barrbower

Wayne, I live very near to Havehammer and will come see you Monday afternoon.  My skills for video production, social media, etc. are so severely lacking that my contribution could possibly only be the equipment donation.

Alan

Good idea about the tech school.  Will try them on Monday.  Any other ideas?

Alan

A friend recently gave me an pretty large collection of Canon brand digital camera and lenses.  I will not ever use these items so am looking for ideas for who might need an equipment upgrade.  Any school or local agency or aspiring young photojournalist, etc. will be considered but I'm not looking to give it all some entity or individual who would just sell the equipment for a profit.  I'm hoping to make somebody's life better...no strings attached.

All ideas welcomed, Alan

We are back in business finally.  Simapa did send one truck and we paid for others.  I'm not seeing any increase in quantity or quality of the incoming water.  I think they need to start thinking ahead and create a new well in this neighborhood (and probably others) since there seems to be no constraints on new large developments in this area.  The current infrastructure is already overused in most of lakeside.  Simapa, CFE, Telmex, Jalisco, and the federal government need to take a look at real world issues that affect everybody and start planning for the future not just reacting in an emergency.  I know this is very un-Mexican thinking but to get ahead one must think ahead.

Alan

Early last week the water coming in from the street was completely stopped.  It took several days for the aljibe to run dry before we noticed the stoppage.  No notice from SIMAPA about their plans to shut down the water supply.  They said originally it would be back Friday then Saturday then today which is a holiday.  I knew that wasn't happening.  We have been buying pipas of agua but with eight homes it runs out pretty quickly even using pool water whenever possible. 

They say they have been working on the well behind Mirasol...hope the volume and quality of the water improves as a result.  It would be very surprising if they were planning ahead and improving the infrastructure.  I just hope to be able to take a shower soon...people are starting to complain.

This seems to have affected much of Riberas del Pilar...even restaurants, stores, vets, and doctors.  Haven't talked to anybody yet who knew it was going to happen.  We would have really appreciated a little advance notice to better prepare.

Alan

Well, MC, you'll be PAYING a lot more...what you'll get is yet to be determined.  I'm betting what you get will look more like the s..t end of the stick.  Based on history, the new found riches will just wither away.

Alan

If the state government is involved I don't think it will get better.  They are the ones who installed the dangerous bollards instead of just short rubber bumpers like all the bike paths in Guad have.  Also were the ones who designed and built the Walmart/libramiento intersection.  Also built the libramiento with no shoulders or walking paths.  Also are the ones who thought spreading loose gravel on the highway somehow made for a long term improvement. Now working on making Chapala downtown more unfriendly.  The new textured pavement is more noisy than the old bricks.  The avenue through La Floresta could be better utilized but the traffic will still bottleneck in Ajijic centro.  San Luis Soytlan still has the downtown bottleneck even though I heard years ago that the state was building a bypass for through traffic...and there is at least enough flat land south of their centro to make that work.  The state also built the Joco bypass without proper roadbed preparation and no consideration for drainage or unstable land movement. That section of road requires constant repair as a result.  Not sure if they have EVER done a proper job around here.  Decisions seem to be made based on whose friend or family can profit instead of what is best for the community.

MC is correct...when the traffic lights go out, the traffic flows much more smoothly.

I do not pretend to have any answers but the state's history in this regard is tough to ignore.

Alan

Of course I have been seeing similar comments in different places.  In our case it had to do only with the home's evaluation which last year was way below market value and is now pretty close to, but still below, market value.  Two years ago I did discuss an increase based on square footage and it was adjusted a little.  I don't feel like the current evaluation is out of line so am only hoping the extra money gets used wisely and doesn't just disappear...as stated in the original post.  It was not a complaint about the amount we are being charged.  I haven't spoken to many expats yet but all I have spoken to had similar increases based on new, more accurate, home evaluations not disputes over square footage.  In this way expats are paying a larger % of the overall increases also as stated in the original post.

Alan

Our predial went up about 300% for this year.  Still low compared to US or Canada but we also don't get much for our money.  New comers are primarily responsible for the home values skyrocketing.  We are also mostly to thank for many quality of life improvements in this area and we continue to add millions of dollars to the local economy every month and most locals understand the trade off.  The average increase for a typical Mexican homeowner's predial was much lower because the average value of those homes is much lower.  We all understand that.  I asked the clerk at the moment I was paying if folks were complaining about the increase and she confirmed that they are.  I asked what improvements in services would we see with all the extra cash flowing into the local budget.  She laughed and said it wasn't her department...

But it is somebody's department so I'd like to know.  I think a list of proposed items should be published, discussed publicly, then generally agreed upon.  We all have hope things like road/street repairs, lighting improvements, trash collection, policing, traffic management, etc. will get some additional attention.  But not many of us have much faith that will happen.  We mostly expect the additional funds to just disappear by the time the current administration is out of office.  I hope I'm wrong but history is a powerful teacher.

Government at all levels in all countries doesn't usually prevent or solve problems...it administers problems. There is profit in that process and  most of the time it  benefits the administration and friends and families who want to stay in power or have access to that power for financial gain.  It would be wonderful if our local government would be the exception to the norm and we could start to see some cooperative efforts that benefit the local community. 

Alan

I guess that a lot more people will walk in at the new location than drove in at the old place.  Plus they are a little farther away from the newer SA hospital location. 

Alan

We drove past the Farmacia Guadalajara, just as you enter Chapala from the west, and it appeared to be closed.  Sign was down and no signs of life.  Anybody heard what is happening?  Closed or maybe just remodeling?  It's hard to imagine it would just close due to slow business but I guess it could happen.

Alan

A compromise was suggested only because Mexico is generally famous for having lots of laws which are mostly ignored by almost everybody...even those tasked with enforcement.  Sometimes a little gain is better than nothing.  Mexico is basically a functioning anarchy which mostly works most of the time...almost in spite of itself.  I'm generally OK with that and I have, on occasion, committed  all of those traffic infractions previously mentioned.

Alan

Just because something is a tradition does not mean it has to continue being one.  Loud bar music until the sun comes up was "always a tradition" until it wasn't.  Killing sea turtles and eating the eggs was a tradition until quite recently.  Letting your dogs just roam the streets was a tradition.  Getting drunk and beating up your spouse used to be fairly accepted behavior...they are working on making that less traditional.  In 1972 I witnessed a hog being slaughtered on the plaza in Ajijic.  They don't do that anymore either.  Things can change and sometimes for the better.  Mexico banned slavery years before the US did.  That was the primary reason for the "Texas battle for independence."  There was a need for another slave state in the Union which happened just a few short years later.  It was also a "tradition" in most countries to prohibit certain people (women, the indigenous, etc.)  from voting or holding public office.  These last ones are extreme examples but even those well entrenched traditions were changed in the face of public support for just doing the right thing even if some were opposed.

The cohetes probably began as a way for the church to prove their version of religious truth was more powerful than the way locals had been worshiping prior to the arrival of Catholic Spaniards.  The rockets carry your prayers up to the clouds where our true God lives.  The tradition of the church buying, storing, and using cohetes continues to this day.  The church is still quite powerful and still holds sway over the indoctrinated population on which they depend. 

I'd say some kind of compromise is more likely rather than an elimination of the cohetes.  Maybe just one day and limit the number.  I have never understood the general tolerance of cohetes but I arrived late to the cultural indoctrination.  If I live another 70 years maybe I'll get it...Alan

We went to the Chapala malecon to enjoy the recent Mariachi performances which were part of the big regional festival.  Wonderful family event.  Safe, clean, free, and lots of good music.  Great Ajijic band and a couple of others from Bolivia and Peru.  Great job by the local municipalidad.  It was so much fun that we decided to go the following evening to Jocotepec where it was advertised to be a free event on the plaza which would start at 7:00 pm.  We got there at about fifteen after assuming it would actually start a little later than advertised.  There was no sign of any stage or musicians present so we asked around and discovered that the festival was actually being held in a municipal auditorium a couple of blocks away...and it was a pay in advance event with reservations required and by 8:30 there were only about twenty folks inside and they were all hanging out by the big bar.  Lots of crowded together tables and huge loud speakers and a couple of sketchy hostesses checking the reservation list.  Not at all what was promoted in the local press and seemed like nothing we were interested in doing even if we could have gotten in. 

Seems that the local Joco municipalidad had a very different idea of what the festival was going to be for the local citizenry.  Kudos to Chapala for doing it differently!

Alan

I only mentioned France and Spain because those two places were the only ones I was familiar with.  I'm sure other countries are different.  We also used the ATM for Euros and it was quite easy.  Fees seemed to vary.  You can request a tip be added before they run the card but it was never automatically included in the bill.  The big difference in Spain and France seems to be that they pay a living wage to the workers who then don't require tips to survive.

Alan

I assume you are soon traveling to Europe.  We recently returned from France and Spain.  We bought Euros at the airport in Madrid thinking we would need them someplace like cabs or stores or trains.  But no.  You use your debit or credit card everywhere even to buy a Coke in a small store.  It is pretty much a cashless society.  Don't go to any great problem to get Euros.  We only used them for street performers.  They also do not tip in Europe although we did a little just to use up our cash.

Alan

Well, it's been three days and a Riberas house alarm is still going strong.  According to a neighbor's gardener, the owners live in Guad and seldom come to this house.  He pointed out that if a thief was smart this would be the ideal time to break in and steal stuff because the alarm has been sounding for so long we are all used to hearing it.  The owners have never given a key to a neighbor who could then enter and either disable the alarm or check to see if there had actually been a burglary.  But no...just set the alarm, leave, and let it annoy everybody within a two block radius if it goes off because of a power outage and restart.  Same is true of useless car alarms.  People set them then go someplace where they can't hear them if they do go off.  Besides, a pro thief knows how to quickly disable those alarms if they break in.  If you have an alarm on your car and then don't respond, then what good it does I just don't know.  Anybody else who hears it only becomes annoyed and otherwise really couldn't care if a loud motorcycle or hard rain sets off your alarm.  Just do everybody a favor and DON'T set alarms if there is no system in place to respond to it.  Otherwise you just anger those who have to endure the noise while you are sometimes not even in the same town.

Use your brain.

Alan

We live in a simple house and have lots of LED bulbs, TV's, fans, computers, etc.  The small coto where we live has a pool and we pay 1/8 of that out of our HOA fees.  Our two month bill runs about 450 pesos (some periods as low as 300 and some as high as 600)  so we would never get our investment back for solar.  At 7.50 to 15.00 usd per month, it seems quite fair after paying 200/month in Colorado in summer months and same for gas in winter months.  Many folks who are installing solar systems count on recouping costs only when they sell the house which we are not planning to do.

Alan

Hey MC, if you are talking about the leaf mold "blight" it is hard to find one that won't get it.  A diluted bleach/dish soap solution sprayed on the leaves will control it.  Spay as soon as you see any black spots.  The leaves will still show black spots but the mold will be dead.  That also will kill aphids.

Alan

Is there nothing new and controversial happening in our little corner of the world?  This web board is more boring than ever.  Please, somebody, say something crazy...hopefully with some truth to it but I'd take anything if it was remotely interesting.  Don't make me start an unfounded rumor!

Alan

Not really a second location but the "original" location is still there on the west side.  Owners of the new store stress that they have nothing to do with the older store and the staff, products, size, etc. of the new store reflect an entirely different approach to the paint business.  Obviously a independently owned franchise store much like a Truper hardware store. 

Alan

Nope, it's in Riberas del Pilar at the intersection of San Luis and the highway on the mountain side.  Across from the Templo del Pilar, Ladron's vet clinic, and Friends of the Animals store.  By the way, it is Sherwin Williams not Sherman.

Alan

There is a guy at the Ajijic tianguis who always has a selection of them.

Alan

Large projects might change ownership multiple times before they get completed due to funky financing.  Many projects always have a slightly unfinished look to them (like rebar sticking up) because, if still unfinished, I've been told the taxes are lower.  It can be hard to tell if a place is under construction or so old that it's falling down...they look similar.

Alan

Carry the card in your vehicle as proof of registration.  They say the card will be replaced after a few years but you still have to pay to renew it every year and carry that receipt in you vehicle as well.  Cops can no longer spot an expired sticker or stop you for not having a sticker visible but proof of payment for registration is required if you get stopped for anything else.

Alan