Activities

The Dia de Muertos, Day of the Dead, celebrations started a week earlier in Ajijic with the Thriller Dance.  These events are not just one day but many days. Each town has it's own celebrations. Besides the Thriller Dance, Ajijic has an outdoor movie showing on the malecon, cemetery tours, parades, memorial altars, life size catrinas, town dance, lighting of skulls near the plaza, live entertainment and...

Another Thrill the World Dance took place last weekend. On October 26th, 2019. This year, like last year, it was held on the Ajijic malecon. In the beginning, it was held on the Ajijic plaza but there wasn't enough space. Now, the performers first go to the cultural center on the plaza for makeup. This takes an entire afternoon. After everyone has been transformed into zombies, they walk to the basketball...

San Antonio Tlayacapan is a small town with a population around five thousand people. It is located between Chapala and Ajijic and has been established since the mid fifteen hundreds as an agricultural community. Their Independence celebration took place one week after Ajijic's. Drummers Their parade took place on Sunday morning, September 22nd.  The night before the parade, there was music in the...

The final day of the festivities was on Independence Day, Monday, September the 16th at ten in the morning. That means exactly ten in the morning. One year I arrived a few minutes late and it was already two blocks down the road. This parade always starts on time. I wonder if it has anything to do with all the teachers involved. Mother and child The parade is mostly made up of children marching with...

The Rebozo Parade (shawl parade) is one of the first events in the week long celebrations of Mexican Independence Day. Independence Day is on September 16th. It marks the beginning of the revolt from the Spanish born ruling class. El Grito (the cry) was read on September 16, 1810 by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. The war ended eleven years later on August 24, 1821. Mexican flags Mexican flag...

La Verbena del pasado, translated into English, means the Street party/dance/celebration/event of the past. And this event celebrates all the food cooked in the past in Mexico. Food that is cooked the traditional way, over an open fire and served in the traditional red clay dishes. Ajijic plaza This all happens at the Ajijic plaza. It is the beginning of Semana Santa, Easter week, Holy Week. It...

The fifth annual "Féria de la Capirotada" was held again at the park along the Ajijic malecon, Saturday, April 6th, 2019. It started at three in the afternoon but this year I went an hour early so I could get photos before the crowd arrived. Stand This event also celebrates the beginning of spring. Capirotada, bread pudding, is only made during the Lenten season, especially on Good Friday....

The sixth annual Sangre Viva Cultural Festival kicked off on Friday evening, March 29th and ran through Sunday, March 31st. 2019.  It was held at the Ajijic Plaza, inside the Ajijic Cultural Center which is also in the Plaza, and at the Ajijic malecon and nearby the malecon. Cleansing Sangre Viva, according to the online translator, means Blood live. One of the online articles about it...

This year, the Mardi Gras parade was on March 5th, Tuesday.  It is always on a Tuesday, the day before Lent. Called Fat Tuesday. It is big celebration before a time of fasting, praying and and sober reflection. The Ajijic parade started on Revolution Street, went down Constution to Six Corners and back to the plaza. There were crowds lining the streets all the way. Float Access Lake Chapala Real...

Once again, the Mexican National Chili Cook-off was held on the Tobolandia waterpark grounds, from February 15, 16, through Sunday the 17th, 2019. This is the 41st annual Chili Cook-Off. In case you don't feel like counting backwards, it started in 1978. Were you here then? I have talked with several people who were here for some of the first ones. They all told me that the Cook-Off was always a...