The Guadalajara Reporter

Laguna Chapalac - August 3, 2013

Enhanced living

The Center for Creative Being, located at 16 de Septiembre53, Ajijic, will hold an open house Saturday, August 3, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with demonstrations of classes in ballroom dance, bellydance, yoga, pilates, meditation to be taught the by professional instructors.  Find additional information on the center’s life enhancement activities at www.miapratt.com.

BBQ bash

Enjoy an evening of good food and fun at the Old Fashioned Texas BBQ set for Saturday, August 10, 13, 5 to 9 p.m., at the Ajijic plaza as a fund-raiser to support village improvement projects spearheaded by Delegado Hector España and his citizen advisory committee.  Menu offerings include ribs, sausages, chicken and tasty trimmings. Margaritas and Bloody Marys, as well as beer, wine and sodas will be sold at the cash bar. Musical entertainment will feature Ricardo and Blanca, and Mike and The Suspects.  Tickets going for 300 pesos a head are on sale at the Ajijic Delegacion Offic, Diane Pearl Collection, the Lake Chapala Society and Spencer McMullen Chapala Law Office, Hidalgo 230-B.

Chupinaya races

Runners from near and far will congregate in Ajijic on Sunday, August 11 for the 17th annual double-header Chupinaya mountain race.  Hard core athletes will tackle the 13.8 kilometer “For Savages Only” course, scrambling from central plaza to the summit of the El Traveseño mountain range at 2,450 meters above sea level and back again. Others will opt for the less daunting 6.5 kilometer Recreational Route that turns back at the mid-way point known as El Pandito. Up to 500 male and female competitors divided up into different age categories will vie for multiple trophies awarded in both races. The entry fee for those who register by August 4 is set at 200 pesos; last-minutes sign ups open through August 10 will cost an extra 50 pesos. For full details check in with Ricardo Gonzalez or Isabel Pedroza at their glass and frame shop, located two blocks east of the plaza at Calle Guadalupe Victoria 38.

Masonic dinner

Axixic Masonic Lodge 31 is hosting a dinner on August 17 to fund it’s community affairs progams. The lodge donates uniforms and balls for various lakeside soccer teams, T-shirts for children involved in Ajijic Limpo, reflective tape for children’s bicycles at a number of lakeside villages, so that they can be seen when riding their bicycles after dark and professional “Mag-Light” flashlights for the Chapala Police Department among other activities.

The dinner menu is Chicken mole, tamales, bread and one free beverage. A cash bar and music will be provided and a tequila tasting will be sponsored by Tequila Sandy y Daniel. The dinner will be held from noon to 8 p.m. at the Eventos center at 78 Hidalgo, in Riberas del Pilar, next door to Dr. Antonio Pinto’s Optometry Office.

Tickets at 200 pesos are available at Diane Pearl and Mia’s Boutique in Ajijic, the LCS ticket counter and from any Lodge 31 member.

The lodge will continue its’ ongoing Tape a Bike program August 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Tepehua Community Center. Lodge members travel to north shore villages to service bicycles and while doing so make them safer with reflective tapes and hopefully save lives in the process.

Bus trips

The Lake Chapala Society (LCS) bus trip on Wednesday, August 7 heads to the Plaza Galerias in Guadalajara. This covered mall contains many large stores, including Liverpool, Sears, Best Buy, Zara, Home Store, Suburbia. Adjoining the mall are Walmart, Sam’s, Mega and Costco. There are several well-known restaurants such as Outback, Applebee’s, Chili’s, plus an extensive food court with a Krispy Kreme outlet. The cost of the trip is 200 pesos.

The bus leaves from the sculpture area in La Floresta at 9 a.m. and returns from the Costco area at 3:30 p.m.

On Friday, August 16, the LCS trip goes to the beautiful Guadalajara Zoo, which includes a safari ride, an aquarium, a train ride and the recently installed ski-style chair-lift ride that provides visitors with a bird’s-eye view of many of its most exotic animals, including elephants, buffalo, lions, white tigers, gorillas, black bears and Mexican wolves.  The cost of the zoo trip is 300 pesos (the chair-lift ride is an extra 50 pesos).

This trip leaves from the same Ajijic location at 9 a.m. and returns at 3:30 p.m.

Sign up for both trips at the Lake Chapala Society, Mondays to Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Conservatives Group

The Lakeside Conservatives Group meets for a general members meeting on August 14, 4 p.m. at the Club Exotica above the El Jardin Restaurant located on the Ajijic Plaza.

The film “Inside Job,” narrated by Matt Damon, now a fence-sitting liberal as a result of his disappointment in the current administration, will be shown. The documentary provides a very in-depth explanation of the housing debacle in the U.S. and what has resulted from it. Members and the public alike are welcome to attend.

New members are welcome and refreshments will be available during and following the meeting. RSVP to Don Daniel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 387-761-0484.

Changes at Cruz Roja

After many requests from the foreign community and weekend patients from Guadalajara, Cruz Roja Chapala is now accepting foreign and domestic credit and debit cards. Via Cruz Roja Chapala’s own PayPal account they are able to solve a number of problems for patients and their families. Norm Pifer, Vice President of the consejo, hopes this will relieve the problem so many patients have when they must suddenly be transported to a local clinic or a Guadalajara hospital and do not have the cash in their pocket. This also holds true for treatment in the Cruz Roja Chapala clinic.

Allowing for payment by credit card is the first step in strengthening Cruz Roja’s financial viability. The second step is the increase in fees charged effective August 1. The Chapala Cruz Roja has not raised fees in about three years and have absorbed many of the costs. See more on the new fees in this newspaper next week. 

Little Chapel

This Sunday The Little Chapel by the Lake will be busy  collecting beans and rice for Love In Action.Rev. Gene Raymer will deliver a sermon titled “Look Again” based on Mark 8:22-25. Communion will follow the sermon and then Gene and his wife Serena will renew their vows after twenty years of marriage. All this will be followed by a luncheon in the fellowship hall. Since the couple’s first wedding reception featured BBQ, that will be the theme for the luncheon, too.

Christ Church Anglican

Christ Church Anglican Fellowship will celebrate the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, 2013, on August 4 by celebrating the Holy Eucharist Rite II at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Chapel by the Lake, Carretera #10, Chula Vista, Ajijic. Father Danny Borkowski’s sermon topic is “Idolatry” based on Luke 12:13-21. Christ Church and the Little Chapel by the Lake share a common fellowship time between their two services in the Fellowship Hall of the Little Chapel from about 10:30 till 11:15 a.m.. This is the first Sunday of the month, so Christ Church and the Little Chapel by the Lake have a joint potluck luncheon after the 11:15 service of the Little Chapel. The them this month is BBQ.

St. Andrews

I — Me — My — Mine. References to ourselves populate our conversations more than any other; we are the stars of our own lives, the stars around which everything. Until finally a voice comes from outside of us, addressing us: “You...fool!” And when that turns out to be God’s voice, only then, too late, do we come to understand that all the things we have considered to be “ours” are in fact gifts that will not accompany us into eternity. Sound gloomy? It doesn’t have to. In fact, this week’s sermon at St. Andrews — “Managing Our Miracles” — suggests just the opposite: realizing we are blessed by God’s miracles frees us to be a miracle for others.

The famed “pick-up” choir of St. Andrew’s picks up again this Sunday! No robes, no processions, no commitment — just show up at the church at 9:20 a.m. and be part of a musical adventure in worship. St. Andrew’s is at Calle San Lucas #19, a block south of the carretera in Riberas del Pilar. Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10, with a time of refreshment, welcome, and fellowship in the Garden following the service.

Center for Spiritual Living

Continuing on our theme of Happiness, Reverend Tim Schubert presents “What Brings Joy?” at the regular service on Friday, August 9, 5 to 6 p.m. at Nicolas Bravo 17. Social Hour to follow. Classes continue from 10:30 to noon. Wednesday is a study of Nonviolent Communication: A Language for Life based on the book by Marshall Rosenberg. Thursday, the discussion group is using the book, “Natural Abundance, Emerson’s Guide to Prosperity”. For those who wish to join in meditation, it precedes this class, 10 to 10:20 a.m.

Unitarians

The Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Sta. Margarita 113 in Riberas del Pilar. On August 4, Sue Kelley will give the talk, “Ramadan, A Time of Spiritual Reflection”, and Liz Moulder will lead the service. Sue will draw from her years in Libya in her talk, which is part of our year’s theme of personal encounters with world religions. A coffee hour will follow the service.  or more information please call 766-1119 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Lakeside Presbyterians

Touch: what makes it so special? We know we have five senses, sight, hearing, taste, and smell, plus touch. The first four are very localized, but the sense of touch suffuses our entire bodies. We know well the warm feeling which comes from being hugged by a loved one.  But what, then, are we to make of the impassioned, urgent need to touch as recorded in Mark 6:53-56?  When Jesus had crossed the Sea of Galilee, people recognized Him, and ran from everywhere carrying their sick on mats. They placed them in the marketplaces, and all begged to touch Him, even the hem of His garment, and all who did touch were healed. Sunday, August 6 at Lakeside Presbyterian Church, Pastor Ross Arnold’s sermon, “Needing to Touch,” will expand on this amazing account.

Sunday worship begins at 10 a.m.; following worship, enjoy a time of fellowship and refreshments.  All are welcome!  Lakeside Presbyterian Church is located on the mountain side of the Carretera, just west of S&S Auto and Bubba’s Restaurant.