everything off to a consignment shop after I’m gone. This way I can have the consolation and pleasure of knowing my valuables, if only sentimental, are in the hands of people who Mahadevi Prem at work on her 78-yearwill appreciate them or at old Singer least pretend to. There’s comfort in that, too.

One of those items is a Singer Portable Electric Sewing Machine that had belonged to my mother. According to the instruction booklet this particular patented innovation had been manufactured by Singer since 1915, though I think my mother acquired hers around 1941, the last copyright date in the user manual. A sewing machine that you could plug into the wall and run off electricity by depressing a foot pedal was something revolutionary at the time, not to mention that you could pack it up and store it in a handy carrying case that “even a woman” could lift, and it could be stashed in a closet out of sight.

My mother was an expert seamstress and people always envied her style. On this little machine, she sewed all her clothes using Vogue patterns that she perfectly fitted to a form shaped to her own dimensions. You couldn’t buy clothes like hers in any department store. When my sister and I came along, she sewed our clothes, too. There were ingenious attachments that allowed her to create fancy plaiting, shirring, ruffles, stitches, and buttonholes. It was amazing what this machine could do, though I never had the patience myself to figure out the directions for the attachments that replaced traditional labor-intensive handiwork. I remember some of the clothes she made me around the age of four— pinafores and play suits cut from my father’s recycled khaki military uniforms.

I confess that as a preteen I yearned for store-bought clothes and envied my classmates who could pick out what they wore so they could dress like each other. I have no recollection of my mother ever taking me shopping in a de-

partment store. We went there only for her to buy fabric for her next project.

During the ‘40s we traveled around the cotton states, visiting textile factories and buying by the bolt. During WWII she had my father send home fabrics from Africa from which she made everyone in the family matching shirts depicting a hurricane.

Mother died when I was ten, but Home Ec was a required subject for all girls in my high school and we each had to sew an apron and a skirt. I guess they assumed everyone had a sewing machine at home. I struggled with my sewing assignments and would have failed had it not been for Alma, a friend of my mother’s, who rescued me the night before the skirt was due. Alma installed the impossibly difficult zipper and waistband. The sewing machine then went back in the closet for almost another decade.

After I finished college and got married, my father gave me the Singer as a kind of rite of passage and it was soon pressed into service. Nonetheless, I remember taking the Singer to a store that sold fancier Japanese models and asking if I could trade mine in for a dial-a-stitch machine like my sister’s, but they said I was nuts and wouldn’t take advantage of my ignorance. They insisted my Featherweight was the Rolls Royce of sewing machines. It was metal, not plastic, and the world would never see anything like it again. So I begrudgingly took it home and started sewing clothes for my three sons and also for my husband. I sewed nothing but a couple of dresses for myself, still favoring the thrill of the department store.

In 1998, my husband and I rented a car in Paris and drove south through the Limoges on our way to the Dordogne. En route we passed through the ruined village of Oradour sur Glane, which had been preserved as a monument to German atrocities committed against the French during WWII. All the inhabitants had been shot or burned alive and the entire town set ablaze. Tourists could walk silently among the streets and witness the burned-out shells of houses and the horrors of war. I was struck how nothing survived but the Featherweight Singer sewing machine in several of the houses, plus an occasional pram, bicycle, or car. I contemplated the irony of what I had thought to be a German invention and design miracle outlasting the victims of war. I carried this notion with me and wrote a poem about it.

ORADOUR SUR GLANE

On June 10, 1944, the entire French village of Oradour sur Glane was shot or burned alive, all buildings torched by the 1st Battalion of Der Fuhrer Regiment, setting new standards for brutality in warfare. The reason for this atrocity was never established.

One paved street loops through the quiet town of Oradour sur Glane, the street through which the SS marched, dispensing bullets and flames.

Conflagration opened the walls of houses like a diorama freezing the scene in media res. Now starlings flit and twitter where hearths held fire, and grass has gained a foothold in the stone.

What things survived that day remain in place: heat-warped prams and charred cars curbside, bicycles hung by a wheel on a nail by the door.

Three Singers cleave to ledges and sills, witness to that slender gap where needle descended and rose, descended and rose, entangling threads to stitch a fatal seam.

When I moved to Mexico, the Featherweight came too. Now on the verge of passing it on to a beloved young mother, I read a bit of surprising history about my sewing machine. I discovered that Singer was an American company from the beginning, established in 1851. Later in response to world-wide demand they set up factories in Tsarist Russia, Germany, France, Poland and Italy.

During WWII the American factories stopped making sewing machines and instead supplied armaments for the Allies. Without Google to enlighten me, I might still be burdened with my prejudice.

A note of thanks from the beneficiary: Un sueño hecho realidad, I always wanted to be able to use a máquina de coser. Today I made fabric bags for vegetables, maybe not perfect but pretty good. It was so special for me to receive such a precious gift, I honor the legacy of your mom and you as mom putting together pieces of fabric in a beautiful way for your little ones, I’d love to be able to make Margaret Van some dresses for Tara too. I love you, thank you. Maha Every

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Saw you in the Ojo 61

Addicted To Chance

By Sue Schools

T

his morning a fantastic sunrise glimmered over Lake Chapala while the moon shimmered in the other part of the sky ... my personal paradise and I am blessed to be here. Then, why am I blue?

I live in gated community up above the main Guadalajara highway, on a quiet cul-de-sac that is protected from the craziness that is our world. A neighbor told me yesterday that a dog had been hit by a car and managed to crawl home before passing, barely four houses from me. Violence and death have no place in my tranquil life. Or do they?

A family up the road adopted two dogs, a male and a female who were obviously littermates cast out onto the streets. Sweet dogs who now had food and the comfort of shelter plus jungle paths with enchanting secrets. They were put in a small fenced yard, but the mutts were intent on escape and exploration. The female had a terrible habit of chasing cars. Not only chasing, but running back and forth in front and trying to bite at the whirling tires, sapping and snarling in a game with all odds stacked against her. It was only a matter of time ….

Why did she leave the safety of her yard to seek out danger?

This dog might have been bored

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or maybe she had an inexplicable instinct to unknowingly risk all for a few moments of thrill. Is that the way it is with Drug Users? Alcoholics? Gamblers? Smokers? Overeaters? Are they addicted to chance?

Is there such a thing as a Russian Roulette Syndrome? Do some lack the ability to overcome destructive urges and to channel negative energies into positive achievements? We might never be able to comprehend these behaviors but I understand one truth.

The real victims of these unreasonable actions are the loved ones or bystanders: the driver of the car who could not slow down in time or even see the streak of silver fur jumping from side to side beside the front fender. And what about the neighbor who cried silent tears as he lifted the warm, limp body and carried it away.

Each of us carries a memory of helplessness in our hearts. And I mourn for us all … the fallen and those left behind.

Just because you can swim, it doesn’t mean you don’t need a life vest. And even though you are a good driver, you still need a safety belt. You wouldn’t skydive without a parachute. A cyclist should wear a helmet, and for God’s sake, do not pass on the right. Why dash out into traffic? If you trip, you’ll be crushed.

You might as well eat raw oysters in July or back off a cliff while taking a selfie.

I can hear sirens crossing over the pass towards Ixtlahuacan and wait to hear them return, taking someone’s loved one to the Emergency Room.

This usually occurs about sunset and I fear the driver has been enjoying our lakeside hospitality and tequila.

Of course he/she shouldn’t be driving, but we should be on the lookout for them. (Have you ever seen or heard the Jaws of Life being used?)

We should all be responsible for ourselves and others. Remember, it can happen to you, and at any time.

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Getting On With Getting On

By Christy Wiseman

*

I

’m so sorry to hear of your lovely wife Lindy’s death. It is a sentiment I’m sending more frequently as I age. The name might be different and your condolences may have been over a spouse, significant other, child, or someone near and dear who was a special part of your life, but the grief it addresses is understood by those who have felt it. * You have now joined a group that you would have given your life to have avoided.

Death has a finality that in our naïveté we mortals seem to have been able to cushion ourselves from until someone we loved goes on into Eter-

nity.

It then becomes so real and so devastating, because the word “eternity” suddenly pierces us to the core with an understanding we never needed to fathom before.

I lost the love of my life just over four years ago and I can tell you that it is not ever something you “get over.”

You can “get thru and get on” It’s a choice. Make it a positive one. Your special someone was a part of you, maybe the most treasured part, and his/her physical body is gone forever.

You two built a history that was yours alone. It made me think of how glad I was that my husband and I had shared our feelings and our grati-

tude for the trips we had, the special memories we created, the challenges that in hindsight were part of who we had become together. We often said how lucky we were and in looking back, I am so grateful we expressed that.

I have lost both my husband, from a long term battle with cancer, and my son, who died suddenly last December. Sudden death is horrible too, but at least you know that it is sudden and for the person, relatively painless. Keep that in mind as really, if our time is up, that is certainly the preferred way to go (at least for the person going.)

Be gentle with yourself. If you live alone and feel like screaming, do so.

Try a grief group, but make sure the counselor is someone who has “been there.” Others can empathize, but they can’t understand really. I tried two groups in the States and maybe it was just that they didn’t fit or that to the “counselor” it was a job in unchartered waters.

The old saying, “Don’t do anything major for at least a year.” is true. Even that is pushing it. I tell you this from personal experience as I purchased an extensive walk in tub thinking it would enable me to stay in my home longer.

BUT I shower - so go figure what got into me on that. I didn’t realize that old say-

ing was for after any major loss and we have yet to mark a year from my son’s demise. Find a friend who will be frank with you. You aren’t as together as you think.

One of my friends gave me a list answering “What is happiness?” I have it on my frig as I’ve found it to be true.

Just three simple things that you need to achieve as time goes on: 1. Someone or something to love. 2. Something to do which gives meaning 3. Something to look forward to.

For me - 1. I have my sons and grandchildren and friends who I love. 2. I like to quilt and write occasional articles for a magazine, plus I’ve found some philanthropic causes I care about and support. 3. I look forward to what each day brings, short term and long term. I have a gathering of “sisters” which we all have become, one of whom keeps us all connected throughout the year and another who lets us all use her very large cabin. We are all so grateful she and her husband have done so well.

You will find or have found the joy in your friendships and/or in your family. It will never be the same, but I am so grateful for my blessings as you will be too It is a different chapter in our lives, but it can be good. Count your blessings, not your sorrows.

Choose to live with gratitude and you and those around you will be happier. Think about it from the other person’s view. He/she may love you very much, but how long will he/she want to be around someone who is always down.

There will be a lot of loose ends.

There are for me. I’m remodeling my condo, and getting ready to go to Mexico. My condo is filled with sweet memories; some which happen unexpectedly and stab my heart so I can’t even speak and some which make me smile.

I still have lots of cleaning out to do of things I don’t need. I plan to keep my Reno home because each person has to answer that question of “where do I fit now that I am one.” You aren’t alone and you will find that place. Hang in there. It is a new reality and one you didn’t want, but have. There is a lot to deal with and while you’d rather not, eventually you will find the third component and have things, people and/ or projects to look forward to enjoying and appreciating.

May the God of your understanding help you in this new chapter.

Christy Wiseman

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Saw you in the Ojo 65

Red Duct Magic

By Katina Pontikes

T

he drive from Lake Charles, Louisiana to DeRidder, Louisiana is only forty-five minutes long. When I was a child, it seemed to take hours. Farm fences displayed brightly colored ads for Brylcreem hair pomade and Barbasol shaving cream.

The colorful signs provided a break in the monotony for our carload of restless children, as the older children read the ads to the younger ones.

My mother would drive us to the country on many Fridays, ostensibly to see her parents, my Mommy and Poppy. I think she was getting us away from my Dad, so that we would have tranquility. My parent’s weekend fights involved angry words, tears and discussions of a divorce that wouldn’t come for years. Their relationship was tumultuous, the opposite of life in DeRidder.

DeRidder was a quiet country town, sparsely populated and with one Dairy Queen for local gathering. The Baptist church was big, and cocktail lounges were not to be found, even though they were common in other towns.

The earth was russet red in color, and as we turned off from the highway to the dirt road that wound up and down small hills to my grandparents’ farm, we left a trail of ruby dust kicking up in our wake. If the window were cracked open, the dust would get in your nose and sit on your lips, invasive like beach sand marking us with the location we were visiting.

Arrival was joyous. We would fall out of the car, hot and thirsty, and Mommy would come out to meet us with her high-pitched, affectionate “Halloo!” and wide smile, her arms dramatically outstretched. She had prematurely white hair, bright blue eyes and a soft matronly body that hugged us warmly. I would always take a moment to compliment her blue hydrangea flowers, which grew profusely by her front door. They loved the spot, she would tell me, and she fed them coffee grinds every now and then. Their vivid blue hues and cabbage size were gorgeous, almost artificial in their perfection. They added a fairytale-like quality to our visits.

Poppy appeared next, less expressive, with a soft warm smile and a sinewy hug, his chest strong and hard. He

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was the steady rock of the household, and demanded good behavior of us hooligans. His gruff voice gave us security if there were strange noises in the late night. He was a farmer who kept a shotgun, in case he heard a wildcat screeching, and he wasn’t afraid to go out looking for just such a scary creature.

Dinners took place around a cheery yellow-flowered Formica table with chrome trim. Our chairs were cushioned in plastic, cool on the back of our thighs. We usually had food like chicken and dumplings and fresh-hulled peas.

Dessert was something from the farm, like fresh peaches, or in winter, the peaches came from Bell jars in which they were preserved. Dependable rituals were in every moment of the day.

Late afternoons we would sit outside with bowls in our laps hulling fresh peas. Conversations were colorful, and if the gossip was particularly interesting, hulling peas became as interesting as watching a favorite television show.

Once you were old enough to share this chore with the adults, you were old enough to hear the talk of the latest scandal. Perhaps a neighbor’s wife had been spotted kissing a soldier from the nearby military base, and it was on good authority because someone from Mommy’s church was the person who saw them. Heads would shake in disapproval, pursed lips registering the sin.

I just pulled peas out, like I heard this sort of thing all the time.

Sometimes we fed the cows watermelon rinds. They would lazily chomp the green rinds and the juices would overflow from the sides of their mouths, the display exquisitely unrefined. I liked watching this spectacle more than I enjoyed eating the watermelon.

The country afforded us serenity in our brief social isolation. We could roam the farm, smelling the earth, the mixture of pine trees and a distant whiff of the cows. These memories were permanently etched within me, offering a place of peace in my otherwise chaotic childhood.

Katina Pontikes

Saw you in the Ojo 67

The National Bird?

Ben Franklin, it might be recalled, Entreated all his fellow men: “Forget about the eagle bald, Wild turkey is American.

“Bald eagles are bad characters, But turkeys are respectable.

They won’t be viewed as predators, And turkeys are delectable.

“Wild turkeys winging overhead Are such a sight to see Compared to one lone eagle, Jeb, Perched high in yonder tree.”

“We’re going with the eagle, Ben, On watch and soaring overhead.

Your gobblers don’t inspire men; Stern gaze is what we need instead.

“In short, we need an emblem To symbolize our nation, And turkeys don’t engender Americanization.”

Yes, that’s the way it happened, friends, And yet it seems ironic That turkeys and Thanksgiving Are more and more iconic.

—Mark Sconce— Ed. Note: The perfect piece for Thanksgiving that was either found or sent to us too late.

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JOHN HERBERT JONES, JR.

When born in Billings, Montana on October 24, 1929, John supposedly took a single breath of air and began singing...at least according to his mother. “And he was the only one in the family who could sing on pitch,” she added, comparing his voice to those of his four sisters: three older, Helen, Gladys and Marion; one younger, Janet.

His singing matured at the United Methodist Church in Polson during high school years, continuing to develop at the College of Puget Sound in Washington State where he earned a Bachelor’s of Music and his first Masters of Music degrees. His second Masters - majoring in voice – he earned at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He won auditions during summer breaks for a variety of summer stock companies’ musical productions, mostly performing second leads at the Texas State Fair Musicals, Dallas, a highly acclaimed company that attracted Hollywood and Broadway stars to their stage.

When his college years ended, another institution beckoned: the U.S. Army, where (as he jokingly put it) he fought “the battle of Camp Roberts” (California) as a Chaplin’s Assistant, playing piano or organ for all the denominations. His training served him well afterwards, including a solo on the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air. More traveling musical company roles led to passage money allowing him to travel to the musical Mecca, New York City. Not really expecting much, but young and optimistic, he went to an Equity audition for the smash hit of the decade, My Fair Lady. His first New York audition, and he not only got into the show, he received a contract with a rider making him the understudy of the young romantic lead, “Freddy Eynsford-Hill,” having him perform opposite Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison – which he did more than 200 times during the years he remained with the show.

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John Herbert Jones, Jr.

Applause, starring Lauren Bacall, Ann Baxter. and Arlene Dahl were among his many later Broadway musicals, including Carnival with Liza Minelli. Classical music was his primary focus of genre while in school and when he learned of an audition for the Metropolitan Opera National Company – operated by Rise Stevens was about to be held, he rushed to attend. He was hired as a baritone with small but significant roles. He was only momentarily hesitant; the tour was to last a year, touring Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

But age had moved him into the bracket that made him realize he was too old for juvenile roles, but too young for character roles.

He “compromised” by “playing office” as he put it, for a few years, only occasionally taking singing “gigs.” Bored, until he visited Mexico! A new world, a new life, a new beginning! They even had English language theatre there and weren’t strict about age-casting.

He saw 14 houses in one weekend, and returned to New York to spend the entire first night convincing Allen to move to Mexico, San Miguel de Allende, for 17 years, later to Lakeside where he immersed himself in every Los Cantantes production.

John died early Saturday morning, January 7th. He is survived by his sister Janet, and his 62-yearlong life partner, Allen McGill, another theatrical performer. The service was held at St. Andrew’s Church in Riberas.

Saw you in the Ojo 71

CHURCH DIRECTORY

The Ojo Crossword

ALL SAINTS LUTHERAN Church Worship Service and Sunday School at 11:00 am 4600 Avenida Tepeyac, Guad.

Tel. (01 333) 121-6741.

ABUNDANT LIFE ASSEMBLY OF GOD Carr. 140 next to Mail Boxes etc, Tel: 766-5615.

CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL LIVING CELEBRATION SERVICE 1st Sunday of each month, Nicolas Bravo #17 Ajijic.

Tel: (376) 766-0920 or tim@revdoctim.com CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS Services in English and Spanish, 10 am, Riberas del Pilar Tel. (376) 7657067, President: Pedro Aguilera. Recidence (376) 762-0299.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Services Sun. 10 am, Alvaro Obregon 119, Chapala. Tel. (376) 765-4210.

CHRIST CHURCH LAKESIDE Eucharist for each Sunday 11:00 am. La Huerta Eventos Center in West Ajijic.

Rev. Danny Borkowski at (376) 766-2495 or Jim Powers (387) 761-0017.

HOME CHURCH INT’L Locations by calling (332) 242-8648, or email yeshuapfa@gmail.com JEWISH CONGREGATION Santa Margarita 113, Riberas del Pilar, Tel: 766-2668. lcjcac@gmail.com for information and service times.

Web site: www. lakechapalajewishcongregation.com.

LAKE CHAPALA BAPTIST CHURCH Sunday Bible study at 9:45 a.m.; Sunday worship at 11 a.m. at Santa Margarita 147, Riberas del Pilar.

Eddie Garnett, deacon. Tel. (331) 608-0856 LAKE CHAPALA UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP

The Unitarians meet Sundays at 10:30 am. Hidalgo #261 Riberas del Pilar. Lew Crippen, 766-1119.

LAKESIDE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Worship-Sunday 10 am; Bible Study-Friday at 9:45 am; San Jorge 250; Riberas del Pilar Church Office at 376-106-0853.

Website at www.lpcchapala.org LITTLE CHAPEL BY THE LAKE Sun. services 11:15 am, Chula Vista,. Jal, Tel. (376) 106-1199, 766-4409 SAN ANDRES CATHOLIC CHURCH Services 9 am on Sunday, Ajijic, Tel: 766-0922.

SAINT ANDREW´S ANGLICAN CHURCH Calle San. Lucas 19, Riberas del Pilar, Worship begins at 10 a.m., “Coffee Hour,” a time of fellowship and welcome. Tel: 765-3926. www.standrewsriberas.com.

ST. MARK’S ANGLICAN GUADALAJARA St. Mark’s is at Chichimecas 836 in Colonia Monraz.

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ACROSS 1 Syrian bishop 5 Ma 9 Painter Richard 14 Shallow área 15 Tease 16 Teacher´s writing tool 17 Declare Firmly 18 Tout 19 __ disputed 20 Confuse 22 Anyway 24 Artful 25 Blotch 27 Young Women’s Christian Association 31 Decorative needle case 32 Flightless bird 34 To trouble 35 Replace a striker 38 Incorporated (abbr.)

40 Volley 42 Caffeine pill brand 44 Gossip 46 Bundle of yarn 47 Tight at the top, flaring at The bottom (2 wds.)

48 Tell a tall tale 50 Island 51 Pastry 52 Catch some Z´s 55 Family group 57 Type of missile 59 Popular Japanese drama 61 And so forth 64 Comes about 66 Asian starling 68 __ cum laude 71 Pater 73 Continent 74 Not as assertive 75 Diabolic 76 Midget 77 Filmed 78 Traveled by horse 79 Fish catchers

DOWN 1 Mid-Eastern dwellers 2 Knife edge 3 Heavyset 4 Big hairdo 5 Coffee brand 6 Supplying oxygen 7 Intended 8 Sock 9 Repeat 10 Fancy 11 Make lace 12 Building addition 13 Heavens 21 Time zone 23 Dress edge 26 French “yes” 28 What Charles is prince of 29 Civic 30 Lonely 31 Black 33 Ship initials 35 Joins together 36 Infant’s crying disease 37 Adios 39 California (abbr.)

41 Similar 43 Type of Buddhism 45 Non molar tooth 49 Deer relative 53 Official canine registry (abbr.)

54 Poor person 56 Aspire 58 Recipient 60 Hurray!

61 Happen after wards 62 Contaminate 63 Conversations 65 Tease wool 67 Thread 68 Mountain Standard Time 69 Expression of surprise 70 Cheat 72 Lager

The Poet’s Curse The muted hush of night, the throb of silence.

The “hiss” that hurts.

The incessant pounding of a dripping faucet.

In the relentless din, a lone candle flickers.

Seeks to befriend, quill in hand, the poet?

Bleary eyed, ponders, the die cast, forever set?

Its sense relegated mired in the mundane, and yet, once ever so infrequently a fleeting truth.

Nevermore than a thread, a straw in a stack, searches, a thought, a word, a sentence.

Deep into gloom, hours before first light brandy snifter still in hand, music and spirit pour over his ever-unquiet mind.

Humanity, bereft, neither inclination nor recrimination, the here, the now, fleeting moments.

Sadly, he proffers, “They have no idea!

They just don’t know!”

And they don’t, not a one.

The poet’s curse.

—Martin A. Bojan—

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NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

(NOTE: If there is any change, please advise us so that corrections may be made. Call Rosy: 765-3676) AJIJIC SOCIETY OF THE ARTS (ASA): AjijicSocietyOfTheArts.com Provides local artists an opportunity to meet, demonstrate techniques and organize art shows; and provides assistance to young Mexican artists to learn and show their work. Deena Hafker 376-766-2249 or oliodee@ hotmail.com AA LAKESIDE: Alcoholic Anonymous group. Meets Monday & Thursday from 4:30-5:30 PM at the Lake Chapala Society. Ian Frasier 376-766-4990 iandavid81@gmail.

AL-ANON: No website or face book. Monday 10AM at Club12- Men’s meeting. Monday 10:30AM at Little Chapel-Open meeting. Saturday 10 AM at Club 12-Open meeting. Information: Call 376-766-4409, Cell 333-480-7675 AL-ANON (IN SPANISH): Mondays 6-7:30 & Wednesdays 5:30-7:30. Meets at the Lake Chapala Society. Ericka Murillo 376-766-1788 erickamurillo2000@yahoo.com.mx AJIJIC QUILT GUILD - Meets second Tuesday monthly at 10 am. Guests & New Members Welcome. ajijicguild@gmail.com AJIJIC WRITERS’ GROUP- Meets 1st and 3rd Fridays at 10 am. Nueva Posada. Coffee. Meeting followed by lunch at the Nueva Posada.

AMERICAN LEGION OF CHAPALA POST- #7: General Membership meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:30 am. Tel: 765-2259.

AMERICAN LEGION, FRANK M. VALENTINE POST 9: Meets at The Iron Horse Inn (across from the old Maskaras clinic) on the first Wednesday of every month at 1 pm. Call Perry King at 763-5126 or Al King at 737-1493 for more info.

ANCIANITAS DE SANTA CLARA DE ASIS: Web site: https://rudiselj.wixsite.com/ancianitaslagochapal . Lisa Le :387 761 0002 - lisale888@gmail.com AXIXIC MASONIC LODGE #31- Meets 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at Hotel Perrico at 3:00 pm. The address is Libramiento Chapala-Ajijic #2500. Contact Sheldon Stone at (376)765-3306 or stoneshel@gmail.com.

BARE STAGE THEATRE: Hidalgo #261 in Riberas del Pilar, barestagetheatre2018@gmail.com.

BRAVO! THEATRE: www.facebook.com/Bravotheatre (unofficial) Semi-professionsal theatre with live theatre and ongoing adult arts education in dance and theatre. Jayme Littlejohn 331045-9627 mymytickets@gmail.com BRITISH SOCIETY: Assist the British Community facilitates the transmission of information with The British Embassy in Mexico. Meetings are the 1st Saturday of the month at Manix restaurant for lunch and speaker. Sue Morris 376-766-0847 /331-156-0346 ibbocat@gmail.com CARD & DOMINO CLUB- Wednesday, Friday & Saturday. Call for times. We will teach; make friends! Tel. 766-4253, Cell: (045) 33-1402-4223.

CANADIAN CLUB OF LAKE CHAPALA: www.canadianclubmx.com Club Objectives are: 1. To promote fellowship among Canadians and friends within the Lake Chapala area. 2. To encourage a cultural exchange and foster friendly relations with all residents. 3. To be a centre for providing current Mexican and Canadian Information. 4. The Club shall be non-profit, non-political and non-sectarian CASAS CARIÑOSAS, A.C.: www.abbeyfield-ajijic.org As part of the world wide non-profit organization of Abbeyfield, help an increasing number of older people enjoy a high quality of independent living provided through a range of services, including housing, support or care, with local community involvement. 376-766-2045 info@abbeyfield-ajijic.org CASA DEL LAGO (CASA DE ANCIANOS) CHAPALA: Provides support for local area elderly citizens through a residential home in Chapala. Ana Luisa Maldonado 376-765-2497 adultosdellago@gmail.com CENTRO DE DESAROLLO JOCOTEPEC, A.C.: www.cedejo.org Improve the quality of life for Lake Chapala families with limited resources through promoting the health and well being of the family. Calle Ocampo # 45-A. 376-766-1679 CHAPALA SUNRISE ROTARY CLUB: www.chapalarotary.org Participate in activities that will support lakeside residents. Provide assistance to international projects and meet with other like -minded Rotarians to build friendships. Meetings: Thursdays 10AM Monte Carlo Hotel CREM: AJIJIC MUSIC SCHOOL: www.cremajijic.com For 24 years this school has provided music education to children at lakeside. Students are taught to play an instrument and participate in the orchestra or the choir. There are 43 students and 8 faculty, all university graduates.

Scholarships are offered to students from low-income families. 333-496-8976 cremajijic@gmail. com CRUZ ROJA MEXICANA DELEGATION CHAPALA: www.cruzrojachapala.com Offers clinical, ambulance and other emergency medical services to all Lakeside residents and visitors. Yolanda [Yoly] Martinez Llamas Consejo President 766-2260 consejochapala@gmail.com CULINARY ARTS SOCIETY OF AJIJIC: www.ajijiccasa.org Provides CASA members, Associates and guests a monthly forum to share foods, learn new preparation techniques, stimulate culinary ideas, meet new people and enjoy the world of food: in a competitive atmosphere that encourages creativity and rewards excellence. CASAlakeside@yhoo.com DAR: (At Lakeside) - THOMAS PAINE CHAPTER meets every 3 Wednesday at 12:30 noon at the Janelle´s Restaurant in Ajijic. September thru June. Tel: 766-2981.

DAYS FOR GIRLS: www.daysforgirlslakechapala.org A group of women working together giving days back to girls through access to lasting feminine hygiene solutions. This results in a more dignified and educated world, for the girls of the Lake Chapala area. We create hand made menstrual kits and distribute them along with education to empower, enlighten and strengthen the young women receiving them. All this because of access to these products and taking responsibility of ones menstrual situation, sexuality, pregnancy planning and hygiene.

Darlene Macleod 387-761-0175 darmacleod@gmail.com DEMOCRATS ABROAD MEXICO/ LAKE CHAPALA CHAPTER: www.democratsabroad.org, www.facebook.com/DemocratsAbroadMexico Official arm of the Democratic Party of the United States, working as a state party for US citizens living abroad. The mission is to represent and serve American citizens living outside the United States who support the principles of the Democratic Party. Larry Pihl, Executive Chair 376-766-3274 larry.pihl@gmail.com, da_mexico@

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democratsabroad.org EUCHRE CLUB: We play tournament style so that everyone gets a new partner after every 8 round hand, and that way you meet lots of new people. The club is free and open to anyone and everyone who enjoys playing Euchre. It is a free club and we play every Tuesday at El Sombrero at 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm.

ESCUELA PARA NINOS ESPECIALES (SCHOOL FOR SPECIAL CHILDREN): www.schoolforspecialchildren.org The mission is to improve the educational opportunities for children with a wide variety of disabilities and in doing so, increase the probability that they might enjoy a brighter future. Mission is accomplished through provision of a clean, safe physical environment and improved nutrition during the school day. Working closely with the Mexican school board and teachers, we help support the educational programs for the children, young, adults and families. 387-763-0843 FERIA MAESTROS DEL ARTE: www.feriamaestros.com & www.mexicoartshow.com To preserve and promote Mexican indigenous and folk art. We help preserve these art forms and the culture that produces them by providing the artists a venue to sell their work to galleries, collectors, and museums. In collaboration with Mexican government agencies, we promote regional and international awareness to the plight of these endangered arts. Marianne Carlson, mariannecarlson@gmail.com or Rachel McMillen rjmcmillen@shaw.ca.

FRENCH CLUB (LES AMITIES FRANCOPHONES). A social gathering for people who speak French fluently (and their spouses & guests). The group meets once a month (either a pot luck or at a restaurant) on the 3rd Saturday for a late lunch, good conversation, some drinks and more than a few laughs. For more information contact Jill Flyer, fotoflyer2003@yahoo.com.

FOUNDATION FOR LAKE CHAPALA CHARITIES: www.lakechapalacharities.org The prime purpose is to attract money for the charities around Lake Chapala, Mexico and to allow those who donate to claim U.S. tax deductions for their gifts to those charities. The Foundation will also accept “endowments” and “memorial support” for any of the charities and will provide free Mexican legal assistance in setting up those endowments and memorials. 376-766-2606 or cell 331-260-7123 Admin@LakeChapalaCharities.org GARDEN CLUB- Meets the 3rd. Wednesday 12:00 noon at La Nueva Posada.

GERMAN CLUB: Provides social opportunities for German-speaking residents. The group meets 2nd Thursday for lunch at 1PM. One does not have to be German but must speak German. Ing. Javier Aguilera 387-761-0777 javier.aguilera@mudanai.com HASH HOUSE HARRIERS: International running group with local chapter walks on Saturday morning, 8:30 AM, La Nueva Posada Hotel with goals of getting exercise, having fun, and enjoying breakfast. Denny Strole 376-766-0485 dstrole@gmail.com HOPE HOUSE: www.casahogarmexico.org Hope House is safe shelter home to boys ages 3 to 18. Our vision is to develop character, provide love and import tools to be a successful part of society. Director Annel Valdovinos Aguilar 376-762-0032 oficina@casahogarmexico.org HAVE HAMMERS WILL TRAVEL A.C.: www.havehammer.com The mission is to provide learning and social experiences within a safe, supportive environment so that our students acquire: basic woodworking CAD skills for exploration of career pathways (Level 1: ages 10-14) intermediate woodworking CAD skills for entry-level employment (Level 2: ages 15+) advanced woodworking CAD skills for professional employment, incl. coops (Level 3: ages 21+) skills to maintain a well equipped woodworking shop Tuition $400 pesos/month limited scholarships available Information: hhwtchapala@gmail.com. Office 376-766-4830. President Michel Ouimet or H Wayne Renz, bingolago@aol.com JALTEPEC CENTRO EDUCATIVO (FORMERLY CENTRO DE FORMACION JALTEPEC): www. jaltepec.edu.mx. A Tecnico Universitario en Hoteleria, providing education in hotel & hospitality management and an entrepreneurial program. 387-763-1781 info@jaltepec.edu.mx.

LAKE ASSISTANCE: www.facebook.com/ LAG Importing equipment for firefighters and police and to distribute around the lakeside fire departments. John Kelly 331-758-0676 jkelly203@ gmail.com LAKE CHAPALA BIRDERS: www.chapalabirders.org Encourages bird watching; organizes bird walks, bird trips and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. John & Rosemary Keeling 376766-1801 chapalabirders@yahoo.com LAKE CHAPALA GARDEN CLUB: www.lakechapalagardenclub.org Promotes an interest, appreciation and better understanding of botanical subjects including but not limited to all plant materials, their care and use in the home and garden. Meetings explore the many garden species and practices unique to this area of Mexico. Open to all interested in gardens and their care.

Supports lakeside organizations with beautification and educational projects.

LAKE CHAPALA SHRINE CLUB: www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org & www.shrinersinternational.org www.facebook.com /pages/Lake-Chapala-Shrine-Club/757185090966972 Physical examination of lakeside children to determine if they qualify for treatment locally or by Family trips to the Mexico City Shrine Hospital the cost of which is financed by frequent Fundraisers such as Dine With the Shrine, Rib fest and tax deductible donations. David Eccles, President 331-017-1724 davidheccles@hotmail.com. Perry M. King 376-763-5126 pking1931@gmail.com LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY A.C.: www.lakechapalasociety.com The mission is to promote the active participation of Lakesides’ inhabitants to improve their quality of life. By making this commitment we signal to the community that our focus is based not just on ex-patriots, but everyone living at lakeside. For the Mexican community, provides English as a second language, remedial tutoring, student financial aid, Wilkes Education Center and Biblioteca at Galeana #18 and free medical checks. Carole Wolff president@lakechapalasociety.com Steve Balfour 376766-1140 executivedirector@lakechaplasociety.com LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY CHILDREN’S ART PROGRAM: www.lakechapalasociety.com “A visual arts program free for all lakeside community children aged 3 to 18 that provides them an opportunity to explore their creativity. A Neill James legacy program that began in 1954.”

Danielle Page childrensart@lakechapalasociety.com LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY STUDENT AID FUND: https://lakechapalasociety.com/public/stu-

dent-aid-program.php Provides financial support to qualified Lakeside area students to enroll in public university programs. directoreducacion@lakechapalasociety.com. Alfredo Perez 376766-1140 apoyoeco@lakechapalasociety.com LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY WILKES EDUCATION CENTER (BIBLIOTECA PUBLICA): www. lakechapalasociety.com Provides classes of Spanish and English languages and other topics for both Anglo and Mexican community.

Alfredo Perez 376-766-1140 directoreducacion@lakechapalasociety.com LAKESIDE FRIENDS OF THE ANIMALS, A.C.: www.lakesidefriendsoftheanimals.org Pro­vide funding for spay/neuters, puppy vaccinese and emergency care and operations for pets of Mexican nationals of limited means. We also spay/neuter feral cats through our 4 Vets WE fund humane education programs in the local schools. Operate the pet store/shelter in Riberas del Pilar. Sue Hillis, President 376-765-5544 hilliss@yahoo.com LAKESIDE GARDEN GUILD: www.gardenguild.weebly.com Limited membership gardening group promoting the interest in the development of local gardens with an accent on the exotic species available in central Mexico. Presents annual Floral Design Show, supports local projects for community improvement and beautification such as Wipe Out Graffiti project in Ajijic.

LAKESIDE GENEALOGY FORUM: A group of family historians meeting once a month to share ideas, methodologies and topics of interest for genealogy enthusiasts. Meetings are at 1 PM the last Monday of the month at the LDS Church and Family Center in Riberas del Pilar. Marci Bowman marci452@yahoo.com LAKESIDE LITTLE THEATRE A.C.: www.lakesidelittletheatre.com To provide theatrical en­ tertainment to the residents and visitors of the Lakeside community: to nurture and develop existing and new talent in every aspect of the performing arts and technical support areas: and to maintain and preserve the theatre facility and properties. Tickets: tickets@lakeside­ littletheatre.com 376-766-0954 lakesidelittletheatre@gmail.com Collette Clavadetscher, collette618@icloud.com LAKESIDE PATHFINDERS: This group is for people who are spiritual but not religious. See www.facebook.com/groups/427377094450390/about/. For more information please contact lakeside.pathfinders2019@gmail.com LAKESIDE SPAY AND NEUTER RANCH & ADOPTIONS, A.C.: www.lakesidespayandneutercenter.com Provides shelter and helps curtail the over-population of animals. Syd Sullins 376766-1411 or 331-270-4447 adoptaranchdog@outlook.com LAKESIDE WILDLIFE RESCUE & REHABILITATION: Promotes the rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals, trees and plants around Lake Chapala. 376-765-4916 LA OLA/CASA HOGAR, A.C.: www.laolacasahogar.org La Ola Casa Hogar is a children’s shelter. We are an interfaith children’s ministry. Our scope is more than that of an orphanage in that we care for abandoned and abused children as well as orphans. 376-688-1005 laola@laolacasahogar.org Becky Plinke 332-312-7756 bgnickel@yahoo.com LCS EDUCATION CENTER- Provides classes in language and other topics for both Anglo and Mexican community. Calle 16 de Septiembre # 16-A Ajijic. 766-1140.

LCS STUDENT AID FUND- Provides financial support to area students to enroll in university, vocational and high school program. Calle 16 de Septiembre # 16-A Ajijic. 766-1140.

LOS CANTANTES DEL LAGO: www.loscantantesdellago.com A community choir striving that is for artistic excellence in choral singing. We encourage members to improve their vocal skills and to work continually toward greater skill through rhythmic and note training in order to become more literate musicians. Our principal objectives are the support of young musicians, the performance of works of Mexican composers, and sharing our music with the Mexican community.

LOS NIÑOS DE CHAPALA & AJIJIC A.C. (NCA): www.lakesideninos.org Provides financial support for the educational, nutritional and social development of local area children. Office 376-765-7032, info@lakesideninos.org LOVE IN ACTION- Shelter for abused and abandoned children. For volunteers and donations.

Anabel Frutos 765-7409, cell: 331-351 7826.

LUCKY DOG: www.luckydoglakechapala.com www.facebook.com/LuckyDogLakeChapala/ To provide shelter to rescue dogs, socialize them and restore them to health, and adopt them out to good homes. To work with other animal organizations to promote spay and neuter.

331-300-7144 luckydogchapala@yahoo.com MARIPOSA PROJECT: BUTTERFLIES EN MEXICO: www.gomariposa.org Objectives: Provide options for how youth can make sustainable changes and provide opportunities for change.

Mac Whyte 387-761-0360 macbwhyte@gmail.com MEXICAN ASSOCIATION TO EMPOWER WOMEN FOR FAMILY INTEGRATION, AMSIF: amsif.org.mx To work with the poor, mainly women, to transform the family values in the community. Educate women so they can have a critical mind and thus liberate themselves and become agents of change through a liberated and integral education. A method of education used where they can “see, judge, and act”.

MEXICAN NATIONAL CHILI COOKOFF: www.mexicannationalchilicookoff.com The Mexican National Chili Cookoff is the largest fundraising organization Lakeside. For more than 41 years the event has raised funds to support local charities in their work. The 3 day event, always held in February, features hundreds of vendors of the finest Mexican handcrafts, on-going hourly entertainment, and a variety of food and beverages. The event is held at Tobolandia Water Park in Ajijic. The organization currently funds 9 IJAS approved charities and in the latest year made donations of 60,000 pesos to each participating charity. Jacques Bouchard 376-766-4350 jacqueandcarol@hotmail.com MUJERES APOYANDO A MUJERES: Mezcala jewelry collective with the focus to create a cottage industry jewelry making project that will give the women of Mezcala and la Cuesta a means of economic independence. The jewelry is being sold at Cugini’s and Diane Pearl in Ajijic.

Doris Wakeman.

MUSICA PARA CRECER A.C. / OFIRC (ORQUESTA FILARMÓNICA INFANTIL DE LA RIBERA DE CHAPALA) Training disadvantaged kids between the ages of 8 and 18 years who want to learn a musical instrument with the possibility of becoming a member of the “Orquesta Filarmónica Infantil de la Ribera de Chapala”. San Juan Cosala, Porfirio Diaz Oriente 144.

Coco Wonchee, 33-3117-2927 soco.wonchee@gmail.com NIÑOS INCAPACITADOS DEL LAGO, A.C.: www.programaninos.com A non-profit, all-volunteer organization that helps low-income Mexican families pay medical expenses for their children with disabling or life-threatening illnesses. Email: ninosincapacitados@programani-

nos.com Dave Pike, President 376-765- 3137 dave.ppni@gmail.com Carol Antcliffe carol.ppni@ gmail.com “NO GRAFFITI AJIJIC” GROUP: Group of residents, who remove and cover graffiti. Paint donations appreciated. Contact with details. Email Dan Houck with graffiti reports. Dan Houck 376-766-3225 houck1022@gmail.com NORTHERN LIGHTS MUSIC FESTIVAL: Provides young talented Canadian artists exposure and experience on the international concert stage and provides the community with a wide range of classical music venues including concerts and demonstrations to young Mexican students and musicians through an annual music festival.

NSDAR CHAPALA THOMAS PAINE CHAPTER: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mextpdar/ thomaspainedar/ Goal is to make education available to deserving students and to help the community. Contribute to scholarships for the Technical School and students in Ninos de Chapala. Contribute to Hammer Hammer Will Travel and to Needle Pushers and the Lake Chapala Society Wilkes Education Center. Lorene Fields 376-766-1658 ltfields@hotmail.com OPEN CIRCLE: www.opencircleajijic.org Provide a supportive environment for social interactions. Presentations span a wide range of intellectual, cultural, physical and spiritual topics.

David Bryen 376-766-4755 opencircleideas@gmail.com, Margaret Van Every 376-766-2092 OPERACION AMOR: www.facebook.com/chapala.operacionamor Our mission is to provide free spay/neuter services for cats and dogs of persons of limited means in the greater Chapala area. 331-872-4440 cgcothran1@yahoo.com Amalia Garcia, Co-leader 376-763-5597 amgarciao10@gmail.com Cameron Peters Co-leader 376-766-4341 zo-onna@hotmail.com OPERATION FEED: www.operationfeed.weebly.com Our mission is to increase self-sufficiency by providing weekly despensas and supporting other educational and income opportunities for people of limited resources in San Juan Cosala.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS: www.OA.org Monday 12PM and Thursday 10:15AM. Lakeside Little Chapel, Carretera Ajijic-Chapala (next to Chula Vista Country Club). Information: 376-7664409, email Sugarfreeme@hotmail.com ROTARY CLUB OF AJIJIC: www.rotaryajijic.org Within the community and Rotary International, The Rotary Club of Ajijic serves as a model providing humanitarian serviced to others while maintaining high ethical standards. Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today’s most critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment illiteracy, and violence. They also support programs for youth, and for educational opportunities. Meetings: Tuesday 1PM Hotel Real de Chapala ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION: https://www.rclchapala.com/ To provide assistance to veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, including veterans of Commonwealth Forces and, in some instances, U.S. veterans and Mexican veterans living in the Lakeside area. Being a Legion member is not required for assistance to veterans who meet the criteria. This is done through our Poppy Fund Campaign. To support the local community by providing money and assistance to specific projects as designated by our members. John Kelly 331-758-0676 jkelly203@gmail.com SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, MEXICAN SOCIETY: Lineal descent from a Patriot of the American Revolution, not necessarily a soldier. Kenneth Loridans 376-766-2981 SoTouch@prodigy.net.mx ST. ANDREW’S OUTREACH PROGRAM: www.standrewsriberas.com St. Andrew’s Anglican Church provides financial grants to local non-profits and scholarships to public school students from funds donated by parishioners or generated at its Todo Bueno Resale Consignment Shop on the carreterra in Riberas, open M-Sat 10:00-3:00 pm. Outreach also hosts an annual “Spring Market Jamboree” the second Sunday in March in the church garden that includes live music, a car wash and unique products for sale by Outreach grant recipients. For more info: staoutreach. lakeside@gmail.com TABLE TENNIS CHAPALA: https://tinyurl.com/TableTennisChapala A club in the Chapala area devoted to the game of Table Tennis. We meet every Monday / Wednesday / Friday at between the hours of 1:30 to 3:30. New members are welcome to join and play. A small monthly fee is required to pay for the facilities and tables. Location Chula Vista Country Club, Calle Paseo del Golf 5, Fracc. Chula Vista, 45900 Chapala, Jal. email: planzee@ymail.com TAILS OF MEXICO: www.spayneuterlakechapala.weebly.com Tails of Mexico’s mission is to provide free spay/neuter clinics in the municipality of Jocopetec, Jalisco Mexico to poor Mexican families, street dogs, and others of limited means in order to reduce animal suffering and help the communities in which we work. Another program is to relocate dogs to specific rescue organizations and shelters North of the Mexican border. Dee Mistrik 01-387-761-0041 deemistrik@gmail.com Linda Rudisell-Hines, Communication Lead 01-387-761-0688 rudiselj@yahoo. com TEPEHUA CENTRO COMUNITARIO, A.C.: www.facebook.com/tepehuacommunitycenter. org A center helping a village through education, counseling and social functions. President: Moonyeen King 376-763-5126 moonie1935@yahoo.com TOASTMASTERS: Weekly meeting of bilingual Lake Chapala Toastmasters. Open to all interested in learning public speaking. Tim Schubert 376-766-0920 revdoctimothy@gmail.com U.S.A. THINKING TEAM: www.usathinkingteam.com Office is in Ajijic for 12 years. Supported

by Grandparents for a Better World. Support programs for charitable organizations in Ajijic and includes concerts with That’s Entertainment, speakers and radio shows. Contact: mexicosydneygay@yahoo.com UVA [UNIVERSITY & VOCATIONAL ASSISTANCE] SCHOLARSHIP FUND, A.C.: www.uvalakeside.org Founded in 1976, provide university/technical scholarship assistance to qualified Lakeside students. Monitor and verify the recipients’ qualifications for scholarship assistance (maintain a GPA of 8.5 or better each semester). Assure that 100% of donations for students are distributed to students. Operate as an independent charity and cease to exist if and when support of the charity no longer exists. Sue Torres 376-766-2932 mst0414@hotmail.com VILLA INFANTIL ORPHANAGE: www.villainfantil.com.mx Facebook: Villa Infantil Guadalupe y San Jose Provides care and financial support for 30 children under the care of the Catholic Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Joseph. info.villainfantil@gmail.com VEGGIE GROWERS CLUB: Meetings are held at Huerta Organic Café, Hidalgo #212 in Riberas del Pilar on the second Monday at 10 AM. Discussions on problems with growing vegetables at lakeside, local pests and how to treat them, composting and all matters related to growing vegetables. John McWilliams 376-766-0620

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Service

- EL OJO DEL LAGO Tel. 765-3676

* ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Pag: 68

* ANIMAL CLINICS/PET SHOP - CLINICA VETERINARIA SAN ANTONIO Pag: 30 Tel: 766-0808 - LAKESIDE FRIENDS OF THE ANIMALS AC Pag: 23 Tel: 765-5544 - MASKOTA’S LAKE Pag: 54 Tel: 766-0287 - PET PLACE Pag: 16 Cell: 333-1964-150 - PET FOOD AND GROOMING Pag: 12 Tel: 766-3062

* ART GALLERIES/HANDCRAFTS - 9TH ANNUAL FIBER ART SHOW & SALE Pag: 38 - ALFREDO’S GALERIA Tel: 766-2980 Pag: 69 - ART21STUDIO Tel: 33-3170-6135, 33-3677-3482 Pag: 45 - ART CLASES Pag: 46 - DIANE PEARL COLECCIONES Tel: 766-5683 Pag: 10 Pag: 65 - PENTHOUSE GALLERY

* AUTOMOTIVE

* BANK INVESTMENT Pag: 07 Pag: 33

* BEAUTY - CHRISTINE’S Tel: 106-0864 - CRISCO SALON Tel: 766-4073 - EDITH’S SALON Cell: 33-1310-9372 - ESTÉTICA KAREN Tel: 331-741-8609 - NEW LOOK STUDIO Tel: 766-6000, 33-3950-9990

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Pag: 11

- BETO’S WINE & LIQUOR Cell: (045) 333-507-3024

Pag: 69

* BOUTIQUE / CUSTOM SEWING - BARBARA MILAGROS Tel: 331-329-9395 - CUGINIS BOUTIQUE Tel/Fax: 766-1790 - LA BELLA VIDA Tel: 766-5131 - MI MEXICO Tel: 766-0133 - SO CHIC BOUTIQUE Tel: 331-762-7838

Pag: 06

* ELECTRONICS/ TECHNOLOGY

Pag: 67

- STEREN Tels. 766-0599, 766-0630

Pag: 30 Pag: 54

Pag: 26

Pag: 36

Pag: 12

Pag: 18 Pag: 24 Pag: 65

- COSTALEGRE Tel: 108-1087

Pag: 27

- FUMIGA Tel: 688-2826, Cell: 331-464-6705

Pag: 65 Pag: 63

- ISHOPNMAIL

- TEPEHUA TREASURES Tel: 763-5126

Pag: 49

* CONSTRUCTION - ARELLANO CORPORATION GROUP Cell: 331-331-0249 Pag: 42-43 - COMFORT SOLUTIONS Pag: 34 Tel: 33-1228-5377 - GENERAL HOME SERVICES - Amancio Ramos Jr. Cell: (045) 331-520-3054 Pag: 24 - LAKE HOME SERVICES Pag: 38 Tel: (376) 688-2888 - MARBLE & GRANITE

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

- FERRETERIA Y TLAPALERIA GALVEZ Tel: 766-0880, Fax: 766-2440 Pag: 82

* INSURANCE Pag: 67

Pag: 71

Pag: 71 Pag: 69 Pag: 55 Pag: 47

- AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR OPENERS Tel: 766-4973 Pag: 68

- GARDEN CENTER Tel: 765-5973 - RAINFOREST Cell: 331-241-9773, Tel: (376) 766-4534

* HARDWARE STORES

- HOTEL BALNEARIO SAN JUAN COSALA Tel: 387-761-0222 Pag: 56 - LA NUEVA POSADA Tel: 766-1444, 766-1344 Pag: 03 - OPXIC - Boutique Hotel Cell: 333-502-6555 Pag: 39

* GARDENING Pag: 35

Pag: 58

Pag: 28

* GARAGE DOORS OPENERS Pag: 03

- TELARES LOS REYES Tel: (376) 766-5640

* HOTELS / SUITES

Pag: 36

* COMMUNICATIONS

* HAND LOOMS

Pag: 35

* FURNITURE

- AXIXIC SPRING CLEANING Tel: 766-5140- Cell: 33-1075-7768 - IDEAL CLEAN Tel: 33-3399-2031, 331-5767-305 - STEAM CLEAN Tel: 33-2385-0410

766-1760 765-4444 766-5555

- M.D. CARLOS ALONSO FLORES VALDOVINOS Tel: 766-5126, 766-4435 Pag: 33

Pag: 50 - CALLI Tel: 766-5922 - HABITAT GARDEN Tel: 33-3684-5081 - NOMAD Tel: 765-6602 - UOU Tel: 106-1618, 333-149-4536

066 765-2308, 765-2553 766-3615

Pag: 16

* CHURCHES

* CLEANING SERVICES

EMERGENCY HOTLINE AMBULANCE - CRUZ ROJA FIRE DEPARTMENT POLICE Ajijic Chapala La Floresta

* HEARING AIDS

* FUMIGATION

Pag: 10 Pag: 67

Pag: 58

* FISH MARKET

* CHIROPRACTIC - LOWELL BIRCH, DC Tel: 766-3000

Pag: 71

DENTISTS

Pag: 11

Pag: 03

* CANOPIES - LONAS MEXICO Tel: 766-0045, Cell: 33-3956-4852

Tel: 766-1306 - PISOS Y AZULEJOS DE LA RIBERA Cell: 331-250-6486 - ROBERTO MILLAN - ARCHITECT Tel: 766-3771, Cell: 331-340-3758 - SIKA Tel: 766-5959 - WARWICK CONSTRUCTION Tel: 765-2224, Cell. 331-135-0763

- AJIJIC DENTAL CLINIC Tel. 766-3682 - CHAPALA DENTAL CARE Tel: 765-5584, 766-3847 - DRA. ANGELICA ALDANA LEMA DDS Tel. 765-5364, Cell: 33-1351-7797

Pag: 63

* CONSIGNMENT SHOP

* BED & BREAKFAST - CASA DEL SOL Tel: 766-0050

Pag: 14

* BEER & LIQUOR STORES

- ST. ANDREW’S ANGLICAN CHURCH

- FRATS Tel: 331-139-8539 Pag: 24 - MULTISERVICIO AUTOMOTRIZ ESCALERA Tel: 765-4424 Pag: 73

- INTERCAM Tel: 766-5978 - MULTIVA Tel: 766-2499

DIRECTORY

- CASA FLORES Tel: 766-5493 - CASA TRES LEONES Cell: (045) 331-350-6764

* ADVERTISING / DIRECTORY

- ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Tel: 766-5961

www.tel.chapala.com

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

- HEALTH INSURANCE Tel: 766-0395, 1-888-449-7799 Pag: 19 - LAKESIDE INSURANCE - EDGAR CEDEÑO Cell: (045) 33-3106-6982 Pag: 24 - PARKER INSURANCE SERVICES Pag: 32 Tel: 765-5287, 765-4070 - PROTEXPLAN U.S. Toll Free 1-800-608-5743 Mexico Toll Free 01-800-681-6730 Pag: 20 - TIOCORP Tel: 766-4828 Pag: 14

* LEGAL SERVICES - SOLBES & SOLBES Tel: 331-520-5529, Cell: 333-676-6245

Pag: 10

* LIGHTING - L&D CENTER Tel: 766-1064

Pag: 62

* LUMBER - MADERERIA CHAPALA-Hardware for Carpenters Tel: 765-2404, 765-3404 Pag: 68

Pag: 18 Pag: 66

* MALL / OUTLET - CENTRO LAGUNA Tel: 766-5514

* GOLF

Pag: 41

* MEAT/POULTRY/CHEESE - ATLAS COUNTRY GOLF COURSE Tel: 33-3689-2620

Pag: 21

- TONY’S Tel: 766-1614

* GRILLS

* MEDICAL SERVICES - NAPOLEON Tel: 766-6153

Pag: 22

- ALTA RETINA - Dr. Rigoberto Rios León

Pag: 10

Ophthalmic Surgeon Tel: 766-1521, 688-1122 Pag: 25 - DERMIKA Tel: 766-2500 Pag: 11 - DR. BEN - CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON Tel: 766-4871, Cell: 333-105-0402 Pag: 17 - DR. HECTOR G. MIRAMONTES - SPECIALIST IN COSMETIC SURGERY Tel: (332) 203-6398 Pag: 25 DRA. CLAUDIA LILIA CAMACHO CHOZAOphthalmologist Tel: 33-3403-3857 Pag: 59

* MOVERS - BEST MEXICO MOVERS US/CANADA: (915) 235-1951 US Cell: (520) 940-0481 - LAKE CHAPALA MOVING Tel: 766-5008 - STROM-WHITE MOVERS Tel: 766-6153

Pag: 28 Pag: 06 Pag: 22

* MUSIC / THEATRE / EVENTS - 14TH ANNUAL SHRINERS RIBFEST Tel: 331-017-1724, 376-763-5126 - A MASK GALA - Niños Incapacitados

- BARE STAGE THEATRE - CINE MUSIC - D.J. HOWARD Tel: 766-3044 - DEMOCRATS ABROAD - GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA - THE 42nd CHILI COOKOFF Tel: 766-4350

Pag: 53 Pag: 62 Pag: 26 Pag: 67 Pag: 30 Pag: 66 Pag: 52 Pag: 61

* NURSERY - LAS PALMAS Cell: 33-1195-7112

Pag: 73

* OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT - MAQUINARIA Y HERRAMIENTAS PROFESIONALES Tel: 387-763-1232, Cell: 33-1892-2142

Pag: 36

* PAINT - QUIROZ-Impermeabilizantes Tel: 766-2311 - QUIROZ-Pinturas Tel: 766-2311

* RENTALS/PROPERTY MANAGEMENT - COLDWELLBANKER CHAPALA REALTY Tel: 766-1152, Cell:(045) 331-386-7597 Pag: 70 - FOR RENT Pag: 34 Cell: 333-667-6554 - FOR RENT Pag: 60 Tel: 33-1406-0510 - FOR RENT Cell. 33-1602-8217 Pag: 50 - FOR RENT Cell: 33-1297-7614 Pag: 58 - HACIENDA PMR Pag: 69 Tel: 766-3320 - SANTANA RENTALS & REAL ESTATE Tel: 315-351-5167

Pag: 54 - ROMA Pag: 48 Tel: 766-3163, 766-5171

Tel: 766-2841 - PIAN - Cocina Thai Tel: 766-2881 - SCALLION Tel: 766-2301 - SIMPLY THAI Tel: 766-4767 - TEPETATE THAI RESTAURANT Tel: 766-2020 - THE PEACOCK GARDEN Tel: 766-1381 - TRIP’S BURGER - YVES Tel: 766-3565

Pag: 58 Pag: 32 Pag: 63 Pag: 52 Pag: 30 Pag: 20 Pag: 19 Pag: 51

* RETIREMENT/REST/NURSING HOMES - LA PUEBLITA Tel: +1 33-1964-2321, +52 775-315-3929 Pag: 55 - NURSING HOME LAKE CHAPALA S.C. Tel: 766-0404 Pag: 39 - VIDA BELLA-Assisted Living Tel: 765-4000 Pag: 51

Pag: 22 Pag: 58

* SEPTIC TANK PUMPING - JP HOME SERVICES Tel. 766-1569, Cell: 333-968-2938

Pag: 70

* SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS - FAR Cell: 331-321-6969 - LOS NIÑOS DE CHAPALA Y AJIJIC Tel: 765-7032

Pag: 48 Pag: 76

* STAINED GLASS - AIMAR Tel: 387-688-0570, Cell: 33-1741-3515

Pag: 12

* STREAMING TV - 7000 WIFI TV Tel: 387-761-1101 - FIRESTICK TV Tel: 331-741-4907 - EASY INTERNET TV Tel: 331-123-4606

Pag: 33 Pag: 69 Pag: 64

* TAXI / TRANSPORTATION Pag: 08

* TOURS - CHARTER CLUB TOURS Tel: 766-1777 Pag: 09, 13, 15 - KARUNA YES TOURS Cell: 333-101-8092 Pag: 57 - LYDIA’S TOURS Cell: 331-535-6022, Tel: 765-4742 Pag: 63

* TREE SERVICE - CHAPALA TREE SERVICE Tel: 762-0602

Pag: 30

* WATER - TECNO AQUA Tel: 766-3731, 688-1038

* SOLAR ENERGY - GROEN MEXICO Cell: 331-694-3175 - SUN QUEST ENERGY Tel: 766-6156, Cell: 33-1603-9756

- HOTEL BALNEARIO SAN JUAN COSALA Tel: 387-761-0222 Pag: 56 - TOTAL BODY CARE Tel: 766-3379 Pag: 35

- ARTURO FERNANDEZ Cell: (045) 333-954-3813

* SATELLITES/ T.V. - AJIJIC ELECTRONICS S.A. DE C.V. Tel/Fax: 766-1117, 766-3371 - SHAW SATELLITE SERVICES Tel: 33-1402-4223

* SPA / MASSAGE

Pag: 54

Pag: 59 Pag: 45

* RESTAURANTS/CAFES/BAR Pag: 14 Pag: 06

* PHOTOGRAPHER - HEIDI LANE Cell: 322-111-5821

Tel: 766-5267, 333-903-6056 Pag: 58 - FOR SALE BY OWNER Tel: 332-811-8783 Pag: 28 - FOR SALE BY OWNER Tel: 331-909-0060 Pag: 66 - FOR SALE BY OWNER Tel: 322-108-9757 Pag: 68 - FOR SALE BY OWNER Tel: 01 33-3614-8018, Cell: 333-115-9289 Pag: 73 - JUDIT RAJHATHY Cell: (045) 331 - 395 - 9849 Pag: 17 - LORI FIELSTED REALTY Cell: 331-365-0558 Pag: 49 - MONTELAGO Tel: 33-3190-7070, 33-2543-1090 Pag: 37 33-1279-4190 - PUNTAMINA REALTY Tel: 766-4312 Pag: 51 - RADISSON BLU - Ajijic Resort, Spa & Residences Tel: 766-4525, Cell: 332-255-5972 Pag: 02 - RAUL GONZALEZ Cell: 33-1437-0925 Pag: 03 - SANTANA RENTALS & REAL ESTATE Tel: 315-351-5167

Pag: 54 - TRINITY REAL ESTATE Pag: 59 Tel: 376-688-2769, 376-688-2670 - VERONICA NAVARRO Cell: 333-380-4377 Pag: 57 - VISTA ALEGRE Tel: 33-2002-2400 Pag: 05

Pag: 57

* REAL ESTATE - AJIJIC HOME INSPECTIONS Tel: 33-3904-9573 Pag: 08 - AJIJIC REAL ESTATE Tel: 766-2077 Pag: 31 - ALL-IN-1 Tel. 766-1161, 766-2115 Pag: 65 - BETTINA BERING Tel: 766-1049, Cell. 33-1210-7723 Pag: 29 - BEV COFELL Cell: 33-1193-1673 Pag: 64 - CIELOVISTA Tel: 33-2002-2400 Pag: 05 - COLDWELL BANKER CHAPALA REALTY Tel: 766-1152, 766-3369 Fax: 766-2124, Tels: 765-2877 Fax: 765-3528 Pag: 84 - CONTINENTAL REALTY Tel: 766-1994 Pag: 35 - CUMBRES Tel: 33-2002-2400 Pag: 05 - EAGER & ASOCIADOS Tel: (376) 766 1917, 1918 Pag: 83 - FOR SALE BY OWNER

- AJIJIC TANGO Tel: 766-2458 - ALFREDO’S CALIFORNIA Tel: 33-1301-9862 - BLUE ROSE Tel: 766-2948 - EL SOMBRERO Tel: 376-688-2662 - FLAVORS OF LOVE - GO BISTRO Cell: (045) 33-3502-6555 - GOSHA’S Tel. 766-2121 - HUERTO CAFÉ Tel: 108-0843 - LA CASA DEL WAFFLE Tel: 766-1946 - LA HACIENDA DE DON PEDRO Tel: 766-4906 - LA NUEVA POSADA Tel: 766-1444, 766-1344 - “LA TAVERNA”DEI QUATTRO MORI Tel: 766-2848 - LOS MOLLETES Tel: 766-4296 - MANIX Tel. 766-0061 Cell: 33-1065-0725 - MOM’S DELI & RESTAURANT Tel: 765-5719 - PALÉ Tel: 33-3570-6084 - PERRY’S

Pag: 82 Pag: 73 Pag: 65

The Ojo Crossword

Pag: 71 Pag: 56 Pag: 16 Pag: 69 Pag: 26 Pag: 11 Pag: 49 Pag: 03 Pag: 34 Pag: 68 Pag: 48 Pag: 07 Pag: 67

Saw you in the Ojo 79

CARS

WANTED: We are seeking an economic car or SUV with US plates. We are looking for something in the $3000-$6000 US price range. Please email Donny at stymiebop@gmail.com.

FOR SALE: 1973 volkswagen thing. good running, codition motor and transmission rebuilt. New paint, driven every day. Asking $3500.00 us dollars obo. phone Frank 332-954-3206.

FOR SALE: 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport.

In excellent mechanical shape and is just turning 200,000 KMs. Have all bills for mechanical work for last 6 years. Very clean throughout but has the usual ‘lakeside scratches’, completely rust free. Automatic, 6 cylinder. Comes with a Kenwood radio, Browning roof rack and full car cover for sun protection. Contact me to see the car, Asking $75,000 pesos. Call (376) 766-3885.

Or email at solproviderinc@sympatico.ca.

WANTED: looking to buy a single cab 4x4 pickup. Email: afern4141@gmail.com.

WANTED: Cargo Trailer Good Condition. Minimum 6 x 10. Email: monrio1@ yahoo.com.

FOR SALE: 2006 Kawasaki 900 Vulcan cruiser in mint condition reasonability price has been serviced by bike club mechanic in Chapala please email me at lorne.ehrlich@gmail.com.

FOR SALE: 2019 Kia Soul LX SUV. Less than 16,000Km low mileage. Standard Transmission and fuel efficient. Must sell relatively new car due to health concerns that makes driving standard transmission difficult. To see (Centro Ajijic) and discuss price...contact Carlos: 333-463-1983.

FOR SALE: Mercedes Benz 2005 model C320 in very good condition with only 99000 km. The asking price is $6500 US. Any reasonable offer may be accepted.

Phone number: 331-545-8333.

FOR SALE: 2016 VW Golf Sportwagen TDI. Black with White Leatherette interior.

SE Model. Very practical. Fun to drive. 1,200 miles, bought this year through VW Mexico. 4+ years remain extended warranty.

Mint. Car was treated with a ceramic coating (Sonax), making washing easy, and no fading. 40 to 45 mpg. MSRP $28,400. Selling $15,500 U.S. 332-610-5542 FOR SALE: Car dolly to tow a car behind you motor home or truck has new tires. Call Bill: 376-1062160 or email sanbt69@live.com.

WANTED: I am interested in immediately buying a motorcycle of at least 500cc, model year 2011 to 2019. Will consider any street bike but no cruisers. Must be in very good condition and available for test ride by licensed rider. Please email me at randy4475@hotmail.com.

COMPUTERS

FOR SALE: HP Pavilion desktop, pentium (R) dual-core processor, memory 4GB, hard drive 1TB. Dell monitor 21 in, English keyboard, mouse. Hardly used. $2,500.

MXN. Email: cathhambley@hotmail.com.

FOR SALE: Computer monitor, 18.5

80

“(diagonally corner to corner). 500 pesos (about U.S. $25. ViewSonic. Logitech Webcam. $500 pesos (about U.S. $25). Phyllis at kynaspv@gmail.com or 376-766-4303 or 331-537-9946 WANTED: Donations. We will accept desktop computers, with screen, mouse, keyboard etc. Please drop off at our school.

Have Hammer Will Travel A.C. Avenida Hildalgo 231 A. Riberas del Pilar, Chapala, Jalisco 45960. Call: 376-766-4830. Next S&S auto and Todo Bueno resale shop in Riberas, mountainside.

FOR SALE: TEM 1: Logitech Harmony 650 Infrared All in One Remote Control, Universal Remote Logitech, Programmable Remote (Silver) Used ONLY ONCE. $700 MX. ITEM 2: BRAND NEW in BOX Logitech Harmony Companion All in One Remote Control for Smart Home and Entertainment Devices, Hub & App, Works With Alexa – Black, $1700. Email: egweiss@outlook.com FOR SALE: Apple MacMini computer with HP monitor and Apple numeric keypad and all cables for connection. All in excellent condition. The asking price for the set is $13000 Mexican pesos. Phone number: 331-545-8333.

FOR SALE: MacBook laptop 2008 in excellent condition. Asking price: $3000 Mexican pesos. Phone number: 331-5458333.

WANTED: I’m looking to share Shaw satellite service with someone who is already a subscriber. Perfect situation for me would be 2 receivers and a strong channel lineup. Please call Cleve at 376-766-6124 (land line) or 331-309-1621 (cell).

PETS & SUPPLIES

FREE: Neutered 2-year old, handsome and affectionate gray and white male cat needs a forever home. His name is Boomer. He is feline leukemia free and has had shots with paper health certificate from his vet. This guy adopted me last year. Unfortunately, my cranky old lady cat wants nothing to do with him, my house is on the market, I will be leaving in six weeks and cannot take him with me. My two options: find him a home or put him down. I don’t like the second one.

Email: slickrock39@yahoo.com.

FOR SALE: Pet Crate. 24” fits dog 6 kilos to 11 kilos (13 lbs. to 24 lbs) Black metal wire w/2 doors. Total visibility on all sides. New condition. Paid $1000 pesos.

Purchased @ Lakeside Friends of Animals.

Has carry handle. Dimensions in cm: 62 X 44 X 51. Price: $750 pesos. Email: patriciahemigway@gmail.com.

FREE: I have (5) 6 week-old kittens from a stray mom who chose my bodega to have her kittens while I was away! All tabbies, 2 girls, 3 boys, 3 appear to be long-haired. Healthy. Not quite weaned, but they should fine in a week or so. Socialized and very sweet. I need to give them away soon. No shots or neutering yet, too young. Email: honorandfaith@ runbox.com.

FOR SALE: Thundershirt. Great to

El Ojo del Lago / February 2020

calm your dog for thunderstorms, fireworks and separation anxiety. Size XL fits dogs from 65 - 110 lbs. $500. Call: 331-7857185 / 376-765-6161. Email: ejndrjnsn@ gmail.com.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE

FOR SALE: Shaw 600 receiver with remote and power cord. Free and clear to be activated. $2200 pesos. 766-4032.

WANTED: Gas BBQ Grill in good condition. Email: sunnyvogler@yahoo.com.

WANTED: Looking for a 6 drawer dresser (no mirror), buffet or sideboard preferably in ivory or light color finish.

Email: silkfleurs@outlook.com.

WANTED: WANTED Small chest freezer. Email: sunnyvogler@yahoo.com.

WANTED: Hola, I am a piano student and am looking for a keyboard to practice on for the month of February or any part thereof. I know the Arts Centre offers rental time on their pianos, but I am looking to borrow or rent for more intense practice. I’ll be located in central Ajijic and would appreciate any leads. Email: jszostak46@gmail.com.

FOR SALE: special countertop dishwasher requiring no carpentry or plumbing. comes with manual. only year and half old. Also small whirlpool microwave. Call: 376-766-2489 dishwasher $295 usd, microwave $45 USD. Call: 376-766-2489.

FOR SALE: Portable G2 Oxygen Concentrator. Has 5 levels of oxygen. Call Helen at 766-1072 if you have questions.

It is an inigen One Machine. 2 4 1/2 hour batteries. Carrying case. pull trolley with wheels. Manual instruction. I have the receipt the cost was $49,9000 pesos. Bought in October and used for a week, your price is only $30,000p. Email: julieywayne@yahoo.com.

FOR SALE: Dinnerware set, Napoli pattern, hand painted, dishwasher, microwave safe. 1 large platter, 8 dinner plates, 8 salad plates, 8 coffee cups, 7 cereal/soup bowls, 2 dip bowls. $350.USD. Call 331065-9193.

WANTED: 2 matching end tables or nightstands. Email: kimanjo@gmail.com.

FOR SALE: Stained glass panel. 10” W x 31” H. Needs to be cleaned up a bit, hangers soldered on the top or can install as is $300 MX. Call: 331-857-0798.

FOR SALE: Moving and selling mattress and wooden base for just $2,500 pesos. Please contact me at patricktimothymullikin@hotmail.com. Located in Guadalajara centro.

FOR SALE: An on-demand 5 litre per minute water heater. Cal-o-Rex. Lightly used one year, in great condition. Decided to get bigger one for the whole house, saving gas. $2,750 mx obo. Email: mike 4v@mac.com.

FREE: Combination Locks 2. Email: egweiss@outlook.com.

WANTED: We need a comfy occasional chair for an empty corner of our living room. Neutral color or pattern, style not very important as long as it’s not plaid Herculon from the 1970s. Email: kimanjo@

gmail.com.

FOR SALE: 2008 SUZUKI DR200 $2,150 usd, 43,000p; 332-610-5542. 376765-3668. 4,500 miles. Doble Proposito.

On road and off road. Email: monrio1@ yahoo.com.

FOR SALE: Barely Used Elliptical Trainer, Bought from Costco last year for $1500 USD. Best Offer 78” long x 25” wide. Call: 376-766-5856.

WANTED: Baker’s shelf. Smaller two shelf for bathroom. Office chair. Office desk or suitable table. Microwave and stand. Ken PM, email - ken.zakreski@ gmail.com or call Mx cel: 331-888 9876.

FOR SALE: Farberware 20 piece knife set in wood block. Brand new in box $1200 pesos. 766-4032.

FOR SALE: Zapotec rugs. Large area rug 13.5 ft x 6.5 ft with pad. $10,000 MX. Matching runner 12 ft x 2.5 ft. $3,000 MX. In Chapala,331-857-0798.

FOR SALE: Set of 5 stainless steel bowls (size 13,11,9,8 and 6 inches). 4 piece measuring cups. $750 pesos. 766-4032.

WANTED: ELECTRIC SKILLET – Phone: 332-242-8648. email: allfred38@gmail. com.

FOR SALE: Texas Horse Saddle. $275. $400 saddle used maybe a dozen times.

17 inch. RR is the saddle maker. 332-6105542.

FOR SALE: Xian Warrior Replica. We’re moving and can’t take our 48” tall terracotta replica shipped all the way from the Far East. Call: 376-766-5856.

FOR SALE: We have 3 toilets that are less than a year old that we need to sell.

We only want to change to white. They are $280 USD new and we would be willing to sell them for $150 USD each. You will need to pick them up. Please contact medavis5208@gmail.com.

FOR SALE: We have many brands of golf balls, they have been used only once by the pro,s. Brands include TITLEIST, WARBIRDS, CALLOWAY, LADY too many to mention. Call: SUZI or DAVID 376-7664456. Cell: 331-824-5205.

WANTED: recliner in excellent condition. No leather. Email: jmm46@gmx.com.

FOR SALE: New Shaw 630 PVR, $4000 pesos. 1.2 meter dish with LNB, $1500 Pesos. John, 331-942-9321.

FOR SALE: I have for sale two Mexican chairs. They are in good condition and price is $1,400 pesos for the pair. Chairs are located in Riberas del Pilar. They are bar stool size. Price now only $1,200 pesos. Email: rafterbr@yahoo.com.

FOR SALE: Dog crate: Guliver #6. 92 cm X 64 cm X 66 cm h, with wheels. good for Husky, Labrador, Boxer, etc. $1,800. www.stefanplast.it for more details. 331785-7185 / 376-765-6161/ ejndrjnsn@ gmail.com.

FOR SALE: 12 place settings of Sango China, Persian Wood pattern, minus 1 coffee cup, plus serving pieces. $5,500 MX. In Chapala 331-857-0798.

FOR SALE: Two wooden hollow core doors used as closet doors (2 x) 28 in (70 cm) x 85 in (216 cm) not paint-

ed all natural. Ready for your decorating. Call Bill 376-106-2160. Email: sanbt69@live.com.

FOR SALE: Glass top dining table 63 in (1.6 meters) long x 46 in (1.1 meter) wide.

Has 6 chairs near new condition Call Bill 376-106-2160 or sanbt69@live.com.

FOR SALE: 3 ft wide octagon table with 4 chairs. Excellent condition. $2500 pesos. PM if interested to set up appt. to view. Email: vancouverware@gmail.com.

WANTED: I’m looking to purchase a used gas clothes dryer in good working condition and at a reasonable price. Jeff or Sharon, jabburnham@yahoo.com or Cell: 353-563-5283.

FOR SALE: Small red 4 wheeler SKYWAY expandable carry on. Pull up handle.

21 inches x 13 x 8. Good condition. All zippers work. $450 pesos. Call: 766-4032.

FOR SALE: Anker Wireless Charger, PowerWave Stand $300 New. Email: egweiss@outlook.com.

FOR SALE: Samsung EP-PG920I Qi Wireless Charging Pad - Black Empty Samsung EP-PG920I Qi Wireless Charging Pad – Black. $300 MX. Email: egweiss@outlook. com.

WANTED: With or without LnB. Email: rayp46@aol.com.

FOR SALE: Looking for a sofa and love-

seat combination in decent condition. Of course I will pay $$, not asking for a freebie. Can be leather or textile. Overstuffed, contemporary. or transitional style. If textile I would prefer something that is more transitional, because I will use slipcovers to cover it, a la Pottery Barn. Email: kimanjo@gmail.com.

WANTED: A smaller inexpensive used piano for a young beginning student.

Please call 766-1435.

WANTED: Looking for simple, cheap guitar strap. Email: other.br@gmail.com.

FOR SALE: Tela tipo tercipelo /Velvet like material (6/7 metros) = $200. Headboard for single bed/Cabecera para cama individual =$250. Black suitcase/Maleta negra $250. 73x48x33. Frutero/For fruits & veggies $180. Maleta morada/Purple suitcase $250. 64x39x32. All prices are in pesos but dollars are welcome as well. Email: sweetkandi425@yahoo.com.

FOR SALE: Original Prada Shoes, size 24.5 Mexican, Only 1 time was used, price $3000 pesos. Call to Alma 331-005-3109.

FOR SALE: Individual Brass Headboard, Price $2,200.00 pesos. Call to Alma 331-005-3109.

Saw you in the Ojo 81

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El Ojo del Lago / February 2020