THE STREETS OF LA FLORESTA

THIS IS ONE SIDE OF THE STREET IN LA FLORESTA.

La Floresta is a beautiful area that has very large lots and beautiful homes.  The main road through the development has this rock raised area with such old trees growing there.  Inside this area are men with horses that you can rent then ride along the lake or in the mountains.  

The Mexican government offered land here - large parcels of land - for little amount or no money in order to develop this area.  Mexican families have owned these parcels of land within their families through generations.  Some of the families did not build on the land and were not given deeds.  Now the property sits in the family but can not be sold, there is literally no recorded land there anywhere or on any map. Just not there but if the owners of the land wanted to build they could - cash only...and no property tax.

The house's in this area very greatly in style but not grandeur.

It use to be that these homes would stay vacant until the family came from Guadalajara to vacation on the weekends.  Now with the expat population so concentrated in this area, many of these properties are full time non-Mexican residence. 

La Floresta is my drive through neighborhood on my way to Ajijic.  La Floresta is on both sides of the Hwy. (2 lane road) but La Floresta is not a village.  There is no plaza and there is no patron saint.

The difference in living in a village and a housing development is that the villages have stores, a plaza, and parades.  Ajijic is a village, San Antonio is a village and La Floresta is in between the two but is just a housing development.

For example at Easter time in Ajijic and in every village there was an Easter Parade.  Not like you would think of a parade.  Ken and I were just returning from the market in our village and in front of our home was mob of people and people on horseback.  As I got closer I realized what this was.  This was a very true visual re-enactment of Christ being pushed through the Jerusalem streets with his cross.  Men on horseback were dressed as Roman solders, the man portraying Christ was having stones thrown at him (wads of paper) and was being whipped (fabric cloth whip) but he had real thorns placed in his skin and he was bleeding.  The crowd was yelling and calling him names.  

Before I realized what was happening to Ken and I we were swapped into the crowd and being pushed down the street towards the vacant lot behind our house.  They complete story was being told but this was too - far too - real for me.  I grabbed Ken and we fought our way out of the crowd to our home.  They tied this man to a wooden cross by his hands and he had a foot rest for his feet.

He stayed on that cross planted in the ground on the vacant land behind my home for hours.  Then they took him down and carried his body up the mountain to a tomb and on and on and on.  The local church in each village would ring the bells together announcing the changing events.  

When Christ rose from dead, the bells in all churches rang and rang and then fireworks from all of the villages were set off.  

I have never experienced something like this in my whole life.