National pride and playful spirits will boil up over the coming week as the Lake Chapala area shifts gears for a series of traditional Fiestas Patrias events, culminating with the September 16 commemoration of Independence Day. Here’s an abbreivated day-by-day list of holiday highlights.

After two weeks of speculation and investigation, it is still unclear why Mexican federal police officers opened fire on two alleged CIA agents inside a U.S. embassy vehicle in the state of Morelos last month.

Of the 86 motorcycle clubs in Guadalajara, one is unique on several counts. First, its meetings are in Spanglish; second, its ten members aim to preach the Gospel; third, they have no officers. “We have one president and his name is Jesus,” said Paul Fisher, the club pastor.

On the north end of the city, at the terminus of Calzada Independencia, butted against the University of Guadalajara’s art, architecture and design school, sits a plot of land belonging to the city of Guadalajara known as Parque Mirador Independencia. Now, during the rainy season, this space greens, verdant and lively with groups of dragonflies humming from tree to tree. There are other typical park attractions: a basketball court, swing sets, slides and even an amphitheater.

On several occasions, the Guardabosques or Rangers of the Primavera Forest had invited me to observe the liberation of rehabilitated mammals, reptiles and birds deep inside the woods, but never did I suspect that an event like this would one day take place in my own yard, turning me into the foster father of an enchanting baby fox.

The tiny town of Tlajomulco, well known for the giant impetus it gives to culture via its longstanding program of historical tours under the umbrella of “Rutas Franciscanas” (Franciscan Routes), continues to roll out the red carpet to foreign and Mexican tourists with its popular photographic bus tours and, this fall, horseback tours and mariachi galas, many free of charge.