05062015Wed
Last updateFri, 01 May 2015 7pm

Laguna Chapalac – May 1, 2015

LCS news 

The Lake Chapala Society is hosting a Summer Fashion Show showcasing trends and attire from Cugini’s Boutique on Thursday, May 30, 3 p.m.

Drinks and appetizers will be available at the event to be held on the LCS campus with a ticket price of 150 pesos. The proceeds from the show will benefit LCS’ community education programs. 

Models from the lakeside business community will walk the runway in Diana Martin’s award-winning Dunes line for men, Mi Caprico, wearing great original jewelry.  While Martin continues to feature a 100-percent Mexican essence in her designs, she has expanded her range to appeal to markets in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hawaii, Chile, Japan, France and Spain. Martin has twice received Mexico’s National Exportation award from the country’s president. 

Those wishing to attend are urged to buy tickets early at the LCS office or Cugini’s Boutique located at Morelos 15 in Ajijic. 

During the next visit to the LCS grounds, stop by the Chillin’ Café. The café is adding to the menu each week. There’s wifi for laptops or tablets, hamburgers, fries, sandwiches, onion rings, salads and milk shakes, all in the beautiful gardens of the LCS. 

Chillin’ Café  is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, they are open from 9 a.m. until noon. 

Chapala’s town hall

The long-abandoned historic building that once housed Chapala’s town hall is almost ready for a second life as a cultural center. Work crews continued this week finishing details on the new auditorium under construction at the rear of the structure. The new installations include a spiral staircase and elevator for access to an upper story art exhibit space and workshop salons.

Dog Class 

Art Hess, known better locally as “Art, the Dog Guy,” is hosting the last series of dog obedience classes until the fall beginning Sunday, May 10, 10:30 a.m. at Free Spirit Dog Play Park, Ramon Corona 166 in San Antonio Tlayacapan. 

There will be five weeks of sessions for a fee of 500 pesos. Call Hess at (376) 766-3580 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for additional information and to reserve a place in the class. 

NCA Bazar

Los Niños de Chapala y Ajijic (NCA) performs a needed community service as they continue to work to keep gifted Mexican youth in school. 

With the support of NCA sponsors, more than 225 students are currently attending classes from kinder through university. 

Maintaining the program is a challenge. Mexican law allows NCA to only retain five percent of sponsors’ contributions for operating expenses. Other Lakeside charities operate with volunteer help, but NCA must employ a bilingual student liaison to interface with students, families and sponsors, and an accountant to report to government agencies. All other tasks are performed by NCA volunteers.

To fill this overhead gap, the group holds fund-raising events. The essential contributor that keeps the business end going is the NCA Bazar on the mountain side of the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar, across from the 7-11 store. NCA is in the middle of the cluster of three shops there. 

The Bazar is currently loaded with good items for sale at good prices. But there is always room for other donations. Recent offerings have included dining room suites, TVs, original art, golf clubs, a gym set, Oneida china, rattan furniture, appliances, books, books and more books, and fashion items. 

Stop in, take a look, and bring some items you can donate – for the love of education.

Touching the Present

Twice each year Heart of Awareness Community sponsors a workshop with sessions streamed live from Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. This spring’s session, “Touching the Present,” is scheduled for Friday, May 29; Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31. The 300-peso fee for the three-day workshop includes brunch following the final session. 

The featured speaker is Pema Chödrön, a notable U.S. figure in Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she is an author and ordained nun. 

The workshop will be held at Guadalupe Victoria 101 A-B in Ajijic. Visit the Heart of Awareness website at heartofawareness.org for information. Register via email to 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..

The Little Chapel

The interdenominational congregation of the Little Chapel by the Lake begins its worship schedule at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 3 with refreshments and fellowship shared with Christ Church Lakeside. During the 11:15 a.m. worship service, Rev. Gene Raymer’s focuses on forgiveness. He says: “Forgiveness benefits the forgiver as much or more than the forgiven. This week we look at how to remove some of the obstacles to forgiving.” 

The congregation donates beans and rice on the first Sunday of the month. The menu staples are taken to the Love in Action shelter.

As usual, the service of fellowship will continue at a local restaurant. 

The Little Chapel by the Lake is located on the mountain side of the Carretera just east of the golf course in Chula Vista. To learn more about the church visit LCBTL on Facebook. 

San Andres English

“When, like St. Paul, we ‘believe in the name of Jesus Christ,’ God lives in us and we in him,” says Fr. Basil G. Royston, D.Min. “We become branches of the true vine, Jesus Christ.” 

Royston will speak of how followers can become parts of the vine during the Sunday, May 3, 9 a.m. English Mass in the San Andrés, the Ajijic Parish Church. 

On the first Sunday of each month members of the English-speaking congregation bring a variety of non-perishable goods, cereal, diapers, paper and cleaning supplies to the Mass as a special offering to assist in the needs of the 30 children who live in the orphanage Villa Infantil de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y San Jose near San Soyatlan.

Lakeside Presbyterian

Rev. Dr. Sidney DeWaal will conduct the worship service on Sunday, May 3, 10 a.m. at Lakeside Presbyterian Church while Pastor Ross Arnold and Carolyn Hansen are on a lecture tour.  “The Wonderful World of Courage” is the theme for the service. 

Says DeWaal: “It requires great courage to live in what appears to be an upside-down world, whether we are confused by personal issues, or frightened by life’s dangerous experiences. It is remarkable that on at least five occasions Jesus encourages fearful and anxious people by saying, ‘Take heart,’ ‘Don’t be afraid,’ ‘Be of good cheer,’ ‘Take courage!’ These were all genuinely alarming situations. The surprise is the reason – the key – that Jesus gives for living courageously in each situation.” 

Lakeside Presbyterian Church now is meeting in their new church at San Jorge 250 in Riberas del Pilar. The Spanish service is at noon. Both congregations meet at 11 a.m. for refreshments and fellowship. 

St. Andrew’s 

Fr. Michael Schirmacher, who will be leading the worship services of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church for the first three weeks of May, will base his message on Sunday, May 3 at 10 a.m. on the idea of “Staying In Love.” The children’s bilingual Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m. The coffee hour and time for fellowship is held after the service in the garden. 

The feeding program supported by St. Andrew’s welcomes donations of non-perishable foods such as beans, rice, pasta, oil and salt. All donations can be left in the baskets by the church doors.

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

Christ Church

Christ Church Lakeside will observe the Fifth Sunday of Easter on May 3 with the morning service and Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament in The Little Chapel by the Lake. Warden Jim Powers will preside and present a message with the theme “Divine Pruning,” based on John 15:1-8.

The congregations of Christ Church Lakeside and the Little Chapel by the Lake share a common coffee fellowship time from about 10:35 until 11:10 a.m.

On the first Sunday of the month, the congregations of both churches bring bags of beans and rice to the service to help with the food program at  Love in Action.

Unitarian Universalist

The Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.at Plaza de la Ribera, Rio Bravo 10A. Further information is available at www.uuflc.org.

Bob Koches will present “What is True?” on Sunday, May 3. How do you know something is true? Koches will share his personal journey in search of the answer.

Unitarian Universalists search for truth along many paths. They gather around common moral values that include the inherent worth and dignity of every person. They are a caring, liberal, open-minded community that encourages others to seek their own spiritual path wherever it leads. 

Open Circle

The Open Circle meeting on Sunday, May 3, 10:30 a.m. will feature a program by Riberas del Pilar psychotherapist and music lover Jose Raul Ruiz Sanchez, who, together with his associates, present a tour of Mexico’s musical history from the Aztec poetry of pre-Hispanic times through the country’s many cultural and social changes to modern days. 

Some interesting musicians will be featured. For example, Chapala-born Ignacio Garcia Realm, a descendant of the Padilla family, one of the first inhabitants of the town. He is an empirical musician, who plays the guitar, violin, Jalisco harp (handmade) and violoncello, and also harmonizes with voice.  Victor Ignacio Garcia Rodriguez is a composer of a wide range of genres, who plays violin, viola, violoncello, guitar, Hindu sitar and the Japanese chamizeng, as well as melodic and Arabian instruments such as the oud and darbuka.

Open Circle attendees meet at 10 a.m. at the LCS for fellowship and coffee and tea with the program following promptly at 10:30 a.m.

Buddhist Group

The Heart of Awareness Community meets on Wednesdays. Noble Silence begins at 4 p.m., followed by a formal meditation, dharma teachings and discussion at 4:30 p.m. The teaching for Wednesday, May 6 will be a pre-recorded talk by Ram Dass titled “Conscious Aging Part 1.” 

The First Sunday Long Sit will be held Sunday, May 3, from 9 a.m. to noon. Those participating should arrive by 8:50 a.m. to prepare for three rounds of 40 minutes sitting and 20 minutes walking meditation.

The sangha location is at Guadalupe Victoria 101 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 the website,www.heartofawareness.org, or call Janet Reichert at (376) 766-6069.