Author: Shelly

by Jorge del Castillo The first part of this article was published previously on chapalahaciendas.com. (view article) Historically, calle Codornices which runs into calle Zaragoza through the center of Chapala was the original highway from Guadalajara.  It traversed many ranchitos along the way. A large hacienda was built on Indian labor which was called la Hacienda de la Labor in San Nicolás. Recent excavations for new construction have uncovered what appears to be the remains of a Pre-Columbian Coco village. The town of Chapala was founded in 1510, and Axixic followed when the Spanish under Captain Alonso de Avalos, a cousin of Hernan Cortes, arrived in 1523 and persuaded the Cocas to surrender and be baptized without a fight. He was given a royal grant and his cousin Saenz was given a grant for Ajijic.  It is named after one of the Chiefs named Chapalac. Coca people inhabited parts of central Jalisco, near Guadalajara and Lake Chapala. When Spain invaded, their leader Tzitlali, moved them away to a small valley surrounded by high mountains, a place they named “Cocolan.” Coca people live in an area known today as Cocula, Mexico also known “La Cuna del Mariachi,” or “The Cradle of Mariachi,” (see 1. below) At nearly 50-70 miles long and 15-20 miles wide, covering some 417 square miles, Lake Chapala is the largest natural lake in Mexico. It is fed at its eastern end by the River Lerma, originating in the Toluca mountain range, and drained at its northeastem corner by the Rio Santiago that then goes to the Pacific Ocean. It provides 55% of the drinking water to Guadalajara. The lake was formed some 12,000,000 years ago in a seismic upheaval and was ahnost 7 times its present size, even covering the present city-site of Guadalajara. The lake bed is the resting place of many fossils. Originally called Lake Jalisco, it now bears the name Chapala, taken from the Nahuatl ‘Chapalal,’ the sound that water makes splashing on a sandy shore, also named after one of the Chiefs of the Coca named Chapalac. Ajijic was originally named, in Nahuatal, the Aztec language, ‘Axixic, place where the water springs forth,’ commemorating the seven fresh-water wells that originally provided the water in this area. One of the wells was at the head of Calle Colon, and another was on the site of the church on Marcos Castellanos. Ajijic Before the Spanish arrived, the indigenous Cocas were living at Cuetzalán, now San Juan Cosala, where they fought off the repeated attacks of their traditional enemies, the Tarascans. By the mid-fourteenth century, the Cocas’ burgeoning population caused them to form additional lakeside villages, including Axixic. San Juan Cosala The town of Chapala was founded in 1510, and Axixic followed when the Spanish under Captain Alonso de Avalos, a cousin of Hernan Cortes, arrived in 1523 and persuaded the Cocas to surrender and be baptized without a fight. He was given a royal grant and his cousin Saenz was given a grant for Ajijic. Chapala The first major building, which still exists, was a mill built in the 1530s on the site of the Posada Ajijic. A monastery on the corner of Hidalgo and Cinco de Mayo was founded in 1535 and still exists as a private home named ‘Casa de Sueños.’ The church on Marcos Castellanos was also built in 1535, but was destroyed by a hurricane and rebuilt in 1749. By the early 1550s, the lakeside area came under the domination of the Spanish evangelists and they officially founded the city of Chapala in 1538, building the church in 1548. A 1565 census showed 2,400 residents at the lakeside, 1200 of them in Chapala. Lakeside remained a quiet fishing and agricultural community, but in the late 1700s was ravaged by a plague that resulted in over 50,000 deaths in Nueva España. In 1810, Father Hidalgo declared Mexico’s independence from Spain. In 1862, France invaded Mexico and Maximillian ruled until 1867, when he was executed in a successful revolution led by Benito Juarez, shouting as he was shot by the firing squad, ‘Viva Mexico!’ Chapala was brought to new life by the 35-year presidency of Porfirio Diaz. It became the watering hole for the upper classes and boasted a railway and steamboat service, but Ajijic remained a sleepy and isolated fishing village. The early 1900s were a period of civic upheaval in Mexico, with the border wars and the Cristero Rebellion tearing families and towns apart. It was only in 1909 that the first motor car (named ‘Protos’) arrived in Chapala, but by 1910, a cobbled road connected Chapala to Guadalajara, and it was paved by 1937. Ajijic was discovered by European intellectuals and provided a refuge for those fleeing political prosecution after WWI. Chapala Embarcadero (pier) with the Parroquia de San Francisco and Casa Braniff, (Restauante Cazadores) shown in the background In 1925, D.H. Lawrence was writing The Plumed Serpent in Chapala at the Villa Quetzal, (Hotel Villa QQ) and there was a small colony forming in Ajijic. Nigel Millet was managing Posada Ajijic, and in the mid-30s, agold rush transformed the town into a short frenzy of greed. That was soon over and Ajijic settled down again while Nigel Millet co-wrote Village in the Sun under the name of Dale Chandos. The other half of the team, Peter Lilley, then wrote House in the Sun. The LSC has copies of both books, as well as their Candeleria’s Cookbook, for sale in the frontpatio where one can also purchase refreshments. The Chapala-Ajijic road, or rather trail, was still almost impassible. In the 1940s, the town water supply was still located at a pump in the plaza and bathing was done in the lake. There were 14 foreigners living here and the Mayor levied a one-peso fine on any livestock owner allowing his pig to use the street for a bathroom. In 1943 Neill James, a world-renowned travel writer, arrived in Ajijic to recover from serious injuries suffered while exploring a newly active volcano, Paracutín, located near Pátzcuaro. She soon purchased the property where the LCS stands today, and never left until she died in 1994, just a few months short of her 100th birthday. Neill James was born in 1899 on a cotton plantation in Granada, Mississippi. She graduated from the Women’s University of Mississippi with a BS degree in 1918. Then followed a varied career, including a stint in Japan as a reporter and employee of the U.S. Embassy. She married and quickly divorced without children. In 1929 she left the work-a-day world to pursue a life as a pioneering adventurer, world-traveler, travel writer and novelist. Heroine of many adventures, including living among Asiatic primitives and being pursued and hounded across Asia by Japanese agents, she finally came to roost in Ajijic in 1942. Her Ajijic property started out as a simple casa toward the back of fairly wild, almost jungle-like acreage, and over the years various structures were added. The building now housing the office, multi-cultural reading room arad the reference portion of the library was built and operated as a silkworm factory and a salesroom until a freak cold snap killed the silkworms. The present main library building was built to house the looms used for her weavings, and the mulberry tree that was home to the now-dead silkworms can still be seen in front of the building. As she settled in, Ms. James built a house for her sister on the property, and deeded several parcels to her friends to build some of the picturesque houses that can be seen on the edges of our grounds. Over the years, Ms. James had the property lushly landscaped and dotted with reflecting pools. Among the thriving plants and trees will be found: coffee, avocados, bananas, oranges, loquats, lemens, giant white bird of paradise trees, poinsettias, calla lilies and a wondrous specimen cactus garden. Riotous colors and foliage line our pathways and Koi and frogs co- exist in the many magical reflecting ponds that brought humidity in the dry spells. Her residence was the house by the back patio. When she lived there, the patio was a series of multi-level pools aud the atmosphere was enlivened by the rush, ripple and fall of the water. It has since been fílled in so that it may be used as a meeting area. Overlooking the patio (originally the ponds), is the sun-splashed, glass-enclosed bedroom where Neill James passed on. At the rear of the property is the roofed patio that was built by her for meetings, but is now used for gatherings, and also as a community-based art project for children. Over the years the classes have turned out several intemationally famous artists, who return to pass on their skills to their young successors. Neill James articles in Life and other U.S. magazines inspired the first wave of gringo visitations. Her book, Dust On My Heart, a personal view of early lakeside life, is also for sale on the patio. (Ed. Note: Her publisher was Scribner, one of the best in the world. During this same period, the firm published the works of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Wolfe.) Deeply involved in the Mexican community, Ms. James opened her first public library for Mexican children in 1945 and it has continued uninterrupted, though in different locations, since then. The extensive English-language LCS library of some 30,000 volumes and the Multí-cultural Reading Center is still on these premises. WW II left Lakeside pretty well untouched, though the German U-boat Commander Von Spee used to openly patrol the Chapala-Ajijic-Jocotopec road, communicating with Germany by short-wave radio. Nobody seemed to mind. In the 50s magazine and radio reports extolled the perfect climate, (and it is a perfect climate, hailed as one of the three best in the world), along with the inexpensive cost-of-living, compared to the U. S., and thus began the flood of retirees that continues to this very day. At a 5,000 foot altitude, it is shirt-sleeve weather year-round and even the rainy season cooperates, usually waiting until nightfall to scatter its much-needed liquid largesse. The Lake Chapala Society is a ‘bridge’ and visitor center as well as the source of much of the activity at Lakeside. It was founded in January of 1955, but in spite of 38 memberships, very nearly came to an end in December, continuing only because it was already providing many valuable services to the community. In 1965 the streets were torn up to lay down a new water system, ending the trips to the town square for water. But the Chapala-Ajijic road was still a disaster (some called it the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’) and there were only two telephones and very few services in the village, but even so, a few long-haired hippies showed up in the 60s. The Lake Chapala Society held its first Independence Day celebration that quickly became a tradition, and in 1977 the Society was printing 500 bulletins. By 1983, the Lake Chapala Society moved to the present location and in 1985, Neill James donated her property to the Society. New articles in publications in the U.S. and Canada inspired a new influx, (but at least there was soon a two-lane road connecting Chapala and Ajijic) and the blessed isolation was at an end. In 1989, all the streets were torn up to lay sewers, and the 460-year-old cobblestones were tossed to one side and transportation came to a standstill for months. Rumors abound that Ajijic and the Guadalajara Airport were the nexus of a recent well-known ‘undercover’ CIA operation. That affair allegedly involved drugs in exchange for arms for the Nicaragum rebels. This became known as the Iran-Contra connection of President Ronald Reagan and Oliver North. In 1990, Ed Wilkes donated his house to the Society and it became the LCS Education Center. Located two blocks from LCS, the Wilkes Center is home to our Adult and Children’s Spanish language library, and provides many educational opportunities for both adults and children in the Mexican community. Among the prospects on offer are numerous English as a Second Language courses, a cooking school, Art appreciation and other classes. It is also the base for the membership-supported scholarship program. Today, Ajijic has taken on all the aspects of a wealthy suburb of Houston or Toronto and English is the lingua franca of the shops and streets. Million-dollar houses and condos bloom on the hills and aging retirees fíght for status in the many clubs and associations that have sprung up. ‘Snowbirds’ escaping the vicissitudes of winter in hardier climes during winter, and `rainbirds’ escaping the debilitating summer heat of the Southwest swell the ranks of the permanent residents, clogging the streets with fancy SUVs and causing restaurant waiting lines. Ajijic has a colorful heritage in the many famed artists and authors that have and are living here, cheek-by-jowl with the trendy boutiques, up-scale restaurants and glossy farmacias, not to mention new multi-cinemas. There are many foreigners, (mostly Norteamericanos) including Canadians, that live in the lakeside area at any given time. That depends on 1) who you ask, and 2) what time of year it is. Estimates of year-round people may run as low as 8000, but when the ‘snowbirds’ descend, then estimates from different sources range from 15,000 to as much as 35,000 (and it sometimes seems like millions). Part Two of this story is “The History of Lake Chapala, About Lake Chapala”, by Chapala.com, by Lawrence H. Freeman.  Rights to use this article have been solicited for without any objection.

by Jorge del Castillo Chapala Haciendas consists of 3 different subdivisions: 1, 2 & 3, commonly referred to as “Fraccs”.  They are located about 28.5 kilometers from Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport (Guadalajara Airport, GDL).  Normally it takes from 30 minutes to 45 minutes to drive in an auto from the “Fracc” to the airport.  It is 49.5 kilometers from the Zona Centro of Guadalajara where the municipal and State of Jalisco business offices are located.  It takes about 60 minutes to drive to the center.  There are local government branch offices in Chapala.  The Teatro Degollado, Catedral de Guadalajara, and many museums are in the old historical center.  The better-known communities are Zapopan, Tlajomulco, Tonalá, and Tlaquepaque which are suburbs of Guadalajara as well as many others. Chapala Haciendas is a part of the municipality of Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico.  There are 576 inhabitants as of 2020. Among all the towns in the municipality, this total population is number 9 in terms of number of inhabitants. Chapala Haciendas is at an altitude of 1,611 meters, about 5,285 feet above sea level.  The town of Chapala includes Palacio Municipal de Chapala, Delegación Ajijic, Delegación Atotonilquillo, Delegación San Antonio Tlayacapan, Delegación Santa Cruz de la Soledad, and the Delegación San Nicolás de Ibarra.  For more demographic information you can go to PueblosAmerica.com at https://mexico.pueblosamerica.com/i/chapala-haciendas. Here is a part of the bylaws from 1995.  “In Chapala, Jalisco on June 12, 1995, the Association and Organization Contract of the same, which is granted by the following: Charles Paul Michaloski, Beatriz Hernandez de Kelly, Mercedes Zavala de Uptegrove, Alejandra Reyes Viuda de Shannon, Jean Dunston Taylor de Strange and Jorge Valencia Macias, (under the terms of the association By-laws)…  The appearing parties constitute a non-profit Civil Association, subject to Mexican laws, which will be called “COLONOS DEL FRACCIONAMIENTO CHAPALA HACIENDAS”.  There is a current Board of Directors who serve at the will of the property owners.  You can contact the property management and the Board through the Business Office located at Cardenal 8, Chapala Haciendas, Jalisco. George “aka” Jorge del Castillo, a current resident of Chapala Hacienda 2, received the following history of the development “fraccionamiento” of Chapala Haciendas on April 15, 2023, via WhatsApp from Sergio Magaña, the son of one of the original developers through Joe Murillo owner of Mi Casa Realty, Chapala. My father Leopoldo Magaña Ochoa (born in Quitupan, Jalisco 1905), graduated in Law. He received his degree by unanimous vote, at the National University of Mexico (La Universidad Nacional de Mexico, UNAM) in the year 1938, to practice business in real estate. In that same year, he promoted several developments or neighborhoods in the cities of Guadalajara, Zapopan, and San Andres, Jalisco. In the year 1959, he began his stage as a pioneer, in the city of Chapala, Jalisco.  He started with his sons Leopoldo Magaña Velazquz, a civil engineer who had graduated from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara (Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara), and Sergio Ernesto Magaña Velazquez, a student of the Technological University of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon (Tecnologico de Monterrey), in the career of business administration. Leopoldo Magaña started as a pioneer in Chapala, with a property (ranchito) of 10 hectares. He eventually grew his development up to 100 hectares, about 247 acres with the three sections of that facility.  In those years, the law of facilities in the State of Jalisco was established, which obliged the developers to provide services to the new developments. These requirements were the construction of paved streets and sidewalks, electrification and lighting, water supply (deep well), and drinking water pipelines for all the streets that covered these developments (fraccionamientos). The first house was built in 1960, by a citizen of the United States of America, a retired United Airlines pilot, Karl F. Lueder, and his wife. The house was built on 4 plots of the development with a certain Japanese style of architecture, as they had been living for a long time in Japan. Upon the death of Leopoldo Magaña Ochoa in 1976, his children continued the construction of these developments and others in the town of Ixtlahucán de los Membrillos, Jalisco, including the development and construction of three beautiful and large garden horizontal condominiums with their respective recreational areas and immense, beautiful gardens. One of them was the first horizontal condominium that was built on the shore of Lake Chapala, in either Jalisco or Michoacan. Anecdotally, when the condominium process was carried out in the public property registry of Chapala, (the Magañas were pioneers in this type of property development), the director of the public property registry of Guadalajara had to be brought onto the staff of the public registry of Chapala for fifteen days to update them and teach them how to proceed legally for this new condominium law. The first sales promotions were carried out in the United States of America, in the State of California. They had an office in San Carlos, California, a city near San Francisco. In order to sell and obtain the necessary licenses in the State of California, an official of the California government had to come to Chapala for several weeks or months, with expenses paid. He was called a commissioner.  He was there to make sure that the promotions they were doing in California were real and true, the question of titles and deeds were available, and that the advertising that was carried out was according to reality. Four generations of the Magaña family have been involved in the entire process of these developments: Magaña Ochoa, Magaña Velazquez, Magaña Sierra, and Magaña Chidan families. Approximately 1,000,000 (one million) square meters, the original 100 hecatares or 247 acres have been developed, fully urbanized.  Approximately 720 individual plots of land, and as in all large projects, small involuntary errors have been made, which in all cases have been corrected one way or another. Approximately one thousand trees were planted, including jacarandas, tabachines, eucalyptus, and fruit trees.  It is one of the most wooded landscapes in the towns of Chapala, Ajijic, San Juan Cosalá, and Jocotepec. The first section was designed, drawn, and constructed by a civil engineer Tapatio Francisco Orozco and the second and third section was designed by an American engineer Perry Wilson, who had great ideas and a lot of knowledge of topography and the design of streets and lots which were planned according to the natural topography of the land itself and were built almost entirely by the engineer Leopoldo Magaña Velazquez. The Magaña family have always had the support of all authorities, federal, state, and municipal, and the heads of their municipal presidents (mayors). Currently, the lands that remain available for sale or construction, are held by various heirs of the four generations of Magaña families or other private parties.   Rights to publish the Magaña family story have been released by Sergio Magaña.

by Amy Stackhouse September 7, 2023 Living in the Haciendas is different from many of the other fraccionamientos that the expat community seems drawn to; that is one of the reasons we chose to live here. We didn’t want a transplanted United States retirement experience. We wanted a different immersion. We like the horses and cows that meander through the area. We want to learn and understand the culture a little better. We are trying to learn the language. We were looking for a quieter country life with the options of lots to do nearby. And we have found that. Within our community, a couple of private social media groups have been created, that residents have come to rely upon to get community input and support. Now, I love social media as much as anyone. Our community groups are a great way to get to know each other superficially, to pass on information, to voice concerns. But they are social groups and do not and should not be a valid medium for conducting official agendas. Since I moved to Mexico, Facebook has proven to be a good source of information, like what band is playing where, where places are located, what time restaurants are open, notices of social events. It’s social media. One of the downsides of social media is the tendency to create a forum for mob mentality disgruntlement. Anonymous deceit, false information, bashing, and disrespectful behavior is as prevalent as any positive information that can be found on any site at any time. It disheartens me to see people lashing out at individuals with the sole purpose of discrediting them. It is counterproductive, malignant, and often misinformed. I became involved with the Communication Committee as the result of a situation that occurred on social media. I found myself being solicited to join an effort concerning some politics here in the fracc. There was disgruntlement. There was a call to action. I chose to wait and draw my own conclusion when I had more info. I was then personally approached for my support for this agenda. I didn’t feel like I had enough information. I didn’t like being coerced. I had to ask myself if I wanted to react to hearsay or get involved in a more constructive way. I decided to ask to observe a BOD meeting and make my own decision. After that meeting I asked Shelly if I could help her with communication. Shelly had taken it upon herself to inform the residents of the workings of the BOD. She had been diligently reporting on these meetings since the BOD was elected in August of 2022. Her decision to approach the BOD and offer her time and energy to this should be recognized. I saw her actions as an inspiration for me to act rather than sit idly and critically on the sidelines. I have been on the committee for 6 months. We were aware that there was a need to provide a forum for better communication between the residents and the administration. The notes Shelly provided kept us informed but provided no opportunity for feedback. This community has been reliant on a system that offered no accountability for the inefficiencies and inconsistent responses. The severance of the former administrator identified the areas that need attention to meet the needs of the residents. Establishing new operating systems will help the BOD reach these goals. Resident feedback identified unanimous frustration with the lack of a way to contact the BOD. The first thing the Communications Committee requested was a forum for communication. The work order system was in its beginning stages but available for us to try. It has its shortcomings, but it was (and still is) a starting point. It has the potential to provide a wealth of information. As ineffective as it seems to some, it is already providing areas that need improvement and identifying weak links. It is a work in progress. Establishing better interoffice practices is needed. The ticketing system is the first step to identifying where things need to go. The more the system is used, the more we can identify how to direct concerns, identify where changes need to be made, prioritize the needs of the community. It gives the BOD documented info on the concerns of the residents and the opportunity to reply. But we need to use it to be able to enhance it. Please be patient and realize that these problems cannot be solved immediately. This community has a lot to repair with limited resources to do so. But we are stronger and more effective when we work together to improve the situation. We have the capability to form committees that work with the BOD to address problems and work to find solutions. I remind you of the successful action of the Enhancement Committee in clearing arroyos and trimming trees in anticipation of the rainy season. They appealed to and worked with the BOD to make that happen quickly and efficiently. The other committees are working to find solutions to resident concerns and are learning about the laws in Mexico in the process. And without the Communication Committee’s efforts, you would not be reading this. There is good work being done to provide what was never commonly available before. You now have access to notes and minutes about what the BOD and committees are doing to improve your neighborhoods. Resource lists are being created to help us know who to call. You have a work order system that gives your concerns a voice and provides opportunity for change. There is power in numbers. But you must be willing to use the tools you are given, get involved if you can, and recognize that you can be part of the solution. The choice is yours.          

Following their passion for music, Ruth and Max perform their style of Acoustic Americana with roots in Folk, Bluegrass,and Country music. Known for her songwriting as well as her striking alto voice, Ruth was a winner of  Chris Austin Songwriting Competition in 2003 with her Gospel offering, By The River. The pair’s all original 2010 release, Turn Back a Page, reached No. 5 on the Folk DJ Airplay Chart with 4 songs in the top 100 for that year. Since March 2020 they have performed more than 130 live-streamed concerts both independently and with others. Meanwhile, Ruth has continued writing with a new recording coming soon. Just Google them to hear a sample of their music! (Here’s a link) Come hear them live at the home of Dan and Cheryl Dover-Laff Address: #40 Codornices, Chapala Haciendas 2 Tuesday, February 28th at 5:00 pm. Suggested Donation: $200p Seating is limited, so please RSVP to: wcw5509b@gmail.com