10062015Tue
Last updateFri, 02 Oct 2015 1pm
The Good Life Reporter

Laguna Chapalac - September 5, 2015

Bilingual Toastmasters

The Lago de Chapala Bilingual Toastmasters Club has resumed its meeting on Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Sala of the Lake Chapala Society (LCS).

The group’s administrative year ended in June with the club obtaining the “President Distinguished Club Award” – the highest level in the Distinguished Club Plan. This achievement was obtained because all the members completed many personal and club goals.

Improvisation contests on Monday, August 24 resulted in the following winners: Susana Carretero, Arturo Gutierrez and Nora Hernandez-Morales (Spanish; Maureen Jones, Sofia Gainza and Susana Carretero (English).

Bilingual Toastmaster welcomes community members interested in developing speaking and leadership skills, building self esteem, overcoming shyness or just learning how to communicate with both Spanish and English speakers. 

The group alternates English and Spanish programs with plenty of speakers in both languages. The events start with coffee and conversation at 6:30 p.m. with the meeting starting at 7 p.m.

Lakeside Progressives

The Tuesday, September 8, 4 p.m. meeting of the Lakeside Progressives will build on the group’s August discussion to find ways to help Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign and election. They will be developing plans for support and identifying the top ten issues that concern the group. The Progressives may later include this list in local media advertising. 

Other topics and presentations may be introduced by members. The Lakeside Progressives meet on the second Tuesday of each month at the Peacock Garden Restaurant on Colón in Ajijic. This is a group of like-minded people looking for progressive solutions to problems not being addressed by the major political parties.

Most attendees have an early dinner at the restaurant following the meeting. The group’s Facebook page is Lakeside Progressives. For information, email Chad Olsen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Bus Trips

The LCS is sponsoring a pair of bus shopping trips in September. On Wednesday, September 9, the bus will leave the sculpture in La Foresta at 9 a.m. headed for the crafts centers of Tonala and Tlaquepaque. Those anxious to do some heavy duty shopping can sign up for a spot on the Thursday, September 24  bus to Galerias Mall in Guadalajara, with its adjacent Costco and Sam’s stores. This bus leaves from La Floresta at 9:30 a.m. 

Canadian Club

Certified Fraud Examiner Walt Manning brings 35 years of experience in investigation, criminal justice, digital forensics and e-discovery to his Wednesday, September 9 Canadian Club of Lake Chapala program.

Manning has entitled his presentation “No Nation is Ready for the New Evolution of Crime.” He will help attendees learn about DNA hacking, darknet, robot crime, medical device hacking and virtual currencies. 

The group – which also welcomes some non-Canadians – meets at La Nueva Posada in Ajijic for a social hour beginning at 3 p.m. The program follows at 4 p.m. 

The annual membership fee of 200 pesos is now due. That fee earns the member four 25-peso drink tickets. Non-members attending meetings pay a 50-peso fee. 

Tickets for the group’s annual Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner will be available at the meeting. For more information visit www.canadianclubmx.com. 

Women’s Book Launch

A group of women writers will read excerpts from their stories at the Ajijic book launch of “All Our Words Need Saying: An Anthology of Women’s Writings” on Thursday, September 17, 3:30 p.m 

The event will be held at Restaurant Maria Isabel (formerly Old Posada).The writers are Zofia Barisas, Margaret Van Every, Patricia Hemingway, Carol Bradley, Janice Kimball, Ilsa Picazo, Glenda Roman and Rachel McMillen. The book will sell for 200 pesos at the event or at Yves Restaurant.

Mexican Fiesta

American Legion Post 7 and its Auxiliary are both getting excited their Mexican Independence Day celebration on Friday, September 18 at Morelos 118 in Chapala. 

The Fiesta Mexicana will be catered by Cocos Le Club and feature typical Mexican fare throughout the evening/ The event begins at 4 p.m. with botanas of smoked tuna, guacamole and salsa de bandera. 

For the main event at 5 p.m., diners will feast on all-you-can-eat tacos they “build” themselves from a staggering array of fillings. The evening’s entertainment kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with the Macehuani Folkloric Dancers from Chapala’s Ramon Corona School. The mariachis take over at 6:30 p.m. 

Door prices will include massages, dinner for two at the Legion’s Monday barbecue, a Mexican rebozo (shawl) and more. Tickets for members are 130 pesos. Non-members pay 150 pesos.

Kut-A-Thon   

The members of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 7 are sponsoring a very different fundraiser on Tuesday, September 22 when the Legion’s headquarters in Chapala will be transformed into a haircutting salon. 

The event benefits the Little Blue School House, the Tepehua Women and Cruz Roja and runs from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

A bevy of local salons will participate in creating new cuts for patrons who sign up for appointments or walk in on a first-come, first-served basis. Involved will be Gloriosa Hair Design, New Look Studio, Edith’s Hair Stylists, Crisco Salon by Angel Estrada, Yoly’s Unisex Styling Salon, Hair by Sasha, Innovation Hair Salon and Sara’s Beauty Salon. Clients are asked to arrive with freshly shampooed hair. Following the cut by the experts, the students of the Academia de Belleze and Gastronomia will do the blow dry and finishing process at the direction of the professionals. 

Donations will start with men’s cuts at 80 pesos, women’s short cuts at 80 pesos and women’s one length, shoulder length or longer styles at 150 pesos. 

Stylists who would like to participate can contact Belinda before September 16 by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

St. Andrew’s Anglican

Virtually every word of Jesus in the Bible is a translation. When we suddenly run a word as Jesus would actually have said it, preserved in His Aramaic, we know that the narrative preserving it is important. On Sunday, September 6, during the worship service at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Fr. Winston Welty’s sermon “Ephphatha: The Jesus Word” explores the contemporary significance of just such a story.

Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m., with worship at 10 a.m., and refreshments in the garden after the service. Every Sunday, the feeding program supported by St. Andrew’s welcomes donations of non-perishable food items, left in baskets by the church doors.

The monthly breakfast of the “Company of Gentlemen” will welcome into fellowship the men of the parish and community on Wednesday, September 9, 8:30 a.m., at Min Wah Restaurant.

St. Andrew’s is at Calle San Lucas 19, a block south of the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar.

Little Chapel by the Lake

Pastor Mike Hoyle will be the guest speaker at the Little Chapel by the Lake on both on Sunday, September 6 and Sunday, September 13. Hoyle and his wife, Barb, have retired to Lake Chapala and have been helping at Love in Action in Chapala.

El Castillo Park

Chapala Mayor Joaquin Huerta Barrios joins board members of La Floresta neighborhood association to cut the ribbon at the reopening of the El Castillo Park on Saturday, August 29. Those attending the event enjoyed an afternoon of entertainment provided by the CREM Orchestra and Chorus, as well as two groups of dancers from Jocotepec. Also, artists from Guadalajara displayed their works.  Those who wish to use the park for future art and cultural events should contact La Floresta office at (376) 766-1319.

Lakeside Presbyterian

The Rev. John Whitener will fill the pulpit of the Lakeside Presbyterian Church in the absence of Pastor Ross Arnold on Sunday, September 6. Whitener’s sermon will be “Running for Something That Counts!” at the 10 a.m. English worship service. 

Lakeside Presbyterian Church is at San Jorge 250 in Riberas.  Turn toward the lake at Mom’s Deli and go two blocks. The church is on the right.

Christ Church

Fr. Danny Borkowski will lead the congregation of Christ Church Lakeside as they celebrate the Holy Eucharist Rite II  during the Sunday, September 6, 9:30 a.m. service in the sanctuary of the Little Chapel by the Lake at Carretera 10 in Chula Vista. Warden Jim Powers will give the message, “Puppy Chow” based on Mark 7:24-37.

The Tuesday, September 8 Bible Study is continuing an in-depth study of the Gospel of John at 2 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. 

Christ Church will host Fr. Lino Rodriguez Amaro, the Bishop of the Diocese of Western Mexico in the Anglican Church of Mexico, during an episcopal visitation and a service of confirmation on Sunday, September 13. 

Unitarian Universalists

Helen White will speak to the Unitarian Universalists on Sunday, September 6, 10:30 a.m., when she tells the true story of a young man’s discovery of his family’s terrible secret and his journey to make amends. This story questions why bad things happen and suggests that humans need to find something good in the aftermath.

The services now use an enhanced personal sound system that is helping those with hearing issues during the Sunday services. Attendees use headphones or ear buds connected to an FM radio or FM capable cell phone.

This group is an English-speaking, lay-led fellowship and welcoming community that meets every Sunday on the west side of Ajijic in Plaza de la Ribera (formerly Sol y Luna), Rio Bravo 10A, in a wheelchair-accessible facility.

San Andres 

Fr. Basil G. Royston, D. Min promises to celebrate “our unbounded admiration for the Lord who makes no distinctions between classes of people but make the poor rich in faith, the deaf hear, and the mute speak,”  at the Sunday, September 6, 9 a.m. English Mass at St. Andres Catholic church in Ajijic.

Members of the congregation will bring non-perishable foods and supplies for the children who live at La Villa Infantil and those who care for them. Always needed are cereals, sugar, coffee, evaporated and condensed milk, and paper products. 

New Hope

The New Hope Christian Fellowship will enjoy a special treat when they meet on Sunday, September 6, 11 a.m. 

“We’ve been blessed when Dee Hauser sang for us in the past and we look forward to hearing her on Sunday when she visits our congregation with her husband, Donald,” says Pastor Gene Raymer.

Refreshments will be provided for the early arrivals for the service. As the adults move upstairs for the regular worship service, a certified teacher will entertain the younger attendees with a lesson connected to the pastor’s message, which this week is “Certainty in Uncertain Times.” 

Raymer notes that throughout the history of the Scriptures “God’s children have had the assurance that faith in and obedience to God’s direction will always bring His blessing. We believe that is just as true today.”

The New Hope Christian Fellowship is a non-denominational Christian congregation currently meeting at the home of the Pastor on Privada Jesus Garcia 11. Ample parking is available on the property and along the roadside. Following the service, the fellowship continues over a meal at a local restaurant

Buddhist Organization

When the Heart of Awareness Community meets on Wednesday, September 9, Noble Silence begins at 4 p.m., followed by formal meditation, dharma teachings and discussion at 4:30 p.m. The teaching will be the first of a four-part Tricycle Retreat by Andrew Holecek entitled, “A Proper View of Death.” Holecek discusses the Tibetan approach, including how the right view can transform the relationship with death and dying.

The sangha’s location is at Guadalupe Victoria 101, suites A-B, in Ajijic. The Heart of Awareness is a non-sectarian community grounded in the teachings of the Buddha as preserved in the Theravada/Vipassana tradition. Prior experience or affiliation is not required. For further information on the community and scheduled activities, visit www.heartofawareness.org, or call Janet Reichert at (376) 766-6069.

Open Circle

David Bryen is presenting the program “Brothers and Sisters: Inside the Intricate Tangle of Love, Duty, and Resentment” at the Sunday, September 6, 10 a.m. meeting of Open Circle in the back patio of the Lake Chapala Society.  

“Siblings love, hate, need, and attempt to dominate each other,” Bryen says. “We’ve robbed, supported, comforted, and challenged the others who grew up our nest. An intricate tangle of love, duty, and resentment ties siblings together and this complexity shapes the way we understand and face the world.”  

Bryen’s 35-year psychotherapy practice specialized in the work of the soul, and recognizing the importance of the unfinished business among siblings. He well understands sibling dynamics; he survived childhood in a family with nine siblings.

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