Saw you in the Ojo
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Saw you in the Ojo
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z D I R EC T O R Y z PUBLISHER
Richard Tingen
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alejandro Grattan-Domínguez Tel: (01376) 765 3676, 765 2877 Fax: (01376) 765 3528 Associate Publisher David Tingen
Index...
FEATURE ARTICLES
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COVER STORY
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COVER STORY
VOLUME 34 NUMBER 8
Graphic Design Roberto C. Rojas Diana Parra Morales
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Special Events Editor Sandy Olson
12 HUMOR
Johnny Kottler relates how federally-funded condoms almost ruined his life.
Associate Editor Victoria Schmidt
14 MORE HUMOR
Art Critic / Contributing Editor Rob Mohr
Ed Tasca muses on what might be the repercussions if giant-retailers ran the banks.
Theater Critic Michael Warren
18 TRAVEL (sort of . . .)
Book Review Panel Margaret Van Every Margaret Porter Clare Gearhart Roving Correspondent Dr. Lorin Swinehart Sales Manager Bruce Fraser Carmene Berner 2ႈFH 6HFUHWDU\ Rocio Madrigal ADVERTISING OFFICE Av. Hidalgo # 223, Chapala Mon. thru Fri. 9am - 5pm Sat. 9am - 1pm Tel. 01 (376) 765 2877, 765 3676 Fax 01 (376) 765 3528
46 LAKESIDE LIVING
COLUMNS THIS MONTH 6
EDITOR’S PAGE
16 TEPEHUA 24 BRIDGE BY LAKE 26 HEARTS AT WORK
John Ward writes all about why he will never travel through the United States ever again. Never!
28 INTERNET MAILBOX
30 ENVIRONMENT
36 FOCUS ON ART
Kay Davis wonders what the landscape around Lake Chapala might have looked like some 40,000
38 WELCOME TO MEXICO
years ago.
40 GHOSTS AMONG US
42 FICTION
44 LAKESIDE LIVING
5RE 0RKU¶V ¿UVW KDOI RI D WZR SDUW VWRU\ DERXW D GHOLFDWH E\ SOD\ EHWZHHQ D PDQ and a woman, proving again that men and women are really two entirely GLႇHUHQW species!
50 UNIVERSALITY
Paul Allen takes on a full load with his article “Making Sense Out of Life.” Good luck, Mr. Allen!
Send all correspondence, subscriptions or advertising to: El Ojo del Lago http://www.chapala.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 WKH ¿UVW ¿YH GD\V RI HDFK PRQWK) &HUWL¿FDGR GH /LFLWXG GH 7tWXOR &HUWL¿FDGR GH /LFLWXG GH &RQWHQLGR 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 E\ WKH DXWKRUV GR QRW QHFHVVDULO\ UHÀHFW WKH 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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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
56 FRONT ROW CENTER 70 MAGNIFICENT MEXICO 74 CHILD OF THE MONTH 76 LCS NEWSLETTER
Saw you in the Ojo
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COLUMNIST
Editor’s Page %\ $OHMDQGUR *UDWWDQ 'RPLQJXH] Ajijic—The Movie!
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rior to settling here in 1987, I had spent the previous 25 years laboring in the vineyards of the American film industry. Hollywood was then (and still is) famous for its colorful characters. However, as I already knew, Hollyweird (as it is called by some blue-nosed observers) had absolutely nothing on our own little corner of Mexico.
-XGLWK $QGHUVRQ I knew that because of having first briefly visited Lakeside in 1963. Back then it was a haven for beatnics, one reason being that you could buy some of the makings of anything in a local drugstore! The Queen of Lakeside was the famous British actress Judith Anderson, (who had played the malevolent housekeeper in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca) One night, while under the influence (of one thing or another), she had a chair placed on a barge, and as her anxious young Mexican acolytes rowed like the prisoners in the movie Ben Hur, serenely set forth for the south shore of the lake as majestically as Cleopatra must have appeared as she floated down the Nile. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to steer
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
the barge and once out on the water it kept making U-turns until the “Queen,” by now totally exasperated, ordered her loyal crew to Abandon Ship! Then there was Ray Rigby, once one of England’s most-illustrious screen-writers. Having squandered his fortune, and now reduced to getting by on a pittance of a pension, he wrote in desperation to the British PM. The letter purported to come from a “third-party,” and spelled out the depths to which Rigby had fallen. To my jaded eye, the note seemed something right out of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the only thing missing was an infant abandoned in a snowdrift. The letter ended by imploring the PM to either drastically increase Rigby’s pension or at the least grant him an Order of the British Empire. Ray asked that I personally sign the appeal. Two months later, I received a letter marked “10 Downing Street.” It was from the PM’s personal secretary, advising that the Prime Min-
5D\ 5LJE\
ister, touched by the plight of one of Britain’s most illustrious subjects, would personally look into the matter. Weeks later, Ray received notice from the pension department that “at the personal instigation of the PM herself, we have looked into your folder-and unfortunately find that we have been over-paying you for several years. Hence, we must deduct 25 pounds per month until the short-fall is made up. Sincerely Yours.” A short while later, Ray passed away. I still wonder if the two events were related. I still miss him, even after all these years. Another Lakeside character was Ian Fitzgerald, who often spent hours in the Ajijic plaza sipping wine from a goatskin. I once asked him why he drank so much. Peering at me as if I were a retarded child, he said, “Because when I drink, things look better to me. When I drink a lot, people look better. And when I finally get drunk, even you look a little better.” I tried to never again ask my friend another stupid question. Then there was the gringo who announced that he was going to end his life by walking out into the lake. But a hundred feet into the drink, he became hopelessly entangled in the lirio and what had seemed a tragic suicide attempt instead became a
slap-stick comedy routine. Or the grande dame, (formerly a ballerina in Russia) who at age 80 rented a huge theater in Guadalajara to render a farewell performance. The audience stopped counting after she had fallen down for the tenth time, but had to stand in awe of her courage. Or the well-known screen character actor who in the company of formerly famous screenwriter Ray Rigby (previously mentioned above) was in the habit of crawling from one cantina to another. Once, told that Ray was again “thirsty,” the actor’s wife beseeched me not to tell her husband. She was tired of having them arrive at dawn on her doorstep “yammering like old Walter Brennan.” It seemed both men sometimes lost their false teeth over the course of an evening, and she was tired of buying her husband new dentures. Today, Ajijic is much more respectable. But every now and then, I miss the good old days. Which were never really that good—but certainly a bit more Alejandro colorful. GrattanDominguez
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF JEWS IN MEXICO %\ 0HO *ROGEHUJ KWWS ZZZ ZL[ FRP JROGPLHO DXWKRUPHO
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rriving with the first Spaniards, Jews have lived in Mexico since the fourteenth century. Their history in Mexico may be divided into three significant time periods: the 14th, 18th, and 20th Centuries. The first Jews arrived about thirty years after the start of the Spanish Inquisition, during which thousands of New Christians, or Conversos (Jews who had converted to Catholicism), were burned at the stake as heretics. Also known asmarranos, they often continued practicing Judaism in secret. All practicing Jews were banished from Spain in 1492, many emigrating to Portugal. Historians believe some converted Jews came with Hernán Cortes when he conquered Aztecs in 1521. In 1531
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a group of Spanish Jews and Conversos who had found refuge in Portugal emigrated to Mexico, then called Nueva España and under the rule of Royal Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, where they believed they could retain their historical Spanish identity and continue practicing Judaism. Because Mendoza was a common name among Spanish Jews, some historians suggest the Viceroy had a Jewish or Converso background. Until 1571, those who had emigrated to the New World were able to practice Judaism openly. But that year marked the beginning of the Mexican Inquisition, an extension of the one in Spain. Again both practicing Jews and Conversos lived in fear. However, the Mexican Inquisition was not as bit-
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
terly hostile as the Spanish Inquisition. Records indicate that fewer than one hundred were tortured and executed by burning. In 1579, King Philip II of Spain established the Kingdom of Nuevo Leon (present day Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and South Texas) a colony north of Nueva España to be governed by Luis de Carvajal, a Portuguese/Spanish nobleman who died in a Spanish prison as a heretic in 1596. To help populate the colony, both Conversos and practicing Jews were welcomed. Within sixty years, according to historical evidence, the descendants of the original settlers moved to what are now New Mexico, Arizona, and California, then still part of Mexico, bringing Judaism with them vestiges of which survive to this day. One recent manifestation is that of Father William Sanchez of Albuquerque. As a boy, he never understood why his Catholic family spun tops on Christmas, shunned pork, and spoke quietly about ancestors who left medieval Spain. After watching a genealogical television program, Father Sanchez tracked his DNA and discovered that he and his family were part of New Mexico’s crypto-Jews, descendants who maintain some Jewish traditions of their ancestors while adhering to Catholicism. Two genealogical studies, Archivo General de la Nacion de Mexico and the Ramo de la Inquisition, suggest that Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the father of Mexican Independence, had a Converso background and that Bartolome de las Casas, a Bishop who fought to free slaves in Nueva España, also had Jewish ancestors. Their families were sincere converts but it is ironic that the expulsion of Jews from Spain ultimately led to Spain’s loss of Mexico. Many adventurous Jews emigrated to Mexico between 1700 and 1865 to escape the grinding poverty and antiJewish attitudes of life in the Old World. While they were not allowed to become citizens, a right granted only to Catholics, many who came during the one hundred sixty-five years became peddlers, similar to those who traveled to the West of the United States. On the backs of burros or mules, they carried house-wares, clothing and novelties to remote villages of Mexico. In 1865 Emperor Maximilian I issued an edict of religious tolerance and invited a number of German Jews to settle in Mexico. Yet as of 1867 there were only about twenty Jewish families in Mexico City although there were probably more in the rest of the country. Following Maximillian’s execution by firing squad in 1867, Benito Juarez, the liberal President of Mexico, enforced the separation of Church and State. Non-Catholics were allowed to estab-
lish themselves in Mexico and in 1882, after the assassination of the Russian Tsar, Alexander II, significant numbers of practicing Jews from Russia entered the country. Large numbers of Jews arrived after World War I, fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. Some, descendants from medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine were called the Ashkenazic, a term associated with northern Europe and Germany. They were fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. A larger group, descendants from Jewish communities in the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain, Portugal, and Andorra) were called Sephardic, from sephardit which means Spanish in modern Hebrew. They escaped from the collapsing Ottoman Empire, many also from Turkey and Morocco. Because most of the Sephardic Jews had retained their Spanish heritage, they spoke Ladino, a dialect of Spanish, making life easier than for their Ashkenazic counterparts. All immigrants faced economically difficult lives and Jews faced the same financial problems as all Mexicans. But coming from a primitive part of the world, they had no difficulty in adapting to conditions in Mexican villages. In fact, Mexican Catholics and Jews accepted each other since in both groups, the family was the predominant social group. Why did Jews choose Mexico as a destination rather than the United States? Mexico was attractive to them. Many had relatives or friends already settled in the country. And in 1921 and 1924, United States enacted laws restricting immigration. From 1920 to 1930, Jews in Mexico enjoyed a period of stability during which they prospered. The only recorded incidents of anti-Semitism came in the 1930’s, when neo-Nazi right- wingers, financed from Berlin, staged antiJewish demonstrations in Mexico City. The demonstrators gained little support from the Mexican people. Today, Mexico has a Jewish community of between 40,000-50,000 with about 37,000 living in Mexico City. The majority of them, Mexican citizens who practice Judaism, are descendents of people who, from 1881 to 1939, found refuge here. Because Mexican economic prosperity allowed religious tolerance, Jews enjoyed the same rights as any other Mexican citizen. In Mexico City there are more than twenty synagogues, several Kosher restaurants and religious schools where many Jewish youth receive their education. Jewish communities can also be found in Guadalajara , Monterrey, Tijuana, Cancun and San Miguel. In early March, 2000, Pope John Paul II called anti-Semitism “a massive sin against humanity” and the Holocaust
“an indelible stain on the history of the last century.” In June 2003, President Vicente Fox passed a law that forbids discrimination, including anti-Semitism, putting into the law what has been practiced for years. Jews have served in positions in the Federal Government. From 2000 to 2004, Jorge Casteñada Gutman was Foreign Minister. From 2000 to 2005, Santiago Levy Algazi was director of the Social Security Institute. Others are prominent members of the Chambers of Commerce in Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Tijuana, whose former president of the City Council was Marcus Levy. David Saul Gaukil, a member of the Tijuana City Council, said, “No one [has ever] commented adversely that I am Jewish.” Although Tijuana has a population of 2,000,000, its Jewish population is only about 2,000. Tijuana also has Congregacion Hebrea de Baja California made up almost entirely of converted Mexican Catholics. Its non-ordained leader, Carlos Salas, conducts spiritual outreach to Mexicans of Jewish ancestry and crypto-Jews practicing in secret. Jews and descendents of Jews in Mexico have been well-respected journalists and artists. Jacobo Zabludovsky became a much-honored Mexican journalist and the first anchorman in Mexican television with his program 24 Horas. Frida Kahlo was the daughter of Guillermo Kahlo, born Carl Wilhelm Kahlo in Germany after his parents moved there from Hungary. Emigrating to Mexico in 1891, he changed his name to Guillermo. Frida, the lover of Leon Trotsky and a flamboyant artist, maintained that her father was a Hungarian Jew and never denied her Jewish heritage. In 1935, her husband, Converso descendant muralist Diego Rivera, wrote, “Jewishness is the dominant element in my life. From this has come my sympathy with the downtrodden masses which motivates all my work.” There was even a Jewish bullfighter, Sidney Franklin, born Sidney Frumkin in New York in 1903, who fought bulls in Spain and Mexico. Hemingway,
in Death in the Afternoon, wrote “Franklin is brave, with a cold, serene and intelligent valor.” He died in 1976, after a career fighting bulls and presenting bullfights on American TV. In addition to Mexico City, substantial Jewish communities exist in Guadalajara and Monterrey. The Chapala/Ajijic area is home to a group of ex-pat American Jews who hold religious services at their own synagogue and occasionally interact with their Mexican Jewish counterparts in Guadalajara. The combination of tenacity on the part of Jews and tolerance by Mexicans, both official and as individuals has permitted Judaism to put down deep roots. Today, Jews have much in common with their fellow Mexicans. Both groups are sincerely religious and family oriented. Both were historically victims of oppression and tyranny. Ultimately, however, like all those who live in Mexico, their future depends on Mexico’s social and economic progress. It is easy to get frustrated. The only thing is to continue. In the end, everything will work out. If it does not work out, then it is not yet the end. (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) Mel Goldberg
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How Irish Whiskey Saved My Brain (Maybe) %\ %LOO )UD\HU
Alone, getting my brain scanned, In Guadalajara The kindly radiologist told me With sad eyes, “I think you have a tumor In your brain.” And showed me a large shadow On the MRI which looked, well, big. I rode home in the cab In the dark, alone, Thinking over my life. “How odd, that it should come To this.” I pondered. “Well,” I thought, as I entered my bright empty home At midnight, “If I’m doomed, I might as well enjoy an Irish whiskey before bed. “So I sipped on a generous Jamison, As I marveled at the kaleidoscopic hallucination At the periphery of my right eye And enjoyed the calm, surprised at myself. “Tomorrow,” I admonished myself, “I’ll get the full version.” As the whiskey fortified my spirit. I slept soundly, knowing I’d deal With any new reality In the morning. Good thing. The overnight study Reversed the calamitous finding And I was forced to face That I had no tumor And would likely live To face more unknown risks. No easy exit yet. I think it was the whiskey. I think I deserve another.
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
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How Federally Funded Condoms Ruined My Life %\ - & .RWWOHU
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ormer Presidential candidate Rick Santorum claimed that federal support for contraception is “...a license to do things in a sexual realm.” In other words, he‘s against the Feds handing out free condoms. Many critics call him a fool and a prude, but my personal experience shows he is right. Federally funded condoms have ruined my life and the lives of many others. My tragedy is the basis of “The Condom Principle,” which proves that government trying to help people actually hurts them. I used to be a dull, but happy guy. Back in the 60’s, I was a small town, Southern sheriff. I had a beautiful wife and family. My job was mainly talking to people, there was almost no crime, and I got along just great with my deputy, Barney, who was also my best and dearest friend. Yes, the name of the town was Mayberry, the town Andy Griffith based his show on. But it had an unhappy ending in real life. The Feds supported a Planned Parenthood Center in our town, and they started handing out condoms on demand. Like it was no worse to use these bags of sin than to use tea bags. Well, I investigated their premises, but there was nothing I could do legally to close the place. As I left, their leader handed me a couple of condoms, saying, “On the house.” I put them in my pocket and forgot about them. While doing the laundry, my wife found the condoms. She accused me of being unfaithful, and that was the beginning of the end of our marriage. I got so angry that, in revenge, I really did cheat on my wife. I found that I liked it. Then it got to be an addiction. I even joined a group sex club, the biggest surprise of which was that Floyd, the barber, was also a member. One night he even showed up with my ex-
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wife. The sight of them together drove me crazy. She never was that acrobatic with me. I supplemented my Sheriff‘s salary with bribes from local moon shiners. Later I became a member of the local drug cartel. When you join a criminal organization, they own you. If they tell you to kill your best friend, you do it or die. They ordered me to kill my old buddy, Barney. He had followed the same corrupt path that I had, starting with government condoms and ending with him becoming leader of a rival criminal gang. I invited him to go fishing with me. Now he sleeps with the fishes. My tragic story proves “The Condom Principle,” the theory that government programs diabolically corrupt our citizenry. Just as condoms encourage illicit sex, Medicare and social security encourage sloth. Toy safety regulations lead to soft and gullible children, and seatbelt laws encourage sloppy driving. We must end all Federal aid, in general, to everything. The government should not save flood and hurricane victims. This encourages citizens to not prepare for disasters. If people do not have health insurance, the governments should let them die. In case you think my views are out of the Republican mainstream, remember the Presidential debate audience wildly applauding to “Let them die.” I am now in the “Big House,” the Mississippi State Penitentiary, awaiting my execution in the morning. I have begged the Governor to stop the execution and give me a full pardon. Big government is responsible for most of the ills of our society and ultimately responsible for Barney‘s death, not me. After all, it was the condoms that made me do it.
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IF A GIANT RETAILER RAN THE BANKS... %\ (G 7DVFD
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espite tthe he he ecco eco current economic downwnwn turn, banks, it appears, ars, are flush with profits, even Mexican banks. Largely, this has been accomplished in several ways, efficiency of operation, creating new markets and sucking in surprised passersby with the fastest-opening automatic doors. The problem with bank efficiency is that the efficiency is almost always applied to the bank’s advantage, not the customer’s. But what if banks followed the utopian mission of efficiency aimed at a better customer experience, in the fashion of the customer-friendly retail model? Especially during the holiday season. First, instead of the formidable mazy gauntlet one runs to get to
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the teller, there would be a nameand-photo-tagged greeter at the door. Sven, for example. Sven would introduce himself with a glad-to-be-of-service smile and usher you up to a teller through the twists and turns of cordon, so you don’t get lost and have to crawl under it, where you could bang your head into a steel pylon. Second, you won’t see one hopelessly overworked teller and the string of “Next Window” signs at empty wickets that point you to another “Next Window” sign and then to another, until you are outside at the wicket of Sol’s Pawn Shop (where you actually have a
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
better chance of getting Christmas funding, to say nothing of the cheap gift guitars for mom and dad). Third, there’d be an aisle for “Returns.” If you find after a month that your mortgage doesn’t “fit,” you may return it for one of the following (all of which have the same monetary value): $100 in penny stocks, $200 in penny stocks, $300 in penny stocks. Fourth, in the Christmas spirit and given the current tough economic times, there would also be an aisle featuring flirty young women dressed in skimpy, questionable Santa outfits handing out emergency loans of $25 from the bank’s unclaimed assets accounts. You would qualify on nothing more than your pledge: “I’ll pay it back. Cross my heart and hope to die.” However, the loans would come with a guarantee from the bank that your elderly mother won’t be going home but will be treated humanely until the loan is repaid. Fifth, there would be bright, hand-written posters indicating the day’s “Specials”: Line of Credit - 1.25% lower interest. Today Only. Aisle 2.” Or, “Interest Madness On
all Savings all week long. Aisle 4.” There might even be an “Express Lane for deposits of $100,000 or more. No waiting.” (Nobody likes standing in a queue for twenty minutes hugging a satchel loaded with $100,000, especially if it’s a bank executive with his Christmas bonus.) Sixth, Sven (Remember him? He’s the amicable fellow who met you at the door. Well he’s back and eager to give his job meaning and substance. He would be able to hail the manager at the first sign that you might be experiencing teller complications. This availability would replace the current system of the manager claiming “my door is always open,” but only to readily demonstrate that he isn’t in. The manager would be at your side in a gush, while Sven is off greeting another customer. Seventh, you’ll find a centrally located TV program demonstrating bank products and services: *How to use traveler’s checks for pirate ransom. *What to do when stopped by a third world traffic cop and you don’t have the right change. *How to get 0% car loans if you agree to chauffer bank executives.
*Financial plans that cover a full lifetime of financial needs from your student loans to preparing your bankruptcy declaration. *How to write a will that reduces estate taxes and the risk of grandpa being pistol whipped by an aggrieved cousin. *How to use the bank’s Personal Budgeting Service for three months and get a comprehensive list of local foreclosures. Finally, for retired people, there would be guaranteed reverse mortgages: You sign over your home to the bank and the bank
provides you with a tax-free income for life, based on your choice of the returns on Southeast Asian pork belly futures, or the rise in the interest rate of indexed Bermudian callable bonds, or, if you don’t understand what that all means, on whatever the bank thinks would be enough for you to live comfortably in canned tuna and tortillas. And there would be plenty of parking. Ed Tasca
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COLUMNIST
PROFILING TEPEHUA %\ 0RRQ\HHQ .LQJ 3UHVLGHQW RI WKH %RDUG IRU 7HSHKXD
PRRQLH #\DKRR FRP
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n spite of what we read, or this author has written, poverty has declined globally, according to Dr. Angus Harvey, Max Roser and others who keep track for World Bank reports. One of the most remarkably rapid recoveries being China which had 80% under the poverty line. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world for which the number of poor continue to rise rapidly. Most other countries have gone from ‘extreme’ poverty to ‘marginal’ poverty and now a ‘manageable’ poverty, where most of the time consumption need is met as edu-
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cation and welfare improve. There are certainly miles to go before, and if, we can ever see a world without poverty. Marx had the perfect solution,
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but Marxism turned into Communism through corruption so you have shared poverty instead of shared wealth. Tahira Abdullah said “Poverty has a woman’s face”. In places like Pakistan and similar cultures where women “are reduced to economic non-entities”, it is still true today. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, said “We have made remarkable progress in reducing the number of people living under 1.25 dollars a day in the developing world, but the fact that there are still 1.2 billion people in extreme poverty is a stain on our collective conscience. This figure should serve as a rallying cry to the international community to take the fight against poverty to the next level”. Looking at poverty in the barrios of Lake Side Chapala, for the most part it is ‘manageable’ poverty; people can survive; it is all relative. Poverty in rural areas is different to that in urban sprawls around large cities. Those in rural areas are cleaner in as much as they live partially outside, which is not possible in urban areas. Observing the various levels of poverty in barrios, especially closeup in Tepehua Centro Comunitario, it is clear that lack of education
plays a great part. A way to keep people down is to starve their intellectual rights, thereby taking away their freedom of choice and voice. There is also a level of the mentally challenged, those not ill enough for incarceration but not sane enough for logical decision making. The thoughts of the educators have to change too. Instead of the pressure of getting a higher education, the middle talents should be explored and trade schools encouraged, to help develop a strong middle class. Spread the gap between laborers and lawyers. Those in the existing small middle class are usually self-taught people or a family talent that has been handed down from Father to son. Women are taking a stronger role than ever before, but their opportunities are still well under the equality line. North Lakeside has a very unusual mix of retirees with talent, and people anxious to learn. Because of this, in the last 20 years the change has been rapid and opportunity is everywhere for those willing to give and those willing to learn. Volunteers and philanthropists are needed all over the world, with this change happens.
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WHY I WILL NEVER FLY THROUGH THE U.S.A. AGAIN %\ -RKQ :DUG 76$ 7D]H 6XVSHFW $LU WUDYHOHUV
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y mouth felt dry after the “preliminary interview” so I popped two pieces of chewing gum onto my tongue to generate a little saliva as I prepared for my journey through the TSA gauntlet. As the line progressed I placed my carry-on onto the conveyor belt and passed through the metal detector. Despite the fact that nothing beeped I was approached by an agent with a wand. He told me to stand to the side in the “Christ on a Cross” position and ran the wand all over my body. The fact that I still didn’t beep seemed to raise further suspicion and I was told to “stand over there” where another agent told me to remove my shoes. As I did so I said “I suppose this is because of Richard Reid’s brilliant idea?” This solicited a blank stare. I continued: “I suppose because of Omar the Nigerian you’ll want my underpants too?” With that I reached in and extricated a spare pair of underwear I had hidden in my trousers as if it was the pair I was wearing. I assumed there would be gales of laughter as I whipped out the underpants, but the silence was deafening! Oh God, I had forgotten the cardinal rule about airport officials and their sense of humor – they’ve all had them surgically removed. The agent quickly placed his hand around my throat and called for back-up. The man he was calling looked like a trousered ape, in fact, he was examining a knuckle he had scraped on a floor tile and seemed not to hear the call. To ingratiate myself with the man who had my jugular in his hand I attempted a whistle to help draw the ape’s attention. Unfortunately my still soft and sticky chewing gum flew from my lips and onto the shirt of my captor. I tried to explain but it became increasingly difficult as he began to braid my esophagus into a reef knot. All at once two other TSA agents grabbed me and dragged me into a room by my kidneys. One stuck his tazer between my buttocks and fired.
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To this point I had no idea that I was fluent in Klingon, but I started screaming in Klingon. This was a source of endless amusement to the agents who evidently were Star Trek Fans. At this point I felt all was lost and I determined, when able to use my limbs again, to force my hands into the position of an abject penitent begging for his life. All I could think of was the Polish immigrant killed in a Canadian airport by tazing enthusiasts. Although I was fairly dazed and confused by my complimentary electrical cell restructuring, I was able to note a degree of unbridled glee etched into the TSA agents’ faces while they searched my rectum with an office hatrack. I was tempted to say: ‘Normally I insist on dinner before that orifice is broached…’ but - I held my tongue. After determining that I was, in fact, not a threat to the United States, the airport, the airline, the air industry, the TSA, the runway, the baggage handlers, the drug sniffing dogs and the janitorial staff, I was allowed to pass into an x-ray machine where I was irradiated for a very long time. This was a result of being unable to stand still and forced to dance an involuntary Mambo due to the tazing. Seeing me trying to look normal while twitching, drooling and convulsing in the passenger lounge would have made any self respecting terrorist balk at boarding my airplane. By the time I reached Amsterdam the convulsions had abated and were now limited to involuntary winking and an arm tick that made me give the fascist salute every twelve minutes. On the positive side I was able to use my laptop without recharging it for 27 hours and I did meet some interesting members of the Dutch Nazi Party. John Ward
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ll in the same week might you experi-
ence: —While waiting for your muffler to get fixed, ending up playing with your mechanic’s children and a baby Tejón. —Seeing a guy trimming his toenails with a foot and a half long machete. —While enjoying a drink on a beach seeing a stampede of cattle race past pursued by men on horseback. —Dogs welcomed with their owners in most restaurants and certainly those that are on the beach. —Might you use the three words “burritos,” “banos” and “baracho” all in the same place – possibly in the same sentence. —Could three guys named Jesus cut your hair, water your plants and clean your pool.
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
—Your doctor spending the first half an hour talking about your family, your tropical garden and mutually appreciated eating establishments before inquiring about your health. —The realization that you should at no time - expect any particular product to be at any specific store at any given time. —A car coming toward you on a one-way street racing full-out in reverse. —It not being considered abnormal conduct for someone sitting next to you in an outdoor beach palapa restaurant to pull a snake out of his knapsack and start playing with it. —Can you drive down the road, note a Topes Sign, carefully slow down, only to find out none exists in the area marked, hence re-accelerating to cruising speed just in time to hit one larger than a ’49 Hudson that’s not marked nor painted yellow. —It not surprising to walk into your bathroom and find it already occupied by a large green iguana. —Total entertainment, during the red stop light, in the middle of town, by a juggler, fire eater or clown. —Is any prominently placed clock on the wall in a bank or hospital not necessarily expected to be working.
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%\ +HUEHUW : 3LHNRZ
T
he first thing I noticed about her was the leopard spotted blouse and the way the spots moved on her ample breasts as she maneuvered towards where I sat alone enjoying my evening cocktail on Chapultepec Avenue. Most evenings, when I am in my Guadalajara apartment, I like to sit on the stone benches on Chapultepec where I can feel the vibrancy of the city and observe the people and traffic. After making eye contact, she approached, as I knew she would; I noticed the spots on her skirt were darker brown than the almost orange spots of her blouse and I surmised the two pieces had definitely been purchased independently from one another, but worn with pride.
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I stood, she extended her hand; “My name is Nefertiti, like the Queen of Egypt.” I thought of responding by saying something like, “You’re not the first queen I’ve met,” but instead was surprised by her firm grip and whiff of good perfume as we touched right cheeks. “Vamos a sentarnos!” I said indicating a spot on the bench for us to sit. “I am from Tijuana,” she volunteered. “Where are you from?” I didn’t know if she wondered
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
about my obvious accent, which a Mexican woman recently described as, “pretty,” or if Nefertiti wanted to know my whole history. We chatted a little, she crossed her legs, pulled the printed nylon skirt above, her thick knees, kicked off one of her dark brown high heeled shoes and said; “I would like a drink, if you bring me one.” I took a sip from my nearly empty tumbler. “I only have tequila, vodka and Squirt.” “Whatever you drink,” she said and pointed an index finger with a silver ring towards my glass. Her wrists looked to be stronger and thicker than mine. I stood, took my glass and assured her I would return, “muy pronto.” As I locked the apartment complex gate behind me I looked to where Nefertiti sat with her slightly hunched back facing my building and I wondered whatever have I done? I thought about making a couple of quesadillas, but in the interest of time cut up some imported goat cheese and opened a foiled packet of Saladitas which I arranged on a plate; mixed our drinks, put a couple of napkins on the tray and left the apartment wondering if I would drink alone, or get to know more of Nefertiti. She sat with her still crossed legs, hands folded, lady-like in her lap and a
smile on her face. Her lower teeth were a shade darker than her looser fitting uppers. “I’m glad you came back,” she said, and reached for a proffered drink on the round rattan serving tray. I didn’t know where to begin, as I felt I’d already encouraged her friendship with my hospitality. “What brings you to Guadalajara from Tijuana?” My question was more to fill the silence and a polite way to gain knowledge of my guest. “My daughter is sick, she is in the hospital,” she said as she swallowed half her drink. Everyone on the street corner always has a sick child with liver or kidney failure, I thought, not at all surprised by her response. “She has failure of the riñon.” A pained look crossed her heavily made up face. “I am very sorry,” my words seemed as false as my concern. I wondered which would come first, a request for money or a sip of her drink. She wrapped her fingers with their blunt, but red polished nails, around the tumbler, the ice clinked, she sipped at the tequila and Squirt before saying, “I’m clean.” “That’s nice.” It’s been years since I’ve slept with a woman and had no inclination to do so now. “I need $300 pesos for my rent.” She spoke quickly probably realizing I was not going to allow her to earn anything through trade. “I’ll do what I can,” I said, handing her some pesos from my wallet. I have always tried to be charitable to those in need, just as Jesus and the Prophet Mohammed instructed. With a gracious smile Nefertiti accepted less than her stated needs; she finished her cocktail and rose to leave. I rose to wish her well, we embraced for our goodbyes and as we brushed cheeks I thought, NeferHerbert W. titi needs a shave. Piekow
Saw you in the Ojo 23
COLUMNIST
BRIDGE BY THE LAKE %\ .HQ 0DVVRQ
Advances in computer technology have greatly improved the enjoyment for duplicate bridge players. Not only are results known within minutes of the conclusion of the game but the hand records are available for participants to compare their results with the other pairs and see where they could have done better. The illustrated hand is a good example of how to use this technology to learn from our errors. More mistakes are made at trick one than at any other point in the play of the hand. A little more care in planning the play after seeing the dummy could have saved the day In this deal, played at the Lake Chapala Duplicate Bridge Club in Riberas, South opened a perfectly normal 1 diamond. West took advantage of the vulnerability to make an aggressive weak jump overcall of 2 spades. North was full value for his 3 heart bid and East passed. South, with a sure spade stopper closed the bidding with the reasonable call of 3 no trump and West led the jack of spades, the recommended lead from this holding. Declarer won the opening lead in hand with the spade queen, laid down the heart king followed by the heart 5. When West followed low to the second
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
heart, South called for the jack, hoping the queen was with West. Alas for declarer, East won the trick and promptly switched to his remaining spade, trapping South’s king and allowing West to cash 5 tricks in the suit. On the run of the spades, East signalled that he liked clubs and when West switched to a club the defence was able to come to a total of 8 tricks, defeating the contract by 4 tricks! Checking the hand record after the game, South saw that the contract could have been made! The weak jump overcall by West was in fact the clue that South needed for it showed a probable six card suit and between 6 and 10 points. Therefore, East was likely to hold 2 spades and at least some of the defence’s high cards. It was imperative to keep East off the lead as long as he had one spade left. The way to do that was to duck the opening lead. Note the deadly affect of this simple measure. If West continued spades, South could win and take the heart finesse with assurance that East would not be able to return a spade to his partner if he won that trick. The only possible way that East could get to West’s hand was if the latter held the club ace, unlikely on the bidding and in which case the contract would have been hopeless from the start. Also noteworthy on this deal is the fact that 4 hearts could not make with accurate defence. East-West were always entitled to one spade, one heart and two clubs to put the major suit game down. 3 No Trump was indeed the best contract and all that the declarer had to do was duck the opening lead to make it. Everyone knows that to make 3 no trump you need to take 9 tricks. Nobody ever said they have to be the first 9! Questions or comments: email: masson.ken@gmail. com Ken Masson
Saw you in the Ojo 25
COLUMNIST
Hearts at Work $ &ROXPQ E\ -LP 7LSWRQ
“The Impossible Dream”
M
iguel de Cervantes (1564-1616) suffered unceasing failure throughout his life, yet in the only work of Cervantes that is still read, Don Quixote de la Mancha, written in his senior years, while in prison, Cervantes created a character with such a high and noble vision of the potential goodness in others, of the potential goodness in the world, that his vision continues to remain with us today, to be capable of transforming our own lives and transforming the world. Many of us have seen Man of La Mancha, which is not a dramatization of the novel Don Quixote, but a play, actually a musical, about both the author Cervantes himself and the idealist Don Quixote. Dale Wasserman wrote the musical, Joe Darion the lyrics, and Mitch Leigh the music. Wasserman writes that Man of La Mancha “floundered rather than marched toward production, sustained only by the tenacity of those among us who shared the Quixotic dream. But there came a night when
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
lights glowed on Howard Bay’s island-stage, and the audience responded to the performance with a fervor that stunned even the most sanguine of us. It was a phenomenon we were to grow familiar with at each performance.” Wasserman adds, “To me the most interesting aspect of the success of Man of La Mancha is the fact that it plows squarely upstream against the prevailing current of philosophy in the theater. That current is best identified by its catch-labels—Theater of the Absurd, Black Comedy, the Theater of Cruelty—which is to say the theater of alienation, of moral anarchy and despair. To the practitioners of those philosophies, Man of La Mancha must seem hopelessly naïve in its espousal of illusion as man’s strongest spiritual need, the most meaningful function of his imagination. But I’ve no unhappiness about that. ‘Facts are the enemy of truth,’ says Cervante’s-Don Quixote. And that is precisely what I felt and meant.” Let’s look at Dulcinea, central to the musical. Dulcinea is a woman of easy virtue, working in a country tavern. Her name is not “Dulcinea” but “Aldonza.” She insists Don Quixote call her by her “real” name, Aldonza. As the muleteers come for sex, she sings contemptuously: “One pair of arms is like another, I don’t know why or who’s to blame, I’ll go with you or with your brother, It’s all the same, it’s all the same!” Enter Don Quixote. To Don Quixote, Aldonza is a person of beauty, of high ideals, of high and noble intentions, and therefore he refuses to see her as anything else, to call her anything but Dulcinea, a name appropriate to such a lady. Of course to Aldonza, Don Quixote is a ridiculous figure, a fool, but, Wasserman writes, “We see his faith in her transform her into the person of beauty she held within herself in spite of the external ugliness of her life. We see that faith shattered in the cruel ‘rape’ scene with the muleteers, and we see it restored at the end of the play as a living testament of the power of the Don to see beauty where others—especially the brutal muleteers—see only ugliness.” Shortly after Don Quixote first sees Aldonza, he sings: “Dulcinea…Dulcinea… I see heaven when I see thee, Dulcinea. And thy name is like a prayer an angel whispers… Dulcinea…Dulcinea!” Of course Aldonza, as well as the muleteers, mock him. But Don Quixote is undeterred, and by the end of the play, his vision of her has transformed her, and now “Dulcinea” rushes to him as he lay on his death bed. Having finally been beaten back to “normal” thinking by his relatives, Don Quixote does not recognize her. She sings, pleadingly, “And you looked at me! And you called me by another name! “Dulcinea…Dulcinea… Once you found a girl and called her Dulcinea, When you spoke the name an angel seemed to whisper— Dulcinea…Dulcinea… Won’t you please bring back the dream of Dulcinea?” And then, moments before his death, she reminds him that he is not a failure, not just one more piece of impoverished minor nobility, but in fact he is the great Don Quixote, on a great quest; and then, of course, he begins remembering, and then speaking and again singing the song for which the musical will always be remembered, “To Dream the Impossible Dream.” He has “dreamed” her to life, and in the end when he has apparently lost the “quest,” she “dreams” him back to life. Through their “dreams” of each other, they have each helped the other to remember who they “really are.” What a musical! What profound messages! Of course much modern psychology calls this “romantic projection” and considers it a disease, something to be eliminated through endless and expensive hours of therapy. (We might apply Wasserman’s contemporary theater categories to contemporary therapy: Therapy of Alienation, Therapy of Moral Anarchy, and Therapy of Despair.) In fact, though, this romantic “illusion” is at the heart of life. The illusion that is more than the reality. The “dreams” we have of each other, of who each other in essence is. The finest of thinkers throughout the centuries have encouraged us to live this way. For example, the German romantic, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), exhorts us to “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be…” That is exactly what happens in Man of La Mancha. And that is what can happen in our own lives. Let us all here at Lakeside “dream each other to life.” Let us all dream together “the impossible dream.” Jim Tipton
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THE OJO INTERNET MAILBOX (Wherein we publish some comments about our previous issues.)
MARK SCONCE: Poet And Prince Among Men Mark R. Sconce I am your namesake of sorts I guess. I am not certain how we are related but we must be at some point in the distant past. My fathers family hails from Arkansas back in the 1800’s. Anyway, I thought that I’d say Hi. Mark. She Cannot—But I Can! Toni Lindsay I am so moved by this article. Compassion does exist. Thank you. Editor’s Page - February Gabrielle Blair Brilliant! Margaret you have perfectly summed up the extraordinary neurosis that we, the privileged white ‘madams’, seem to have acquired in the process of being able to enjoy the luxury of having the hosts of our adopted country clean and fold for us. The Ghosts Among Us - August 2017 Peter Nagy Some months ago, El Ojo del Lago published an article about Grigori Rasputin written by Fred Mittag. It is exactly what Mittag intended it to be; a short, polished sketch touching on both the historical importance and the character of the man. The article did not live up to -or down to, as the case may be- the expectations of one vitriolic critic. In fact, every one of his points is either irrelevant, a distortion, or trivial, and all of it is malevolent. The critic says that Mittag lacks understanding of the nuances of his topic. It is
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possible that he does, but there is no way to determine that from such a short piece in which he need not go deeper and cannot go deeper. In convicting Mittag, the critic met absolutely no burden of proof. Mittag undoubtedly knows more about Rasputin than what he wrote. He is a knowledgeable historian, but there is no room for much nuance on a baseball card. Mittag is also an assiduous enough scholar to research whatever he does not know. He would certainly have filled in any possible gaps in his own knowledge in a longer piece. The critic implies that Mittag did not write accurately. He does this in an insidious way, by stating that the text is mostly correct. That implies the critic has some incriminating evidence, but is too aloof to even mention it. In fact, the historical record has one instance in which Rasputin stole a horse. We know about it, because the owner of the horse caught him and beat him severely. Chances are that was not the only horse that Rasputin stole, but Mittag’s short narrative does not emphasize this as a probability, not a certainty. His real crime here was probably seeking brevity. The critic lamented that Mittag’s article was a Russian-bashing misdirection. That is nothing less than spectacular nonsense.. Mittag made no anti-Russian statements. As a matter of fact, his article is a very mainstream assessment of Rasputin. Taking it as anti-Russian is as paranoid as it would be for Americans to become insulted by a Russian writing about the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Mittag was merely the reporter in this case, and though his style is that of a good story
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
teller, the content was factually accurate. Anyone who is offended by the facts might be paranoid. The critic listed a series of current issues which he thought Mittag should have addressed instead of Rasputin. This is world-class arrogance. No author owes anyone an explanation of why he chose his topic, instead of another. Mittag neither attacked Mother Russia, nor dodged relevant American political topics. He has addressed those in that past, and almost certainly will again, but he owes no explanation why he chose to write about Rasputin. As Edward Teller used to say when laymen asked him why electrons behave in certain ways, “They just do.” Why did Mittag choose to write about Rasputin? Because he just did. Unless the parameters of an assignment or publication dictate otherwise, it is up to the writer to determine what he will write, and how he will write it. Mittag chose a topic and addressed it with far more compositional integrity than the disorganized critique it provoked. Finally, the critic lashes out at El Ojo Del Lago, lamenting that its monopoly as an English publication in the Lake Chapala area explains why it carries allegedly weak articles the critic disdainfully calls “click bait.” El Ojo Del Lago, like Mittag’s article, is exactly what it intends to be; a publication of local work which is everything on the spectrum from highly polished journalism and editorials, to the interesting efforts of the man or woman next door. It would not be wise for editorial standards to change in response to any rival publications. The people at the lake seem very pleased with El Ojo De Lago, its editor, Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez, and Fred Mittag. It is very doubtful that too many of them share the sentiments expressed by Mittag’s critic. Writing And My Relationship With It Christy John Ward is always delightful. Keep writing, John. It is such a pleasure to share what you have to say -- about anything.
Lake Chapala Writers Judy Dykstra-Brown Thanks, Herbert and all for all you do to manage the thousand details of such a conference. I’ll see you there. The Magic of Famous People Players Comes to Lakeside Mark The Magic of Famous People Players comes to K Lakeside Lakeside Living - January 2016 Cliff Hatton Hello, I’m an old (UK) friend of Florette’s and I lost her e mail some time back. I’d love her to contact me again ( That IS Florette from Edmonton, isn’t it?) Haven’t seen her since ‘73! Thanks, Cliff Hey, I Used To Be Somebody! Carole Stern White Bread. My favourite is the legal beagle who spun yarns of unimaginable fantasy each time I ran into him. There was no stopping his rant of unbelievable but insanely credible tales of successes in a grandiose career span. The girlfriend was a highly successful real estate agent whose name I’d never heard. One night, I went to meet up with friends who’d just arrived from Ottawa and had found accommodation in a shared little 2bd. house. Their hosts happened to be this particular couple who could not make ends meet on the rent. In spite of the financial hardship, he was flying out to Dubai in the morning on a high-stake wheeling and dealing mission with a coterie of oil sheiks. My friends were too tired to go out to eat, so the grand chef host prepared me a sandwich on the whitest of Bimbo bread with a slice of Velveeta cheese whilst regaling me fireside, with stories of his gallant adventures. The exotic lifestyle of a well-travelled connoisseur indeed. Funny thing is, I saw him within a day or two later!! Never happened and he didn’t even look sheepish. My late husband had a saying, “bullshiting is one thing, but when you believe your own bullshit, then you’re in trouble.”
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%\ .D\ 'DYLV
I
magine the Lake Chapala landscape 40,000 years ago. Fossil evidence shows that ancestral mammoths, mastodons, camels and horses roamed the area before the basins were filled by water. At night the landscape was illuminated by the glow of scores of volcanoes in a zone 150 miles wide. This volcanic belt crosses Mexico between the 19th and 21st parallels of latitude. For 10,000,000 years this area was a fiery inferno of constant volcanic activity for such magnificent giants as Popocatepetl near Mexico City and Volcan de Colima near Manzanillo and not far from Lake Chapala. Along with these were thousands of other volcanic cones. The two Colima volcanoes,
30
which lie on the 19th parallel, formed one of the most active areas in Mexico. Even today there is plenty of activity, including boiling springs, fumarolas (steam vents), geysers and actual eruption of the Volcan de Colima, primarily in the form of steam. Our wrinkled land twisted itself. North of the 21st parallel the continent moved slowly but inexorably east, and south of the 19th parallel, it moved west. Lakeside, on the 20th parallel, was distorted by the counter movements between the two fault zones, and here the crust is broken into massive blocks varying in elevation. Huge volumes of lava poured onto the surface separating the great plateau into basins. One of these is
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
the Jalisco basin, inside of which are smaller basins. One is now the city of Guadalajara. As mentioned, this occurred 40,000 years ago, and climatic evidence suggests very heavy precipitation during that period. Over 30,000 years the basin reached its maximum capacity until a huge inland sea covered 8500 square miles, about one fifth of what is now Jalisco. The average depth was 820 feet while 700 feet of water covered the area known as Guadalajara. The age of this ancient lake was established by means of Carbon 14 dating of wood samples found in sediment. Aged 38,000 years they establish the lake, identified as Lake Jalisco, in a geological epoch that spanned from 1,000,000 years ago to as recent as 25,000 years ago. But where did the precipitation come from that formed this huge lake? It was a remarkable time in Earth history during which four great glacial invasions of ice occurred in the Northern Hemisphere, glaciers which advanced as far south as St. Louis in North America and Berlin in Europe. Most of the mountains were covered by ice, which eventually melted to form large lakes on the continents. Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah is a descendant of glacial Lake Bonneville, which covered 19,000 square miles and was fed by glaciation in the Wasatch Mountains. Naturally, in the vicinity of the 19th parallel, Lake Jalisco was not fed by glaciers, but like the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, the precipitation was much greater than at present. Samples found throughout the area imply a cool climate during that period, which would be in keeping with the extremely frigid conditions that existed in North America during that time. The Santiago River cut a fantastic gorge known as the Barranca de Oblatos, a gorge, or barranca, which is frequently admired by visitors who see it from the road that runs alongside it in Guadalajara. The barranca is 2000 feet
deep. Proof of faulting lies in trying to match layers of rock on both sides of the gorge. They do not align. Within 5000 years, plus or minus, erosion occurred caused by immense water volumes and velocities pouring into the river. Imagine standing on the rim of the Barranca de Oblatos, observing the spectacle of a mighty river roaring through the canyon below, carving that tremendous gorge! Lake levels appear to have been stable for long periods of time, wave action creating terraces similar to those at the beach along the seashore. Layered deposits are visible throughout the area once covered by the lake. These distinctive bands are exposed in many locations and can be observed where cuts were made for the Guadalajara-Chapala highway, and for the Ajijic bypass. The terraces are particularly prominent at Chapala. Lakeside communities are located on the lower terrace, and three others are visible on the slopes of the mountains behind. The largest remnant of ancient Lake Jalisco is Lake Chapala, with only a very small area of 825 square miles compared to its predecessor’s 8500 square miles. A tremendous reduction in area and volume has taken place over time, due to ruptures on the basin walls and eventual drainage. So, can the future of Lake Jalisco/ Lake Chapala be predicted? Yes. All lakes are subject to the same fate. They are doomed as soon as they come into existence. A lake basin is a natural depression for deposits, and given enough time, they will be filled by sediments from streams and rivers, plus the material washed in from slopes surrounding it. Will the rivers continue in their erosion and eventual destruction of the plateau, or will volcanic activity restore the lake and plateau? ¿Quien sabe? (Who knows?) Kay Davis
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Sunrise A final star winks out : old lady moon drives by, sad and alone hunched in her 1989 white Cadillac : she’s off to rest all day in the chateau her second husband left her. Black trees become dark green then lighter green – the whitewash of the sky is thinned with golden paint : the bay is an opal mirror where Daddy-o sun can see his bearded face. Down in the village a tireless rooster welcomes the dawn, over and over : I wake, still drunk with last night’s wine, I live each day, over and over, and the green sunrise, and the long silence. ********* Sunset: Earth turns her back raises a lazy dark green shoulder eclipses herself : it’s time to return to that distant murmuring source of old and long-forgotten dreams. Over the bay there drifts a silent haze, a skiff returns in the old day’s light painting a single silver line towards the land: almost without hope, almost without motion. I see the world turning and turning each day re-lived in endless whirl: and tell my lonely soul, go down to find Eurydice – hoping and hoping for that long slow journey home.
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
Saw you in the Ojo 33
THE STUFF OF DREAMS $ 1RYHO E\ $OHMDQGUR *UDWWDQ 'RPLQJXH] :HHE 3XEOLVKHUV SDJHV 5HYLHZHG E\ -LP 7XFN 5HYLHZ ¿UVW SXEOLVKHG LQ The Guadalajara Reporter
O
ne never ceases to be impressed by the versatility of novelist/film director/screenwriter/magazine editor/ cultural commentator Alejandro Grattan. This quality is even more remarkable since a main current running through several of his published novels and movies is the interaction of three cultures: Irish, Mexican-American and Mexican. Yet one never gets the impression of a writer in a rut. He may be consistent in his choice of theme but is multi-faceted in both narrative and philosophical emphasis. The Stuff of Dreams is a story of two Irish-Mexican-American brothers who are part of an intrigue involving Mexico’s archeological treasures. On first reading you have the feeling that you’re back in the noir world of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett or James M. Cain. As you read of a prostitute “whose body was on a short-term lease,” you could be in the pages of Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon or The Postman Always Rings Twice. Yet it would be unfair to confine Grattan to the corral of such famous literary mustangs. Enormously talented though they were, these adepts of the Southern California School of Hard-Boiled Fiction lacked a moral dimension to their spare, tough-guy prose. That attribute is shared by Grattan and a 20th century French writer who mingled realism and idealism with the virtuosity of Brillat-Savarin preparing his latest culinary gem. I refer to Albert Camus. While some may consider it a stretch to envision a link between the Southern California hard-boiled realists with an author whose wartime (WWII) writings caused him to be hailed as “the conscience of the French Resistance,” it was Camus himself who acknowledged his debt to the bards of the 1930s/40s style roman noir. Camus always pitted his ethical vision against philosophical absurdism, which he equated with moral indifference. In discussing his best-known
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
work, The Stranger, Camus made no secret that he had been influenced by the afore-mentioned trio. His unforgettable creation is an alienated man officially sentenced to death for killing an Arab but actually because the jury is repelled by the man’s failure to weep at his mother’s funeral. But back to Grattan-Dominguez. Few people are harder-boiled cases than “Frank” and “Danny,” the O’Malley brothers. (Grattan’s insights are possibly shaped because he shares their ethnic background.) Frank, a oncesuccessful, hard-driving film director, is a classic victim of the “You’re only as good as your last film” syndrome. When a Hollywood deal goes sour, he reluctantly teams up with Danny, whom he has not seen since they were both very young men. If Frank is a “has-been,” Danny is a “never-was” desperate to free himself from this unenviable status. While I won’t invade the author’s space by revealing much of the novel’s fascinating story, you’ll encounter characters that won’t easily come unstuck from your consciousness: a redneck Borgia named “Wade Wilson,” “Professor Mondragon,” a Moriartyish figure every bit as sinister as Conan Doyle’s creation, “Topolobompo,” a scheming pseudo-cop with the appearance of a crow and the instincts of a vulture and “Calvin Carter,” a booze and drug-ridden idiot-savant who often comes up with ingenious solutions to seemingly insoluble
problems. The novel’s supreme moment comes when the author finally doffs his Cain/ Chandler/Hammett hat and dons the chapeau de Camus as the brothers, after developing a deep affection for the people—as well as a great respect for the cultural heritage of the country they came to pillage—make the costliest sacrifice of their entire lives, a decision which in an O’Henry-like twist, leads directly to the realization of some of their fondest dreams. With this adroit maneuver, the novel transcends the slagheap world of
the afore-mentioned famous literary trio and brings Grattan’s oeuvre into line with Camus’ literary principle of combining riveting action with strict adherence to moral principles. (Note: Seven of the author’s novels and a collection of some 100 of his published articles, short stories and film/political/book commentaries are now on Kindle and Quality Softback. Typing in his name on amazon books will bring them into view.) Jim Tuck
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Focus on Art
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Psychological Art of Gabriel Mariscal
“
A
rt enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” --Thomas Merton Art combines imagination, emotion, and reason - which, throughout, guides the educated and refined use of the materials and elements that physically give an art work form. Emotion, a key to all evocative art, lies beyond the realm of consciousness, yet, initially is the vaguest component, yet shakes the whole. Imagination is the entry into a dream state while awake. The three create a loosely organized framework that initially guides the creative process. Affect, present at the end of the process, enables a viewer’s aesthetic response, and engenders a fundamental desire of the psyche.
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Gabriel Mariscal’s paintings engage as fables, organized with these three essential components, augmented with elements of our universal human disorientation which results when an artist or viewer is confronted with a world that
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is essentially open to question and perceived as both physical and spiritual in nature. His art integrates what happens both inside and outside of conscious intent, which propagates and enriches the psychological impact. His art embodies, clarifies and reflects a studied yet fluid creative process as the dominant reality rather than a preconceived notion, or plan, as to what the work should be. Many artists go astray when they place importance on the object created rather than a creative process. “Don’t become a recorder of facts, but penetrate the mystery of their origin.” --Ivan Pavlov Gabriel’s juxtapositions of realities, symbols that evoke cultural memories, spiritual cues, and metaphorical references are psychological triggers, which together, spawn dream like places and times that move his paintings into the realm of the psyche. Various mixes of such triggers with imagination, and emotion, controlled by his mastery of the elements, creates a psychological environment that foment a viewer’s desire to unravel his fables. In his painting, Eve and Apple (photo 1) the white fallen angel/devil, with symbolic extended tongue, twists Eve’s head up to the forbidden apple. The dark green background rests behind the maroon base, while the light green apple is set in front of everything, which causes an interesting push/pull through the surface. Her half red face and red body evoke human sexuality, and the gold, sun-touched side of her face symbolizes fallen purity. Harmony of color, rich symbolism, and dream like forms complete a tantalizing work of art. His Felliniesque Clown (photo 2)
combines sophisticated use of color, movement over the picture plane, and line quality, while the clown’s extended tongue and hand gestures create a visual message that intentionally affronts ‘cultured’ sensibilities. The powerful colors and bow tie consummate an ‘in your face event,’ influenced by Fellini’s cinematographic personality, dreamlike narratives, framing, and themes of childlike play, pathos and desolation. Gabriel shared, “I am intrigued with Fellini - his films have enabled a deeper, more nuanced, understanding of what constitutes great art.” In all of his recent paintings Gabriel uses a technique rooted in ancient Greek and Egyptian encaustic portraits created with pigments dissolved in hot beeswax. Gabriel begins with a base coat of pre-colored encaustic made with a muted hue which facilitates harmony in the overall color scheme of the work. These colors and essential forms are applied with colored pencils and pigment filled oil sticks formed with a small amount of wax that stiffens the whole. Gabriel uses these oil sticks, rather than brushes, as the primary medium. Texture and color mixing is created by scratching through the various levels of color with a stylus - evident in the hair of both Eve and the Clown. Gabriel’s informed use of color, symbolic language, and evocative forms, confirm his gifts, and importance in Mexican art. “If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet... maybe we could understand something.” --Federico Fellini During April, Gabriel’s works may be seen in Galleria del Arte, Sol Mexicano, Rob Mohr Colon #13, Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico. * Link to paintings: <https://get.google.com/albumarchive/111258927866130698336/ album/AF1QipNfAz7OiWqQT_l_qCswu NPYvYtehiU4HYe6P0P1?source=pwa>
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he other day, a food friend and I decided to run some errands and have lunch. Having lunch at Lakeside can sometimes be a challenge especially during “high” season. I always suggest people to have a plan “A”, and a plan “B.” First of all, when choosing a restaurant, one needs to know their dietary requirements, and that of your dining partners. Vegan? Vegetarian? Gluten Free? Organic? Deli? Salads? A restaurant that can meet all dietary requirements is rare. Then, one must know which restaurants are open on which days. There are few restaurants that are
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open 7 days a week. Some are only open for breakfast, while others only open for lunch, while still others are only open for dinner. So you must know their days off and their hours. So, we head over to our first choice restaurant. Closed on Tuesday. So much for plan A. Next restaurant? Plan B? Not open yet. Well, let’s try that new one… we got there at 11:20, but they didn’t open until 12, but didn’t start serving until 1:00. Too hungry to wait that long, we are still in search of a restaurant. How about that deli place? But it had a line out the door. OK now what? Let’s try that little place by the mall! Nope, construction
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
surrounded the parking lot. Oh, for goodness sake. Going out to lunch is supposed to be a time to relax, kick back, and enjoy time together. What about that great place upstairs in Chapala? Nope, it’s closed. In Baseball parlance, we were now in our second inning about to strike out for the third time. We decided on one in the difficult to park section of Ajijic. I started down the road, when we both spotted a sign. It was for an eatery we’ve wanted to try but hadn’t gotten the chance. We turned, drove down two blocks, and there it was! There was even a parking space. But it really wasn’t open for 19 more minutes. So we stayed parked, and wandered the street for 15 minutes, and stood sat outside and waited for the doors to open. It was a delightful lunch, worth the wait, and the hunt. Some of the Norte Americanos, those from North of the Border, aren’t interested in trying traditional Mexican restaurants. Such a shame, there are many simple Mexican restaurants on nearly every street. And I don’t mean the Americanized versions they have in the United States. You may have seen them. The one we frequented near our previous home sat about 200 people, at large wooden
tables with large chairs. The bright décor was “traditional Mexican” and there were lots of sombreros on both the walls and the waiters-- who were dressed like Mariachi’s, while music that wasn’t Mexican music played softly from the hidden sound system and the food was…well, as it turns out, not really Mexican. And the offerings were not true Mexican food, more Tex-Mex, which is much more spicy than the food served here in Central Mexico. Yet recently, a new restaurant has opened in Cambridge, Minnesota near the Twin Cities in Minnesota, it is called the Chapala Mexican Restaurant, run by a family from Chapala with authentic Mexican food. At Lakeside, I’ve seen restaurants offering Thai, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Indian, British, French and American cuisine. This brings to mind a question asked by a friend before we moved. He said, “What are you going to eat in Mexico?” Apparently anything I want! As long as I know the restaurants hours, and days they are open! Victoria Schmidt
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THE GHOSTS AMONG US %\ )UHG 0LWWDJ Black Elk (1863-1950)
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homas Morgan, the US Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wrote a review after the massacre at a South Dakota creek called Wounded Knee: “It is hard to overestimate the magnitude of the calamity which happened to the Sioux people by the sudden disappearance of the buffalo.” The new railroads considered the great herds of buffalo to be a nuisance and kept guns on board. When a herd was encountered, the train stopped and the passengers were invited to shoot the buffalo from the train. At about the same time, a market developed for ground buffalo bones for fertilizer. They were shot by the millions and left to rot so the bones could be gathered later. Also, the six-shooter came along and finally gave the white man the advantage over the bow and
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arrow. The fate of American Indians of the Great Plains became irreversible. Commissioner Morgan was devoid of empathy. Even a year before the Wounded Knee Massacre, Morgan wrote: “The Indians must conform to the white man’s ways, peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must. . . . The tribal relations should be broken up, socialism destroyed, and the family and the autonomy of the individual substitut-
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
ed.” Black Elk had seen 500 soldiers on the move on December 28, 1890, and sensed that something terrible was about to happen, and it happened the next day. He said, “In the morning I went out after my horses, and while I was out I heard shooting off toward the east, and I knew from the sound that it must be cannon going off. The sounds went right through my body, and I felt something terrible would happen. I painted my face all red, and in my hair I put one eagle feather for the One Above.” On his way, other Lakota men, a branch of the Sioux, joined Black Elk. A galloping rider came to them and reported “They are firing on our people!” The men promised one another the courage to fight, but when they got to the area, the soldiers were dug in and there were not enough Indian braves to dislodge them. In the evening the soldiers left and Black Elk said, “And then we saw all they had done there. Men and women and children were heaped and scattered all over the flat at the bottom of the little hill where the soldiers had their cannon, and westward up the dry gulch all the way to the high ridge, the dead women and children and babies were scattered. I saw a little baby trying
to suck its mother, but she was bloody and dead.” Black Elk was a famous Lakota holy man, or shaman. He had witnessed the Battle of Little Big Horn at the age of 13, where they defeated George Custer. He was wounded while trying to intervene in the Wounded Knee Massacre. In the 1880s he toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show before returning to Pine Ridge, his original home in South Dakota, which had been established as an Indian reservation. In 1930, he began telling his story to the poet and historian John Neihardt and the result was Black Elk Speaks, an account of Lakota history and spiritual traditions. Black Elk movingly reflected on the moment Red Cloud convinced him and others to surrender in the wake of Wounded Knee: “I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream.” There are plenty of photographs of Black Elk in his native Indian dress, but the one in the white man’s coat and tie would surely be the one most pleasing to Indian Commissioner Thomas Morgan. The suit seems like a final triumph over Black Elk’s Indian soul. In 1990, a century later, the United States Congress issued an official apology, expressing “deep regret” for the slaughter of over 370 men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek. “At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.” – Black Elk Fred Mittag
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ucy, as was her custom, sat at Will’s feet for security and mental comfort. From time to time he would reach down and scratch her head just between her ears, her favorite spot. On occasion she would look up with mournful eyes softened by a glimmer of hope in some unknown outcome. On this particular morning, hearing footsteps outside she jumped up and padded down the long side veranda to the front door where she waited for Will to come and receive their visitor, a moment when long vertical shadows of the columns divided the tiled veranda floor, and turned vertically up the
surface of the house wall. The light was in movement like the sound of a piano played one note at a time. As expected, there was Carla - two hours late for their planned breakfast. But not just late, out of sorts, breathless and disheveled. She kissed Will on the cheek as she entered; her body was warm and soft against his chest. Guarded, she pulled away and strode, as if she owned the house, down the colonnaded veranda to the sun room that projected off the rear of the house. She was a physically disturbing woman with broad hips, slender legs, and an angelic face that hid the complexity within. Other than her body,
which was always unsettling to Will, there were even more disconcerting aspects to her personality and her raging intellect, the way she would stare into his eyes as if she were searching for some hidden truth or her speaking with short phrases that made every word seem important. Her whole being was active. Her eyes darted with excitement as she gestured with her hands, Will felt overwhelmed by her presence. Yet hidden within, she held a myriad of tensions and deep pain caused by two failed relationships over the past six years. She was fearful of caring again and filled with doubts about men. She was lonely, yet afraid to engage. She accepted, with an inner knowing, that something was broken in her life. Only her artistic gift as an accomplished pianist relieved the pressure. She found Will comfortable and mentally challenging. His knowledge of art, literature and human history revealed rich dimensions. She loved his short stories. Even so, doubts veiled her mind, and prevented commitment. She guarded everything, every thought, every feeling – tight inside herself. “Carla lets go walk a bit. Give you a chance to relax.” Will was aware of her tension. “Good, I spent the morning trying to resolve a thousand things that I had left undone.” Unstated, was her ambivalence concerning Will. As they walked, Carla led the way. The raw energy she exuded was too much for Lucy, who glanced at Will, and then headed back home. Carla walked backwards so that she could face Will. “Will, how are you? I was worried after reading your short email.” “Just reflection, I’m fine.” “I couldn’t get away. There were errands that I needed to run. Oh, I signed up for an art class with your friend Luther.” “Busy lady. Luther’s an excellent teacher.” Will was gratified that she
had taken his guidance. “Don’t know how you will have time with the hours you practice the piano each day.” “Will I don’t really practice, it’s just that I play as a way to let the tension out. My piano’s sound board is weak, but it gives me great pleasure.” “When you play for me, it is as if the notes have a life of their own. Clean sound springs into being.” “Not prejudiced, are you.” Carla ran ahead leading the way back home. They settled into the welcoming comfort of Will’s sun room which adjoined the rear garden. Tall French doors on the three open sides of the room allowed light and the fresh garden air to fill the space. Two deep blue half sofas wrapped around an oriental rug with deep reds and contrasting indigo. A Marcel Brewer chair complemented the seating. In the center sat a heavy wooden coffee table covered the books and magazines. The feel was indulgent - soft and warm. The mix worked together to lift the soul. Carla realized that the room reflected the sophistication of Will’s creative nature. At peace, Will and Carla looked out at a pale blue sky - the silver twisted trunks of Sycamores whose lush green leaves cast a deep blue shade over a rock path. The garden itself consisted of ground cover, bushes, and low trees spreading shade over most of its extension creating the feel of lush jungle at its peak, and evoked a primeval sense of place that was designed to enrich life. Lucy, now content, settled in on the rug by Carla’s feet. Will noted the change in Lucy’s attitude toward Carla. “Would you like a glass of wine?” “Yes. That would be nice. Do you have a Malbec?” “A couple of bottles and some sharp cheddar …” Will uncorked the wine to let it breathe, and took the block of aged cheese out of a half-refrigerator built into the single interior wall of the sun room. Carla’s voice caused him to turn, “You seem to be lost in thought.” “Just giving the wine time to breathe - enjoy.” “Thanks.” “Carla, what’s going on? When you left yesterday you seemed frightened ….” (to be continued in our May issue) Rob Mohr
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Sandy Olson
Phone: 331-283-8529 Email: sandyzihua@hotmail.com
OPEN CIRCLE Sunday morning finds many Lakeside residents at the Lake Chapala Society and Open Circle, a forum on a variety of stimulating topics. A social hour with coffee and snacks at 10 am is followed by an interesting lecture and discussion at 10:30. April 8 The Theory of Everything: Science and the “Mind of God” Presented by Pam Wolski Since the days of Einstein physicists have searched for a Theory of Everything, explaining all the physical aspects of the universe. Stephen Hawking once wrote that this could lead to knowing why we and the universe exist, which ¨would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the Mind of God.¨ But what do physicists mean by ¨Mind of God,¨ and how close have they come to their ¨Holy Grail?” Pam Wolski Pam will explore this from various angles including gravity, string theory, the multiverse, and even faith. Pam studied physics in high school and college, and later explored quantum physics and the claims being made about it since the 1970s. She is also intrigued by such cosmological questions as, ¨What caused the universe? Is it purposeful, explainable?¨ These interests have led to much research and reflection, which she enjoys sharing with other ¨explorers.” April 15 The Parallel Universe of Women’s History Presented by Ed Tasca This presentation is a chronicle of women’s contribution to human history, a history often subverted, dismissed or marginalized, with a discussion of why this situation has existed for centuries, and a mention of major but little-known female figures who have made extraordinary contributions in all the fields historically preserved for men and who belied this oversight in the face of world-wide gender bias. Ed is a minor history buff and believes women deserve their long-overdue credit. His presentation, he says, will only be scratching the surface of a vast subject. He also likes women a lot. Ed writes a popular humor column for the Guadalajara Reporter, has won national writing awards, has published novels and plays, and often participates in theater productions at the various Lakeside venues. April 22 Key Issues of Water Management in Mexico Presented by Luis Enrique Ramos Competition over fresh water will increase in the coming years. How are water rights allocated in Mexico? Which uses should have preference? How does water policy protect environmental flows? What is happening with the current conflicts among users? This presentation will answer these questions and discuss the main concerns of water policy in Mexico. It will also describe existing projects to improve water quality and water quantity. Luis Enrique Ramos, local Attorney at Law and Notario Público, has worked during the last 18 years in water-related projects as an independent consultant at all three levels of government, as well as for not-for-profit and international organizations. His primary legal expertise lies in water governance, aligning the interests of and resolving conflicts among stakeholders in the water sector. April 29 Creating Self-Sustainable Communities Presented by Ricardo Emmanuel Navarro Jiménez (Yohualocelot) Our consumer society has pushed Mother Earth to her limit and we now must work to align ourselves with the environment. Yohualocelot will tell us how he established a self-sustainable community based on four principles of indigenous Mexican ancestors: 1) spirituality, 2) permaculture, 3) calpully, 4) minimizing consumption. The speaker is an electronics technician who in 1995 began searching for ways to improve quality of life based on eco-communities incorporating ecology, organic gardening, housing design, innovative energy technologies, recycling and more. In 1998 he met Rosalio Albarran Olpamitzin, a spiritual guide in the Mexican tradition, and since that moment his life turned to spirituality as the path for living the mexicayotl, applying the native science of healing with plants, healing through dance, Mexican philosophy, ceremonies and rituals. He also prepared himself in bio construction, specialized crops, permaculture and alternative business. Today he leads the Calpully Tlaltonal and is its teacher and guide. This talk will be in Spanish and interpreted by Francisco Nava. May 6 The Role of Biotoxins and Neurotoxins in Chronic Diseases Presented by Bea Gallagher, Ph.D.
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Biotoxins are end products from bacterial infections (such as Lyme disease), pollution, chemicals and molds that can continue to damage the body for many years. These toxins mess up receptors or enzymatic reactions that regulate a number of metabolic processes. Toxins can also cause an inappropriate expression of genes that promotes the synthesis of inflammatory proteins. Neurotoxins such as heavy metals may also alter functions in major organs such as the brain, liver and kidneys. In this lecture you will learn how to test for these chemicals and eliminate them. Dr. Gallagher practices Functional Medicine and Clinical Nutrition in the Chapala area. She applies a wide variety of metabolic, nutritional and environmental tests to discover the underlying causes of chronic conditions. Foods, nutritional supplements and Dr. Bea Gallagher colonics are among tools she uses to help patients recover health. She has recently completed a Specialty in Anti-Aging Medicine and Ozone Therapies. SOMETHING NEW FROM VIVA LA MUSICA On Friday, April 13 the amazing Ballet de Jalisco will be performing The Hunchback of Notre Dame (El Jorobado de Nuestra Señora de Paris) in the Cabanas Cultural Center. It’s the tragic tale of the hunchback Quasimodo trying to find love and acceptance in Paris. The bus leaves at 6:30 pm from Farmacia Guadalajara for the show at 8:30 pm. Bus trip tickets are $500 ($600 for non-members) and are available at the LCS ticket area Thursday and. Friday, 10-noon, or phone Rosemary at 766-1801. WONDERFUL WORLD TRIO, HOME AGAIN Roberto Cerda is back in town for a quick visit, and will perform one show only with Cindy Paul and Jimmy Barto. The group was a mainstay at Roberto’s beautiful Ajijic restaurant by the lake, La Tasca, for many years. Hear their unique style of high-performance music at La Bodega de Ajijic on Friday, April 13, from 6:30 to 9 pm. Tickets are $150 in advance and $200 at the door, and are available only at La Bodega (closed Mondays). VIVA GOES TO THE OPERA Here is the lineup for the next Viva la Musica Live from the Met bus trips. Saturday April 14 Luisa Miller by Verdi. Placido Domingo stars in this rarely performed gem, a heart-wrenching tragedy of fatherly love starring Sonia Yoncheva in the title role opposite Pietr Belaza (3.38 hours). The bus leaves at 9:30 for the 11:30 show. Thursday April 25 Pagliacci by Leoncavallo at the Degollado Theater with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra and the Zapopan Municipal Chorus directed by Timothy Ruff Welch, featuring Irrasema Terrazas as Nedda and Viva scholarship winner Cesar Delgado as Beppe. Saturday April 28 Cinderella by Massenet. This masterpiece stars Joyce DiDonato, with Kathleen Kim, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe, and Laurent Naoui as Pandolfe. (3.12 hours). The bus leaves at 10 for the noon show. Trips to the opera at Teatro Diana are 450 pesos (550 for non-members) and are available at the LCS ticket booth Thursday and Friday from 10 to noon, or call Rosemary Keeling at 7661801. Buses leave from the carretera near the Farmacia Guadalajara. THE VEGGIE GROUP GOES TO EL SALTO Last month the Vegetable Growers Club (the Veggie Group) went to the Third Festival of Native Seeds in El Salto. In attendance were members of our group. The site of the festival was the family farm of Nereida Sanchez. Nereida sells plants and other products at the Tuesday Organic market in West Ajijic. He organized a guided tour for the Veggie Growers contingent, which was conducted by a surprisingly knowledgeable young lady named Andrea. Club members were impressed with the entire farm operation and its approach to con-
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servation. Science aside, people present also learned that traditional farmers in the past always planted three seeds of corn in each hole, one for the devil, one for God, and one for them (couldn’t hurt to try it). The Vegetable Growers Club meets the second Wednesday of the month at 10:30 am in the private dining room at Min Wah Restaurant. New members and guest are welcome. MEDITATE IN CHAPALA Chapala Meditation Community is now offering silent mindfulness meditation in Chapala at 5 de Mayo #260 just north of Lopez Cotilla, brown door in white building. Monday, Wednesday and Friday beginning at 11 a.m. All are welcome. For more information please go to ChapalaMeditation.com. BELIEVE IT’S NOT TUESDAY On Sunday mornings Christ Church Episcopal transforms the eventos site for the Tuesday organic market into a beautiful church setting. Backdrop for the service is a mural by local celebrated artist Jesus Lopez Vega. In a very short time—one to two weeks—members of the Christ Church vestry and other volunteers built and donated the altar, two podiums and other items necessary for the service. Church is held at 10 am, with a coffee hour following.
Left to right: Lay Reader Conley Stamper, adjunct Bishop Sandy Olson, Vicar Danny Borkowski, Acolyte Ana Jones, Acolyte Master and Lay Reader Lani Zeigler and Acolyte Ramon Alonso Garcia
come. For more information, contact Ron Howardson at ron.howardson@gmail.com. GREAT RIBS AND WHAT A VIEW The Lake Chapala Shrine Club 12th Annual Ribfest was a great success with the four hour party dancing to music by Ajijic Jamm Band, feasting on Adelita’s BBQ ribs and chicken, and participating in the silent auction and 50/50 draw with added door prizes. The event was enjoyed by 500 guests at the beautiful hilltop Cumbres Event Center. The Shriners want to thank the many individuals, organizations and businesses that contributed to this outstanding event. It was a sellout so remember to get your tickets early for next March. FRIENDS FALL IN LOVE Love Letters, by A.R. Gurney, is the next Naked Stage production. It’s directed by Sue Quiriconi The story is of a 50-year correspondence between Melissa Gardner and her childhoodfriend-turned-love-interest, Andrew Makepeace Ladd III. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, the play has been performed in theater spaces all over the world, thanks to its simple staging. The play runs April 27, 28 and 29 at 4 p.m. Donation is $100. The Box Office and bar open at 3 p.m. Reservations are by email at: nakedstagereservations@gmail.com. For those who use Facebook, look for The Naked Stage for breaking news and updates. The Naked Stage is at Hidalgo #261 on the mountain side of the carretera in Riberas del Pilar, across from the Catholic Church. Parking is available in the parking lot of the Baptist Church, behind the theater. WRITING YOUR STORY The 13th Annual Lake The Cast: Don Beaudreault and Barbara Pruitt Chapala Writers Conference was held last month. Writers at Lake Chapala listened to presenters speak on “Writing Your Story,” the theme of this year’s conference. This year 68 writers attended. Next year’s conference will be held on the second week of March. Chair Herbert Piekow says, “We managed to make a few thousand pesos which we will donate to the school in Santa Cruz de la Soledad, The Little Blue School in Chapala and La
ROTARY DOES IT UP ON ST PAT’S DAY The Rotary Club of Ajijic held a dinner dance and art auction fundraiser on St. Patrick’s Day at the Hotel Montecarlo, Chapala. A great time was had by all who attended. Funds raised will benefit several Rotary Projects, including the Breast Cancer Awareness Program for early detection, screening and treatment of breast cancer in conjunction with Salvati Foundation, The Union Soccer Club and the Preparatory School of Chapala.
Some of the writers and presenters (Herbert Piekow, Chairperson, in the Front fourth from the left).
From left to right: Dr. Santiago Hernández Martínez, Organizing Committee Chair; Committee Members Antoinette Brahm. Dr. Cherry Adjchavanich. Gary Pidcock, Ron Howardson The Rotary Club meets at Hotel Real de Chapala on Tuesdays at noon. Guests are wel-
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Escuela Primaria Urbana No. 163, also Ismael Ramirez Salcedo in Guadalajara, where their library burned and they are in need of books for kindergarten through fifth grade.” LITTLE THEATRE PLAYHOUSE SERIES Lakeside Little Theatre is pleased to continue the 2017-2018 Playhouse Series into the new year. The last production of the season will be Yerma by Simon Stone, Federico Garcia Lorca. The dates are April 7 and 8 . Both performances are 3 pm matinees. Tickets (250 pesos) for the upcoming show can be purchased two weeks prior and the week of the show at the LLT box office Wednesday and Thursday from 10 am until noon, and one hour before curtain. Email: tickets@lakesidelittletheatre.com or call (376) 766 0954
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homas Jefferson performed poorly as a wartime governor of Virginia, 1779 to 1781. When the Redcoats got close to Richmond, he jumped on the fastest horse he could find and skedaddled. He dallied with one of his slaves and sired offspring who in turn became slaves. Despite his flaws, this Founding Father drafted the Declaration of Independence, one of history’s most enduring and endearing documents During his debates with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln said he believed that Whites were superior to Blacks. He proclaimed that he was opposed to mixed marriages and that Blacks were not fit to serve as Jurors. In the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago he had counterfeit entrance passes printed that were used to flood the floor with his supporters. Never-the-less, as President, and after he gained control of the Union Army, he preserved the Union. His administration maneuvered passage of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had long lasting affairs, not only with his own secretary, but also with his wife’s personal secretary. His grandfather Warren Delano made a fortune in the opium trade (legal at that time). As President, his qualities of leadership and vision led us through the Great Depression and World War Two. His New Deal left the United States with such sacrosanct legislation as Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act. He is the prime candidate for the Greatest President of the Twentieth Century. Harry S. Truman failed in the only commercial venture he ever entered. He and a partner opened a haberdashery after WW I which ended in bankruptcy. He owed his early political successes to the Missouri Prendergast Machine, which had nefarious connections. His competence as President is now unquestioned. With the Marshall Plan his administration rehabilitated enemy nations which are now valuable allies. John Fitzgerald Kennedy had affairs too numerous to mention. The Mob supported him in his campaign for president. As President he stood down the Soviet Empire and brought the US into the Space Age. We can even throw Winston Churchill
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into the mix. When he was First Lord of the Admiralty in World War One he proposed a naval convoy through the Dardanelles to Russia as part of the Gallipoli Campaign. It was a colossal blunder and he was replaced as First Lord. He was reputed to consume excessive amounts of Brandy. In World War Two he rallied the British against the threat of Hitler, and is considered by many scholars to have been Britain’s greatest Prime Minister. Hillary Rodham Clinton should not have supported the invasion of Iraq. It is worrisome that she received huge fees for Wall Street speeches. She was careless in the way she managed State Department communications. Much was made of these indiscretions by her political opponents. However, a balance sheet of her political participation and the causes she supported over the past thirty years leaves her bottom line clearly in the affirmative. Hillary’s husband Bill had been included in the political attacks. As he is an active supporter of hers, he is fair game. Bill was guilty of an indiscretion with a White House intern. His detractors seem to believe that his subsequent I did not have sex with that woman was worse than the act itself. In Louisiana, when a wife is accused of adultery, the testimony of the correspondent must be corroborated, and, received with great caution. This ruling came from a former Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court who reasoned “A man who would not lie under those circumstances is unworthy of belief.” Henri Loridans
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Makin ng Sense Out Of Life e %\ 3DXO $OOHQ
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nless severely handicapped from the get-go, our entrance into this world of living beings, most of us humans begin to assess living from an experiential perspective. This is coupled with direct programming from parents, teachers, peers, and, oh yes, the ever-present media. The problem is that much of it is incorrect, much of it is based on strong biases, and a lot of it is propaganda not meant for the well-being of the whole of humanity. Maybe not knowing any better, we shrug our shoulders and swallow the input. These are issues dealing primarily with our brains, although we’ll see that this is somewhat an oversimplification. To begin with, we assess present and forward movement largely from the operation of the five senses. This limited living is restrained mostly to what we see, smell, taste, feel, and hear. This doesn’t seem weird. It seems rather natural. And, indeed it is, limited to what appears relevant to nature. We have a tendency to protect this viewpoint because it is a way to protect us from clutter and complications while we’re doing this living. This line of thought is to promote shallowness and keep us from honest evaluation of life. To show their importance yet limitations, what if one of our senses, say, the mouth became inoperable for communication. As long as the others worked, we could sign or write, yet miss our old ways of verbal expression. We would feel a little less than complete. What is there about us that makes us feel this way? Or, what if we had aural damage and lost our hearing? Couple this with the fact that in a given case, hearing aids might be useless. Looks like signing and/or reading lips is the next substitute. We can only surmise the person would feel a little cheated. What a handicap to be robbed of the world of sound! What can a person begin to lean on? Where is there hope? In a way, the eyes possess unique perceptibility in their multi-function capabilities. When one is so used to assessing everything around or available
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to him, to lose this faculty loses more than object recognition, be it beauty, phenomenon, or potential danger. What about the many issues of analysis, or challenges, or opportunities of service and aid. The other faculties without this one can be helpful, yet life confronts us with so much more. What about our exhibition of the deeper things of this living? What about the values we reveal that might influence others? Where do these deeper, intangible issues originate? Is this what they call ‘soul’? We learn that soul is a combination of mind, will, and emotion. The mind is a computer, a calculator. Will is the decision maker connected to both mind and emotions. Emotion is the outlet which springs from the other two. This seems more complex than just the five senses. We’ve talked a lot about the five outer faculties, and brain function. But, the deeper things such as the spirit of man are often ignored for two main reasons. They seem a little hard to comprehend. Then, if we engage in serious search, it might change who we are, what we’re about, or what the future holds. That’s rather heavy, sort of like God-stuff. But, since we all have the same eternal fate, maybe it would be too great a risk to ignore the spirit and its future. We often call it the ‘inner man.’ Spirits don’t just come out of nowhere. God is Spirit, and has given us His Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and help us. Since we are made in His image, we are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. Yes, there are evil spirits, those who were once with God, but rebelled and fell from heaven. God has made us with a void inside that only He can fill. That’s His design. Persons who shun a relationship with Him try to fill that void with mostly bodily and material substances. Making sense out of life? It seems the sensible thing to do is to go to the Creator and Sustainer of everything to get it right. Life is too short to chance coming up short. The sobering question: have I put too much importance and priority on my faculties and soul? My spirit-man won’t go away, nor will its Creator.
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SAVAGE CAPITALIS SM A N D TH E M YTH O F DEMOCRACY :ULWWHQ E\ 3URI 0LFKDHO +RJDQ 5HYLHZHG E\ $QD 6R¿D &DUERQHOO 7KH ERRN PD\ EH SXUFKDVHG RQ DPD]RQ FRP
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ritten from the perspective of an American educator living and working in Mexico for almost two decades, Savage Capitalism and the Myth of Democracy is relevant to students and educators, leaders and future leaders and for all those who participate in this hemisphere’s political system, constituents and policy makers alike. This collection of essays carefully examines the problems Latin American societies face today, including the lack of accountability for serious human rights violations, environmental damages, social inequality and serious deficiencies in education. The link Dr. Hogan establishes between the region’s current social and economic challenges and neo-liberal policies that have been forcefully implemented for decades is supported by his research both on the field and academically. He highlights the negative impact U.S. foreign policy has sometimes had in Latin America to provide a historical context that will, no doubt, improve the complex inter-regional relationship in the hopes that all Americans (North Americans, Central Americans and South Americans) can unite to become a secure, sustainable and just region. Hogan proposes several concrete policy solutions focusing on
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the role of quality education. A good education should not just allow, but encourage students to challenge assumptions, i.e., that laissez faire economics is the most democratic economic system, or that one single economic or political system is right for every country. Speaking of great teachers of the past, Hogan writes, “All of them (Socrates, Aristotle, Einstein, etc) saw the job of the teacher as one of questioning ideological certitude, contradicting overly simplistic formulations, and encouraging their students to do so.” Contemporary teachers working abroad must challenge themselves to do the same despite pressure from school administrators and government agencies. Readers familiar with Hogan’s historical works such as The Irish Soldiers of Mexico will appreciate both the careful historical analysis as well as the clear and lively writing style. In my view this book ranks right up there with Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America. It belongs on every educator’s bookshelf. (Ed. Note: Prof. Hogan is a worldrenown educator who taught at the American School in Guadalajara for many years. He is the author of several books and his latest can be purchased on amazon for 13.95US, plus shipping and handling.)
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imagine that few will disagree with the fact that our Earth is not getting larger, but that the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population is! There might be some who believe that arable lands (lands upon which people raise crops for their own consumption or to sell it to others) are growing apace with population growth, after all, there are continuous efforts being made to convert non arable land to arable land and some are successful. But droughts, deforestation, desertification and human-induced erosion turn as much or more arable land into infertile places. According to Wikipedia, in 2012, the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arable land was close to 14,000,000 square kilometers and it had been thus since 2008. Based on that, one might conclude that the amount of arable land is stable, but an article by Oliver Milman, (December 2, 2015), based on findings of the University of Sheffield, indicates that, over the last 40 years, Earth has lost one third of its arable land, due to erosion, pollution and other developments. Â Then, arable land per person is not the same from country to country: For example: while Uruguay has .682 hectares/person, the United States .480/person,
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Serbia .460, Romania .438 and Niger .866, Oman has just .010 and the Seychelles .001!. Every other country is somewhere in between with most on the low side. To feed everyone requires a great deal of trading, traffic and pollution. Moreover, about 70% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arable lands are used to grow crops; the other 30% is used for livestock, including chicken, cattle and pigs, because that is what the better-off like and thus more profitable. One solution to all this is rotation, i.e. having land taken out of production to help it recover, but this requires governmental intervention, including compensation for the growers forced to have their lands be fallow. Besides, rotation reduces our capability of raising food for a population that is growing at a rate of 211,000 people per day or 77 million per year (2006), according to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Environmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, a piece on the Internet that pulls together facts from a wide variety of sources published elsewhere. The inevitable conclusion is that we cannot sustain the human population as it is and this is resulting in the starvation, poverty, disease, crime, war, economic instability, pain and misery we see today. This will only get worse unless we stop human growth. One possible way to slow or reverse population growth in our country (USA): is through taxation. The first child in a legitimate family now reduces income tax by $4,050, but the second child should not provide this tax break and the third child should increase income taxes by $4,050 and so on. Abortion services should be made legal everywhere and easily available, and birth control devices should be made available for free in every pharmacy if they care to keep their business license. Other countries may follow our lead.
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he Clean House is a quirky imaginative comedy about dust, life and love. It opens with “Matilde” who is a Brazilian housekeeper, telling us a long incomprehensible joke in Portuguese. All the best jokes (she tells us later) are impossible to understand. Matilde works for career-driven “Lane” and is supposed to clean the house. But she hates cleaning and would rather spend her time searching for the perfect joke. Fortunately Lane’s sister “Virginia” loves to clean because it brings meaning to her otherwise empty life, so she enters into a secret pact with Matilde. Virginia will keep dust and disorder at bay, while Matilde hopes to die laughing.
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Russell Mack and his team bring a light touch to this oddball play. Amaranta Santos is wonderful as Matilde, with body language and facial expressions that constantly move and entertain us. Candace Luciano is the perfect foil as Lane, a highly organized and uptight doctor who tells us that she went to medical school so she didn’t have to clean her own house. That seems fair enough, but craziness soon begins to dissolve her carefully organized world. Patteye Simpson is very good as the chronically depressed Virginia,
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in cahoots with Matilde, and actually becomes more cheerful in spite of, or perhaps because of the encroaching chaos. Meanwhile Lane’s husband “Charles” announces that he has fallen in love with 67- year-old “Ana.” Charles is a surgeon, and has just performed a mastectomy on Ana in hopes of staving off her breast cancer. It was love at first incision. Peter Luciano is suitably earnest as Charles – he has found his soulmate and wants everyone to be one big happy family. Later, when Ana’s cancer returns, he goes on a crazy mission to Alaska to find a yew tree that might cure her. Ana is played with some skill by first-time actor Tracy Foy – she actually has to die on stage, which usually happens in operas while singing an aria. Here she has just heard the perfect joke. Is there a deeper meaning to all this? I don’t know, and maybe the author doesn’t either, but it makes for a highly entertaining piece of theater. There’s a surreal quality to the play, and a sort of Greek fatalism that the gods, up there on Mount Olympus, like to play tricks on us poor mortals. The actors enjoy themselves and that enjoyment is transmitted to the audience. This was a courageous choice of play by LLT, and it could easily have
gone off the rails, but that didn’t happen. Instead we saw a thoroughly professional production – well-done, Russell Mack and the entire cast and backstage team. Debra Bowers was Stage Manager and Deborah Elder was Production Assistant. So ends Season 53, a highly varied and successful season. Next month I will preview the interesting plays that have just been announced for Season 54. Michael Warren
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ne of Ajijicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most accomplished poets, Bill Frayer, has published a new book of poetry, Migration, which takes its place alongside his others, Sacred Lake and Agave Blood. This new book of poetry takes the reader on a journey similar to the one Frayer and his wife Pixie took when they â&#x20AC;&#x153;gave away most of their belongings, packed their car, and relocatedâ&#x20AC;? from Maine to a new life in Ajijic. The book begins with Frayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s amazement at the travel of the Monarch butterflies, â&#x20AC;&#x153;From Canada, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made your flight;/primordial beacon led the way,/I pausing, breathless, drink in the sight.â&#x20AC;? Yet Frayerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme is not merely about physical journeys. His poetry draws the reader into emotional and spiritual migrations as well. He shares his feelings about the pain and the joy of Mexico. In â&#x20AC;&#x153;Raspberry Boyâ&#x20AC;? he tells us â&#x20AC;&#x153;[the boy] has old eyes/I buy his berries/but I want to know/his story. In â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Humble Tortilla,â&#x20AC;? he allows the reader to participate in his visit to â&#x20AC;&#x153;the small marketâ&#x20AC;? to buy tortillas, which he calls â&#x20AC;&#x153;the perfect food/connecting us now/scooping comfort and succulent sauce/tasting the spirit/of the ancient people.â&#x20AC;? In â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mother Mexicoâ&#x20AC;? Frayer wants the reader to participate in the historic journey of Mexico with â&#x20AC;&#x153;the songs of the Indio/songs of hope, songs of lossâ&#x20AC;? but that â&#x20AC;&#x153;she was strong/she survived to love againâ&#x20AC;? even though there were
â&#x20AC;&#x153;more tears and more blood,â&#x20AC;? Mother Mexico â&#x20AC;&#x153;sustain[s] her grandchildren/ who watch her with love.â&#x20AC;? He reflects on the various qualities of absence in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Emptiness.â&#x20AC;? With Frayer we travel to modern Egypt in â&#x20AC;&#x153;From Pharoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gripâ&#x20AC;? and to nineteenth century America in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Emersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Journey.â&#x20AC;? The spiritual journeys are examined â&#x20AC;&#x153;My Budda and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Being Lost.â&#x20AC;? Like all good poets, he shares his innermost personal feelings of life and family. We learn of his loss in â&#x20AC;&#x153;I Miss You, Sisterâ&#x20AC;? as he writes of a sibling he never knew, and in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Absence,â&#x20AC;? he considers a world without him. Bill Frayer takes everyday feelings and thoughts and elevates them to the realm of wonder, causing the reader to see beyond the ordinary and beyond the mundane to the extraordinary that hovers beneath every surface. He gives us poetry that examines life. One of my favorite poets, Leonard Cohen, said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.â&#x20AC;? In Migration, we find the ash of a thoughtful life, a life filled with amazement. This is a book well worth reading many times. Mel Goldberg
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ne of the most unique individuals I have ever known went by the unlikely moniker of Casszuene, a combination of the names of her parents. We shortened it to Zooie. Good name for a horse. But, Zooie was not an ordinary horse. For one thing, she was very beautiful, and I think she knew it, causing her to be unbearably conceited. Zooie was an Arabian mare, a surprise Yuletide gift for my daughters one freezing Christmas Eve after midnight services at the Episcopal Church. Zooie had her likes and dislikes. She loved carrots, refused to take her horse pills whenever they were pre-
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scribed by the vet, disliked getting her hoofs wet, enjoyed conversing with the wild deer who lived in a nearby woods, was terrified of cattle, and reacted to being bathed, combed and brushed with complete contempt. And, to top it off, she was an ingenious escape artist. Early in our friendship, I wondered what horses think about as they loaf in their stalls all day. I soon figured it out. Zooie could perform masterpieces of manipulation with her nose, fiddling with determination at the latch on her stall door until she escaped into the aisle where a huge metal drum of oats awaited. Like all horses, Zooie was a slave to gluttony. Once
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sated but still not satisfied with her accomplishment, she would wander through the stable releasing all her equine buddies from their stalls. When my friend the farmer went to the barn at feeding time, he would find 16 horses standing around eating and talking. Zooie would swish her tail, point her nose straight up, wrinkle back her lips, and utter the loudest self-congratulatory horselaugh imaginable. Zooie’s horselaughs were among her most memorable traits. Each spring, as she shed her winter coat, I would scrub her down with warm water and give her a nice brushing, until she emitted a healthy glow. As soon as I turned her loose in the pasture with her small herd of friends, she would lie down in the mud and roll, then stand up and let loose with her most defiant laugh. Horses seem to take great delight in spiting us. The owners of one of Zooie’s stable mates placed a basketball in his stall to provide entertainment. The horse would always find a way to push the basketball through the narrow opening in his stall door and out into the aisle. This seemed to be the equine version of standup comedy, because he took great joy it repeating the feat at every opportunity. Recently, I was given Dr. John A. Shivik’s Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes: The Science of Animal Personalities for my 76th birthday. Dr. Shivik’s premise, based upon years of painstaking observation and research, is that our fellow creatures exist on a level over and above the earlier assumptions of mainline science, when they were believed to be mere machine-like organisms energized only by seeking out food without themselves becoming the food of others, their numbers consisting only of the eaters and the eaten. While Native American peoples and others who lived in close relationship to the natural order recognized the individuality of animals, it has served the purpose of modern industrial science to deny such realities. Shivik addresses the question, “Do animals have personalities” by citing mountains of research. Immune to accusations of anthropomorphism, he argues that animal personality is an elusive alchemy of heredity and environment, as it is among humans, and that no two animals are quite alike. He goes as far as to recommend “zoomorphizing”, viewing animal behavior as a mirror of human behavior. This concept seems realistic when one considers Jane Goodall’s research with wild chimpanzees and Dian Fosse’s experiences among mountain gorillas, but Shivik applies it across
the board to include even the tiniest organisms. Some Enlightenment thinkers found it convenient to reduce animal behavior to mere machine-like collections of stimulus/response reactions. Horrific surgical experiments were conducted upon hapless dogs and other creatures without benefit of anesthesia, while onlookers were smugly assured that their shrieks were only mechanical responses and not indicative of any genuine suffering. Thomas Jefferson’s fellow politicos castigated him for presiding over such abominations at Monticello. Later, Mark Twain blasted such activities in his hear trending short story “A Dog’s Tale.” It would be comforting to hope that such practices have been eliminated by animal welfare legislation, but a recent story in the press about an Idaho high school science teacher feeding a live puppy to a snapping turtle now torments my dreams, as does the passive response of students and other community members, who referred to the perpetrator as a “cool teacher”. Dr. Shivik documents behavior differences of among even such creatures as salamanders, fishing spiders and water striders. He finds that even among the simplest of creatures there are differences such as “hermits and herd joiners”, “brave fighters and serene lovers,”, “wayfarers and wallflowers,” that in some, as in humans, the selfish gene predominates, while in others it is the generous gene that calls the shots. Zooie was an individual, differing in temperament and ingenuity from her stable mates Sea Star, Toughie, Susie, Shannon, and Taxi. Toughie was the alpha horse, the herd’s leader, Susie the pony seemed lost in her own thoughts, Sea Star would greedily accept a proffered carrot then try to bite the hand that had held it, Taxi had a wild spirit, Shannon was probably more docile because of her blindness. No two horses are alike, as no two people are quite alike. Ask any horse enthusiast. For that matter, ask any horse. Horses and dogs are among the domestic animals I have been most acquainted with. In his memoir Dog Stories, the world famous veterinarian James Herriot shares many tales of personality differences among man’s best friends. I have a few of my own. My huskie dog, Lexi, used to entertain herself by devising games. One involved dropping her favorite ball down the stairs and then rushing to catch it before it reached the floor. Whenever Lexi spotted my backpack in the corner of my office, she knew I was about to go off for a week
or more on one of my many wilderness excursions and would go into mourning. After I had gone, she would take up residence in the spot where the backpack had been until I returned. She was so terrified of her annual visits to the vet that she recognized even the spelling of the word, V-E-T, so that I had to write it down instead of speaking it. When my Labrador retriever Dusty was a pup, he would methodically carry all the logs from the woodpile and stack them on my front steps while I was away at school each day. Certainly, different breeds possess different
personality traits, but individual dogs also differ from one another. I doubt that many retrievers take it upon themselves to stack firewood. St. Paul tells us that all creation groans as a consequence of Mankindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flaws. Perhaps as we grow in our appreciation of personality differences among our fellow creatures, we will come to take them more seriously, and creation will groan a little less loudly. Lorin Swinehart
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iss Mary Mallon (18691938), an Irish immigrant working as a cook in New York City, in private homes, became the first known asymptomatic carrier of the typhoid fever bacillus in the United States. She herself had recovered from the dreadful disease but had become an infectious carrier; during the years from 1900 to 1907 she had infected more than seven different households. In 1906 there were 3000 cases of typhoid fever in New York State, including 600 fatalities. Typhoid fever, a disease caused by Salmonella Typhi, a strictly human pathogen, multiplies in the intestine and is excreted in feces. Contamination is carried to others through compromised fecal matter coming into contact with uncooked food. Mary Mallon, ill-educated and headstrong, was unaware of the danger she brought on families, yet, strangely, she would always leave the employ of the families infected within days of the manifestation. In the summer of 1907 she was working for a wealthy family in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and, days after a dinner party, all the guests became feverishly ill. Sanitary engineer, Dr. George Soper, a specialist in tracing typhoid epidemics, was hired and by the time he arrived, Mary had left. Through extensive investigations Soper suspected the origin of the contagion was likely from the cook. He was able to trace Mary’s employment history and discovered that all the families she worked for had been infected: it was imperative she be found. Several months later Soper was summoned to a Park Avenue house where typhoid had taken the life of a child. In the kitchen was Mary Mallon. Dr. Soper informed her of her carrier status yet Mary was hostile, uncooperative and refused to submit to a medical examination- again she fled. In 1907 the New York Dept. of Health, with the assistance of the police, traced her and this time detained her: she was placed in isolation in Willard Parker Hospital, where she was subjected to tests which proved conclusively that she was a carrier of typhoid. The doctors believed the disease existed in Mary’s gall bladder, but Mary refused any form of treatment; she was later transferred and quarantined to a hospital on North Brother Island, isolated in a small cottage. She hired a lawyer and engaged in court bat-
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tles, to no avail; the press ridiculed her and pronounced her as ‘Typhoid Mary.’ Yet many others were sympathetic, seeing her as a pathetic woman who was denied due process. After two years a newly appointed Commissioner of Health in New York City agreed to grant her freedom on the grounds that she promised not to work in the handling of any foods: she would have to report to the Health Dept. every 90 days, and sign an affidavit. She remained out of sight, refusing any interviews or photographs, and took on menial domestic work in households with dismal wages. Two years later, she disappeared again- she had changed her name to Mary Brown, and worked in various private and public places, preparing food, for several years. In 1915 an outbreak of typhoid fever took place inside the Sloane Hospital for women in New York; over twenty nurses were infected, two of whom died. Authorities discovered that Mary had worked in the kitchens just prior to the outbreak before leaving for a position in a private home where she was found. She was arrested and returned to Riverside hospital and put in isolation: she still refused treatment. It was estimated that Mary Mallon was responsible for the outbreak of over 60 new cases, three of which were fatal. Now regarded as a miscreant she would remain in the hospital permanently but later she was employed as a laboratory technician. Confined to the grounds of the hospital she would spend the next 25 years of her life there: a stroke left her paralysed two years before her death in 1938. Exactly what Mary Mallon knew about her condition and what she still believed will always Robert James Taylor remain a mystery.
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hough everyone calls him the Straw Man, Andres Mendoza is neither a character from The Wizard of Oz nor a fallacious argument set up only to be knocked down. Andres is a gifted, if somewhat unconventional, artist. Instead of brushes and paints he produces his masterpieces with beeswax and colorful straw. Andres is the third generation of his family to do this work. Both his grandfather and his mother were skilled in the art, which he began learning from them when he was only seven or eight years old. The ancient art of straw painting, called Popote, has been practiced by the Indians for centuries. Originally, such paintings were used only in rites of fertility or hunting magic. Paintings and statues, songs and dances were all part of rituals performed to cause the plants to multiply and bring forth abundant harvests and to appease the spirits of game animals so that they would give themselves willingly to feed a grateful people. Those rituals are an important part of many cultures even today. Popote, however, is a dying art. The reason is simple; while the techniques are similar to the bead and yarn paintings still done for religious rites and as souvenirs for tourists, preparing the materials for straw art is far more labor intensive and time consuming. Only the truly dedicated will bother when imported glass beads and acrylic yarns are readily available. So, like the wonderful feather mosaic work of the ancients, such work is seldom seen today. Andres admits ruefully that he knows of only one other person in Jalisco who still practices it. Before Andres can begin to create he must first harvest both the straw and the natural materials required to produce dyes. Popote is the common broom straw that Mexican housewives and gardeners bind in bunches to make their brooms, and
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the best, according to Andres, comes from Zacatecas, but he usually harvests his supply nearer his home in Guadalajara. Unlike many grasses, it grows tall, straight and smooth, without joints and with very little variation in diameter. Properly dried and cut into dyeable lengths, this raw material is ready for the next step. Andres obtains most of his dyes from plants but animals and insects contribute their share. For purple he uses the vivid bracts of the bougainvillea, blue comes from the fruit of the granseño tree and brown is made from the beans of either the mesquite or the hoesatchi. Yellow, however, comes from the bile of animals and the brilliant red is made from the crushed bodies of a small insect, the cochineal, which infests the prickly pear cactus. Sumac berries, onion skins, snakeweed and various other fruits, flowers and barks provide other hues as needed. Most of these dyestuffs have been in use since pre-Columbian times to produce a brilliant array of colors for dyeing textiles, painting murals or illustrating codices. Different methods are required to extract the coloring agents from such materials, most of them tedious in the extreme. The final step is the addition of a mordant to set the colors and make them permanent. Again, there are many chemicals to do the job. Alum and various metallic salts are frequently used, but the most common—and certainly the most readily available—mordant is the combination of uric acid and ammonia found in human urine. Andres now has a brilliant array of fast colors which can be mixed to produce the entire spectrum. Lengths of straw are immersed in dye baths until they take on the desired intensity of color, and then set aside to dry. All that is left is to prepare the “canvas.” Any thin, rigid material will do but Andres usually uses a heavy
cardboard coated with smooth white paper. The surface to be painted is coated with an adhesive material to hold the straw in place. Although unrefined beeswax is the traditional adhesive, Andres admits with a grin that he sometimes cheats a little by using gum Arabic to give a firmer grip. At long last, Andres is ready to create. Using only his rainbow-hued bunches of straw, a very sharp knife and his innate talent, he creates landscapes, still-lives and portraits by positioning tiny pieces of straw on the prepared surface and cutting them to the desired length. He uses a subtle blending of colors to create shadows and depth and minute changes in direction to shape contours and give a sense of movement. Every tiny piece is meticulously placed to achieve the desired effect and, viewed from a short distance, straight lines become curves, divisions disappear and it is difficult to tell a straw “painting” from one done in any other media. Andres draws his inspiration from the lives and tales of his own people. Humble village streets, grandiose church facades, lush gardens and laughing people going about their daily business wearing colorful
clothing; all reflecting the charm of Mexico. A man rides down a cobblestoned street wearing a bright red poncho which swirls to the unsteady gait of his burro. Flowering vines cover blank walls with tree tops peeking over to hint of the beauty within, while men and women stop to talk while carrying their goods to market. Skylines are dominated by the tiled domes and bell towers of village churches and mountains loom in the distance. An old man sits comfortably leaning against a wall, legs outstretched. He seems to be taking a short nap instead of working on the new fishnet he holds in his hands. He is wearing the traditional white shirt and short pants with bands of embroidery at wrist and knee, a striped poncho and straw sombrero, but his feet are bare. Aztec warriors wear jaguar skin cloaks and eagle headdresses into battle and pescadores cast their nets in the early light. Don Quijote and Sancho Panza engage in acts of derring-do and ladies stop to gossip on their way to mass. Andres’ is represented in Ajijic by the Galeria Maestros del Arte located at 16th de Septiembre, #13
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he one I want to wrap in my arms and bring home is Nebras. I didn’t even know her name when I returned to Iraq, shortly after the assault on Baghdad. I am armed with only a photo of a beggar touching her nose with her tongue. I had met her a few months before, when I’d traveled to Iraq with a women’s delegation, just five weeks before the U.S. bombings and invasion. Unfazed by impending disaster, the little girl, old enough to be in primary school, had begged for handouts in a popular market. I had taught her to touch her nose with her tongue. She had followed me around the souk nearly swallowing her tongue in laughter as she imitated my nose-touching stunt. She was cold. The dirty scarf wrapped loosely around her neck neither protected her from the chill nor hid her calculating abil-
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ity to work the shoppers. Without a translator, the most I gathered was a photo of a gleeful girl with laughing eyes and an incredibly acrobatic tongue. When I return to Iraq five months later to find how war had touched the people who had so deeply touched me, translators are reluctant to take me to the souk. The mood in Baghdad has shifted; gunfire is heard nightly. The day before I am to leave, I canvass the cluttered shops, flashing the little girl’s photo. “Yes, that’s Nebras.” Finally, a shopkeeper gives a name to the girl whose deep, brown eyes had hu-
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
manized the smoldering CNN newscasts that absorbed my life back home. “But I haven’t seen her in a while. Not since before the war.” I catch my breath. I had just learned Nebras’ name. She can’t be one of the thousands of nameless Iraqis we dismissively call “collateral damage.” I step out into the bright sunlight and my translator catches my arm. “We need to leave,” he insists. The equally insistent gunfire across the river rattles my nerve. I feel conspicuous in the souk’s crowded narrow alleys. People dart, avoiding eye contact. Shops close prematurely. Barricaded soldiers seem hyperalert in the edgy heat. I stifle my creeping panic as we worm our way back to our car. Suddenly, a commotion erupts behind me and I turn around to see a crowd of men shoving toward me. I freeze. The shopkeepers part, revealing the terrified eyes of a familiar elfish girl they drag toward me by the scruff of her T-shirt. Nebras doesn’t recognize me at first. Not until I show her photos of herself does she smile. Backed against a shop facing a tight crowd of curious men, Nebras retreats shyly, studying her photo intently. I
shoo back the men who had treated this beggar only as a nuisance and, kneeling before her, I ask the interpreter to tell her I had come from America to see her. Without warning, the overwhelmed girl lunges forward and kisses me on the lips. We buy her an ice cream from a passing vendor. She unwraps it and holds it out to me. My defenses melt. After two weeks of rigorous attention to all food and water that passed my lips, I lick the sweet street fare sacrificing my intestines to this little girl’s pleasure at hosting a visitor with all she can offer. She’s an only child who doesn’t know her age. It was particularly ironic that we had met outside the Al Mustanseria University, the world’s oldest science college, built in 1233. This girl’s only education is learned navigating the streets. I empty my purse of dinars, stuffing the oily bills into her plastic purse. She gleefully buys another ice cream for us to share. Rumors that the American troops had closed bridges and jammed traffic make us jittery. Nebras escorts me out of the dicey souk, grabbing my hand and expertly keeping my skirt from being snagged by the ubiquitous wartime razor wire. As we pass a store being repainted, she mentions it had been hit during the war’s initial attacks. She said she’d spent the long nights of the early bombings in a nearby mosque. I hug her harder than I intended. I feel her wiry hair against my cheek, her grungy T-shirt against my shoulder, her warm, open heart so willing to accept mine. And then I’m gone. Kelly HayesRaitt
Saw you in the Ojo 67
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hen Hitler’s Luftwaffe intensified the night time bombing raids on London, the British Government decided to evacuate the children to country areas. I lived in Maidenhead, a river-side town bisected by the A-4 major trunk route from London to Bristol. This two-lane highway passed through the heart of the town, traffic competing with parked local vehicles. Our house had sufficient room to accommodate two little evacuees and they jumped off the truck with only a paper bag containing their belongings and a boxed gas mask slung over their shoulders. The milkman had just made a delivery and there were three bottles of milk on the front doorstep. Seeing them, Ronnie Barrat, one of the siblings, said. “Is that a cow’s nest?” Thinking it rather funny, my father replied, “Yes. The cows come around every morning and lay three bottles for us.” Almost immediately Dad realized he’d lacked compassion. The evacuees had just been uprooted from their family, school and friends and trucked to an alien territory. He was also aware that East London was hardly Calcutta or Bombay and the cockneys would never have seen a cow and therefore he started to enlighten them. “A cow,” my dad explained. “is oblong-shaped with a leg at each corner. At one end there’s a head with little horns and gentle eyes, and at the other, the tail which is not used for pumping out the milk.” He paused and was pleased to see the children smile. “Just in front of the back legs, under the bel-
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
ly is a bag called an udder. It has what are known as teats, like little fingers.” He was interrupted by Ronnie, who excitedly said, “I’ll bet that’s where the milk goes into the bottles, right, guv?” Dad smiled and replied. “Please call me uncle and not ‘guv,’ but you’re right. The milk does come from there, but not into bottles. “Then ‘it get in ‘em then, uncle?” “The milk is squeezed by hand or pumped by machines into big containers to make it safe for us to drink. It’s called pasteurization named after a French chemist.” “OId on ‘alf a mo. You mean to tell me that milk can only be drunk if it goes through that French geezer’s machine?” Dad smiled down at the little boy and slowly moved the palm of his hand across his face. “If you do it, Ronnie, your hand will go past your eyes. Pasteurize is what the Frenchman invented.” The evacuee nudged his sister as he learned a new word telling her to do it. It was explained to them that people on farms and in country parts drank milk without it being pasteurized. They also made cream, cheese and butter. That really got their attention. “Come orf it, er uncle. All them things come from a bleeding cow? I don’t believe it. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it!” “With or without bells on your legs, they do come from cows, and shaking one will not produce cream, either.” Dad joked. “Nearly all dairy products are imported as we cannot produce enough. The war is preventing what we’d like and so there’s rationing, as your mum knows.” The boy and his sister drew closer together and touched hands, looking down at their feet. They were remem-
bering why they were away from their family, home and friends. Dad broke the silence by gently mussing Ronnie’s hair. “Do you know you have a cowlick? That’s considered very lucky.” “It aint been so far, uncle, or we wouldn’t be ‘ere, would we’?” After a few minutes of silence, Dad said very quietly, “Whatever the reason children, we have been lucky in having you two here to stay with us and be part of our family. When the war’s over and you go back home, don’t forget us. You’ll always have another home in the country with real cows, horses, chickens and rabbits. The little boy fingered his cowlick and looked up. “I would ‘alf like to see them farm animals before we go ‘ome.” “And so you shall,” Dad replied. “Our children’s grandparents live on a farm way out in the countryside. We’ll all go there one Sunday. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” The mixed emotions and excitement nearly brought tears to his eyes as they hugged his legs. “When? When?” The little girl asked. “During the autumn when it’s time for the harvest. You’ll see everything then.” They never did. During the summer, both children had been caught stealing from Wool-
worths and were taken away. We never knew where. Their mother did write a “Thank you” note from a bomb shelter in London. Her home had been destroyed by the Luftwaffe. We never learned if the evacuees really believed cows laid milk in bottles or were just “having us on.” But we certainly were aware there’s a difference between “town and country folk,” to say nothing of the spoken language! Peter E. Gibbons
Saw you in the Ojo 69
larly marked but smaller cat.) His images are everywhere so it is hardly surprising western shaft tomb. This to fi find nd one iin n a wes one, crouching menacingly with bared on ne, cro ouc uch hi m hing e fangs and lashing fan fa ng an ngs nd la shi sh hing tail is nearly 20 inche llong es on and very lifelike.
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The pre-Columbian sites in Western n Mexico are never likely to replace Teoti-huacan or Monte Alban as tourist attrac-tions. Simple tools, humble dwellings and d clay figurines are not much competition for or or lofty pyramids, princely palaces and golden en ornaments. Yet, to serious scholars, such sites site si te es are even more informative than the grandiose diose ceremonial centers, in that they can tell us much about how ordinary people lived. Shaft tombs, some 45 or more feet deep ep and with several burial chambers, were typipical graves in Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima. They ey have yielded an astonishing array of funeral eral offerings, especially ceramics, from crude flat figures to sophisticated sculpture in the round. ound. The potters of Colima were particularly adept dept in depicting tiny vignettes of everyday life. Animals were favored subjects, but birds and d insects, hunchbacks, water carriers, family groups, oups, warriors and priests were all wrought in faithful detail to accompany and protect the dead on their journey to the underworld. Though some are now badly discolored from centuries of contact with the earth, every example shown here was originally finished with the polished red slip distinctive of Colima’s pottery. All date from the sixth century. Dogs These roly-poly Chihuahuas are so charming modem potters re-produce them by the thousands for the tourist trade. This one, wagging his spout tail and obviously eager to play “fetch the corncob,” is about 12 inches long. Despite their appeal, these small animals were not pets. They were originally bred and fattened for the table, but it was not simply as food that dogs were often included in grave offerings. As servants of the Dog God, Xolotl, their purpose was to guide souls on the perilous journey through the underworld. Mouse Scurrying along, eyes wide open and big ears alert for the slightest warning of danger, this well-fed mouse may be, in the words of Robert Burns ode, a “sleekit, cowerin,” tim “rous creetur” but he can hardly be called “wee.” Life-like he is but, at nearly 13 inches in length, considerably more than life size. Typically, he is hollow and has a spout on his back to facilitate filling or pouring the food or drink provided to sustain the dead. Jaguar Though he lived and hunted only in the tropical rain forests, this great cat, an object of fear and worship all over MesoAmerica, was called “ocelotl” in Nahua. (English “ocelot” refers to a simi-
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
Turtle Apart from the somewhat incongruous spout rising from his right side, this ten-and-a-half inch figure is a faithfful replica of a real turtle, down to the diamond markings incised on the carapace. Possibly because the females are such prolific o egg layers, turtles symbolized fertility and regeneration. They e were also associated with life-sustaining water and turtle-shell w drums were often used during ceremonies to produce the rolling d sound of thunder. so Parrot Parrots and macaws were valued for their brilliant plumaage. Feathered jewelry, ccloaks and head-dresses served for personal adornment and magnifiado cent feather mosaic hangcen ings decorated the walls of ing temples and palaces. From tem earliest times, these birds, earlie especially the scarlet macaw, especi were also ritually associated with fire. This one stands about eight inches high and, while more crudely executed than most of our examples, still conveys the power and menace typical of the species. He, too, is hollow and has a pouring spout in lieu of a tail. Ducks These perky waterfowl are joined at the side like Siamese twins and share a single spout as a tail. The piece is lifesized; about six inches high and almost fourteen inches long and the birds are realistically molded, with eyes, head markings and breast feathers accentuated with incised lines. Since ducks are not known to have any mythological or religious associations, it is assumed that their inclusion among the funerary gifts was as food for the soul—or maybe just because of their charm? Beetle Colima’s potters were fascinated by all nature and not even the lowliest insects failed to inspire them. Scorpions, grasshoppers, spiders and beetles are common in pre-Columbian art but, possibly because of the difficulties of molding and firing, were seldom reproduced in clay. This example has six legs and is obviously a beetle, possibly a cockroach. It is slightly over six inches long by seven inches wide, is hollow and has the usual pouring spout for a tail. Seated Man Human figurines were often placed in tombs and, since they were not often designed as containers, it is assumed that their function was religious. This seated man, with pierced ears and wearing a kilt, arm bands and a close-fitting helmet,
is about eight inches tall. His serene smile and closed eyes have prompted the speculation that he may represent a priest or shaman who has entered a trance in order to negotiate safe underworld passage for the deceased. Mother and Child This tiny sculptureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;slightly over four-and-a-half inches highâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;includes an amazing amount of detail. The lady wears a short, wraparound skirt, a halolike head-dress, large earrings, several heavy bracelets and a rather supercilious expression. The female figure, with her somewhat oversized infant, possibly represents one of the many fertility goddesses of the MesoAmerican pantheon. However, since effigies were sometimes placed in
tombs, this might as easily be a portrait of the deceased. Resting Man Any possible religious significance this figure might have had is so obscure as to be invisible. The man, whoever or whatever he is, is obviously weary. Anyone but a contortionist would have to be exhausted to fall asleep in such an awkward position. The pudgy gentleman with the prominent nose is not actually naked. The incised lines used to indicate clothing are mostly hidden by mineral discolorations caused by centuries of burial in the earth. The piece is slightly over eight inches high. Bearer Though this figure was produced at least 2000 years ago, men who might have posed for it can still be met carrying their wares to market on the back roads of Mexico. Even hunched over with arms raised to hold the tump line across his forehead which helps support the weight on his back, he stands nearly ten inches high. The image is so realistic one can almost hear him grumbling as he struggles along with his load of large, unwieldy pots.
Saw you in the Ojo 71
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think it’s time me e to to ch ccheck hec eck m my y Sel elff--es elf este eem em, if em, if self-esteem. Self-esteem, been paying payyin ng atattyou haven’t been o rea eall signifisiign gnifi ifi fi-tention lately, takes on real ours is on the h cance the moment yo yours y like a pain or line. And sad to say, headache you didn’t know you had, it comes on line the moment someone brings it up, (much as I’m doing now). But don’t be alarmed. If your personal esteem isn’t up to snuff, I have ways to get around the high standards you’ve probably set for yourself. I know I have gotten around all the standards I started out with and I’m proud to say, lowering my standards has been one of my crowning
72
ach ac hiie evv achievements. To get around the ge get cur cu curse of high sstta standards it hel to borrow helps fe a few concepts from Christianity. You don’t have to be a Christian to rip off some of their golden nuggets, take the best and sweep away the rest, as I like to say. Thankfully, I had a friend who was Christian and he filled me in on some vital info about God that I was lacking. I asked him, “Why in the heck should God love me?” What have I done to deserve all that good God love?” He answered me with a doc-
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
trine I actually like and so I thought well, finally, the universe is giving me a deal. I couldn’t beat this at the swap meet. He said because of grace, I didn’t actually need to earn God’s love, God loves me in spite of myself and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. His love is free, undeserved and there for the taking. This is my kind of love. No matter how down on my luck I am, no matter how selfish and self-absorbed I am and no matter that I’ve never helped a flood victim, God thinks I am OK enough to be gifted with his love. (I always equate God’s love with the fact that there are billions and billions of stars. Somehow in my infantile, illogical thinking self, anybody that is into billions and billions of stars and stuff, should not leave me out.) I may not deserve heaven (according to the doctrine) but I am way cool with God and with some luck could be purgatory bound at least. Purgatory I assume to be a cut above living in El Centro in the summer or being broke in Vegas just when I think my slot machine is going to hit. Hell, I should think, is reserved for history’s complete jerks, guys like Hitler and Stalin, Mao or the worst of the creepy Mongol
horde. Plus “Blue Duck,” if you happen to have read Lonesome Dove. So here is the concept as it applies to self-esteem. You (or I) have been harboring the notion that your appreciation of yourself is tied to achievement. But wait a minute, God doesn’t think so. He thinks what you’re up to doesn’t matter. He loves you anyway. Like your parents or Billy Joel, he loves you just the way you are. You could be the village idiot and it is all the same to God. This gives your self-esteem a leg up. Now you don’t have to be so fancy. You don’t need so much money for example. You can get drunk more. You can take that afternoon nap and still be square with the universe. I used to think that if I sang real good and played the guitar and got a good crowd and they liked it and tossed some money in my pauper’s guitar case, I would have high selfesteem. And of course it worked. I felt great about it. But I realize now that I didn’t need to go to all that trouble. And later in life, when singing in the street began to seem odd and too beggarly, I thought I should stretch a bit and teach school. So I bent myself all out of shape and taught school for years and felt semi-horrible. And I achieved and achieved and, true to the code, I asked myself, “what does it profit a Franklin to make all this little money and lose his soul to the school board.” So I took up tennis. Because I was good at tennis in the sense that I didn’t care if I won and frequently didn’t, my self-esteem soared. But again, after conferring with my friend the Christian, I realized that tennis and teaching and singing were very shallow ways to approve of myself. Instead I decided I approve of myself because I am looking good, way good, perfectly good, plastered right there, hung maybe, basking in the cross hairs of God’s image.
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very person on the planet has been exposed to toxins, metals and pollutants. The air we breathe, the food we eat and environmental exposures are some of the sources. Chelation Therapy is a chemical process delivered intravenously (through the veins). It is a slow-drip process that can take around 2 ½ hours to properly administer. Smaller doses given in shorter time periods are not usually effective. Chelation patients seldom feel any pain or discomfort and enjoy their quiet time reading a book or taking a short siesta. The medication formulation is determined for each patient on the basis of his/her personal medical history, current laboratory/diagnostic studies and current physical condition. Chelation is not usually a one-time treatment. In order to rid your body of the metals and toxins, the process requires multiple treatments. Once the initial series is complete, a monthly follow-up treatment is generally sufficient to sustain the desired result. Please remember, hazardous toxins in your body may exist for years without producing physical problems. By the time you have visible symptoms, it is much more difficult to treat the condition. The Chelation medication is used to bind molecules, such as metals or minerals, and hold them tightly so they can be removed from the body. Chelation has been scientifically proven to rid the body of excess toxic metals. A person with lead poisoning, for example, may be given Chelation Therapy to remove excess lead from the body. The substance that binds and removes metals and minerals is EDTA (disodium ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid), an amino acid administered intravenously. This particular formulation is designed to remove metals and minerals from the blood that do not belong there, such as lead, iron, copper and calcium. Chelation is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in treating lead poisoning and toxicity from other heavy metals. It was first used in the 1940s for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning. You might think this problem
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t affect you, but the exposure to lead based paints and mercury tooth fillings are two of the most common ways that you may have been exposed to these harmful toxins. DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide) is another Chelation treatment that has proven very beneficial to relieve pain, increase circulation, repair tissue damage and fight degenerative diseases such as arthritis. Chelation Therapy has been successfully used around the world in treating Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). This specific use of Chelation Therapy has not yet been approved by the U. S. FDA; however, a large-scale study has been authorized by the National Institute of Health to evaluate the process further and present its findings to the FDA. How can EDTA Chelation Therapy help clear blocked arteries? EDTA might remove calcium found in the fatty plaques that block the arteries. The process may stimulate the release of a hormone that causes calcium to be removed from the plaques, or causes a lowering of cholesterol levels. Research has also documented EDTA benefits in treating Alzheimer disease, arthritis, autoimmune conditions, cancer, cataracts, emphysema, gallstones, hypertension, kidney stones, osteoporosis, Parkinsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease, senile dementia, stroke, varicose veins and other conditions involving interrupted blood flow and diminished oxygen delivery. Unlike vitamin infusions, a patient does not necessarily feel better immediately after Chelation, but the work itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doing on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;insideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; will result in overall better health. (Ed. Note: Dr. Cordova is an Internal Medicine and Geriatric Specialist. He is Board Certified in Chelation Therapy.) Dr. Manuel Cordova
Saw you in the Ojo 73
The Ojo Crossword
COLUMNIST
CHILD
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
aria was born in August 2009 in Chapala. She came to our Chapala Clinic after being diagnosed with Leukemia at the end of 2013. The family needed help with transport to and from Guadalajara, with blood tests and others throughout the treatment period and some medication. She underwent 35 months of chemotherapy and is now in remission since the end of October 2017. The doctors will do follow up on her with exams every six months for the next
year and they are very hopeful that she will continue to remain cancer free. We have reimbursed the family a total of 30,429 pesos and we will continue to help with tests and transport for this coming year. Thank you for this opportunity; once again, it is very exciting for us when we have good news like this after helping a child for a few years. I invite you to visit our website at: www.programaninos.com We see families at three locations: Jocotepec, Ajijic and Chapala Should you be interested in attending one of our clinics, please contact Barb Corol for Jocotepec (766-5452) or myself for Ajijic and Chapala (7664375)
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omething has changed. The air is suddenly still. Children’s screams of joy are dialed down. I look up from the pages of my book. The shadows fade with the light as the sun descends below the western mountains, perhaps below the distant sea. Yet there remains some natural light in the heavens. It would be easy to miss the transition from daylight, through dusk, into night; it takes but a moment of inattention for the entire plaza to make the transition into night. Mexico can be that way. The slightest lake breeze caresses the moment. Then comes the evening’s big blow. It charges through the plaza seeming to turn on the lights as it scatters the red, blue, green, and white bits of confetti and splashes of white flour here and there on the plaza tile floor. Children of all ages break open huevos con confetti on each other’s heads in sneak attacks, and screaming in laughter, run for cover. All the while, in anticipation of day’s end, soccer balls fly among groups of three or four boys; other boys whizz through the Plaza traffic on sport bikes, and skate boards. Lovers hold hands making their plaza rounds. Dogs, with no apparent home other than the plaza, wander freely. They sniff the tiled plaza floor in search of a dropped morsel or a bone abandoned by another dog that lost interest, attracted by another dog’s behind. Dogs leave their mark on Mexican style chairs in front of coffee or alcohol venders. Gringos and Mexicans alike sip coffee drinks, beers, and tequila by the shot, or Margarita, con or sin sal. Battery operated miniature cars whip around venders of colorful trinkets and toys spread on a tarp, or table. A vendor with bright eyes and a gracious smile carries an amazing selection of woven straw items in his arms, and a selection of straw hats stacked on his head. Octogenarians, cane in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other, shuffle between ice cream parlor and park bench; once safely out of traffic, they smile with relief and might converse with each other on this and that, reminisce, perhaps sit silently with their dog, as old as their master in dog years. The strong wind blows by, ending
unnoticed, not even by the clouds of hovering bobos, innocent but bothersome fly-like insects that gather in clouds at the same well-lit places every night. Mournful tones of a lone saxophone leak out from the cultural center, soon joined by a cacophony of band instruments, all seemingly soloists in a band being lead by Sun Ra, now reincarnated in this Mexican village. They play the well known “Concerto for Sun Ra‘Arkestra’” and “Chaotic Community Life.” Now, a family strolls by, a young boy, perhaps a five-year-old, walks between his parents, left hand in his mother’s right, right hand in his father’s left, while father, with his right hand absentmindedly steers his twelve-year-old daughter using her pony tail as a sailor uses a tiller. A group of young girls giggle by as a nearby group of stone-faced boys feign disinterest. An inexperienced plaza watcher would expect a mass collision: dogs, pocket Chihuahuas to full-size German shepherds, soccer balls and players, skate boards and boarders, sit-in plastic autos scooting this way and that, uncontrollable remote control toy cars whizz around, (indifferent to their contradiction in terms), insouciant couples, octogenarians (still carrying their cane and ice cream cone), inebriated tequila drinkers, and wide eyed caffeine addicts, one and all tangled together in a heap. It’d take a crack team of bomberos to disentangle them without injury. However, plaza goers don’t subscribe to some Hobbesian social contract. Instead, all players safely slip by one another without incident, perhaps like the flock of black birds that take off from the trees in the churchyard, up through the sky, appearing almost as a single organism, only to return to the same trees as individuals, perhaps the same tree, perhaps the same branch. Plaza life is not necessarily for you if you’re faint of heart, or if you’re u n c o m fo r t a b l e without formal rules for others to follow, but it can be exciting! Jeremy Monroe
Saw you in the Ojo 75
Over 60 years of â&#x20AC;&#x153;People Helping Peopleâ&#x20AC;?
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News
www.lakechapalasociety.com
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Notice of LCS Dues Increase After the initial sticker shock was discussed at the Annual General Meeting, the membership approved the immediate increase in membership dues as follows: ¡  Regular members: $700 MXN per year; ¡  Senior members (over 79 years of age): $550 MXN per year; ¡   Student membership (was decreased): $50 MXN per year; ¡    Monthly members: $250 MXN per month. We are not immune to the impact of the U.S. dollar on our operating costs. Historically, membership dues have supported a larger percentage of operating expenses than they do currently. Membership dues were based on $50USD. In 2010, membership dues covered 50% of operating costs. The peso was at $12.54/$1USD and $12.30/$1CAD. Membership was $500MXN=$39.80USD=40.65CAD. In 2013 that percentage was reduced to 36%. The peso was $12.39/$1USD and $12.07/$1CAD and individual membership was $525MXN=$42.40USD=$43.49 CAD. Last year, membership dues accounted for only 33% of operating costs. In 2017 the peso was$19.56/$1USD and $14.25/$1CAD and individual membership was $540MXN=$27.60USD=$37.89CAD. We need to restore and exceed the historical balance of membership dues to operating costs rather than increase our reliance on fundraising and program and activity fees to cover our costs. A comprehensive survey of our membership last December revealed that a majority of those surveyed would support higher fees. As of March 19, the peso is an $18.73/$1USD and $14.31/$1CAD individual membership is at $700MXN= $37.37USD= $48.91CAD. We are giving all Regular and Senior members the opportunity to renew or purchase their membership at the 2017 rate for an additional two years through April 14. Beginning April 15, the new membership dues, as approved at the 2018 Annual General Meeting, will take effect. You can renew in the service office or online http:// lakechapalasociety.com/public/membership_form.php
Introduction to Lakeside for Newbies New to Lakeside? LCS, in partnership with Lake Chapala Resource Academy, is pleased to present â&#x20AC;&#x153;Introduction to Lakesideâ&#x20AC;? available to LCS members only. Topics include: Daily Life â&#x20AC;&#x201C; includes banking, shopping, medical services, transportation; Housing - major housing developments, utility payments, maid and gardening services; Cultural Insights â&#x20AC;&#x201C; greetings and other social protocols, fiestas, holidays, religious observations. Join us in the Sala at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April10. Cost is 250 pesos. Register in the office or on the website. Open to members only.
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
Important News from the US Consulate Fees must be in the exact amount required for consular services. No money will be exchanged if your check is incorrect for passport renewals and notarizations. Information regarding the current exchange rate will be available one week before the scheduled consular visit. Applications for the bank check require a payment of 220 pesos, and your original passport must be shown at the bank in order to complete the transaction. See LCS office for further details.
Sixth Annual LCS Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art Program Summer Art Camp Starting Monday, July 30, and ending on Friday, August 3, CAP is holding its 6th Annual Art Camp from 10 a.m. to 12 noon daily. Some of the workshops have already been set such as acrylics/oil, watercolour, drawing, and daily projects for the little ones. Last year, about 120 kids attended each day. We can accommodate about 130 children for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program. If you would like to help at Art Camp, make a financial contribution or donate materials, please email Danielle PagĂŠ  childrensart@lakechapalasociety.com.
LCS Language Classes
Volunteers Needed
LCD offers a variety of Spanish language courses and classes for those of you want to learn Spanish or brush-up on your language skills. One of them is sure to suit your schedule and interests. Conversaciones in Espanol: Every Monday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Spanish conversation class is held in the Gazebo. Learners of every level are encouraged to attend this class. Free. Spanish/English Conversation: Held every Wednesday from 12 to 1:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Gazebo. Free Introduction to Spanish This casual class for beginners covers the Spanish alphabet, simple vocabulary, phrases useful about town, and information about Lakeside and Mexican culture. Sessions are held beginning the first Tuesday of each month continuing for three weeks. This month classes start on April 3: the first class from 12 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. in the Gazebo; the second class runs from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Ken Gosh Pavilion. Tuition is $220 pesos. Members only.
Events Coordinator Our sterling events coordinator, Karla Boentgen, will be retiring soon and we are looking for someone to take over her responsibilities. The candidate must understand marketing and promotion, will have experience in producing successful events that will make a positive impact on the target audience, have excellent supervisory and organizational skills, prepare and work within budgets, have experience with catering, decor and entertainment. and have fresh ideas and suggestions to enhance an event’s success. Requires a committment of five to ten hours a week. Contact volunteer@lakechapalasociety.com, or fill out a form on the LCS website. Information Desk is looking for outgoing, friendly volunteers familiar with Lakeside. We prefer people with at least one year of residency but will consider someone with less. LCS is starting a docent program similar to those now in existence in various airports and campuses. Handyman LCS has a large inventory of buildings that require regular interior and exterior maintenance and repair. LCS also hosts many special events throughout the year that require special support for the events team. Must be reliable. Requires five to ten hours a week. Volunteer position. Data Base Manager: Volunteer position requiring five to ten hours a week. LCS depends on three separate databases: Membership, Customer Relations Management (CRM) and Accounting. This position has nothing to do with the accounting system; rather it focuses primarily on the CRM and membership databases. Duties: Data entry into the CRM, synchronization between the CRM and membership databases, maintenance of the CRM and membership databases, extracting useful reports for the Executive Director. May work at LCS or off-site. Advanced understanding of MS Access databases including MS Excel. Candidate will report to the Executive Director. Contact volunteer@lakechapalasociety.com, or fill out a form on our website.
Warren Hardy Spanish Classes Classes meet two days a week for an hour and a half at the Wilkes Education Center (Biblioteca). The program is based on the Warren Hardy Spanish language course designed for the adult student. Several levels of instruction are available to suit the student’s proficiency. Check times and dates for up-coming classes on the LCS webpage. Register for classes at the LCS office or on line. The week prior to the class you may also register at the Blue Umbrella Patio. A representative will be there to recommend the appropriate class for your skill level. Tuition for the course is $900 pesos; the required textbook is an additional $670 pesos. Other instructional materials may be purchased separately. This is a members only class. Your membership must be current for the duration of the class. For more information about the Spanish classes or LCS membership, visit the Lake Chapala Society website at www.lakechapalasociety.com.
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April Activities *Open to the Public ** US Citizens (S) Sign in (C) Member card Health Insurance * IMSS & Immigration Services Mon+Tues 10-1 Lakeside Insurance Broker Tues+Thur 11-2 Health and Legal Services * Becerra & Galindo Services Thurs 10:30-12:30 Blood Pressure Mon+Fri 10-12 Glucose Screening 1st Tue 10-12 Hearing Aid Services (S) M+Sat 11-4 Ministerio Publico Wed Apr 18+25 10-2 My Guardian Angel Tues 10-12:30 Optometrist Claravision (S) Thur 9-3 Skin Cancer Screening (S) 2nd + 4th Wed 10-12 US Consulate** (S) 2nd Wed Apr 11 10:30 Sign up 10 Lessons(C) Cardio Dance Exercise Fri 12:30-1:30 Children’s Art Sat 10-12* Children’s Chess Club Sat 12-1 Children’s English Class Sat 9:30-10:30 Clases de Bordado Artistico Mon 3-6, Wed & Fri 4-6 Exercise Mon+Wed+Fri 9-10 Exploring Spanish Wed 12-1:30 Sat 11-12:30 Fitness Thru Yoga Mon 2-3 Help with Tech Issues (S) by email only 1st+3rd+4th+last Thurs 10-11:30 Intermediate Hatha Yoga Tues+Thur 2-3:30 Introduction To Spanish (S) Tues 12-1:30, 2-3:30 cost Line Dancing Tues+Thurs 10-11:15 Photography Club Mon 12-2 Stretch and Balance Exercise Tues+Thurs 8:45--9:45 Tai Chi Chih Fri 10-12 Tai Chi Yang Style M+TH 10-11 Taller Communicacion Creativo S (3, 17 & 31) 11:30-1 Tech Help Desk Thurs 12-2 Write-to-Prompt Writers’ Group Thurs 10-12 Zumba Gold Wed 10-11 Libraries Audio Thur 10-12 Book & Video Mon-Sat 10-2 Library of Congress Books*/ Talking Books Thurs 10-12 Wilkes Mon-Fri 9:30-7, Sat 9:30-1* Members Only Social Activities (C) All Things Tech Fri 10-11:30 Bridge 4 Fun Tue+Thurs 1-5 Conversaciones en Español Mon 10-12 Creativelymindful Art Wed 11-12:30 Discussion Group A Wed 11:30-1 Discussion Group B Wed 12-1:30 Everyday Mindfulness Mon 10 -12 Film Aficionados Thurs 2-4:30 Games Group Mon 1-4 Mah Jongg Wed 2-4:30 Next Chapter Book Group 2nd Thurs 1:30-3 Scrabble Mon+Fri 11:30-1:30 Spanish/English Conversation Sat 11-12:30 TED Talk Learning Seminars Tues 12-1:15 Tournament Scrabble Tues 12-1:50 Service and Support Groups * Al-Anon (in Spanish) Mon 6-7:30,Wed 5:30-7:30 Information Desk Mon-Sat 10-2 Lake Chapala Painting Guild 2nd Fri 1:30-3:30 Lakeside AA Mon +Thurs 4:30-5:30 Needle Pushers Tue 10-12 Open Circle Sun 10-11:30 SMART Recovery Mon 2:30-4 Toastmasters Mon 7-8:30 p.m. Ticket Sales Mon - Fri 10 a.m. to 12 noon .
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Video Library April All video rentals are now for five days. We can copy your old videotapes onto DVD: $50 pesos for members and $75 pesos for nonmembers. The Video Library needs volunteers to bring DVDs to keep our inventory current. We pre-pay them and send them to the address of your choice. If you can act as a courier, contact keanhombre@ prodigy.net.mx.
Attention U.S. Citizens: Voter Assistance Need help filing your ballot for the upcoming 2018 elections? U.S. Democrats Abroad will assist you in filing absentee ballots on Tuesdays, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the Blue Umbrella Patio on the LCS campus.
Social Security Assistance? Contact: FBU.guadalajara@ssa.gov or U. S. 800-772-1213 from 8 am to 11 pm EST. (Calling later is better; you can talk to a real person)
Need Help With Tech Issues? Thursday, April 26 there’ll be a tech class especially for Android Q&A, from 10 – 11:30 am, in the LCS Sala. This will be an open discussion on any Android Phone or Tablet questions. Please bring your questions. Send an email to register. Include your name, email address and LCS member number to register. Open to members only.
TED Talks Tuesdays In the Sala 12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Members only. Bring your card. April 3 seminar, hosted by Phil Rylett, features James Randi, “Homeopathy, Quackery and Fraud” Legendary skeptic James Randi takes a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing 18-minute indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a challenge to the world’s psychics: Prove what you do is real, and I’ll give you a million dollars. (No takers yet.) April 10 host Ron Mullenaux, features Theo E.J. Wilson: “A Black man Goes Undercover in the Alt-Right”. In an unmissable talk about race and politics in America, Wilson tells the story of becoming Lucius25, white supremacist lurker, and the unexpected compassion and surprising perspective he found from engaging with people he disagrees with. He encourages us to let go of fear, embrace curiosity and have courageous conversations with people who think differently from us. “Conversations stop violence, conversations start countries and build bridges”. April 17 “Everyone Around You Has a Story the World Needs to Hear” Presented by Susan Weeks Dave Isay opened the first StoryCorps booth in New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2003 with the intention of creating a quiet place where a person could honor someone who mattered to them by listening to their story. Since then, StoryCorps has evolved into the single largest collection of human voices ever recorded and stored at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. April 24 “The Danger of the Single Story” hosted by Susan Weeks. Chimamanda Adichie observes that our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
Friday Night Family Films-Free As part of LCS’ continuing service to the community, free Spanish language films are shown every Friday evening at 7 p.m. at the Wilkes Biblioteca Publica de Ajijic at Galeana #18. Open to the public. Bring the family. Check the website for information on the April showings.
Thursday Film Aficionados Open to LCS members only. Bring your card. All films shown in the Sala from 2 to 4 p.m. No food. No pets. April 5 Ottaal 2014 India In a small village in Southern India a desperate young boy starts writing a letter to his grandfather. An adaptation of a Chekhov story, Vanka. Formerly the Indian submission for an Academy Award and one of the few Indian movies in the Malayalam language. (85 minutes) April 12 The Death of Stalin 2018 France This movie follows the death of Stalin and depicts the chaos of the regime after he is gone. This satirical comedy, banned in Russia features a brilliant English-speaking cast. (100 minutes) April 19 The Foreigner 2017 United Kingdom A humble businessman with a buried past seeks justice after his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism in London. Pierce Brosnan in a terrific role and the incomparable Jackie Chan, still doing his own stunts, as the aggrieved father. (107 minutes) April 26 The Square 2017 Sweden A prestigious curator at a Stockholm museum finds himself in the midst of personal and professional turmoil. This film was a finalist for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. (148 minutes)
April Bus Trip April 18 Centro/Downtown Guadalajara Self Guided Walking Tour Visit Guadalajara’s beautiful historic district’s 17th, 18th and 19th century architecture and their stunning murals and artwork. The Instituto Cultural Cabanas is a must. People watch in the beautiful plazas, have luncheon in the Plaza de los Laureles, or dine in the elegant Hotel Mendoza or other fine dining venues in the area. A detailed map will be provided. Cost is $300 pesos for members and $350 pesos for non-members. Bus will leave promptly at 10 a.m. from the sculpture in La Floresta.
Costco Returns Thursday, April 19 Look for Costco representatives at the Blue Umbrella Patio on the LCS campus. They will provide information on upcoming sales and special offers and open or renew Costco memberships.
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THE LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY, A.C. 16 de Septiembre #16-A, Ajijic, Jalisco LCS Main Office: (376) 766-1140 Office, information and other services - Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Grounds open until 5:00 p.m. LCS BOARD OF DIRECTORS President - Ben White (2018); Vice-President - George Radford (2019); Treasurer - Michael Searles (2019); Secretary - Carole Wolff (2018); Directors: Dee Dee Camhi (2019); Nicolas Hanson (2019); Cate Howell (2018); Philip Newbold (2018); Philip Rylett (2018); Janis Sirany (2019) Immediate Past President: Howard Feldstein. * Executive Director - Terry Vidal
The LCS Newsletter is published monthly. Deadline for submissions is the 17th of the month preceding publication. Submit all news items to lcsnewsletter2016@gmail.com Note: The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions according to time, space availability and editorial decision.
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The World Of Wine %\ &HFL 5RGULJXH] Wine and Health
L
uis Pasteur once said, “The wine is the most hygienic of the beverages” but besides that, wine has lots of healthy properties. This is why doctors in many countries are suggesting their patients drink one glass of red wine every day. Chemical and food experts have known for years that wine contains rich deposits of vitamins, like the ones of the B group, minerals, and natural sugars, that are often beneficial to a state of good health. Wine is also rich in Potassium and low in Sodium. Red wines have more of these elements due to the fact that the juice remains in contact with the skin and seeds of the grape for a longer period of time. The most important health benefit is that wine has digestive qualities due to its acidity being very similar to our gastric acids. This acidity is ideal for the digestion of proteins and it has a bactericide effect. Added to these virtues, wine has aperitif properties. The ethanol contained in the wine increases the HDL (high density cholesterol) or good cholesterol and reduces the LDL (low density cholesterol) or bad cholesterol. The result of this can reduce cardio diseases by as much as 50%, if you are a wine drinker. Glycerol, another component of the wine, reduces by sterification the quantity of fatty acids that are in the blood which are responsible for glucose intolerance. Heart attacks happen when platelets close damaged arteries (specifically the coronary blood vessels), creating an obstruction that effects circulation. In wine, there is a phenolic component called resveratrol that prevents the platelets for-
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mation. This is called “The French Paradox” which means that in France, despite being a country that consumes a lot of dairy meals and is not noted for its affinity for exercise, the mortality rate from heart disease is the lowest in any Occidental country. This can be attributed to a moderate consumption of wine. Wine contains alcohol, which acts as a blood thinner, and can be beneficial in the treatment of various heart problems. Also, there are four polyphenols that have antioxidant properties, these are the resveratrol, catequin, quercetin and epicatequin. These prevent the oxidation of fat in the blood and reduce its toxicity; they also reduce arteriosclerosis problems. A moderate consumption of wine can help in conditions such as obesity or hypertension by reducing stress and anxiety in the body. Wine is being used with anorexia problems as well. It also helps to make one’s bones strong, and helps in cases of kidney cancer, and diabetes type 2 (that is the one that usually develops with age), and many more illnesses. As the wine revolution gains more strength, further studies are being performed, and we will undoubtedly discover even more about the medicinal qualities of wine. These benefits should be considered preventative rather than curative. Moderate consumption of wine is the golden rule for attaining these, as well as many other, health benefits. If it is a pleasure to drink wine, it will become doubly so with the awareness that it is also good for maintaining good health.
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Service
EMERGENCY NUMBERS
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* ADVERTISING / DIRECTORY
* BEER & LIQUOR STORES
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* ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
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* ANIMAL CLINICS/PET SHOP &$76 /22.,1* )25 3(50$1(17 +20(6 Cell: 332-1665-863 3DJ - CLINICA VETERINARIA SAN ANTONIO Tel: 766-0808 3DJ '((¶6 3(7 +27(/ Tel: 331-765-7074 3DJ /$.(6,'( )5,(1'6 2) 7+( $1,0$/6 $& Tel: 765-5544 3DJ 0$6.27$¶6 /$.( Tel: 766-0287 3DJ - PET PLACE Cell: 333-1964-150 3DJ - PET FOOD AND GROOMING Tel: 766-3062 3DJ
* ART GALLERIES/HANDCRAFTS $57 678',2 Tel: 33-3170-6135, 33-3677-3482 3DJ $=7(& 678',2 3DJ - DIANE PEARL COLECCIONES Tel: 766-5683 3DJ - LA BELLA VIDA Tel: 766-5131 3DJ
- CUGINIS BOUTIQUE Tel/Fax: 766-1790 - MI MEXICO Tel: 766-0133
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* CANOPIES - LONAS MEXICO Tel: 766-0045, Cell: 33-3956-4852
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* ELECTRONICS/ TECHNOLOGY
* CHIROPRACTIC '5 9,&725 - <28&+$ Tel: 766-1973 - INTERLAGO CHIROPRACTIC Tel: 766-3000
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* CLEANING SERVICES - AXIXIC SPRING CLEANING Tel: 766-5140- Cell: 33-1075-7768
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- FRATS Tel: 765-2505, 765-3946
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* BEAUTY
* CONSTRUCTION
- AFRODITA Tel: 766-6187 &+5,67,1(¶6 Tel: 106-0864 (',7+¶6 Cell: 33-1310-9372 - GLORIOSA Tel: 766-3372 1(: /22. 678',2 Tel: 766-6000
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%(' %5($.)$67 - CASA DEL SOL Tel: 766-0050 - CASA FLORES Tel: 766-5493 - CASA TRES LEONES Cell: (045) 331-350-6764
- CONFORT SOLUTIONS Tel: 33-1228-5377 3DJ - GENERAL HOME SERVICES - $PDQFLR 5DPRV -U Cell: (045) 331-520-3054 3DJ - MARBLE & GRANITE Tel: 766-1306 3DJ - HANDY MAN SERVICES Cell: 33-3390-3002, 33-1576-9013 3DJ - ROBERTO MILLAN - ARCHITECT Tel: 766-3771, Cell: 331-340-3758 3DJ 6,.$ Tel: 766-5959 3DJ :$5:,&. &216758&7,21 Tel: 765-2224 3DJ
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* DENTISTS
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El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
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* HEARING AIDS /$.(6,'( +($5,1* 6(59,&(6 Cell. (045) 33-1511-4088 - OTICON Tel: 765-4805, 33-3813-1302
- DOLPHIN COVE INN Tel: 31-4334-1515 - LA NUEVA POSADA Tel: 766-1444, 766-1344
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* INSURANCE /$.(6,'( ,1685$1&( ('*$5 &('(f2 Cell: (045) 33-3106-6982 3DJ 3$5.(5 ,1685$1&( 6(59,&(6 Tel: 765-5287, 765-4070 3DJ - PROTEXPLAN U.S. Toll Free 1-800-608-5743 Mexico Toll Free 01-800-681-6730 3DJ - TIOCORP Tel: 766-4828 3DJ
* LEGAL SERVICES -$< '( /$ 526$ $WWRUQH\ DW /DZ Tel: 331-190-6114 - SOLBES & SOLBES ABOGADOS Tel: (376) 108-1830, 333-676-6245
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- L&D CENTER Tel: 766-1064
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* LUMBER - REAL ORTEGA & SONS-+DUGZDUH IRU &DUSHQWHUV Tel: 765-2404, 765-3404 3DJ
* MALL / OUTLET - CENTRO LAGUNA Tel: 766-5514
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* MEAT/POULTRY/CHEESE
* GOLF - ATLAS COUNTRY GOLF COURSE Tel: 33-3689-2620
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* MEDICAL SERVICES
* GRANITE & MARBLE 3DJ
* GRILLS %$-$ *5,//6 Tel: 106-2430 - NAPOLEON Tel: 766-6153
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* HOTELS / SUITES
* GARAGE DOORS OPENERS
- MARBLE & GRANITE Tel: 766-1306
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* LIGHTING
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- FERRETERIA Y TLAPALERIA GALVEZ Tel: 766-0880, Fax: 766-2440 3DJ
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- AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR OPENERS Tel: 766-4973 3DJ
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- TEPEHUA TREASURES Tel: 763-5126
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* CONSIGNMENT SHOP
- INTERCAM Tel: 766-5978 - MULTIVA Tel: 766-2499
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- EASY TECH Tel: 33-3598-3263
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* COMMUNICATIONS
* AUTOMOTIVE
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Tel: 766-2500 3DJ '5 $1721,2 52-$6 0$&('2 3ODVWLF DQG 5HFRQVWUXFWLYH 6XUJHU\ Tel: 33-3611-2011, 33-3611-2121 3DJ '5 *$%5,(/ +(51$1'(= Tel: 766-5513 3DJ '5 *$%5,(/ 9$5(/$ Tel: 765-6666, Cell: 333-128-6347 3DJ '5 ,9$1 +(51$1'(= Tel: 766-4435, 766-5126 3DJ '5 -8$1 0 $&(9(6 0 Tel: 766-1244, Cell. 331-429-1343 3DJ '5$ &/$8',$ / &$0$&+2 &+2=$ 2SKWKDOPRORJLVW Tel: 33-3403-3857 3DJ '5$ 0$57+$ 5 %$//(67(526 )5$1&2 Cell: (045) 333-408-0951 3DJ - FLYING NURSES INTERNATIONAL Tel: 001-877-521-1333 3DJ - GO LAB Tel: 106-0881 3DJ +$33,1(66 &DUH 5HVLGHQFH IRU (OGHUO\ Cell: 33-3137-9604 3DJ - HOSPITAL ANGELES DEL CARMEN Tel: (01) 3813-0042 3DJ ,&0, 'U 5DPRQ *DUFLD *DUFLD Cell: (044) 333-157-4741 3DJ - IMED INTEGRITY Tel: 766-5154 3DJ - ISILAB Tel: 766-1164 3DJ - QUALITY CARE Tel: 766-1870 3DJ /$.( &+$3$/ 36<&+2/2*< *5283 Tels: 766 0144, 108 1707 3DJ /$.(6,'( &$5',2/2*< &/,1,& 'U 6DOYDGRU 0R\D Tel: (387) 763-0665 3DJ /$.(6,'( 0(',&$/ *5283 Tel: 766-0395 3DJ - MEDICAL CARE GDL Tel: (376) 688 1148, (33) 3797-4375 3DJ - PLASTICA LIFT Tel: 108-0595 3DJ 3/$67,& 685*(5< 'U %HQMDPLQ 9LOODUDQ Tel: 33-3630-1135, 766,4871 3DJ 6752.( &$// &(17(5 Tel: 765-6666, 33-3128-6347 3DJ - VARICOSE VEINS TREATMENT Tel: 765-4805 3DJ
* MOVERS /$.( &+$3$/$ 029,1* Tel: 766-5008 67520 :+,7( 029(56 Tel: 766-6153
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* MUSIC / THEATRE / EVENTS ' - +2:$5' Tel: 766-3044 3DJ 7+( 1$.(' 67$*( 5($'(5¶6 7+($75( 3DJ
* NURSERY - LAS PALMAS VIVERO Cell: 33-1195-7112
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* PAINT 48,52= ,PSHUPHDELOL]DQWHV Tel: 766-2311 - QUIROZ-Pinturas Tel: 766-2311
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* PHARMACIES - FARMACIA CRISTINA Tel: 766-1501 - FARMACIA EXPRESS II Tel: 766-0656 )$50$&,$ 0$6.$5$6 Tel/Fax: 765-5827 - FARMEX Tel: 765-5004
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* PHOTOGRAPHER +(,',/$1( 3+272*5$3+(5 3DJ
* POOL MAINTENANCE - EQUIPMENT AND POOL MAINTENANCE Tel: 766-1617, Cell: 33-3952-4175 3DJ
* REAL ESTATE $// ,1 Tel. 766-1161 3DJ $-,-,& +20( ,163(&7,216 Tel: 766-2836 3DJ - BETTINA BERING Tel: 766-1049, Cell. 33-1210-7723 3DJ - BIENCOM Tel: 331-324-9335, 331-412-4675 3DJ - CHULA VISTA NORTE Tel: 766-2177 Cell: (045) 33-1892-2194 3DJ - CIELOVISTA Tel: 33-2002-2400 3DJ &2/':(// %$1.(5 &+$3$/$ 5($/7< Tel: 766-1152, 766-3369 Fax: 766-2124, Tels: 765-2877 Fax: 765-3528 3DJ - CONTINENTAL REALTY Tel: 766-1994 3DJ - CUMBRES Tel: 33-2002-2400 3DJ - EAGER & ASOCIADOS Tel: (376) 766 1917, 1918 3DJ )25 6$/( %< 2:1(5 Tel: 31-4162-6209 3DJ - GEORGETTE RICHMOND Tel: 766-2077 3DJ -8',7 5$-+$7+< Cell: (045) 331 - 395 - 9849 3DJ - LORI FIELSTED REALTY Cell: 331-365-0558 3DJ - MICHAELA SIRBU Cell: 333-141-5979 3DJ - MPR REAL ESTATE Tel: (315) 351-5167 3DJ - RADISSON BLU - $MLMLF 5HVRUW 6SD 5HVLGHQFHV Tel: 766-4525, Cell: 332-255-5972 3DJ - RAUL GONZALEZ Cell: 33-1437-0925 3DJ - TRUDIE NELSON Cell: 331-074-3308 3DJ - VISTA ALEGRE Tel: 33-2002-2400 3DJ
* RENTALS/PROPERTY MANAGEMENT &2/':(//%$1.(5 &+$3$/$ 5($/7< Tel: 766-1152, Cell:(045) 33-1175-9632 3DJ - FOR RENT Tel: 333-667-6554 3DJ - FOR RENT Cell: 33-1961-6621 3DJ - HACIENDA PMR Tel: 766-3320, Vonage: 503 914 6017 3DJ - LORI FIELSTED REALTY Cell: 331-365-0558 3DJ - SANTANA RENTALS Cell: 315-104-3283 3DJ
* RESTAURANTS/CAFES/BAR $-,-,& 7$1*2 Tel: 766-2458 $/)5('2¶6 &$/,)251,$ Tel: 33-1301-9862 $50$1'2¶6 +,'($:$< Tel: 766-2229 %$5 -$021 Tel: (387) 761-1139 - CASA LINDA Tel: 108-0887, Cell: 331-298-2560 - ELEGANTE Tel: 766-1066 - GO BISTRO Cell: (045) 33-3502-6555 *26+$¶6 Tel: 766-2121 - GRUPO PASTA Tel: 33-3615-4952 - HUERTO CAFÃ&#x2030; Tel: 108-0843 -$60,1(¶6 &ODVVLF ,QGLD Tel: 766-2636 /$ &$6$ '(/ :$))/( Tel: 766-1946 - LA CASA DEL CAFE Tel: 766-2876 - LA MESA Tel. 766-2948 Cell. 33 3814 5834 - LA NUEVA POSADA Tel: 766-1444, 766-1344 /$ 3$&(f$ Tel: 33-3800-6233 ³/$ 7$9(51$´'(, 48$7752 025, Tel: 766-2848 - LOS MOLLETES Tel: 766-4296 - MANIX Tel: 766-0061 Cell. 33-1065-0725
020¶6 '(/, 5(67$85$17 Tel: 765-5719 3DJ - PIZZERIA TOSCANA Tel: 765-6996 3DJ - SIMPLY THAI Tel: 766-4767, Cell: 333-393-2770 3DJ - TACOS FRIDA Tel. 766 3754, Cell: 33-1742-4391 3DJ - TEPETATE THAI RESTAURANT Tel: 766-2020 3DJ - THE HOT DOG SHOP Tel: 766-3807, Cell: 33-3662-9990 3DJ 7+( 3($&2&. *$5'(1 Tel: 766-1381 3DJ 75,3¶6 %85*(5 3DJ 721<¶6 5(67$85$17 &$03(675( Tel: 331-433-6112 3DJ - YVES Tel: 766-3565 3DJ
* RETIREMENT/REST/NURSING HOMES - CASA ANASTASIA Tel: 765-5680 / 33-3452-5864 - LA CASA NOSTRA Tel: 765-3824 - LA VALENTINA Tel: 766 5179, Cell. 33-3157-5242 0, &$6,7$ 1XUVLQJ +RPH Tel: 106-2081, Cell: 331-115- 9615 1856,1* +20( /$.( &+$3$/$ Tel: 766-0404 - OHANA Tel: (01387) 761-0403
- GANESHA SPA Tel: 766-5653 - LA BELLA VIDA Tel: 766-5131 - RESPIRO SPA Cell: 333-157-7790 - TOTAL BODY CARE Tel: 766-3379
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* STAINED GLASS - AIMAR - STAINED GLASS Cell: 33-1741-3515
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* TAXI - ARTURO FERNANDEZ Cell: (045) 333-954-3813
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* TREE SERVICE - CHAPALA TREE SERVICE Tel: 762-0602
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* TOURS - CHARTER CLUB TOURS Tel: 766-1777 7,$ 67(3+$1,( 72856
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* SELF STORAGE - SELF STORAGE-BODEGAS CHAPALA Tel: 766-0661, Tel/Fax: 766-1045 3DJ
6(37,& 7$1. 3803,1* - CORPORATIVO LA VENA Tel: 33-3606-5028 -3 +20( 6(59,&(6 Tel. 766-1569, Cell: 333-968-2938
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Saw you in the Ojo 83
CARS
Email: lisafair111@gmail.com.
FOR SALE: 2008 Honda CVR â&#x20AC;&#x201C; EXL. 89000 KM, new tires & rear brakes, leather seating & sunroof, dual climate control, back up sensor, CD stacker, dark grey in colour, Mexican plated, emission tested. Price: $165,000 pesos or USD or CND equivalent. Call Neil: 669-150-913. FOR SALE: Beautiful red 1994 Mazda Miata MX-5 convertible. 162k miles. Legally imported and plated in Jalisco. Fees paid for 2018. 5 Speed manual. Recent complete new front suspension. New brakes, new power steering rack. Runs and drives like a dream. New BBS style rims with new tires. Air Conditioning. Price: $10k usd or peso equivalent. Call or text 331-000-7777. FOR SALE: Very good condition 1995 Ford Aerostar Van. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take $27,500 pesos. You register it for 2018. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m open to a trade. Call me 376-765-6348 or U.S. # 818-570-5660, but email is the best way for me: 1988jeopardychampion@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m selling my Geo Tracker 1997 /same as Suzuki Sidekick 1997. 3 sp. automatic 2WD, soft-top. Asking price: $3,200 USD obo. Please call for photos or inspection. 333-100- 9690. FOR SALE: 2001 VW Super Beetle, automatic, air, tape deck, low mileage-102,000 km, clean, gently used, well maintained, great shape, new tires, shocks, thermostat. MX plated. Price: $6000 U,S, dollars or peso equivalent at currency converter rate day of sale. Call 766-4338 -or- carrol39@yahoo.com :$17(' Pick up truck. Must be single cab Japanese preferred needs to be in reasonable condition and drive well. Any age & mileage considered. English Spoken only Des Elwood. 331-606-1745 or 331-743-5049.
COMPUTERS
FOR SALE: IPAD MINI. Price: $150. USD or $2600 Pesos. Call: 376-766-5723. FOR SALE: Asus Desktop with Dual Core ES400 2.7GHz, 6GB RAM (upgradeable to 16GB), 1TB Hard Drive, 8 USB 2.0 ports, US keyboard & mouse. Currently Win-7 but genuine windows software so can be upgraded to Win-10 if you want. Price: US$200 or peso equiv. Call Brian at 766-4836. FOR SALE: Samsung Tablet Tab A. 10.1 LQFKHV %UDQG QHZ :L Âż ,QFOXGHV JE PLFUR chip, Includes 16gb internal memory, In Ajijic $5000 pesos. 331-706-1234, Over 7500.00 at TELMEX FOR SALE: Asus GTX 770 video card. Upgrading to gtx 1080, so have for sale this card. It is the CU2 copper edition thus runs a lot cooler than standard edition, 1.5 years old, Only upgrading to a bigger card that will be hdcp 2.2 compatible. Retail packaging and accessories included. Has both HDMI 2.0 and DVI connections. Asking 3,500 pesos or nearHVW Rá&#x201A;&#x2021;HU 2WKHU FRPSRQHQWV PD\EH DYDLODEOH (1666mhz ram 8gb sticks, 1300w fully modular power supply 128gb ssd, 1tb wd blue) will reply to pmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on other pieces if any interest. :$17(' I need a VHS - DVD Combo Player to tsfr my family videos to more convenient DVDs. Or Video Capture Device - aka - Analog to Digital Converter. It has a USB on one end and coloured cable plugs on the other. Email: VLONĂ&#x20AC;HXUV#RXWORRN FRP. FOR SALE: Baby Locks Ellageo. Quilting/ embroidery machine. Price: $1175. Call: 7665723 :$17(' Sound bar for TV. The sound on P\ ´ Ă&#x20AC;DW VFUHHQ79 LV QRW WKDW JUHDW HVSHcially for playing DVDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or music. Looking to purchase a reasonably priced soundbar for it. Call: 766-4338 or 39carrol@gmail.com. :$17(' Does anyone have a used I Mac. Or know where I can access one that is used?
84
PETS & SUPPLIES
:$17(' Lost poodle, miniature, purebred, grey (silver), female, last seen 3/15/18 in Chapala Hacienda neighborhood; reward of 5,000 pesos for her return; contact 3318316779. :$17(' The Dog Adoption Ranch is in need of crates or donations to buy crates to transport our dogs to their new homes. If you can help in any way, please contact me here or with a pm. Email: vivtomh@hotmail.com.
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
:$17(' Wanted jewelry making supplies beginnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basic tools, 3 kinds jewelry pliers, bead board. Need crimping pliers, crimping EHDGV 1HHG PD\EH RI GLá&#x201A;&#x2021;HUHQW NLQGV of beads. If you want make a donation I can give you a 501c tax deduction receipt for your jewelry supplies. Wayne 766-1860. FOR SALE: Unlocked Apple Iphone 6. Ready for Telcel use. Price: $4500 pesos. Call: 333-461-5442. FOR SALE: Matching white wrought iron and wood bedroom suite includes queen size bedframe, mattress and box spring, 2 side tables, dressing table and Mexican tin/tile wall mirror. US$800 complete. 7 drawer wooden chest of drawers. $US120 or peso equiv. 2 brown bedside table lamps with large cream coloured shades. US$100 or peso equiv for pair. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: HDDRS 600 Shaw receiver with service, Receiver with 2 months shaw service included. No dish or other equipment included. Price: $5000. Call: 333-461-5442. FOR SALE: Flat Screen TV LG model 42 LK450 comes with remote, HDMI cable, stand, or wall mount. Excellent condition. Asking $6000 pesos. Call Don: 333-405-0787 for info. FOR SALE: 1 Honeywell 525 CFM Indoor Portable Evaporative Cooler $3000p. Email: julieywayne@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Lacquered Indonesian woven grass occasional chair with upholstered cushions. US$120 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Two 24â&#x20AC;?W X 17â&#x20AC;?H frames each containing 2 watercolors by a Chinese artist in San Francisco. Unique with beautiful water, waterfall, and boat scenes. US$140 or peso equiv for the pair. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 23â&#x20AC;?W X 20â&#x20AC;?H framed and signed original Enrique Valazquez waterFRORU SDLQWLQJ RI ÂżVKHUPDQ GU\LQJ KLV QHWV RQ shoreline of Lake Chapala. US$200 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 23â&#x20AC;?H X 18â&#x20AC;?W framed oil painting of blue door in Tonala. US$25 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Custom painted (green with FDFWXV Ă&#x20AC;RZHUV IRON DUW KDOO WUHH IRU KDWV coats. US$30 or equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Custom built oak blanket stand, light brown stain. US$60 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: ´ KLJK ZRRGHQ Ă&#x20AC;RRU ODPS ZLWK RULJLQDO ÂżQLDO QHZ VKDGH 86 RU peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 50.5â&#x20AC;?L X 16â&#x20AC;?W X 29â&#x20AC;?H chocolate brown wrought iron sofa table with glass top insert. US$80 or peso equiv. Call 7664836. FOR SALE: 18 1/2â&#x20AC;? diameter wrought iron end table with glass top insert. US$40 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Kodak Carousel Auto Focus 850h Slide Projector. 4 boxes of 80 slides. Includes the case. Includes the stack loader. All for $1400p this is an excellent deal. Plus Projection Screen 4â&#x20AC;&#x2122; for $700p. Email: julieywayne@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Jansport rolling backpack.
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018
Price: $900 Mx. Sharon or Allen 765-5882 FOR SALE: Baby Lock Ellageo sewing/ embroidery machine. I found some machines in spanish for 26000 pesos. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll sell mine for SHVRV RU 86' FKHFN LV ÂżQH , also want to sell one smaller machine and will be glad to sell the new machine that we just got with our large Janomes. It sells for $549. USD so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll sell it for $275.USD or 5,000 p. or they can buy the one like you have for $200. USD or 3400 pesos. I also have an ipad mini which Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had wiped so it is like new, for $150. or 2550 pesos. Call: 376-766-5723 FOR SALE: Complete Noritake set of china, Blue Hill pattern, 8 place settings plus serving pieces. All in excellent condition with only one teacup missing. US$100 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 29â&#x20AC;?W X 35â&#x20AC;?H framed original Dimitar Krustev (signed 2000) pencil & pastel drawing titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Baby Sitterâ&#x20AC;?. US$400 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 50â&#x20AC;? round brown bamboo dining table with glass top and 4 matching chairs with upholstered seat cushions. New condition, custom made US$360 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 86â&#x20AC;?H X 72â&#x20AC;?W woven wool rug wall hanging from San Miguel area, very XQLTXH WURSLFDO ÂżVK PRWLI ZLWK FUHDP EDFNground. Comes with decorative custom black wrought iron support bar and wall brackets for hanging. US$120 or peso equiv. Call 7664836. FOR SALE: Unique 52â&#x20AC;?L X 26â&#x20AC;?W X 36â&#x20AC;?H chocolate brown wrought iron kitchen island with glass tiled top & bottom shelves for kitchen work space & storage. US$260 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Elegant 78â&#x20AC;? tall green/grey hand painted curio display cabinet with 4 mirror-backed display shelves with bottom storage cupboard. US$280 or peso equiv. 30â&#x20AC;? X 33â&#x20AC;? dark brown hanging display cabinet with glass doors & shelves. US$120 or peso equiv. 76â&#x20AC;? tall dark brown corner cabinet with 6 display shelves. US$60 or peso equiv. All very elegant and in beautiful condition. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 2 cream coloured wood Queen Anne style side chairs with beautiful carved backs and upholstered seats. US$120 each or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 60â&#x20AC;?-90â&#x20AC;? long elegant hardwood (cherry) dining room table, dark brown, EHDXWLIXO ÂżQLVK ZLWK H[WHQVLRQ OHDYHV DQG 4 matching upholstered seat chairs, 2 silence clothes, 3 table cloths for multiple lengths plus 8 placemats & napkins. US$1,000 complete. 2 rattan captain chairs with upholstered seats. US$250 or peso equiv for the pair. Dark EURZQ ´ ORQJ ; ´ KLJK VLGHERDUG EXá&#x201A;&#x2021;HW ZLWK carved front drawers and cupboards. US$280 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Antique rocking chair, dark wood with tapestry upholstery on seat & back. US$120 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Mabe Gas Stove, lightly used by snowbirds, now renovating kitchen. 32â&#x20AC;? wide, 24 deep, 29 high, with tempered glass top. $6,000 pesos. Call 766-5856. FOR SALE: 2 Rattan Livingroom Chairs, tall occasional chairs plus 1 ottoman, with removable upholstered fabric seat & back cushions. US$280 or peso equiv for set. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Full size, tall, wing chair in rust multi-stripe fabric. Excellent for tall person. US$280 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: 83â&#x20AC;? long, chocolate brown, custom made 3 seat sofa in beautiful condition. US$400 or peso equiv. Call 766-4836. FOR SALE: Haier wine refrigerator-holds 30 bottles. Red and white zones. Price: $2000 pesos. Email ianandjen88@gmail.com or
766-5896 FOR SALE: %Xá&#x201A;&#x2021;DOR +LJK 3HUIRUPDQFH Wireless Router N300. Everything is there. Asking $800 pesos. Inquiries 333-405-0787. FOR SALE: Mountain Bike. It has 27.5inch wheels, hydraulic disc brakes, 24 speed Shimano gears and adjustable front shocks. It comes with a kickstand, rear mounting rack, tools, extra tubes. I have an electric front wheel for the bike. I can be reached at adw2011@live.com or on my cell phone at 332-213-3339. I am selling the bike and electric wheel for $700 US or just the bike for $350 US. I have invested over $1200 US into the bike. It is one year old. :$17(' I am seeking to buy a bicycle 26 with suspension for riding in the city to replace the one that was stolen. If you have one you would like to sell or no longer need please let me know. Email: sweetkandi425@yahoo. com. FOR SALE: 3 pair expensive medical compression socks from Canada. Size large. 1000 pesos per pair. Call: 766-4032 :$17(' If you have an air bed for sale or rent, please contact me. I have a guest coming and not enough beds. Call: 766-5723 FOR SALE: Two bikes, still in fabric boxes, Children bikes. Star telescope. Golf clubs, 4 complete sets in bags + 2 extra carrying bags. Bar and weights, dumbbells, punching bag and gloves. Barbie house and more to see at our house in Ajijic downtown. Answer here or call 333-394-9770. FOR SALE: SINGER Steam Electric Ironing Board. Asking price is $2000 pesos. For more info call Don 333-405-0787. We live in San Antonio. FOR SALE: Trek Madone 2.1, he bike is in very good condition, never crashed and well maintained, it had been ridden about 1500 miles. I am the original owner. The paint has some small and light marks from the normal use and the handlebar tape needs to be replaced. I paid for it $1350.00 USD, in I want to sell it for $12,000.00 MXN OBO. Email: covame@hotmail.com. :$17(' Washer/dryer not to expensive but in Working order. UNIVERSITY student getting set up away from home. Please call Susanne 376-766-4456, Cell 331-824-5205. FOR SALE: Newly upholstered Chair GLGQÂśW ÂżW ULJKW LQ WKH /LYLQJ 5RRP :RXOG DOVR be great in a Bedroom. 28â&#x20AC;? Wide, 42â&#x20AC;? Deep, 32â&#x20AC;? High. $1500 pesos. tucantalk@gmail.com or 766-5856. :$17(' 6PDOO GRRU ÂżOLQJ FDELQHW UHDsonably priced. Email: mike@acspaging.com. FOR SALE: Baby Locks Ellageo sewing and embroidery machine. Minor adjustment needed. $600. USD as is. And smaller Janome (great for taking to a Bee.) The Janome is new and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m it for $400. Email: ajijic62@ yahoo.com. :$17(' I am looking for a good pool table to put in my casita. Email: sunshineyday2013@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Golf Balls, we still have some, left including Power Distance. TITLEIST.SFT PACKS of THREE and by the dozen. The amazing price of $30 pesos X 3 balls. Call David or Susanne 376-766-4456 Cell: 331824-5205. :$17(' Student requires MINI BAR for his University room. Call Susanne 376-7664456 Cell 331-824-5205. FOR SALE: 10X10 GAZEBO comes complete with frame roof, and curtains. COLOUR creamy beige comes with all the hardware to install. $6000pesos. Call Susanne 376-7664456 Cell 331-824-5205. FOR SALE: THIS set comes with 3 dress pillows, king size comforter, 2 pillow shams, and bed skirt. MATERIAL is silky cotton colour cafe/beige $3500 pesos. Call Susanne 376-
766-4456 Cell 331-824-5205. FOR SALE: Brand new Cannon Printer $2000pesos. Please call Susanne 376-7664456 or Cell 331-824-5205. FOR SALE: Chest Horizontal freezer 9 cubic feet, excellent conditions, Dimensions in centimeters 120X60 height 80 Must sell $3500 pesos. Email: rennicint@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Painted Wood Mirror, 50 in. x 34 in. $1000 pesos. Call 766- 5856. FOR SALE: Solid wooden rocking chair for in/outdoors. $30usd (about $560mxn) scrubbers1958@gmail.com or 332-617-3588. FOR SALE: Large wooden display cabinet w/6 glass shelves (contents not included). W: 181cm D: 44.5cm H: 203cm $165usd (approx. $3080mxn). Email: scrubbers1958@gmail. com or 332-617-3588. :$17(' I am interested in buying a used motorcycle but can only consider a US plated bike due to residente temporal status. Will consider anything Japanese, Italian or GerPDQ 1RW D +DUOH\ JX\ QR Rá&#x201A;&#x2021;HQVH MXVW QRW my style. Call Randy at +1-415-225-3258 or randy4475@hotmail.com. FOR SALE: Wall unit made by Hecht Gallery in Tlaquepaque, not pine, maybe oak. 19â&#x20AC;? deep, 77â&#x20AC;? wide and 84â&#x20AC;? high. Paid over $2,000 US, will sell for $1,000 US or peso equivalent. Call: 766-2266. FOR SALE: Almost a full gallon of Behrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cement stain, cream color, bought at Home Depot in Houston. $600 pesos. Call: 7662266. FOR SALE: Shaw 600 HD receiver complete with remote and power cord. Free and
clear to be activated. $2500 pesos. Call: 7664032 FOR SALE: Adams Idea irons left hand - 5 to pitching wedge. Adams Idea Rescue Clubs - 4 (23 degrees) and 3 (19 degrees) Taylor Made R5 left hand driver. Odyssey Rossie 2 left hand putter. $3,500.00 pesos. Email: casaalba20@gmail.com. :$17(' Furniture and Appliances, 2 Bed House and 1 Bed Casita to fully furnish. Everything Sensibly priced will be considered. Call Alison on 331-743-5049 / E- mail: desali@btinternet.com. English Spoken Only. FOR SALE: Dish for Dish satellite, dish only for sale $500 pesos. Email: rennicint@ yahoo.com FOR SALE: 4 Delanghi electric radiators. They are practically new, $750 apiece. Contact me at: 376-766-0944. :$17(' Looking to buy the following: Bedroom: dresser with mirror, bedside tables, queen bed headboard, lamps, Living URRP FRá&#x201A;&#x2021;HH WDEOH ODPS WDEOH ODPS 2EORQJ tables about 3 ft high, 3-4 ft long. Small desk, Book shelve, Elliptical, Treadmill. Email: swj_ smj@hotmail.com FOR SALE: Philips 32 inch Digital Widescreen Flat LCD TV. Excellent working condiWLRQ $VNLQJ SHVRV RU EHVW Rá&#x201A;&#x2021;HU 3OHDVH respond to this posting or phone 766-3103. FOR SALE: Motion sensor chime and alarm for open doorway, Originally 45 USD. Suitable for shop entrance or any open doorway that is sometimes out of your sight. Can be mounted higher than your dog, or not. You can set it to sound â&#x20AC;&#x153;ding-dongâ&#x20AC;? or a loud â&#x20AC;&#x153;wah wah wahâ&#x20AC;? as
desired. Email: jdbaehr@gmail.com. FOR SALE: 36â&#x20AC;? x 36â&#x20AC;? x 16.5â&#x20AC;? glass topped FRá&#x201A;&#x2021;HH WDEOH LURQ EDVH 0; LQ &KDSDOD 376-765-5121 or 331-857-0798. FOR SALE: Mattress for Hospital Bed. This mattress was used for 3 weeks and has a protector cover. Price: $1500.00 pesos. Call: 766-5556 if interested. Thia mattress was $2500.00 pesos new. It has a protective cover on it and only used once after surgery. Email: lindamark60@yahoo.com FOR SALE: US Range, 4 burner stove with griddle for commercial use. Extremely Heavy. 36 inches wide, 31 inches deep. $12,000 peVRV RU EHVW Rá&#x201A;&#x2021;HU &DOO 0LNH Email: mikebrn@hotmail.com. FOR SALE: PRADA shoes, original, were only used once. Size 37.5 us. Mexico 24.5. Price $3,500.00 pesos. Call Alma 331-0053109. FOR SALE: Barber Chair, paid $12,000p new, like new for only $6,000p. Email: julieywayne@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Black evening pantsuit with FKLá&#x201A;&#x2021;RQ VOHHYHV /L] &ODLERUQH VL]H SHWLWH :RUQ RQFH %HDXWLIXO %XWWRQ FXá&#x201A;&#x2021;V RQ sleeves. Detached belt. Buttons to waist with IURQW ]LSSHU IRU SDQWV /L] VL]H ÂżWV PRUH OLNH a 6 in other brands. Price: $800. Email: dlemel@dlemel.net FOR SALE: Lazey boy chair, Email: sanbt69@live.com. FOR SALE: Old style TV works beautifully, top of line DVD by Toshiba both have remotes asking $1500.00 ps each. Phone: 376106 -2160. Email: sanbt69 @live.com.
FOR SALE: Have bathroom scales in pounds, telephone radio, sandwich maker all items $200.00 each. Phone: 376106 -2160. Email: sanbt69@live.com. :$17(' Looking to buy, borrow or rent a wheelbarrow for a week. Email: joe@joemelton.com FOR SALE: Mini blinds white new in box. Email: sanbt69@live.com. :$17(' I want to buy a small window AC. It must be a newer model with remote control and not over 5200 BTU. If you have one to sell or know of one, please PM me or text me at 333-949-8770. FOR SALE: Folding Pepsi Tables. 29â&#x20AC;? x 29â&#x20AC;?. Price: $400p each. Email: julieywayne@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Single mattress for sale $1500 pesos. Can deliver within reasonable distance. Call Joe at 719-629-8327 (US number). Email: joe@joemelton.com. FOR SALE: Two Wilson triad 3.0 rackets, hardly used, and in perfect condition. 115 sq. in (742 cm sq.) 41/2 ins. 8.6 oz. (243 grams) SULFH HDFK SHVRV RU PDNH DQ Rá&#x201A;&#x2021;HU Also: Wilson shoulder carry case, for one or both rackets. Price: $250 pesos. Email: louis. solo@live.com. :$17(' Looking for quality used ofÂżFH IXUQLWXUH SDUWLFXODUO\ D ODUJH GHVN ÂżOH FDELQHW V Ă&#x20AC;RRU DQG WDEOH GHVNWRS ODPS V HWF Call 333-456-2436.
Saw you in the Ojo 85
86
El Ojo del Lago / April 2018