rafterbr

I spoke with my expert on the Mexican usage of words, my Mexican wife.  She said, she can immediately tell the difference between Canadians and Norte Americanos and would not call a Canadian a gringo.  She like a lot of Mexican's believe the word gringo came from green coat go home.  Actually the US army did not wear green coats so this is wrong.  I find it hard to believe it came from a song the US army sang (green grow my lilies).  However its origin, it refers to USA people.  In her mind there is some disrespect attached to it.  The same for gordo, polite people do not refer to someone as gordo or prieta.

From the Chapala plaza about two or 3 blocks north is a small butcher shop which has great ground beef (hamburger).  Some of the best tasting I've had lakeside. 

You are being way to technical.  We have Telmex which furnishes us wifi and a landline.  We never use the landline as the mobile phones from the states work fine here.  You can phone both the the states and make Mexican phone calls on one.  I use Cricket as a provider and have no problems here.  Laptops are cheap in the states now and I recommend you buy a new one in the states and bring here.  Selection of laptops is not great and they are more expensive in Mexico.

Store is East of the Pemex in Riberas, About 5 stores east of Pemex.  Good selection but prices are terrible.  Pancho's is cheaper and not far from the Garage.  

There is a cultural change lakeside but its not toward bicycles, its toward autos.  Every Mexican lakeside feels he should own an automobile.  Number of Mexican's owning autos has grown tremendously in the last few years which has led to traffic jams.  Sure the tapatios and new arrivals have added to the problem but it is the additional home grown drivers who are adding to the traffic problems.  As for the cycle paths more and more people are using them for walking paths.  Every day I see people walking there dogs on them.  It's just a matter of time before a e-bike hits a dog and we will see what happens.  If its a Mexican dog, wellll.

4 hours ago, mudgirl said:

1 at night is am not pm. 

You are correct should be am but who at 1am can think straight!

I got an airport taxi to Riberas 3 months ago.  The taxi driver did not know where Riberas was but other drivers told him it was between Chapala and Ajijic.  Cost was 450 pesos and I tipped him another 50 pesos when I got here.  It was 1 pm at night and I was surprised at the number of taxis they had.  Out1 directions are good but I paid with pesos as there is exchange office beside taxi ticket office.  Exchange rate they give is terrible so I only got a few pesos.

I also used JP Home Services and they did a good job.  I believe I paid $1,500 pesos.  I am sure my aljibe was larger than they thought as it took 3 hours to pump it out and 12 hours to refill it.  I got a bid for the job and I am glad I did.  I never knew my aljibe was this big and it had not been cleaned in years.  Water was very dirty and now very clean in appearance.  We just use the water for garden and laundry.

1 hour ago, Tingting said:

Yes, because we all know how much food you can buy with your dignity.

Yes, I would select dignity over food as most of my friends would.  I am sorry you feel different.  You can repair loss of food but you can never repair loss of dignity.

10 minutes ago, HoneyBee said:

No offence but I believe you may be out of touch with the "working class" who scrap by on about 6,000 pesos a month. This observation is based on you and your wife's level of education (government employee  and psychologist with a television show).  

While my wife comes from a middle class Mexican family, I grew up very poor.  I didn't even have new shoes to wear to school.  I worked my way through University and have a Masters degree as does my wife.  I know first hand how it is to be poor and my friends are working people  who work hard and make for themselves a better life.  You cannot buy friendship and I think the interaction between people is more important than any money you might give them.  I treat people with dignity which is more important than giving them a few pesos.

You are being very smart.  When we first came here we rented a house in La Floresta which is considered one of the best areas in Ajijic.  We rented for 2 years than bought a house in Riberas.  We bought in Riberas because the houses were cheaper and we got a nice size garden.  This was a wise decision because Riberas is really growing with many services and restaurants.  We are also out of most of the traffic jams found in Ajijic.  We looked at many houses but when we found this one, we knew this was the one and we are very happy here.  Hope you have the same luck.

I believe the secret to living here lakeside is very simple.  You just treat everyone as a human being, nothing more, nothing less.  It is true I only tip in the 10 to 15 percent range but this is nothing different from what I do in the states.  In addition, I give to all the beggars although sometimes I think I am being hustled.  I have a fondness for the nino's so I contribute to their causes.  We have a gardener and maid and we pay them the going rate and if they do something extra, we pay them extra.  My wife always provides a meal for the maid and eats with her.  Both the gardener and maid have been with us for 5 years and they are wonderful people.  Sometimes they  need extra money and we will loan it to them, they always pay us back.  My wife is a psychologist here in Mexico and had her own television show in Mexico City, I worked for the government and traveled all over the world.  Here lakeside we are just lakesiders who probably relate more to the Mexican community than the expat one. We are respected by the Mexican community as we are simply a member of the community.  Unfortunately there are rich expat's  and rich Mexicans who think money is all important.  We believe a good heart is all that is important.

When I was a poor boy in Oklahoma growing up, we almost lived on salted pork belly.  Fried and in beans it was great.

33 minutes ago, RickS said:

Just plan on checking into, say, a B&B or the like for a week. At that time of the year you will have oodles of choices and you can check them out yourself.

Excellent advice.  You need to check out the location and actually see the house.  Most houses are for 6 month or 12 month lease, you will have trouble getting 3 month lease at a good rate.  A lot of the houses will be furnished and you will have a good selection since snow birds won't be here.

2 hours ago, elevator said:

I told people who told me I was overtipping when I came here that it was none of their f....g business what I tip. Still feel that way. As far as help getting snooty, then their tip goes way down. Pretty simple really. And yes. I believe folks who tip Mexicans 10-15 % are cheap, unless they truly can't afford more. but, it is their prerogative.

My Mexican wife and the Mexican people I know do not consider people who over tip as being kind and generous.  Rather they consider them to be condescending and stupid.

1 hour ago, Mitch said:

We ate here last night around 5:30. No other customers during our stay. The grounds and building are amazing.  We both ordered hamburgers and wine.  The burgers looked and tasted like they came from Walmart. This was not good beef. House red. 90 p. house white, 80 p. Our bill was 513 P.

Thanks for the report.  I thank I will give this restaurant a pass.  I noticed the steaks were 100P higher than other places.

I understand its ceramic tiles we are talking about.  You cannot chisel them.

Thanks to everyone.  I won't have to worry about buying cheese again, thanks to all these appreciated answers! 

Another option:  Restaurants use a rubber mat to keep from sliding and following.  Two or 3 of these can be cut to width desired and used.  Each mat will provide 2 or 3 cuttings.  Big advantage, if you want to go back to the tiles, you just take them up. Will last many years. They also have mats for horse and cattle trailers to keep the livestock from falling.  

I always put two broken eggs in my meat loaf but never heard of putting whole ones in it.  This sounds interesting I think I will try it.  The only place around here serving meat loaf I know of is Paninos and they don't put whole eggs in it.  Does anyone know of another restaurant where they serve meat loaf?

Does anyone know where I can buy Pepperjack cheese.  I use to buy it at Pancho's but they have been out for quite a while.  When they were first out they said manyana they will have.  Now they say maybe manyana.

25 minutes ago, dichosalocura said:

It is real simple to find.  Walk the malecón starting at the Beer Garden, walk west towards the big white sail. Half way down walking past the Beer Garden, Perla Negra, and another restaurant that I forget its name.  You will be outside a gorgeous large palace like home.  The entrance is small but will have a sign outside saying Villa Monet.

How are the prices and do they have a food specialty?

18 hours ago, ibarra said:

From a simple web search by the name:

https://www.facebook.com/villamonetchapala/

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g2371486-d23732995-Reviews-Villa_Monet_Restaurant-Chapala.html

I believe the location given by both these sites is wrong.  They are each different and a long ways from the malecon.

Another bank in Chapala bites the dust.  The corona virus claims another victim as the Chapala Santander bank is now closed because of the virus.  This leaves only one full service bank open in Chapala and it is very busy.  Took 2 hours today to get to a bank teller.

39 minutes ago, gringohombre said:

You are correct sir! Although I think that it was owned by someone else and she operated and managed it. Her Fish and Chips (maji maji) were the best, which she continued to Charlottes. That was why I was surprised that someone here commented that their experience with this at the new restaurant was not good. I would blame that on the opening confusion and maybe one bad day in the kitchen. This is still a favorite dish on mine at the Lake Taco!!! 

We were the 3rd customer to the restaurant and they had no gas so we had a long wait.  The maji maji fish was fine but I didn't like the chips.  They were a good size but not fried in oil. I asked if they were frozen but they said they were freshly cut.  Tasted like they were baked in an oven.  They were cooked all the way through and very dry.  Its possible this was just opening day problem.  Someone else here said they got some excellent fries the next day. I will try the french fries again, and my wife got an excellent chili en nogada.  The chips and salsa were also very good. I like the restaurant and we will eat there again.