Art exhibition
Campeonato de Guadalajara is the name of an exhibition that unites ceramics, drawings, and canvases elaborated with diverse techniques as well as a video produced jointly by Marcel Dzama and Eduardo Sarabia. The two long-time friends had never collaborated so profoundly with another artist in an exhibition. The title of the exhibition came from their enthusiasm for chess. The forum is Travesia Cuatro, Avenida La Paz 2207. Tel. 3615-2694. Entrance is free and the show will be up through April.
Build a ceramic mural
The Zapopan Cultural Institute invites adults and teens to help create a mural in Cuidad Granja made with bits of ceramic. The course/art project is led by Arturo Valdez and will run one month through March 14. The two 65-meter square murals will be constructed at the Glorieta Deportiva that will be on view from avenidas Calzada Central, Calzaca de los Angeles an Calzada Chulavista. Sessions are every Tuesday from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. And every Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. There is no fee and materials are supplied.
“Come” food festival
The first annual “Come” gastronomic festival will open in three main venues in Guadalajara and Zapopan Thursday to Sunday, February 12 to 15. The Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Plaza Tapatia and Plaza las Americas will be the sites of top-notch cooking classes, culinary presentations and recipe and table waiting contests.
France is the invited country and the festival will count on the presence of chef Didier Aniès, owner of a Michelin star, who at the restaurant Le Cap,
of the Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat uses local ingredients to create a rich and vital culinary offering.
Yucatan is the region invited to the festival and many chefs from that state will be here. A Guinness world record breaking effort to serve some 18,000 tacos of cochinita pibil, a Yucatecan specialty, to the public is also part of the event at various points: Plaza Tapatia, Plaza Patria, Plaza del Sol, Arcos Zapopan, the esplanade of the Cultural Cabañas and the Via Recreativa.
Special wine, distilled beverage and food presentations at the Cultural Cabañas are slated for Thursday and Friday and cooking classes with special emphasis are held each morning at the two plazas. To see details go to the website listed below. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
The festival is being sponsored to the tune of 30 million pesos by three main actors: The Jalisco state government, the Jalisco Industrial Chamber of Restaurants and Food Manufacturers (Canirac) and the National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta). Some 300,000 people are expected to drop 150 million pesos over the 4 days of the event.
The festival coincides with the celebration of Guadalajara’s founding on February 14, which will be held in the Plaza de la Liberacion and Plaza Fundadores.
The event is also being held in conjunction with the third Regional Food Encounter, organized by Conaculta and bringing together chefs from Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Nayarit, Zacagtecas, Colima and Guanajuato. This event will put emphasis on traditional Mexican cuisine.
The finales of the two contests — waiters at Plaza Tapatia and home cooks at Plaza las Americas, both February 14, beginning 10 a.m. — will each have a low-cost house as the winning prize.
150 metro area restaurants will join the festival to offer special menus and wine parings.
For more information go to www.comefest.com
New trollybuses
No longer will broken down old trolly buses block the city’s major avenues as 20 new buses are to be put on line and the old trollies retired. While the lines and power boosters are replaced, routes 400 and 500 will be serviced by diesel units. Some 80 million pesos were invested in these new buses (yet to be delivered) that also have the capacity to 
run without the electric cables if necessary. The older white buses have been in service since 1980.
Cheaper taxis
Uber, the taxi company the yellow cabs love to hate, is launching its new X service in Guadalajara. The price of this new service will be 40 percent less than the 70 peso-minimum now charged by Uber’s “Black” luxury auto service and it’s SUV service in more spacious units that charge an 85 peso-minium. The X service cars will be at least 2009 and of mid-range size. Prospective drivers must pass a series of tests, including an exam showing their knowledge of the city, and a sycometric evaluation, similar to that given to commercial airline pilots. According to Uber’s Guadalajara General Manager George Gordon, those users already subscribed won’t need to register again, but can just download the app on their mobil phones.
Downtown to airport
The city’s next Macrobus project will run from downtown Guadalajara to the city’s airport, said Governor Aritstoteles Sandoval. The new BRT route will begin at the junction of Avenidas Independencia and Niños Heroes, where a major BRT station already exists, and advance on Aveindas Estadio, R. Michel to the Chapala Highway and the airport and back to the center via Gonzalez Gallo. Eventually a line will continue to El Salto, he said. Construction should begin in 2016.