More info on Ajijic's bid for Pueblo Magico status

Things might go well - until they focus on Ajijic plaza, and its newly installed fake Corinthian columns, which might have been looted from one of Sadam Hussein's palaces. At least they weren't covered in gold leaf! Oh well - gold spray paint, same diff.

Axixic wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:I think Ajijic's historical value would be more towards the indigenous people that inhabited these shores?

Where in Mexico would that NOT apply?

Cancun

Defarge wrote:We are currently building a home in Guanajuato City and still own a home in Ajijic. GTO is a UNESCO Heritage city, and if being a Pueblo Magico does a third of what happens in GTO, people need to jump on the bandwagon fast. Trash pick up 6 days a week, bins around town for drop off. Street sweepers daily and throughout the day, even in the more residential areas, not just the tourist locations. Adequate street lighting that is maintained. Security cameras, both municipal and private, neighborhood watches supported by local govt. Beat cops daily, and they are pretty observant and serious about their work. Lots of maintenance and improvements. The mayor is posting daily Facebook updates about projects their cost and their status.  Parking issues are enforced, and in this city that's a big deal. One poorly parked car can really jack up traffic.

I get that there is a big difference in the two places, I am comparing apples to oranges. But, as I aid, if this designation gets you a third of what GTO gets, you'll see a dramatic drop in complaints. And then if you want to gripe about traffic because you need something to gripe about so be it. Getting this designation and making sure a committee of trustworthy people administer it could improve the community vastly.

Totally agree!!!!!!!

Trailrunner wrote:Defarge, does GTO have more than 3 roads into and out of the city? Are they more than 2 lane?

Center GTO is a mixture of tunnels and very narrow winding one way streets. Ajijic is an interstate in comparison.......jaja. On the weekends it is a standstill.

Trailrunner wrote:

Traffic would be heinous.

Do you really believe the designation of PM would bring any more traffic from Guadalajara?..... I doubt it.
It is already a PM de facto for the Tapatios and a new label by some government entity will not make a difference.....IMHO.
With or without the designation, it will be a magnet and probably the same growth of vehicle incursions.

CanuckBob wrote:

Trailrunner wrote:Defarge, does GTO have more than 3 roads into and out of the city? Are they more than 2 lane?

Center GTO is a mixture of tunnels and very narrow winding one way streets. Ajijic is an interstate in comparison.......jaja. On the weekends it is a standstill.

Exactly, a very small funnel (then tunnel ) into a rather much larger receptacle.

slainte39 wrote:

Trailrunner wrote:

Traffic would be heinous.

Do you really believe the designation of PM would bring any more traffic from Guadalajara?..... I doubt it.
It is already a PM de facto for the Tapatios and a new label by some government entity will not make a difference.....IMHO.
With or without the designation, it will be a magnet and probably the same growth of vehicle incursions.

Also totally agree!! Having this designation would/will bring much needed funding for infrastructure, maintenance and possibly policing to Ajijic. I would also like to see them improve the parking area down at the malecon along with better signage to direct people in and out.

slainte39 wrote:

Trailrunner wrote:

Traffic would be heinous.

Do you really believe the designation of PM would bring any more traffic from Guadalajara?..... I doubt it.
It is already a PM de facto for the Tapatios and a new label by some government entity will not make a difference.....IMHO.
With or without the designation, it will be a magnet and probably the same growth of vehicle incursions.

Yes, I do. Think larger than Tapatios and Guadalajara. Think airport, taxis, rental cars, van and bus tours, etc. I've been to 23 of the 111 PMs and they all had these tourism transportation vehicles shuttling people in, out, and around. Here at Lake Chapala we have only 3 lanes in and 3 lanes out to accommodate traffic. Weekends here, and even weekdays here in the SAT gringolandia corridor, traffic is already choked and bumper to bumper.

Have them relocate Superlake/Paz to a huge lot (with tons of parking) on the libriamento and get rid of those two traffic lights......problem solved.

You must not spend much time in Chapala or Piedra Barrenada on a Sun. PM......neither do I.
3 lanes in and 3 lanes out?.....where is there a six lane highway, or are you counting the road west to SJC or east to Mezcala.

Me either, for obvious reasons.

The Libramiento arriving at the WM intersection, the Libramiento arriving at the Soriana intersection, and the Joco cruzero where highway 15 feeds into the Ribera. All of those become one lane in either direction.

And if they widened the caraterra to 4 lanes it would be "Old Gringo Frogger"........best to keep it slow.

this is not happen

Oh OK. Well that's it I guess......

CanuckBob wrote:

Axixic wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:I think Ajijic's historical value would be more towards the indigenous people that inhabited these shores?

Where in Mexico would that NOT apply?

Cancun

Okay, I'll give you that one (though Mayans were there and called it Nizuc, but they died off/left after the Conquest.)

I thought there was a small Cancun village (many of the inhabitants would be of Mayan decent) just off the beach and on the other side of the beach highway. I've been there but can't remember the name of the pueblo.

When they decided to build Playa Disneyland, they brought fill and sand in from elsewhere to put the hotels on and create the beaches with. They either 'relocated' that little pueblo (like they did at Punta Mita!) or when they built the hotel zone it got shoved back off the beach.

The tourist industry gets its workers from that pueblo, among other places, but that was the trade-off for being shoved off the beach. Jobs. Crappy jobs. Crappy jobs that don't pay squat. That was a huge issue when we were there with demonstrations and marching for livable wages. Now, they're probably working for the carteles.

I believe my research is correct that Puerto Vallarta was also uninhabited. There was some human habitation, but disease wiped them out, hundreds of years before the Conquest, and no one returned until the early 1900's to mine silver. The coasts have always been perceived by the Central Mexicans as a dangerous place to live or visit, and the people who lived there were notoriously "hot-headed". Of course DEET, malaria medicines, antibiotics, etc. are fairly new. There was a small pocket of Huichols in northern Jalisco, who did visit/trek to their holy island in Nayarit.

beaches were not considered good place to live until pretty recently in Europe as well.
The riviera became fashionable in the 50´s with Brigitte Bardot in France but before that it was affordable...no more..
Fisherman usually poor ones would live near the beach but if you had money you did not.
My husband´s father could not imagine buying land in Destin Florida that was going dirt cheap when my husband was young.. people had cabins at the beach but they could not fathom living there..
It is not something unique in Mexico..

Beach front living is great day until the storm hits......

ja ja yes I know...

One look at the state of the Ajijic malecon and all bets are off.
The main claim to fame historically is the years that Ajijic was a major drug magnet. People like Timoth Leary spent time here. There are houses around the center of town that are very much part of that. They could have plaques put on hem and the someone could run a tour.
There are diearies to be found on line written by the participants. Great stories.

Where would one find them?

When I first saw the malecon 10 or so years ago it was under water so it looks better to me now.....

The big problem is they build nice things but don't maintain them.

David you have to find them on line. It is not easy. About 14 or 15 years ago I found several. When I went back to reread them I had trouble finding them again and really have not had the time or interest to pursue it.
Maybe I will try again. They were fascinating. It was a very interesting look at life in the village in the 60's.

shana wrote:One look at the state of the Ajijic malecon and all bets are off.
The main claim to fame historically is the years that Ajijic was a major drug magnet.  People like Timoth Leary spent time here.  There are houses around the center of town that are very much part of that.  They could have plaques put on hem and the someone could run a tour.
There are diearies to be found on line written by the participants.  Great stories.

I've tried to confirm the Timothy Leary and Jerry Garcia rumors since moving to Ajijic eight years ago. The only local who claims to have firsthand knowledge of any of it is Katuza, the local witch doctor. According to Katuza, Jerry Garcia lived in Casa Tortuga, which is next door to what is now the Bar Camaleon. At the same time, "los heepees" lived down the street in the house with the giant avocado tree in the yard.

He went on to tell this story: The hippies wanted to score some pot. They gave some guy ten dollars worth of pesos to get them a bag of weed. They would have been happy with a one-ounce bag. Instead, the guy returned a short time later with a big shopping bag stuffed full of weed. The hippies were understandably pleased with their good fortune and gave the guy 100 hits of LSD to pass out to the local potheads, which included Katuza.

As he began to tell the story, I knew exactly where he was going with it. I had heard the same story from an old friend named Doc Stanley many years before. Doc was Owsley Stanley's cousin (the name Owsley may ring some bells for you acidheads out there) and an original Merry Prankster. Still, I needed more confirmation. I asked Katuza to describe the LSD. He thought for a moment and replied in Spanish, "yellow sunshine window pane." Then I asked him in what year this happened. He thought about that for a few moments more and replied, "Around 1970." Yep!

So I think people confuse Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters with Timothy Leary. And I think people confuse Zihuatenejo with Ajijic. Leary did live in Zihuatenejo for a short time but was deported by the Mexican immigration agency. I don't think he ever lived in Ajijic. In any event, I don't think this is the kind of information that will help Ajijic influence the tourist ministry in granting Pueblo Magico status to Ajijic.

If you can't provide rustic charm, interesting drug use history, go for the next best seller - Sexy! Ajijic was home to one of the largest "erotic fiction" (which the F.B.I. called porn) group of writers in North America. Earl Kemp - Greenleaf. Here is a link to some stories of that time, the Mexico parts don't start until the second story.
http://efanzines.com/EK/eI3/index.htm