AIDS prevention
Organized by the State Council for the Prevention of AIDS (Coesida), the ninth AIDS Prevention Fair takes place in the Plaza de la Liberacion on Saturday, March 24 from 2-8 p.m. There will be music, games and theater, with the aim of teaching children in a creative manner about protection against sexual abuse and discrimination. According to Coesida, 184 children in Jalisco have contracted HIV since 1983. Up until October 2011, there have been 12,364 cases of HIV or AIDS in Jalisco.
Soapbox race
On Sunday, March 25, Avenida Avila Camacho will become a rudimentary race track as 73 colorful and creative vehicles compete in a soapbox race organized by energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull.
Designed by teams of three to four people, each homemade, man-powered car is operated by one driver plus an optional copilot. Since 2000, Red Bull has organized 70 soapbox races in over 30 countries, including Mexico. The 2010 event in Monterrey drew some 25,000 spectators. Sunday’s event takes place on the section of Avila Camacho in front of the Zapopan arches. The public are free to enter from 11 a.m. and the races begin at midday. The three fastest teams win prizes.
International greed
Doctor Nancy Turner Banks, the author of “AIDS, Opium, Diamonds, and Empire: The Deadly Virus of International Greed,” will be talking in English about how countries generate wealth, at the Guadalajara campus of the Tec de Monterrey on Wednesday, March 28, from 4 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. Although the talk is directed to International Relations students, the public is welcome to attend free of charge. The Tec campus is at General Ramon Corona, San Juan de Ocotan in the northwestern corner of Zapopan.
Readathon
To celebrate World Book Day next month, the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) is organizing a marathon reading session at the Rambla Cataluña. Thousands of book lovers will gather to read in full either JRR Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” or Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations.” A public vote (which closed on Friday) was conducted to decide which classic literary work it will be. The winner will be announced Monday, March 26. Since the event was first organized in 2002, 48,730 people from Jalisco have come together to read works by the likes of Pablo Neruda, Jules Verne and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, among others. The marathon takes place at the Rambla Cataluña on Avenida Juarez and Escorza on April 23 from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.