Lake Chapala, the largest freshwater lake in Mexico, is about an hour southeast of Guadalajara and stretches 80 x 18 km (50 x 11 miles) along the border between the Mexican states of Jalisco and Michoacan. A shallow lake (4.5-10 meters), at an altitude of 1,524 meters (about 5000 feet), Lake Chapala is ringed by mountains and comprises a number of villages around its shores. The towns of Chapala and Ajijic, among others, are a tourist and retirement destination for North-of-the-Border Americans and Canadians who flock there to flee the cold but often stay to form the core of a full-time ex-patriot community.

Last updated on July 22, 2010 by Editor