After an interesting shared taxi ride with a young american army dude...thank god he could speak spanish.....I was finally dropped at the Avila Hotel where my friend Louise would be waiting. Louise and I work as mediators..when I work.... and she had decided to come to Panama when she saw a seat sale, direct from Calgary to Panama City for $199 return. She had booked a couple of months to stay for a month. When she signed on to print her boarding pass this week...

I must say I don't have too many travel 'firsts’ anymore. Usually that is a good thing, but my first flight on Copa Air, from Guadalajara to Panama City started with a ‘first’.I reluctantly left the cosiness and friendliness of the Birds of Paradise condos and made my way the 40 minutes or so to the Guadalajara airport. The series of calamities started as soon as I arrived. I had difficulty finding where Copa Air was processing the fli...

Here's some pictures of Guadalajara and the neighboring cities of Tonala and Tlaquepaque. Public art abounds here - murals, sculptures and functional art (streetlamps, benches) are beautiful and the City is really lovely.

Along Lake Chapala, outside of Ajijic are lovely little traditional Mexican towns that have changed very little over the last 100 years. Every town has a town square with a Central bandstand where Mariachi is played and special events take place. Here are some examples of the towns within an hour of Ajijic.

  Christmas traditions in the Lake Chapala area are all about the "Christ" in Christmas. Not about Santa or toys, all about the birth of Jesus. I arrived for the start of the posadas - small parades that start the 9 days before Christmas and take place in some form in every little village. In the village of San Antonio, walking distance from where i was staying, the posadas consisted of a a nightly procession, starting at dusk each night, consisting of the ...