The Lake Chapala Society is the social hub of Ajijic's enormous expat community — a private membership club on the malecon with a large garden, a library stocked with English-language books, a café, and a packed programme of lectures, classes, Spanish lessons, exercise groups, and social events. Non-members can visit the garden and library.
It is worth visiting not as a tourist attraction exactly but as a window into the unusual community life that has grown up here. Where else can you find this many Americans and Canadians who have simply decided that a Mexican lakeshore town is the right place to spend the rest of their lives? The garden is pleasant and the view out to the lake is good.