Expat Living

Catrinas

Day of the Dead is just around the corner and city hall has given its blessing to another public display of catrinas in the downtown area. These are skeleton figures, often dressed in uptown attire, which reflect Mexico’s tongue-in-cheek, undaunted close relationship with death.

Tequila bound

The Tequila Express tourist train will add extra days to its regular schedule during the Pan American Games to cater to the large number of visitors expected for the event. The all-day train ride to Amatitan and Casa Herradura’s Hacienda San Jose del Refugio tequila distillery will run five days a week (Wednesday through Sunday) from October 14 through the end of the month.

New linear park

Cybernauts can take advantage of free wifi access in the new lineal park that opened this week in the central divider on Avenida Lazaro Cardenas, between Niño Obrero and San Ignacio.

Telmex is providing the service in the so-named Paseo San Ignacio, which runs above the new tunnel on the busy thoroughfare.  The park measures more than one kilometer in length and includes some 50 benches, walkways, trees, two basketball courts, a children’s play area and a space for cultural activities.

Sports stars

A selection of local athletes who will be competing in the Pan American Games demonstrated their sporting abilities before hundreds of excited kids at the American School last week.

The athletes, several of whom had studied at the elite school, took part in an exhibition of a range of sports, including badminton, fencing, karate and archery.

Author speaks

Don’t forget that Guadalajara-based, U.S. writer Michael Hogan will give a short talk entitled “The Expatriate Writer” at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Guadalajara at noon, Sunday, September 25, after the English Mass.

St. Mark’s Anglican Church is located at Aztecas and Chichimecas, a two-minute drive north of Plaza Mexico.

World record

As part of the International Mariachi Festival 2011, dancers in Guadalajara set the Guinness record for the largest folk dance performance in the world last week.

A total of 457 Tapatios sealed their place in the Guinness Book of Records by dancing for 10 minutes in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, to typical Mexican songs such as “Guadalajara,” “El Jarabe Tapatia” and “El Son de la Negra.”