Yesterday when Deb and I were at the LCS (Lake Chapala Society) in Ajijic we signed up for the Red Cross Guadalajara shopping trip. For $200P per person ($16.40) we got two tickets on the bus trip to Guad. The deal was that we were to be at the bus at 09:00 a.m - no exceptions because we're leaving at 09:00 a.m. sharp.

There's really no clock in this house, after all who would need one, there's no one on a schedule. So I imported an "alarm clock app" for my iPhone and set the clock for 5:30 rise and shine. On schedule we got ourselves out of bed, walked down the "back way" - and with a little prodding, Deb consented to try the "local" bus so that we didn't have to walk to the pickup spot in Ajijic which would normally have been a 20 minute walk. So for 6P each, about $0.48 we got to ride to with the locals.

We arrived an hour early (which is always the case for Deb & I) and started up with Susan who was there before us. Susan was nice girl, moved on her own from Denver and she's been here two years with what appeared to be a ton of medical conditions. Albeit, she offered us a drive back to the house on our return to Ajijic, so I could avoid the pack mule thing back up the hill with the Costco food.

The bus trip was great (Terry next door gave us his cooler bag so we could store our meat purchases for the ride home) and gave us a chance to see the city of some 6,000,000 people.
We had 38 Expats on the bus, who typically go once a month for their grocery restock program. The complex where we were dropped off included Sears, Best Buy, Sam's Club, Costco, Mega (Grocery) and a bunch of others.

The Galleria Mall was top drawer, all the high end designer shops including Ferragamo, Coach, Prada and a host of others including Chili's and Outback so very North American. I started off on the right note when a security guard asked me to stop taking pictures of the mall. Despite the fact that I put the camera immediately into my pack, he followed both Deb and I for the next hours or so just to make sure that I wasn't undercover I guess.

We didn't buy much until we got to Costco, but we decided to stock up there and spent $1,650P on a variety of meats and the like. The return trip was a little challenging for our driver with the amount of traffic, but we got back fine. It certainly helped for us to load our hoard of stuff into the back of Susan's car for the trip back to El Dorado.

As soon as we got back 4:45 pm, we immediately had to change to get to the "Meet and Greet" that they were having up at the pool. Our guess would be about 20 couples, villa owners or renters were on hand for the meet and greet so it was nice to meet and talk to them all about their experiences and why they moved to Ajijic. Everyone brought some foods, so we also got a chance to sample some of the local cuisine. While I was there I had Jan look at my leg and she's recommended (she's a retired nurse from New Jersey) that I should get myself to the doctor for meds and inspection because it looks like infection has set in. Her husband, nice southern gentlemen from Georgia has insisted to take me to the local clinic for a doctor to have look - Thanks George - what a guy !.

One the way back down from the pool George and Jan offered us to come by and have a look at their casa, so we went back for the tour and then wine on their Mirador to watch the sun go down over the mountains with their little dog Dee-Dee. I just can keep up with this pace down here - these retired people sure keep busy but with no real schedule or time lines to adhere to.

We've been asked to join the book club, tai chi, tennis, yoga clubs - people have asked me to play a card game called Mexican train, it seems to never stop. We've been here five days and we know about 10 times more people here then we do back in our neighbourhood in Abbotsford.