Sad News, Happy News in Ajijic

We recently had lunch with a friend in Ajijic, at the Secret Garden. This is a delightful vegetarian restaurant, one of our favorite places to eat. As the name implies, most of the tables are in a nice garden area in back of the building.

One of my happiest memories of the Secret Garden was a dinner last November, a festive Saturday evening with our friends who were here adopting their daughter. There were four or five couples (mostly Irish) who were here doing adoptions, plus all their babies and assorted friends and relatives. We were a jolly crowd, and I enjoyed the young Mexican man who was playing Andean music on his guitar and Andean flute.

Our waitress was the ever-vivacious Fran (Francesca) who spoke English and knew my friends well. I have a lovely mental image of her dancing to the Andean music in between keeping us supplied with food and drink.

My sad news is that Fran died recently. I don't have the details, but she had been ill for a couple of weeks or so, and one day she died, at home. She was 49.

My happy news is that the friend we had lunch with the other day is an American woman who was here about a year ago, checking out Ajijic as a place to retire to, and she loved it. She went back to California, figured out a way to get early retirement, and just came back now to find a modestly priced long term rental. She timed her visit well, on purpose, as things are relatively quiet around Ajijic with all the snowbirds having flown. She got in the flow and had her choice of at least a couple of places that would normally rent for about $600 US per month but were offered to her for about $450. She's signed a lease on a very sweet and private one-bedroom place within walking distance of everything. She'll go back to the US soon to get her stuff, and likely will be back before we return from our trip!