General News

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.

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.

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.

The Chapala municipal government is sponsoring “Rodando con Papa” (Riding with Dad), a cultural festival of tourism and motorcycles on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on the Ajijic Malecon. 

The Ajijic malecon will be the site of a gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts celebrating Father’s Day, Sunday, June 18.

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 en Globo, lakeside’s first ever hot-air balloon festival, went on as scheduled May 26-28, despite detrimental weather that hampered both the main attraction and some collateral activities. 

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.

Residents of the westside Ajijic subdivisions Villa Nova and Rancho del Oro who are less than satisfied with the speed of Telemex Infinitum internet service may be interested in a promising proposal launched by one of their neighbors.