Looking to fill up the coffers of their Community Education Program, the Lake Chapala Society is repeating the Fiesta Latina that was such a hit last year.
Fiesta Latina 2013, spearheaded by Lois Cugini, Sharon Smith, Aurora Michel, Nancy Creevan, Sofia Gregory and Pat Doran, will take over the LCS campus on February 2, pulsating from 2:30 p.m. until dark.
It wouldn’t be Latin without dancing and Graciela Ducet and Alberto Costales (from Argentina and Cuba respectively), Jorge de Santiago and Karin Aguayo and Judit Rajhathy and Francisco Columba will take the stage and heat up the afternoon with their best moves. When the performances end, dancers will invite party-goers up to the stage to learn some moves of their own.Featured artists at the event will be members of Orquesta Tipica de Chapala, founded and directed by harpist Javier Raygoza. The orchestra includes three generations of musicians, most of whom “play by ear” a rich heritage of Mexican tunes composed during the 1920s and 30s. Raygoza has also promised to present the beautiful, haunting sounds of Andean favorites. Audiences never fail to come away impressed by this orchestra’s performances and with a new respect for the Latin musical lexicon.
It wouldn’t be a party without great food, and Roberto’s Restaurant has agreed to provide a menu sporting national dishes from several Latin American countries, including variations on shrimp dishes, chicken, pork, flautas, stuffed zucchini and much, much more.
If great music and good food won’t do it for you, bid on unique items, services, experiences, wine tastings, dinners and more in the silent auction; and enter the 50/50 raffle.
The Lake Chapala Society’s Community Education Programs include a Student Aid Program, helping to support 35 university and technical school students and looking to add another ten deserving students to their roll this year. They provide English as a Second Language classes to hundreds of local folks, provide summer remedial classes and computer classes at the Wilkes Education Center (WEC). WEC also houses a library with more than 5,000 Spanish and English volumes for all ages.
The LCS Children’s Art Program, the inheritor of the famous Neill James art program, provides art lessons and classes to more than 50 local children, many of whom are on their way to becoming professional artists, keeping Ajijic at the forefront of art centers in Mexico. The kids not only get rudimentary instruction in art but are also taught basic business skills by volunteer artists from the Mexican and foreign community. (Look for their art on sale at the Fiesta.)
Tickets for this event are 450 pesos and include all the entertainment, food, fun and dancing you can manage, along with a free margarita. It’ll be an afternoon you’ll never forget, and all of the proceeds from the event will go toward the educations of literally hundreds of students participating in the LCS’s education programs.
Purchase tickets at the Lake Chapala Society located at the corner of Ramon Corona and 16 de Septiembre in Ajijic, Diane Pearl Colecciones at Ocampo and Morelos in downtown Ajijic and Opus Boutique at the corner of Morelos (extension of Colon) and 16 de Septiembre. The telephone number for the LCS is (376) 766-1140.