After visiting Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico we flew over the mountains to Guadalajara, on the way to Ajijic on Lake Chapala, about 30 minutes away.  I lived here as a child and went to a Catholic all girls school learning Spanish to get through.   The school is still there, next to the church, although they no longer separate girls from boys.   It is still a beautiful, cobblestoned village although the paint on the store and home facades seems much more colorful and brighter.   Not too many burros on the street anymore, but riders on horses still pass through.  Many retired gringos are there, just as before, and a thriving art community exists. The cemetery was all flowers, and my father's plot grew irises and geraniums.  His last wife, Irene, from Ajijic, was buried next to him last year.   Their son Juan Kelsey, who now lives in Los Angeles, will soon marry Socorro, from Ajijic, and we spent time with her.   I learned my Spanish is still hiding in my brain cells, as I was able to communicate with her fairly well.  Juan already has 5 children, and Socorro has 4.  So the Mexican Kelsey family is growing quickly.  

I spent 5 days in Bucerias recently.  Bucerias is 30 minutes from Puerto Vallarta.  It is on the ocean and full of vendors.   A bridge separates gringos from locals.   Two festivals were going on at the same time.  Beautiful pastel paintings were displayed on the sidewalk.  The woman in the skeleton costume was dancing on one of them.  The weather was cool and breezy, as the sail boats attest to.