Robert Louis Stevenson said: For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travels sake. The great affair is to move.

So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never, Never Land. Peter Pan

Last Thursdays trip to Guadalajara started out so promising. I mean, we travel to Guad at least once and often several times a month. Wed found a route we both enjoy and have stuck to it because of its comfortable nature, having a sense of where we are going even though, in reality, we often have no clue.

That being said, nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool. The journey from our little village of Ajijic began on its usual lovely note.it was a gorgeous day filled with sunshine, gentle breezes, comfortable climate, etc. Little did I know my karma would soon run over my dogma and in short order, so to speak.

The sign on the side of the road said Guadalajara Right. Wed seen road crews cutting the new road into the mountain above Jocotepec over the months since wed moved here. This seemed like a no brainer, lets take this new route. And the adventure began.

You will notice, once you view Davids photographs below, how nice the road looked. Why, then, did the thought – if at first you dont succeed, try not to look astonished keep running through my mind?

The road was wide, beautifully paved yet blending into the mountain as much as a cement ribbon can, in fact, blend. The thought of reaching Guadalajara in a timely manner was pushed aside by the wonderful vistas opening up to us from the height of this mountain pass. Lake Chapala gleaming diamond-like in the distance. The town of Jocotepec lay before us with its ornate church as its center and archway that leads into the town luminous in the distance.

Tiny houses scattered on the mountain side painted in tropical colors that glowed in the sunlight. Cars sharing the cobblestone streets with horseback riders, all heading in various directions. From this distance, from the top of this mountain, the simple Mexican life took on a brilliance one usually only sees in photographs enhanced to make one want to travel to various locations.

Lost in the splendor of the moment and caught up in the quietness of the mountain side, we didnt notice there werent many others on this lovely road. A good thing for you, dear reader, as bad decisions make for wonderful stories. Not that this was necessarily a bad decision, per se, if wed have thought about it wed have realized cutting through an entire mountain simply isnt that easy, particularly if you are using antiquated machinery and shovels.

Any who, we came upon some people who were finishing up on part of the road. They smiled, waved and continued on with their work.as we continued on with our journey. Marveling at this, stopping to look at that, climbing to the top of a small hill that jutted out over the valley below to try to capture the true beauty of the moment.

And then it happened, just a tiny inkling that things might not be as they should bethe road began to narrow. We noticed more large rock formations precariously situated in the middle of the roadnot a good thing.

Heres where you remember, while driving in the states, construction signs tell you about road closures immediately after you pass the exit (or in this case the point of no return) but before the traffic begins to back up. Since there were NO construction signs and there was NO traffic, except for a few dump trucks, we figured, go for it.

Heck, wed already started heading down the mountain and could see the traffic on the road below. With my usual grasp of odd situations firmly in hand, out of my mouth popped: I wonder if its possible for two people to stop to thinkand then both of them forget to start again?! David, stoic as always, merely looked at me, looked at the dirt road that was now covered with gullies of mud placed there by the aforementioned dump trucks, and began a slow crawl forward.

A young road crew member took pity on us and attempted a rescue. Making wild hand gyrations he directed us to take a strong left, followed by a strong right, gun the motor (dont ask how David figured this out) and shoot for the highway.

It was then I noticed Davids eyes. What is it with guys when given the opportunity to create their own demolition derby? In an effort to in some way curb his enthusiasm for the race ahead I reminded him we were in a Camry not an Indy car. His response was something likein the vernacular of the year, day, hour and moment VIVA MEXICO!! Petal to the metal he did just as the young crew member gyrated. The car made it. Thus ended our August adventure. At least we FOUND the highway. Stay tuned for our next travelogue as we attempt, yet again, to find the pyramids we lost in June!! At the risk of being redundant.Viva Mexico!

And so it began....

Lake Chapala in the distance.

We climb a bit higher...

The mountains and valley below.

Quiet beauty.

On the right side of the picture you can just make out the church. To the left is the orange colored archway welcoming everyone to Jocotopec.

The decent. Are you beginning to see the change in our surroundings?

This was the last of the pictures of our decent. We were quite busy white knuckling our way to the highway!

I leave you, as always, with yet another beautiful picture David captured of a flower in the plaza.

Visit the BoomerstoMexico Photo Store at www.boomerstomexico.com/photographs, to see more of the artistry of Mexico captured in phenomenal photographic art form.

A few Douglas Adams Quotes:

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experiences of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow, thereby avoiding confusion. If you think it is easy to push things off, procrastinate as it were, or, like me enjoy the anticipation of doing something.anything but am not in a hurry to do so. Mexico is the place for you. George Bernard Shaw said something like if you leave the smallest corners of your head vacant for a moment (I do that all the time), other peoples opinions will rush in from all quarters. Can you just imagine the chaos in my mind?!

A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you are in deep water. Since, as youve probably guessed, I have a distinct problem with keeping my mouth shut I shall wade (read weigh) in on some of my askew of center thought process in regard to the medias portrayal of Mexico et al.. I have not as yet reached the age when happy hour is considered a nap. However, Ive spent so much of my life in a constant state of hurry . I consider Mexico a culture shock when it comes to a leisurely pace, followed by a siesta, followed by ..well, you get my drift.

Ive embraced the whats the rush attitude.not completely but certainly I am living my life at a shockingly slower pace then I ever thought I could attain. In the process, as youve noticed, my mind seems to wander off on tangents with no clear train or track establishing any limitations.

For instance, as Im writing this blog the thought crossed my mind; do you realize that in about 40 years well have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? What has that got to do with anything? Dont get me wrong, Ive always had a problem with staying focused, not when I was doing a therapy session or as a vice president of a company in Wisconsin, but in the rare moments when I had some down time I had no trouble entertaining myself with weird and fanciful ideas.

Mexico is a decidedly beautiful country. With the rainy season coming to and endat least thats what they tell us.it seems more lush and tropical then I could have imagined when we first visited in April of 2009. I also understand, from conversations both David and I have had with people in the US and Canada, there is a very active campaign being perpetrated by the Mexican Government to try to convince people Mexico is safe.

Okay, we are down here folks. We are not a part of the Mexican government. We are proud to be US citizens and that will not change. Our lives are unbelievably quiet here. Certainly much more then they were in Dallas and, by golly, a hop, skip and a golender sprung quieter then in Wisconsin. (By the way, Im Welsh and the golendar sprung quote is supposed to be German but Im not sure I got it right.)

We are not living in one of the border towns. If our family or friends were to visit, we would say fly in to Guadalajara. If they wanted to make the trip by car, wed recommend crossing the border at Laredo, Texas. Wed also recommend sleeping on the US side of Laredo and leaving early in the a.m. so that, once over the border, they could put as much distance between themselves and the border as possible after hitting Mexico. Thats what we did.

Are Mexicans still trying to get across the border? Sure they are. Wouldnt you want to live in the land of milk and honey? We are hearing, however, that the numbers are becoming smaller and smaller. My thought, this may have something to do with the troubled economy in the US and the political unrest when it comes to the anchor baby controversy. They too are trying to avoid the border. Their education system has vastly improved over the years especially in the past decade. As US kids are preparing to go back to school so are their Mexican brothers and sisters. One has to merely visit the local clothing stores to see uniforms, backpacks, school supplies, etc in every nook and cranny.

With few exceptions, most of the younger people weve met.in their late teens, 20s and 30s all speak flawless English. Many speak of how they want their country to be able to give its citizens some of the things America has always represented. They realize the Mexican people have a rich heritage and to preserve that heritage and build upon it they must educate themselves while using that education within their borders. They are passionate about making Mexico a better place with more opportunities for everyone.

It is both interesting and exhilarating to be able to watch these people grow this tiny village of Ajijic into a wonderfully exciting artist colony. There are people from all over the world migrating to the Lake Chapala area. They are being inspired by, not only the people, but the lovely lake and beautiful mountain ranges just outside their collective doors.

On the one hand, I understand the hesitation and down right fear the media is generating and the narco wars are fueling.

On the other hand, I am someone who has lived here for almost a year and have not felt frightened or intimidated or, for that matter, regret having made the move although I do miss my family and friends immensely. To be honest and given the Law of Probability which states: The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act, Ive come to the following conclusion. Realizing just how often I accomplish amazingly stupid acts, and how often those acts are observed by people relaxing on the plaza. One might think twice (perhaps David might think twice since hes with me) about moving here. So far Ive garnered onlyapplause at my lack of grace and my loony behavior! And I say again, Viva Mexico.

[If you have some personal questions youd rather not put on the blog site, please feel free to contact either David or me at the following email addresses: les@boomerstomexico.com and david@boomerstomexico.com. We will be happy to attempt to answer your questions as best we can.]

I took this picture while sweeping our porch the other day, early in the morning. The mountains had yet another beautiful look. I never tire of their beauty.

Believe it or not, this picture and the next one in line were taken from the Wal-Mart parking lot. Beauty is everywhere. There was a time when I would not have noticed this beauty.

The second picture from the Wal-Mart parking lot.

The next few pictures, including this one, were taken as David and I set out on a morning walk just the other day.

This is a picture of a flower pod on the cactus just inside our gate.

A cactus arch surrounding the flower pod just inside our gate.

A window cross, down the block from our home. This picture was also taken the other day.

Please visit the BoomerstoMexico Photo Store at www.boomerstomexico.com/photographs, to see more of the artistry of Mexico captured in phenomenal photographic art form.

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is common sense dancing. William James, Philosopher

Audrey Hepburn, Actress, said: For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

Did I make you smile with the title of this blog?

There are hundreds of languages in the world, a smile speaks them all. Lets face it a smile can truly confuse an approaching frown. I mean, isnt a smile the second best thing one can do with ones lips?

A chicken crossing the road ispoultry in motion.

Researchers from Wayne State University just uncovered another benefit of a happy face. People who have big smiles live longer. This is over and above the research that shows people who smile a lot have more stable personalities, more stable marriages, better cognitive skills and better interpersonal skills, to name a few attributes of the ready smile.

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

My favorite quote is Smile a lot it makes people wonder what you are up to. I can attest to that. One of the experiments conducted while I was working toward my psych degree had a group of us spend one entire day smiling. The idea was to report back to the class on how others reacted to our constant state of smile.

As you may have already guessed, the biggest response was people doubting our sanity followed closely by children responding with like smiles. Animals felt we were not only interesting but safe and older people, particularly those hospitalized, seemed to react more positively to their caregivers because of their smiles. When asked why, the most common comment was the caregivers who smiled made them feel loved or cared about.

When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you are just sitting there staring at carpeting?

Why do I bring this up? On several occasions David and I have had the absolutely wonderful opportunity to meet people who read our blog when they visit Ajijic. In the course of our conversations one of the most often heard comments is: the Mexican people seem so kind and are always smiling. Obviously, welcoming someone to your country involves making a good impression. The Mexicans David and I have met take that to heart.

Whether we are asking directions, looking for suggestions or simply out on one of many walks through Mexico, we are met with smiles, laughter and people who genuinely want to help us grow to know and love this country they love so much.

Are there exceptions, sure, but not many. From the shy smile of a child, to the from-the-gut laugher of our neighbors, the shop keeper proud of his wares, the mom and dad proud of their children, to the elderly person sitting outside of their casa watching the world go bythey are a kind and gentle people.

Me thinks, perhaps, it has something to do with the fact that the harried world Im used to in the US, is not here. The pace is slower. The attitude, for the most part is familial. The celebrations are family oriented and their respect for the elderly is from the heart.

We are now meandering to the beat of a different drummer and it all started here! Viva Mexico!

WARNING: Below are various smiles.be awarethey are contagious!

Home  

---