When this email by Gloria Mathai, who has lived in the Lake Chapala area since 1970, was forwarded to me by a friend, I wrote and got Gloria’s permission to post it here on my blog. She has seen a lot!

In my time here, there have been four serious trombas (waterspouts) in El Limon/San Juan Cosalá. The alluvial earth, when it’s saturated, is unstable. That area was studied by ecologists in the 70’s and deemed unsafe for building but, because of the gorgeous view, people acquired permits to build.

One week after one tromba hit high on the mountain in SJC,, my husband and I walked up the crusted river of mud. Looking for the path of least resistance, the river looked like a huge toboggan slide, up one side, down the other, carrying big trees by the roots. Rocks, the size of Volkswagons, were washed down and blocked the access road. Our friends couldn’t leave their house for 4 days. They had a meter of mud throughout the house and the swimming pool filled. The huge vertical scar remained up the mountain for years.

In Mescala, east of Chapala, there was a killer (people drowned in their beds) that struck in the night and washed out the access road. People in Ajijic and Chapala sent canned foods and blankets in by boat.

In 1982 a small tromba hit our house in San Pedro Tesistan after taking off roofs of houses by the lake. It came up our boundry line breaking huge branches, sounding like a train, opened up the corner of our 2nd story studio and deposited chayote vines from the farm next door inside. We couldn’t help but laugh when we saw it, the greenery hanging down prettily. Over 200 tejas (ceramic tiles) which capped our adobe garden wall just completely disappeared. We were fortunate to have such minimal damage.

National Geographic did a study of climates some years ago and declared ours are to be the 2nd best in the world! The 1st? Kenya, Africa. I feel I am fortunate to have lived here happily since 1970.