Have you started to think about your winter vacation? Someplace warm of course, charming and just foreign enough to be exciting and different. Also, someplace close by that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg for a week’s stay and Is easily accessible.
View of Lake Chapala and Ajijic
Jill Flyer, an expat from Chicago, runs Photo Workshop Tours all year long in the Ajijic/Lake Chapala area of Mexico, just a half hour south of the Guadalajara airport. Ajijic is, in part, a typical Mexican village, yet it has the largest number of Canadian and American expats in the world. It is a wonderful combination of old world charm, cobblestone streets, beautiful plazas , old traditions… coupled with many different styles of restaurants, movie theatres and theatrical and musical entertainments to appeal to the foreign expat community.
Female Mariachi Singers -Tlaquepaque
Her workshops are for anyone who is interested in visiting small towns and villages (and of course, the great colonial city of Guadalajara) that are not easily reached if you are not able to drive there yourself and don’t speak Spanish. The tours are for every level of photographer, from strict amateur to serious photographer. You get as much, or as little, photography instruction as you want.
Local Mexican Woman at Crafts Fair – Ajiic Plaza
We can accommodate a large tour group or a small specialized one of 2 to 4 people and will give discounts for organizers for groups over 4 people. You will stay at a lovely B & B in Ajijic which is totally close to everything, including the lake and its new boardwalk, the main street with all of the galleries, boutiques and restaurants and the magnificent plaza where you can eat, drink and watch the world go by.
Fiesta Dancers at Art Fair – Ajijic
Please check out her website at www.mexploration.net. You can see all of her own wonderful photography. Then click on the itinerary section of the Photo Workshop Tours to see the day to day itinerary and a slideshow of some of the places that are on the tours.
Carnival Parade Time – Ajijic
Save November 14th to the 16th for the annual Maestros del Arte, the most incredible folk and indigenous art show in Mexico. Master artists are invited from all over Mexico, and collectors and buyers come because of the astonishing variety of folk artists and artisans. Many of them are featured in the acclaimed book “Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art”. The artists are hosted in Ajijic and so their prices are low. There are wonderful wood sculptures and weavings and rugs, jewelry, pottery, ceramics, metal art and paper mache folk art, and so much more. Plus there is daily entertainment: folk and indigenous dancers, and mariachi singers throughout the three day festival.
Local Woman Dressed as a Catrina Doll – Tlaquepaque Art Fair
Photo Credits
All Photographs Are © Jill Flyer
Jill can alter her regular 7 day trip to accommodate anyone who wants to attend this wonderful event.
Please contact Jill as soon as possible, as B & B’s are filling up fast for those dates.
Write Jill at: fotoflyer2003@yahoo.com or call at: 011-52-376-766-3025. Se habla español. On parle français aussi.
