Back in July my family and I spent a week in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico to visit my grandparents. Ajijic is not glamorous or sparkly in any way, but it’s subtle beauty was like no other (see highlight “mx” on insta, bravelymisc).
Being there with locals probably also had a lot to do with our experience as well. We were all surprised to notice how many English-speaking restaurants there were. The food everywhere we went was amazing. And you’re probably wondering if we had rice and quesadillas or cheese dip with our meals. But the answer is no. I actually had a lot of spaghetti. The first restaurant, Yves, we ate at had the best lemonade my sister and I had ever had. Yves’ food wasn’t the only thing amazing there, they also had two white donkeys who had quite a story.
All the restaurants we went to were so different from each other and always had a neat speciality. One of the restaurants even had gone plastic-free! Another restaurant was indoor but not really because there was no roof!
We took a walk through the vibrant, charismatic town and down by Lake Chapala on horses. It was also 400 pesos for this endeavor which means about 20 US dollars. The townhouses were also very interesting because some of them had names and were much nicer on the inside than one might think.
On our way to dinner one night, my grandfather bought some coffee. And I don’t mean from a store but from of a truck. My grandfather has been buying coffee from this farmer for several years and loves it. We went on to sit down at dinner and noticed that there was a man across the street picking mangoes off a tree with a long stick and cup attached to the end. As we finished up dinner, we stepped onto the strip to snap some pictures and saw a man on the sidewalk weaving a chair.
During our time there, my sister and I picked up a few card games from our grandparents. Our favorite is Skip-Bo, it’s a long game but once you understand you don’t want to stop because you learn more strategies the more you play.
Every Wednesday there is a local market in town where we managed to buy quite a few pieces of jewelry as well as other accessories. Obviously, everything is handcrafted which is really cool to me because I love handmade things.
Overall, I would definitely recommend for people to visit Ajijic. Not only are the locals friendly but also because it’s the perfect mix between visiting somewhere new and exotic. You can also take the time to rest. Sometimes it got a little awkward with all the stares as, clearly, my family stood out like a sore thumb because 3 of the 4 of us are blonde. However, I do have to say that it helped to be with people we knew and were with “locals!”
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