Downtown Guadalajara has never looked so serene for a long time.  As night began to fall on Tuesday, an uncanny hush had descended over el Centro’s plazas, pedestrian precincts and sidewalks. The eerie stillness prevailed wherever you looked: the quaint gardens outside the San Francisco and Aranzazu churches; the Liberacion, Tapatia, Fundadores, Universidad and Guadalajara plazas; the Zaragoza, Ramon Corona, Pedro Loza and Morelos walkways.

Shoppers won’t be the only eagle-eyed people out and about this long holiday weekend as retailers offer a bevy of discounts in Buen Fin –  Mexico’s equivalent to Black Friday.

An abandoned swimming pool that has become a magnet for local gangs and drug addicts will be the first project in Guadalajara Mayor Enrique Alfaro’s new program to rehabilitate public spaces that have fallen into disuse (Programa para Recuperación de Espacios Públicos).  

Travelers on Guadalajara’s subway network rolled up their sleeves to receive inoculations last week as the Jalisco Health Department (SSJ) launched the biggest flu vaccination program in its history.

A man who held up a Guadalajara convenience store with a toy gun was shot and injured by an off-duty security guard, who authorities said “worked for an (unidentified) official from Chapala” and who by chance happened to be in the outlet at the time of the assault.

Stand by for some fireworks in Guadalajara city center next Tuesday.