Chapala

Chapala is a city and municipality in the central Mexican state of Jalisco, located on the north shore of Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest freshwater lake. According to the 2005 census, its population is 43,345 for the municipality. Chapala is 28 miles (45 km) south-southeast of Guadalajara, on Mexico Highway 44. It is located at 20°20' North, 103°10' West. Although there are several theories as to the origin of the city's name, the most likely is that it comes from Chapalac, the name of the last chief of the Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the region. Chapala became an official municipality on September 10, 1864, by decree of the Jalisco State Congress. In the late 1940s the famous American writer Tennessee Williams settled in...