AJIJIC VILLAGE HOMES    

LAKE CHAPALA- A HISTORY

-- by Mildred Boyd

reprinted with the kind permission of El Ojo del Lago, December 2003

It all began when, some 15 million years ago, seismic convulsions threw up chains of mountains to form a catchment basin with only one outlet, trapping the waters of the Lerma River to form the largest natural lake in what would eventually become Mexico. Situated well below the Tropic of Cancer at an altitude of nearly five thousand feet, this huge body of water  acts as a thermal fly-wheel to moderate both tropical heat and high-altitude cold and creates an almost perfect environment for living things. Plants and animals soon established themselves; birds haunted the shoreline, fish teemed in the depths and mammals preyed on both for countless millennia before man appeared on the scene.

    Those first people, possibly hunters/gatherers as early as 11,000 BC must have felt that they had stumbled into their equivalent of paradise. Where else could they find such an equitable climate or such an abundance of food to be acquired with so little effort? Small wonder, then, that they gratefully abandoned the uncertainties of nomadic life. Over the millennia, other wanderers made the same happy discovery with similar results. Easier life allowed specialization, and farming and fishing villages began to dot the 215 miles of shoreline and true civilization began, borrowing bits and pieces from other cultures as it grew.

    Civilization always begets religion and theirs, quite properly, featured a water deity, Michicihuali (Fish Woman), was goddess of wind, weather, and fertility. It was she who called forth the cardinal winds to create fish and could, if angered, use those same winds to draw up towering waterspouts and drive them inland to devastate villages and farms. She was propitiated with offerings of blood drawn from the thorn-pierced bodies of her worshippers and collected in tiny clay vessels with breast-shaped protrusions symbolizing fertility. Thousands upon thousands of such offerings were thrown into the water, presumably with appropriate ceremony, and are still found occasionally in the shallows along the shore.

    By the 1500s Lake Chapala formed a part, albeit a backward one, of the powerful Purepecha empire. Even the Conquest caused relatively little disturbance here. Fish and maize offer no temptation to those greedy for gold and, although Spanish settlers did come to stay, they were soon absorbed and the only lasting impression was made by the missionaries. Four centuries of wars and revolutions, from the Miston uprising in the 1540s to the Cristero rebellion in the 1920s, caused some local turbulence but hardly affected the lives of the people of the lake. There were always more important things; fish to be caught, nets to be mended, milpas to be plants and livestock to be tended.

    Then came a more insidious invasion. Artists and writers from all over the world discovered the enchantment of lakeside living.  Their enthusiasm attracted more foreigners to the area and many who came as tourists fell thrall, in turn, to the siren's song and never left. The growing expatriate colonies did bring major changes. Farming and fishing were still important but many villagers could earn better livings catering to tourists or providing the goods and services demanded by their uninvited, but seemingly welcome, permanent guests.

    Unfortunately, the lake, long the source of all bounty, began to suffer from the neglect and abuse of providing too much to too many. Siltation, chemical and organic wastes and inadequate sewage treatment polluted the waters. The annual fish catch, including the delicate whitefish for which the area was once famous, dropped drastically. Increasing demand, years of scanty precipitation, and most important, impoundment for industrial and agricultural use along the upper Lerma lowered the water level until piers were landlocked and fishermen faced a long hike to reach their boats.

    Happily, that disaster has been averted. A generous rainy season and release of impounded waters have restored almost normal levels and long range plans to reduce pollution are being implemented as rapidly as possible. Furthermore, public awareness at the international level, the activities of the Amigos del Lago, and the guidance of the Living Lakes organization with its perfect success record, should guarantee that we never again forget one simple fact.

    The wonderful climate and serene beauty we once took for granted are the gifts of a unique and fragile ecosystem and will be ours only as long as Lake Chapala is treasured and protected!