Aug 072025
 
Wishful Thinking #6: Ajijic Travel Posters: photorealism or photoimagination?

Some curious travel posters, purporting to be ‘photorealistic’ images of Ajijic, are currently (August 2025) listed on eBay. Each is available in a variety of prices and sizes, ranging from $5 for 4 x 6″ to $49 for 36 x 48″. Here is the first of the two images currently listed: This pretty (but fictional) […]

Jul 312025
 
Artist couple Martin and Margaret Dreyer stayed at Hotel Anita in Ajijic in 1962

Martin Dreyer (1909-2001) and his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Webb Dreyer (1911-1976), spent several weeks in Ajijic in 1962. The Dreyers, both established artists, had opened a joint gallery in Houston a few years earlier. Martin’s entertaining account of their stay in Ajijic is an interesting read. Martin Dreyer was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1909, […]

Jul 242025
 
Mark Coomer and his 1955 painting of a market near Ajijic

Mark Coomer (1914-2004) was a much traveled and highly successful commercial artist whose varied works over a long professional career continue to show up regularly at auction. He jumped onto my radar because of a news clipping from 1955 attesting to him donating a painting of “a Mexican market scene near Ajijic, Jalisco, on Lake […]

Jul 172025
 
Lake Chapala: a magnet for short story writers

The rich literary history of Lake Chapala over the past 130 years is exemplified by the extraordinary diversity of short stories that have used the lake as their setting or backdrop. This post considers some of the noteworthy twentieth century examples. The earliest short story (English or Spanish) set, or partially set, at Lake Chapala […]

Jul 102025
 
Irish-born artist Stuart Phillips exhibited in Ajijic in 1971

Stuart Phillips (1901-1981) had work included in a group show in Ajijic in 1971, some years after he retired from an executive position in Chicago. Details of his art education and training are currently unknown. Stuart Grosvenor Stapleton Phillips was born 6 November 1901 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland to an English father and Scottish mother. […]

Jul 032025
 
The mystery of the Chapala Blade: Ajijic's first tabloid?

The Chapala Blade, a short-lived 1960s’ tabloid, is almost certainly the earliest local periodical to be published at Lake Chapala. It began only a month or two after the first issue of the Guadalajara-based Colony Reporter. Unfortunately, almost no evidence remains of the Chapala Blade. No copies of Chapala Blade are known to have survived. […]

Jun 292025
 
Canadian artists and authors associated with Lake Chapala

For Canadians, who celebrate 1 July as Canada Day, here is a list of Canadian artists and authors who have historical connections to Lake Chapala and who have been profiled on this site. Enjoy! Visual artists Henry Sandham (1842-1910), a well-known Canadian illustrator of the time, illustrated Charles Embree‘s historical novel, A Dream of a […]

Jun 262025
 
Artist perceptions of Chapala Railroad Station (Centro Cultural González Gallo)

It is not surprising that the iconic and historic Chapala Railroad Station, designed by Guillermo de Alba, and completed in 1920, has appealed to so many photographers and artists over the years, and his grandson Martin Casillas de Alba is the author of several books related to Lake Chapala and his family’s links to local […]

Jun 192025
 
Chapala Wishful Thinking #5: Lake Chapala, an Alpine fantasy?

Lest it be thought that wishful thinking about Lake Chapala is a recent trend, here is an early published piece about the lake that I think is a prime example of wishful thinking. Taking into account the illustration, it established a high bar for the many later instances of wishful thinking. Felix Leopold Oswald (1845-1906) […]

Jun 122025
 
Artists linking Lake Chapala to the 1939-40 San Francisco World's Fair

Several artists associated with Lake Chapala attended the 1939-1940 San Francisco World’s Fair, also known as the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. The star Mexican attraction at the Fair was Diego Rivera. As his contribution to “Art in Action,” Rivera designed and executed a mural titled Pan American Unity. This magnificent mural is […]

Jun 052025
 
Pablo J. Villaseñor summarized Lake Chapala for Mexico's 1853 Universal Dictionary of Geography and History

The talented nineteenth century poet and dramatist Pablo J. Villaseñor is best remembered today for his creative work. But, shortly before he died in 1855, he also wrote an entry about Lake Chapala for a remarkable, collaborative, national, multi-volume publication titled Diccionario universal de historia y de geografía. Here, in translation, are a few select […]

May 152025
 
Hair-stylist-turned-sculptor Nina Ketmer lived in Ajijic in the 1960s

Nina Ketmer (1921-1965), a Danish-born naturalized American citizen and sculptor, lived in Ajijic in the early 1960s, following her marriage in about 1961 to Dick Bishop. Bishop had a spacious home at the corner of Ocampo and Privada Ocampo, which had belonged to his deceased wife, Margo, who, prior to marrying Bishop, had lived there […]

May 082025
 
Did Aldous Huxley ever visit Lake Chapala?

Did the great English author Aldous Huxley ever visit Lake Chapala? Let’s take a look at the evidence. A single sentence of Ruta de la Ribera de Chapala, suggests that he did. The book is one in a series of guides to tourist routes in the state of Jalisco, published more than a decade ago by […]

May 012025
 
Prolific painter Charles Engebretson ran an art gallery in Ajijic in the 1990s

Charles (‘Chuck’) Leroy Engebretson painted and ran an art gallery in Ajijic for several years in the 1990s. A Marine Corps veteran, who served a decade in Korea and China, Engebretson was a life long artist who, according to his own estimate, completed more than 8000 paintings and 4000 portraits. Yet, his works rarely appear […]

Apr 102025
 
Pablo J. Villaseñor and his 1851 poem about Lake Chapala

Despite Pablo J. Villaseñor’s tragically short life—he died in 1855 at the age of 27—he has left us some memorable literature, including an evocative romantic poem about Lake Chapala, an entry about Chapala in Mexico’s multi-volume, Diccionario Universal de Historia y Geografía, and a play with its own Wikipedia page. Pablo José María Villaseñor Villaseñor […]

Apr 032025
 
Chapala Wishful Thinking #4: Cart towing a canoa?

This is the fourth in a mini series looking at examples of photo identification and interpretation errors related to the Lake Chapala area. In his article in the February 2025 issue of Estudios Jalisciences, Dr. Juan Arturo Camacho Becerra included this photograph, taken at Lake Chapala by Guadalajara-based photographer José María Lupercio. It was not […]

Mar 132025
 
Wilhelm Schiess and his 8-peso boat trip from Chapala to Ocotlán in 1899

As we saw in a previous post—Wilhelm Schiess described Chapala in 1899—Dr Schiess (1869-1929), a Swiss doctor, visited Chapala briefly in 1899 with his brother, Ernst, and later published a detailed account of their trip. After a quick visit to Guadalajara, and seeing Juanacatlán Falls, the brothers had taken a special carriage from Atequiza to […]

Mar 062025
 
In 1958 Herbert Mangham worried that Ajijic's end was nigh

A 1958 article titled “Art colony in Mexico will be high and dry” focused on whether Ajijic’s artistic community could survive if an alarming prediction made by a Mexican engineer came true. The engineer, after visiting the lake, gave it “just five years more of existence.” Fortunately, this did not come true—at least not yet—and […]

Feb 192025
 
The literary and artistic connections of the Mi México building in Ajijic

There are not many genuinely old buildings left in Ajijic. Most of those that survived into the 1970s have since been modified or remodeled beyond recognition. One exception is the building at Morelos #8, one block back from the pier, which housed (until mid-February 2025) the store Mi México. It is a rare survivor, largely […]

Feb 132025
 
Dwight Furness and his son's postcards of Hotel Ribera near Ocotlán

Dwight Furness (1861-1924) was a wealthy and influential Chicago investor who grew up in Furnessville (named for his family) in Indiana. He arrived in Guanajuato as a 26-year-old—to represent a Missouri-based mining company—before quickly branching out on his own, buying and trading mineral ores. Furness was appointed U.S. consular agent at Guanajuato in 1889, and […]

Feb 062025
 
Wilhelm Schiess described Chapala in 1899

Dr Wilhelm Schiess (1869-1929) visited Chapala briefly in 1899, during a winter trip to Mexico with his brother, Ernst. His detailed account of their trip, with dozens of photographs, was published in 1902 as Quer durch Mexiko vom Atlantischen zum Stillen Ocean (“Across Mexico from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean”). It was well received […]

Jan 302025
 
Fritz Alseth's whimsical sketches of Chapala and Ajijic in 1988

Commercial illustrator Fritz (Fred) Alseth (1924-2006) resided at Lake Chapala in the late 1980s. During his time at the lake, he provided illustrations for El Ojo del Lago, and also for a series of cards promoting the local area, from Chapala to San Juan Cosalá, with an emphasis on hotels and tourist locations. Illustrator Fred […]

Jan 232025
 
Evan Atkinson’s Candid View of Chapala in 1958

Canadian journalist and adventurer Evan Evans-Atkinson (who used the name Evan Atkinson for his early writing) wrote “Candid View of Chapala. An Honest Report on Retiring In Mexico” for the New York-based periodical Travel in 1958. “Candid View” was one of several articles in the 1950s that publicized Lake Chapala as an option for inexpensive […]