The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
As the new coronavirus throws wrenches in projects around the world, well-developed plans to hold a yearly hobnob at the Guadalajara Hilton Midtown for three days in late March had to be modified – “after intense deliberation and with deep regret,” according to Democrats Abroad Mexico chair William Chapman – and replaced with a virtual event, which will probably happen in late May.
Beach Cleanup
The volunteers who show up at the monthly beach cleanup in Bucerias on April 11 will be in for a surprise. Vallarta Bagel World has offered to supply fresh baked cinnamon rolls to the first 25 volunteers who spend their morning combing the beach for items to put in their trash bags.
Altar of sorrows
Although a practice that has repeatedly fallen in and out of favor over the centuries, the creation of symbol-filled altars dedicated to La Virgen de Dolores (the Virgin of Sorrows) has served as a traditional prelude to Semana Santa (Holy Week) for generations of families native to Guadalajara and Western Mexico. Observed exactly seven days prior to Good Friday, Viernes de Dolores falls this year on March 27.
Visitors can view one of these elaborate, candle-lit altars in the Museo de la Ciudad de Guadalajara (City Museum) on Independencia 684, in the city center. The altar will be opened at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 27 and be open for public viewing through Thursday, April 2.
The Lake Chapala Duplicate Bridge Club hosted a Non-Life Master Tournament February 27 through March 1. The tournament was for any bridge player who had not reached Life Master status. It did not matter if the players were ACBL members or not.
Director Debra Matthew is not sure exactly how many years she has directed her group of professional and amateur musicians at Saint Mark’s Anglican Church in Guadalajara in their annual Advent presentation combining nine biblical readings with sing-along carols and choral anthems.
Including American Society stalwarts Maria de Soileau, Bruce Newby and Cliff Esser, these four ladies about to open the buffet line at the annual Thanksgiving Day dinner have almost 100 years of preparing the feasts between them.
Mozambican writer Mia Couto, one of the most important contemporary authors writing in Portuguese, will receive the prestigious 2024 FIL Literature Prize at the opening of the annual Guadalajara International Book Fair on November 30.
