The Guadalajara Reporter

Enchanting El Chante: Hiking to the north shore’s best mirador, soaking up lakeside’s laid-back vibe

I hesitate to write about the Ajijic area since so many readers of this newspaper are far more knowledgeable about the place than I am. Nevertheless, as a resident of Greater Guadalajara, I occasionally feel obliged to remind Tapatíos of what a treasure the Ribera is.

This conviction was strengthened and reaffirmed after a long week of cold weather and rain which interrupted our usually pleasant “dry season.”

When the sun finally came back out, an opportunity arose for me to spend a night at El Chante Spa-Hotel, located near Jocotepéc. By the way, the accent on that word is courtesy of my Spanish-teaching wife Susy, who wanted to go to the spa for a “girls’ getaway” with her sister. Somehow I managed to talk the Ibarra sisters into letting me tag along, only on the promise that I would disappear entirely and leave them free to do their own thing.

Well, the spa turned out to be hidden away in a quiet spot on the lakeshore, accessible only via streets barely wide enough for one car to pass – but the signs leading you there are well placed. This hotel has succeeded in combining the luxuriousness of a spa with the peacefulness of a Tibetan monastery. The fragrance of incense floats lightly in the air and around noon, you just might hear the haunting call of a conch horn gathering the staff together for a ceremony of thanksgiving to the Madre Tierra and the four cardinal directions.

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