Lake Chapala Mexico (WHAT TO EXPECT)

Hola! Bienvenidos Welcome to beautiful Lake Chapala! Buenos dias good morning Country Collectors. Today we have found ourselves on the banks of the largest lake in Mexico, Lago de Chapala. There are numerous settlements located all around the lake but today we're going to be focusing on just one, the town of Chapala! Before we get started make sure to hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so you don't miss out on any of our future adventures! Let's go. Chapala is located just 30 miles southeast of Guadalajara which makes for the perfect day trip from Guadalajara or even an extended stay. First let's go check out our accommodations. We're staying right downtown just three blocks away from the lake. We found this cute little apartment on airbnb for $50 dollars a night let's check it out. Look how nice it is. We have this large living/dining room, a small courtyard area outside, so many plants, and amazing natural light. A full kitchen fit with a washer and a great bedroom space. Before we head down to the lake let's head into town and see what's going on today! One of the first things you're going to notice when you're walking around town is how colorful it is. It's these gorgeous pastels that just make everything pop! Something else you'll notice around town are these very cool cantinas. I love the old saloon doors. Come on in and have a beverage! Right around the corner from where we're staying are a ton of tiendas. We've been buying all of our food. Especially our favorite, the produce store! They have got some amazing flavors as well as some amazing prices like all these blackberries for 40 pesos or two dollars. That's a BERRY good deal if you ask me! It sure is! Something else we have been really enjoying is grabbing a rotisserie chicken from right here. It's quick and so tasty. A full chicken with tortillas, salsa, and a salad is 170 pesos just $8.50 and we just love it! I know you can't smell it but there is a carniceria right here with some beautiful cuts of meat. Right in the center of town you're gonna find the Plaza de Chapala, and surrounding it are a bunch of restaurants. Let's go pop into one! How's this place look? This place looks great! And we saved you a seat. There you go! We are starting our breakfast with the most vibrant OJ I think I've ever seen! It's definitely the most Naranja (orange) Naranja (orange). Get your vitamin c baby! Orange you glad we took you to breakfast! There's always something! Something we've noticed in town is that a lot of the signs and menus are in both Spanish and English. This is because there is a very large population of expats that live in the Lake Chapala area. Especially in Ajijic where we'll be going next week with you. Make sure to check that one out! The best part of the day! Time to eat! Our food just showed up and I got the omelette especial. It's filled with a bunch of veggies and cheese. And I got the Huevos Rancheros it's two fried eggs on top of a tortilla drowned in salsa! Let's jump in! Huevos rancheros is one of those traditional Mexican breakfasts that you just have to try! And something I particularly enjoy! Mmmm Wow! The eggs are that perfect runny. They fried the tortillas so it has a little bit of texture to it. And you know what else is great? The spice is like a little punch in the mouth! delicious! I could have literally sat there all day. It is so relaxing here! Jose and Isabella who work here, own this place they are so sweet we talked to them for awhile. Make sure to come by and see them. Say hi to them from us and get some of their tasty food! All right well let's keep continuing! We're gonna head down to the lake now come with us! One of the things we are loving about Chapala is how accessible it is. The downtown area is just the right size so you can walk everywhere. We're about to go on to the main road in town that heads down to Lake Chapala. Along the way we're going to see a bunch of restaurants bars and cafes. Let's go! And on the main road right before you get to the lake you're gonna run into the Parish of San Francisco. It is so beautiful! Definitely take a peek inside and maybe you can even catch a service! Right across from the church we saw something that we think would be a very cool way to get around here. Let's go check it out! Behind us here is the Chapala Express. It is a trolley that you can take a tour around the city on. It costs 100 pesos which is five dollars and last anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour. We think it would be really nice to see the city this way get some history. We haven't done it but if you do let us know how it is in the comments! You can purchase your ticket at the Beer Garden Bar and Restaurant right on the corner where the malecon begins. And I can't wait to get on this let's go! And you can see the colorful Chapala sign right behind me. It's a great place to stop and snap a pic! Welcome to Lake Chapala! When we came over the mountains from Guadalajara the other day we were absolutely stunned by its size! It's 50 miles east to west, 8 miles north to south and has an area of 420 square miles -being the largest lake in all of Mexico! It's absolutely massive! One of the only downsides we found here is that it is not advisable to swim in the lake due to contaminants. However it is still so beautiful to walk on or take a boat ride which we hope to do in a little bit. Let's keep going! It seems to me that I've lost Adam. Has anyone seen him? Hey! How you guys doing? I'm just enjoying all of the beautiful flowers you'll find along the malecon. They really go out of their way to take care of this place. It's absolutely gorgeous! Get out of there you pot head! There's a lot of really nice restaurants right down here as well. Look at that papel picado, and what did you find? The best pest, the best pest. The best dressed pig I've ever seen. Wow look at it. You are not a pest I'm sorry I slipped there. You look very nice! Thank you. I mean he thanks you. This is really nice! It's called the emerger and I'm guessing that's a fish that's emerging from the lake. Oh Adam. And if you're feeling a little out of breath during the walk that's okay! We're at 5000 feet or almost one mile so it's pretty high make sure to hydrate. And all along the way there are plenty of benches to just sit down and enjoy this natural beauty! Look at this too, this nice dock we can go out on! The temperature is (perfect). And speaking of the temperature Lake Chapala is known to have one of the best climates in the world. Hence why a lot of people come and move here. Es verdad, I can vouch for that. Every day has been absolutely gorgeous here. It sure has! So right down over here the malecon ends so we're gonna continue back east, come with us! And I know we said it's not advisable to swim in the lake here but they do have places like this. It's called El Quetzal. It's a bar and restaurant and they actually have this beautiful pool right here where if you go in and just have a drink or some food you can enjoy it right on the water! And Marcelo right over here, he works here at this restaurant. He's waving. He's so sweet, he gave us the rundown - very nice guy! Okay Adam what are we up to? I mean what are you up to? So this gentleman right here walks around with this these two little metal sticks and they will electrocute you so they can show how strong you are! Oh my god. It's 20 pesos. He does this, you hear this walking around town. I'm not sure what I'm going to get into but let's give it a shot! Let's do it! Oh my goodness be careful! Oh man that's strong oh yeah! You feel it running through you? Coursing through your veins? Ahhh. WOAH! Okay don't push it! Ahhhh I can't, I can't even bend my arm. Okay let go! Ahhhh Okay okay! Si. Si. Who wants to pay to do that? Was I fuerte (strong)? Si. Mas o menos fuerte? (More of less strong) Muy fuerte? (Very strong) Oh okay yes. He said it, muy fuerte (very strong). Si. I can be electrocuted like the best of them! wow! I'm going to give you a tip if you're going to do that. If you have any sort of heart condition do not do that! He said I was fuerte though you heard him! I don't know he's like.. ehhh.. It's probably true! Right in the center here you're gonna find this beautiful fountain and a lot of people just hanging out enjoying the shade. We're gonna head down here on the dock to the lighthouse let's go! And the shade is really nice but can you hear all those birds? Adam was sitting on a bench the other day and got pooped on. So you always need to be careful where you're gonna sit! Hey that's good luck in some countries! Not this country! Down at the end of the pier in the lighthouse is a mural museum that has depictions of the history of Chapala. You should definitely check it out! But no PIER pressure! Adam was admiring this gentleman's bike over there. This is one sweet ride! So he just came down! Check it out! And asked Adam if he wanted a photo on it! El guapo on mi bicicleta! yeah! Once again the people here are just so nice! You look bad to the bone! Right at the end of the pier here is where you're gonna find the boats to take you on a tour around the lake and to the islands. We have been asked all week multiple times a day if we wanted to do this but, we have been waiting for you! And now that you are here we are set to go! It's 620 pesos or about $31 to go on the trip whether you're two people or 10 so make sure to bring some friends because we save you some seats! Yeah all right let's go find our captain! All right we found our guy, his name is Oscar and we are going to get on the boat right now come with us! Hurry up we're leaving! Don't leave without me! It's nice, nice private little boat. This is nice. We're the only ones, well I mean us and you of course! Yes! We are rocking and rolling! Here on the lake there are three islands, and we are heading to... Isla Scorpion! Well I believe it's Isla de los Alacranes. It doesn't sound as cool as Isla Scorpio! Yeah that's true! So we'll just call it Scorpion Island. And I wonder why they call it that? I don't know but let's find out together! Wow seeing Chapala from this angle makes it even more beautiful! We are getting so close and I am getting so excited! It's right here and I can't wait it! It looks like there's a lot of stuff on this little island. Yeah a lot of stuff going on! We're here! Let's go explore! And look when you arrive you get stamped in it's official. It is official, let's start having some fun! Gracias Oscar! Oh my god he's really getting into this lake like! I feel like I am in the 80s living my best lake life right here! We have one hour to go explore this little island before we have to be back down here at the boat. If you do want to prolong your stay it's about $15 USD, 290 pesos every extra hour. Cool. Well let's explore the island this way first. We're gonna take a little walk here on the shore. We're just hanging out and really enjoying the lap of the water and nature. And I was just talking to this gentleman here asked him if he lived here and he said yes. I noticed that he grows some corn and he was eating a guayaba and he just offered one to me. okay Okay this one's better, more ripe. Guayabas! Look at this. Es mas dulce? Is it more sweet? It's pretty sweet. It's a fruit. Pretty good. Okay he said I can take a peek into his home here look at all this fruit he gave me as well. He's got some fishing nets right here so he can fish out there. A nice comfortable bed. This is perfect! Wow! No nada necesitas mucho para un vida felices? Here I live happy. Yeah, oh I love that. Gracias. And that is why I absolutely love traveling. Those are the experiences that you know I put myself into. He said he doesn't have a lot but he is very happy and that's a lesson that we can all, you know learn from. And it's it's really nice to hear. It humbles you and that's just what traveling does. We hope that you can get out there and experience the world because it's the best teacher in life! All right well let's go see what else this little island has going on! There he is, Afren. Es bueno. Yeah yeah. Bye! Thank you for sharing your island. He is the man! What an awesome interaction. I don't care what else we do today that was just so cool! Love him. Looks like there's a pathway down here to some of the restaurants. They've got a little souvenir shop. And what did you find? Oh my gosh! What are we in Michigan? Oh he always makes that joke! Trampoline time baby! Trampoline on the lake, must be in Michigan! That's right! You can hear that music. The vibe is really nice here. There are a few restaurants where you can come and sit on the water. That seems like the main draw. You kind of get here and go straight to the restaurant have some lunch. There's also foosball tables right here and a little market and a chapel right over here. For such a small island this place has got some stuff going on. It seems like the farther we walk down there's just more bars, more restaurants, more shops. They're selling rubber chickens over here! You may be wondering why they call it Scorpion Island. It's because it's infested with scorpions! No I'm just kidding! There are no scorpions here but if you use your imagination you can sort of picture how the island is shaped like a scorpion minus the claws and the tail. I looked at it from the air before with the drone and it looks more like kitchen knife island to me but to each their own! So there are actually scorpions here they are little guys check this out! Wow and they don't sting? No. Oh my goodness so yeah we lied. Apparently there are scorpions on the island. Good to know. Over to our left you can find La Piedra Sagrada. And this is where the indigenous group, The Huichols would do their animal sacrifices. Let's go check it out. Right off the main path up here is the sacred rock. There's a little structure here, not sure when this was built but inside are some offerings. So it seems like it's still used to this day. And while we're up here with the best view of the lake we want to give a very special shout out to our new patrons! Thank you so much David, Dana and Heather! We appreciate you. Yes we're so grateful for your contributions and just love having you a part of our community on Patreon. If you want to join it we will leave the link in the description below. All right i think it's time to get off this island. Our hour is up so let's go ahead to the boat! Oh. Look at this guy his name is Mariachi the coolest pug name ever! Yeah he's just chilling with this tongue out! This place is so cool there were so many things to do. I feel like an hour was enough but you could definitely stay longer if you wanted to. Let's head back to the mainland and continue the fun! Adios Scorpion Island! Now that we're back let's keep exploring the malecon! My turn! Yeah right. I don't know if she can handle it. I don't think so! Wow when we left on that boat ride it was busy. We're back and it is popping off! Today is Sunday which is known as family day in Mexico so everybody is out right now having a good time enjoying themselves. Let's go see what we can find on the malecon! Right here this lady has some camote. We have never tried it. She's sweet enough to give us a little taste. Adam can be the guinea pig. Oh my gosh! Lo siento! Typical! Si.. (yes) That's Adam for you! Let's see it. It kind of looks like coconut. She said it was like potato. Oh! Oh it looks like it has that consistency! It does. It kind of tastes like a potato but sweeter the salt and the lime are really good. And she's got some hot sauce you can put on it. Mmm interesting. Very cool. Wow and check out this skate park right off the malecon! This place is so cool it has so many different elements to it. There's a half pipe over here, a ton of places to grind. It seems like all different levels of expertise as well. There's people on bikes, roller skates. There's a hoverboard over here. It's incredible! And check this out! Everyone is having so much fun I am loving it! I know we said before it's not advisable to swim but it seems like the locals are having a great time in the water so... I guess I don't really know.. Yeah they must know more than we do! Right here behind us is another beautiful Chapala sign. And in front of us is this long pier out to a statue. I'm not sure what it is let's go check it out! How apropos in a place where fishing is still such a big part of life they have this statue of Jesus Pescador, Jesus the fisherman. It looks like these kids just stripped down and they're about to jump in the water! Wow they're brave! As you can hear music is everywhere! There are people walking around singing, there are bands with tubas and drums. People are dancing. It's really cool! And running parallel to the melacon is a huge market! There's a lot of different vendors and restaurants. We're gonna pop in in a little bit to get a really fun drink we saw so stay tuned for that! And best of all there are food vendors everywhere! You know Adam and his food! That's right Wow and as we're approaching the end of the melacon we see what looks like pelicans right over here. Let's go check them out! And we've been here for about a week now and I can honestly say today has been the most fun and that's because everyone is here! All the local families are out. It's just such a wonderful experience. So if you can come here on a Sunday we definitely recommend it. And right over here by the fountain this guy has like a nine or ten foot python it is huge! Is it a boa constrictor? It might be a boa - it's a constrictor it's one of the constrictors I can vouch for that. I'm gonna stay over here you can go over there. The pelicans are right in front of us but we were just walking passed this restaurant called La Palapa and it is absolutely packed! It looks like the most popular restaurant in town. It might be worth checking out! Whoa! And look at this, what is going on? Something to note, over 170 different species of birds actually migrate to this lake throughout the year. Pelicans are just one of them. This is so cool. They're huge! That's why - right there! He just put all the fish guts in! It's okay guys share! This is like Adam when the food comes out! Hey! Es verdad! Yeah! And I got some fish guts on me so we better get out of here before they come after me! Yeah let's go! And there's some other birds over here they've got really red eyes! Kind of creepy looking actually! Might have been up late last night you never know. They took the red eye! Good one babe! Thanks! Hey just being in the right place at the right time! we just lucked out right there. And watching all those birds eat kind of made me a little peckish myself. Let's head to the market and get a drink and maybe a snack. Oh I like that idea! Come with us. Jinks! Ooo nice and colorful like all the markets we've been to! It seems like it's a little more like a traditional market. And a great place to come and pick up some souvenirs. They have everything from key chains right up to some really beautifully handcrafted dresses and ponchos. They have a ton of bars like this lining the market where you can pick your own cantarito. Check out the cantoritos on this one! And something you're going to notice in this region is they love squirt! It's in the cantaritos that you get. Something you're going to notice in this region is I love squirt too! It honestly is very underutilized I feel like. It really is! These little fish we've been seeing all over the place they're called charales. Yeah. And they come from the lake. They're fried and they spice them or they leave them plain. I'm sort of intrigued and this lady said I could try one. All right give it a try! Look at that! Oh it's like crunchy crunchy you can taste the bones and everything just like... Mmm. It's delicious actually kind of tastes like a dorito! Maybe like a spicy cheeto? That's delicious! While that fish was tasty I could use a little flavor change in my mouth. Let's go grab a beverage and something to eat right over here! Oooo drink number one! Look at this! We got a kinder cappuccino frappuccino! Reuben we got this one for you the little kinder chocolate! And here is drink number two! WOW! I mean it's more than a drink! This is a snack drink. I said we were gonna get some food and a drink instead we got a combo! It's a michelada with some shrimp and we got some dried meat. It looks absolutely amazing! Give it a try. Let's try this! I don't even know what that is I'm gonna try this little guy right here! That's the straw with chamoy on it. Oh that's really good actually. It's getting pretty busy out here you can tell it's kind of loud people having a good time. We had a family join us at our table! It's awesome, it's awesome! And they asked what our youtube channel was and subscribed! Ut, of course! Oh, of course! You dropped the shrimp! You saw him earlier he dropped, oh my gosh, he dropped the potato earlier. That's why I'm not allowed to have nice things! Exactly! I got to try some meat too hold on! Ooo yeah! Some dried meat. Mmm with hot sauce on it! I'm gonna take a little sip to wash it down. Oh and if i want a little sweet at the end, guess what? It's everything all in one. It's my meal, my drink, and dessert. And mess.... And a mess. And I know it's a little loud but that's because everyone is having such a good time! Including us! Have you ever seen a more wild and crazy drink? I definitely haven't, they were pretty intense! And a little pricey they were 310 pesos which is just over $15 USD total. But you know it was like an activity, lunch and entertainment all in one! And we were right on the water which was really nice. And they were delicious! Well let's go head by the lake sit down and enjoy it for a bit. I like that idea! Right here looks like a good spot. Why don't we sit down and have a little chat. Man Mexicans just know how to have fun! It is so true. I feel like wherever we go people just make us feel like we're part of their family or we're their friend right away. Yeah it's it's so special. Adam and I talk about it all the time and it's really hard to put into words... I'm like getting emotional. Honestly I feel so ... I'm getting emotional too. I feel so grateful every day that we're in Mexico. It's really special and we really hope that you can come to Mexico and experience that feeling because it just changes it changes your world and it changes the way we think. It's really beautiful. It's magical here. It really is and it's not the micheladas talking. I think maybe a little bit.. poquito, poquito! (Little, little) But this is the feeling that we get every single day here and if you've been following us for awhile you know that we love it here and this is just why and we just really wanted to share that with you. Yeah I'm sure we've sold you by now. I hope we have. Well thank you so much for coming along with us today. It would have been nowhere near as much fun if you hadn't been here to experience it with us. If you liked this video give us a big thumbs up, comment, subscribe and don't forget to... DLING, DLING, DLING, DLING the bell! And make sure to stay tuned because next week we are taking you to Ajijic which is another town on the lake! We'll see you, next time! Adios!