There’s what we call the “Pre-Hispanic Sweat Lodge” in Chapala, which has been promoted by a local man. This local man has taught a lot of us, especially my group of friends, and has healed a lot of people through these “sweat lodges.”
A sweat lodge is like a little hut or dome typically built out of stone and other materials found in the area such as adobe and plants. The sweat lodges offer more of a spiritual healing process. You’d really have to do one to experience everything it has to offer: laughter, crying, silence, drums, and singing. The experience is really different every single time.
There’s a little hut connected to these sweat lodges on the sides that are made out of 70-100 volcanic stones. We would start a big fire and then clear up all the ashes and the coals before going inside. There’s a little window inside where water is thrown in, and that same window is also where the steam comes in.
There are also a lot of sage and eucalyptus plants in the area that grow wild. We just pick them. We fill the floor with all the herbs and create an ambience that resembles aromatherapy. Then we sit on the eucalyptus that has been cleaned up with all the branches taken off. It’s basically sitting on a bed of leaves while at the same time cleaning up little bugs that might be among those leaves.
We need a leader to do all this because there’s a process that members need to follow. There are typically four doors and everybody goes in and out of each of these doors. After each door is where we take a dip in what feels like an ice cold bath.
We saw some very amazing and even almost miraculous things happen in the sweat lodge. As an example, there was this one man with a really bad edema in his legs that they had turned purple. This man had trouble walking, and we brought him in the sweat lodge, guided him through it all, and at the end, after going through all four doors, he removed his wet clothes and wrapped himself in a sheet. Wrapping yourself in a sheet is one of the most important parts of the process because that’s where you’re perspiring and thus detoxing. Once you perspire from the last part of the process which is wrapping yourself in a sheet, your heart rate goes up. At this point you’d have to wait until your heart rate goes back down to normal. You can have all-natural fruit juices to aid in this.
It was an amazing sight- this man with edematous legs stood up on his own without his helper or his wife, who was just sitting there watching. The man just stood up and walked off to his house like he had no problem with his legs at all. I really enjoyed seeing that healing process.
The best things to do in and around Chapala and Ajijic would definitely include hiking. Hiking in Chapala and Ajijic is beautiful. Going up the mountains between the middle of June and September, you’ll also see beautiful waterfalls. There are waterfalls in The Raquet Club, and there are also waterfalls in Ajijic straight up the street with the donut shop. There’s a hiking group that goes up to El Tepalo Waterfalls, a well-known local waterfall in Ajijic that you can get to in a 20-minute hike, on Tuesdays.
(Aztec sweat lodge or temezcalli, pictured.)
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There are a couple of casinos and nightclubs available in San Ignacio, and restaurants that open at late. During the weekends, they have a really nice cultural center where they have a lot of activities taking place. You may have a band performing, or cultural presentations from various group like the Mestizos, Maya, or Garifuna. 
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