AJIJIC VILLAGE HOMES
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Canadians Abroad: Southern LightsNoreen and Allan Rose, Ajijic Norine and Allan Rose relax with visiting daughters Lisa and Jennifer on their country hacienda-style terrace. All rooms open onto a vast communal loggia that faces the spectacular garden and inviting swimming pool. The Spanish colonial furnishings are simple so as not to compete with the natural beauty of the architecture and the garden.
Like their friends, the Home-Douglases,
Norine Rose has an acquaintance to thank for finding her Ajijic home. She and
her husband, Allan, the honorary Canadian consul to Ajijic, were repeat visitors
to the Mexican town before buying a house there in 1985. "We first discovered Ajijic on our honeymoon and were so enchanted that we came back over the next two years to rent," Norine explains. Then a friend called one day to say that there was a house the former Toronto couple might like and that perhaps the owners would rent it. "We saw it and bought it the next day!" she laughs. "There is something in the air here, and the people are so congenial. We've been here for 12 years and just love it." The Roses' handsome hacienda-style home has a comfortable, traditional feel. "An upper-class hacienda would be designed in a U-shape," says Norine. "We made a few structural changes to the entrance as well as the wiring and plumbing, and upgraded the bathrooms and kitchen. On the roof I have a vegetable garden of string beans, onions and my own lettuce, but everything is in pots."
The spacious courtyard is frequently the site of informal family gatherings - Norine and Allan both have children by previous marriages - small dinner parties or large fundraising events. Norine spends much of her time working on behalf of the Lakeside School for the Deaf, a charity started 15 years ago by two Canadian women concerned by the prevalence of deafness among children in the area. "We organize garden and house tours every Thursday to raise money for the school, and they are tremendously successful," Norine says. "A reciprocal Canadian grant program enabled us to buy hearing aids for the 37 children taught there. Allan and I live a very fulfilling life here, and it is important to us to give something back to the Mexican community."
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A massive oak door is the entrance to a sprawling
L-shaped loggia bordered by nine stately stone columns. Pine beams striate the
loggia's boveda de cuna ceiling. At the entrance to the loggia a long
expanse of night-blooming jasmine forms a fragrant, leafy wall suspended by
chains from the pillars. This living green curtain forms an extension of the
tropical garden that thrives in the adjacent inner courtyard. Like exploding
fireworks, giant aloe plants, banana palms and rare white Persian bird of
paradise plants, multilhued hibiscus and orchids of every colour surround the
swimming pool. The cries of tropical birds and a fountain's trickling waterfall
add to the atmosphere of Edenic lushness and seclusion. [Norine's collection
of Mayan and Aztec masks, photographs and prints of doors and pre-Columbian art
are displayed on the walls of the Roses' loggia.]
