Ajijic

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Reads like a promotion. Possible ties to travel agencies and other groups with financial incentives to promote Ajijic. One cited source is literally designed by self-proclaimed "SEO Experts". Please help improve this article if you can. (November 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish.  (January 2026) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Ajijic]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Ajijic}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. Town in Jalisco, MexicoAjijicTownPanoramic view of Ajijic in the background Lake ChapalaAjijicShow map of JaliscoAjijicShow map of MexicoAjijicShow map of North AmericaCoordinates: 20°17′58″N 103°15′29″W / 20.29944°N 103.25806°W / 20.29944; -103.25806Country MexicoState JaliscoMunicipalityChapalaPopulation (2020) • Total11,439Time zoneCentral standard time • Summer (DST)UTC-5Postal code45920 lakeside malecón, Ajijic Capilla del Rosario Ajijic's Plaza, towards Lake Chapala Calle "16 de Septiembre" Ajijic (Spanish pronunciation: [axiˈxik] ⓘ) is a town about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west from the town of Chapala, part of the municipality (also named Chapala), in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. It is situated on the north shore of Lake Chapala, surrounded by mountains. Ajijic enjoys a moderate climate year-round. The population of Ajijic was 11,439 as of the 2020 census.

[edit] Ajijic is located 1,538 metres (5,046 ft) above sea level in Mexico's Volcanic Axis also known as the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

[edit] Further information: Chapala,_Jalisco § Climate The Chapala Lake basin has a year-round average temperature of about 19 °C (66 °F). Due to Ajijic's tropical latitude and relatively high elevation, it is seldom unpleasantly hot or humid. The rainy season begins in June and lasts until October. The average rainfall is 793 millimetres (31.2 in). Even during the rainy season, precipitation generally occurs during the evening or at night. December and January are the coolest months, with nighttime lows just above 4 °C (39 °F). May is the hottest month, just before the beginning of the rainy season. Overall, there is very little temperature variation year round: daytime highs in January are around 24 °C (75 °F); while daytime highs in May range from 27 °C (81 °F) to 32 °C (90 °F).

[edit] Up until the arrival of the Spanish, the region was occupied by nomadic Native American tribes, probably the Coca people that settled the northern shore. There seem to be many explanations, and meanings for the names Chapala and Ajijic, all of which are Native American place names, probably derived from Nahuatl, the native language of the area. Ajijic, formerly spelled Axixic, means “place of water” or “place where water bubbles up” in Classical Nahuatl. Don Andres Carlos and Fray Martin founded Ajijic in 1531 because it had a good source of water.: pg 9  It is one of the oldest villages in Western Mexico. By 1833 it is said to have had a population of no more than 2,000.: pg 155 

[edit] Ajijic has attracted foreign artists and writers since the 1890s. Englishmen Nigel Millet and Peter Lilley settled in Ajijic before World War II and under the pen name of Dane Chandos wrote Village in the Sun (1945, G.P. Putnam's Sons), about building a house on the edge of the lake in nearby San Antonio Tlayacapan. Using the same pen name, Peter Lilley later teamed up with Anthony Stansfeld (an English academic) to write House in the Sun (1949), which concerns the operation of a small inn in Ajijic (now known as the “Old Posada”). These books were written when the main road from Chapala was unpaved, ice was delivered by bus from Guadalajara, and electricity was just being installed. The Ajijic population of about 11,000 excludes the hundreds of visitors from Guadalajara (55 kilometres (34 mi) north) who spend weekends and vacations there. Many retired Americans and Canadians now live in Ajijic, with an estimate that immigrants make up more than half of the population in the winter. The influx of large numbers of immigrants has been received with mixed feelings by the local population. As the economy becomes more reliant on tourism, many businesses struggled when that population did not arrive in full strength due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ajijic is a very festive village with many holidays, special events and parades about once a month. Ajijic's “Chupinaya Carrera de Montana” attracts about 500 males and females from all over Mexico each July for a grueling 13.8 kilometer foot race to the summit of Cerro La Chupinaya (2,400 meters, 7,874 feet) and back to the Ajijic Plaza in about 90 minutes for the best runners/climbers. Hundreds are attracted each September to the unmanned Hot Air Balloon event (Regatta de Globos) where local groups enter their homemade tissue paper balloons some as big as 200 cubic feet. The biggest local event of the year is the San Andreas Fiesta dedicated to Ajijic's patron saint. The Fiesta dominates Ajijic's central plaza and surrounding streets for nine days in late November and attracts the majority of Ajijic residents. On 1 December 2020, the town of Ajijic, located on Lake Chapala, was designated as the ninth Magical Town of Jalisco (Pueblo Mágico) by the federal tourism government.