How Ajijic & Lake Chapala is Like the Aunt You Always Wanted

Wouldn’t it have been nice if, when you were growing up, you had an aunt who was always there when you needed her, who understood you, who always seemed to know what you needed and gave it to you, but who didn’t ask for anything in return?  The one who, if you got into an argument with your parents, you could go to?  Who would not be judgmental, and would help to make everything right? Putting aside the lopsidedness of such a relationship, we came to view Ajijic as that aunt.

 

It started with a rather practical need.  We had packed our big, white van with as much “stuff” as humanly possible, and this stuff was heavy, which, as we drove through the mountain passes from Puerto Vallarta to the Lake Chapala area, caused the brakes to wear down to the point that every time we approached a tope (speed bump), the van made a screeching sound loud enough to cause even nearby cows to cast a disapproving glare.  Besides being noisy and a bit embarrassing, it was clear that we needed new brakes, and soon.

 

This, of course, presented a problem.  We were less than 24 hours in a new area in a foreign country, while being in need of an honest, competent mechanic, quickly.  How easy would that be?  Well, it turned out that Auntie Ajijic and the local expats were more than able to smooth the way for us.

 

Within the period of 3 hours, when we were visiting our friend Mark O’Neill in his new home in Ajijic, I casually asked Mark’s neighbor, Kenny Riemer if he knew a mechanic who fit the bill.  Into his home went Kenny, and re-appeared with a business card.  Less than an hour later, I was screeching into the shop of Felipe Morales of AutoCheck, who, it turned out, had lived in the US and had returned to Mexico because he found it to be a better place to raise his two girls.

 

Felipe is like a male version of that aunt I described.  He listened to all my problems, and told me calmly that he would take care of it the next day.  Here are the issues I presented to Felipe, along with the resolution to each one a day later, after Felipe worked on our van:

Total amount paid to Felipe to solve all our car problems: 2,640 pesos, or about $140, compared to more than $1,700 in the US, and with free delivery and lots of pleasant conversation thrown in.  I felt more than $1,500 happier, and much more relaxed.  Thank you, Felipe, and thank you, Auntie!

For several years, I had some sewing that needed to be done.  The reason I never did it is that it always seemed like such a bother: find a place that did sewing, get in the car, find a place to park, drop it off, come back in a few days, etc.  Well, I was in Ajijic now and with my Auntie, so those inconveniences were a thing of the past.  Here’s how.

 

I casually asked the owner of the tiendita about a block from our rental home if she knew of anyone who could do some sewing.  Of course, she did.  (In Mexico, it seems like pretty much everyone knows someone who can accomplish whatever you need… and most of them seem to be relatives.)  The storekeeper was the only one in her store at that time and couldn’t leave, so she gave me directions in Spanish that I understood well enough to know that the place I should go was to the right and close, but that was about it.

 

So out and to the right I went, searching for a store that looked like a place where sewing was done.

 

I didn’t see one.

 

All I saw was a bunch of small homes / small businesses and nothing resembling any place where the holes in the pockets of my shorts could be mended and the buttons sewn on. After wandering around for a minute or so, I gave up and started to return home.  As I turned to go, I saw running towards me a woman I had never seen before, shouting in Spanish.  Evidently, she was speaking to me.  After explaining in Spanish where the seamstress was in pretty much the same way the owner of the tiendita had (that I also didn’t understand), she eventually realized that I wasn’t dense; I just didn’t understand Spanish.

 

Catching her breath, she motioned me to follow her.  In through an unmarked, non-descript doorway we went, past some pinball machines and into an interior courtyard.  To the right, inside a small home, was an older Mexican woman who was eating calmly, at least until she became startled at the approach of a large foreigner she had never seen before invading the quietude of her inner sanctum and breakfast. My new friend and guide (who’s name I didn’t even know) evidently explained to the woman what I needed.  The older woman put down her tortilla.  No problemo! I just had to show up the next day with the pants I wanted sewn, all about 5 minutes walk from our home.  My only difficulty would be that I had to remember how to find it.

 

The next day, my new seamstress fixed three pairs of shorts that had languished unused for several years for lack of sewing, all for 20 pesos (about US $1.10) and close to no effort on my part.  Problem solved, and I felt like I had three new shorts.

 

Some other quick examples:

After a giddy week of getting pretty much all our immediate, seemingly intractable, some longstanding and what we thought would be expensive problems solved, it would be pleasant to have a nice brunch.  Auntie Ajijic was ready.

 

Napping in the middle of the day?  Don’t worry; Auntie Ajijic said it was okay.