In this monthly series, we republish a few of the headlines from our July editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1969
Big Top a reality here
Foreign visitors here can have a barrel of fun attending the many circuses which come annually to Guadalajara and Lake Chapala towns.
This writer has become a buff on Mexican circos. They have not succumbed to the merger pattern of the United States. More than 40 of them – large, medium and small – barnstorm the republic the year round. There are no three-ringed extravaganzas here; all the action is crammed into one ring. They are run with amazing precision for the land of mañana.
The circuses are individualistic, fiercely competitive and entertaining in their bid for the peso. They range from the high class Tihany’s down to Circo Gasca, which plays one-night stands in tattered, beat-up canvas tents and uses sawdust for flooring.
The largest Mexican circus Is Atayde, which is big by this republic’s standards. It boasts seven stool-sitting, jig-dancing lions, nine tigers and a squadron of Arabian horses, on which girl riders perform daring acrobatics.
Mexican don’t care much for hot dogs and cotton candy, but Mexican circuses have color, taste and smell. Audiences always seem to be eating something. The fragrance of hot tamales and enchiladas permeates the air as vendors circulate through the collapsible wooden stands, lit by butane gas, hawking their wares. But if one’s stomach isn’t conditioned to tacos, there’s always ate fruit candy. Tihany’s even maintains a cocktail tent during intermissions.
Gaudy streamers in front of the main tent proclaim the star attractions as “the only” or “the best.” Circo Gasca, for instance, claims the only “trained hippopotamus in captivity.” It slides down a chute with his trainer on his back. Tihany’s has a trained dove act, said the be the “world’s best.” Most circuses anywhere are only as good as their clowns. Those in Mexico lack neither humor nor talent. They dress in typical American clown garb: painted faces, false red wigs and shoes two feet long, but here the resemblance ends.
Their routines are vastly different. Instead of pantomime comedy, they work with a microphone, enacting blackouts and skits. Children and grownups alike howl with delight at their dialogues and antics.
Circo Gasca has a 14-piece band with gaudy uniforms that plays through the entire program without a musical score in front of them. One morning not long ago, this circus was in Chapala, which has neither a local newspaper or radio station. The only circus advertising media on the spot are a few handbills and a parade down the main drag, Madero Street. So, Jesus Fuentes Garcia, the ringmaster (one of 13 brothers who own the circus), turned his elephants out to graze in a field near the center of town. These creatures attracted hundreds of youngsters, many of whom had never seen an elephant, even on TV. They rapidly spread the word.
Most Mexican circuses include the standard acts – tight-rope walking, trampoline, jugglers, trapeze numbers, weightlifters, balancing acts and several wild animal acts, but we’ve yet to see a bad one.
By Jack McDonald
1979
Is inflation double government figures?
Official reports put inflation at 20 percent, but sharp-eyed consumers are disputing that figure.
The spending records of one retired couple living in Jocotepec, who live meagerly compared with many expats in Guadalajara and Ajijic, represent an instructive look at the rate of inflation. The figures represent a total increase of 28 percent per year. The rate would be significantly higher, except for several factors: they didn’t eat nearly as much meat in 1978-1979 as they did in 1976-1978; they deliberately cut down on their electricity, even though the rates went up, by confining most of their water use to between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. so they wouldn’t have to use their pump; they made special economies concerning clothing and finally they deliberately cut down on miscellaneous expenses.
Had they maintained the same food budget and not economized in other ways, their estimate is that they would have spent close to 40 percent more in the 1978-1979 period.
1989
Guadalajara Zoo boycotted
In late August of this year, the Santa Ana, California, Zoo canceled the agreed-upon delivery of three lemurs to the Guadalajara Zoo. This may be the first shot in an international boycott of the Guadalajara Zoologico, triggered by its purchase of two lowland gorillas from West German animal trafficker Walter Sensen.
In a letter dated August 14, Santa Ana Zoo Manager Claudia Collier thanked Shirley McGreal of the International Primate Protection League (IPPL) for information regarding the Guadalajara gorilla acquisition. “In view of this recent information, we are canceling this (the lemur export) transaction,” Collier told McGreal.
Guadalajara Zoo Director Francisco Rodriguez Herrejon was quick to downgrade the significance of the non-sale, both as an isolated event and as a portent of things to come.
“The Guadalajara Zoo doesn’t lose anything, because they were (only) going to send us three male lemurs. These don’t do anything for us. Besides since we don’t have this species in the zoo, we don’t have any place to put them and their arrival would have caused conflicts with other primates,” he said.
1999
Deranged man shoots out apartment complex
A man, apparently upset at a loud party going on in a nearby apartment, fired off more than 300 rounds at a condominium complex on Avenida Mexico across form Plaza Bonita Saturday, August 28. According to witnesses, the man started shooting from his third-story apartment around 2:30 a.m. and continued for five hours.
No casualties were reported, but the following morning police enumerated and labeled some 200 bullet holes in the two buildings facing and backing the gunman’s apartment.
“First there were a couple of shots fired in the direction of the party, then he grabbed a machine gun and started firing everywhere,” said Jose, who lives one story below the shooter’s apartment.
During the shootout, police attempted to keep residents out of the line of fire. At one point snipers had the man in their sights, one report stated.
An elderly man who lives alone across form the gunman’s apartment lived through a night of terror as his unit was riddled with 17 bullets.
“One can’t live comfortably anymore after this. I still can’t sleep at night,” he said.
2009
Mass wedding
In Guadalajara’s largest-ever mass wedding, 850 couples exchanged vows before family and friends in the Parque San Jacinto September 12. There was no gigantic cake to match the gigantic occasion, but around 4,000 invited guests joined the newlyweds to dance to live music after the ceremony.