Jalisco Governor Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz made a special guest appearance in Ajijic on Friday, June 16, stepping in as padrino (godfather) for the 2017 graduating class at the Preparatoria Regional de Chapala. Addressing the 180 young scholars during the ceremony at the Auditorio de la Ribera he encouraged them to use modern technology without ever forgetting the human side of their endeavors. “Not everything in life is the number of likes. It’s what you can do for others in one-on-one contact that will make you great,” he declared.

Chapala Mayor Javier Degollado has finally owned up to presiding over a trash crisis of nearly Biblical proportions. This week he announced vague plans to remedy a sanitation issue that has steadily deteriorated under his watch, triggering bitter complaints from a growing sector of his constituency.

Lake Chapala has lost all of the water gained by last year’s rainy season — 1.22 meters. Mexico’s largest fresh-water lake is now at 48 percent of its capacity. Although some rain has fallen in the last few weeks, it was negligible, and the lake continues to lose about one centimeter per day.

In the context of World Environment Day, scientists, legal experts and government representatives from Mexico and the United States put their heads together for the two-day symposium, Unidos por Chapala, held June 5 and 6 at the campus of the Instituto Tecnológico de Chapala (ITS). 

Chapala Tourism office staffers Montserrat García and Lucy Rico join department boss Habath Angel Orozco in offering a friendly welcome to their new headquarters located next to the main entrance to City Hall, open weekdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The municipal agency has switched places with the regional branch of Jalisco’s Secretaria de Turismo, now based at La Vela Plaza on the far west end of the Malecón.

Rosario González Jiménez, general director of Jalisco’s Family Development Agency (DIF), sat down to share breakfast with little nippers at Chapala’s Niños Heroes Kindergarten at the June 6 inauguration of the school’s new kitchen and dining facilities. The 126,509-peso upgrade paid through the social welfare agency’s Menutre School Nutrition program benefits 90 boys and girls, who will enjoy healthy meals to boost classroom performance.