General News

There is no exact record of Miguel Hidalgo’s rousing speech that set off a nationwide revolt against Mexico’s Spanish rulers in 1810, but the spirit is captured in modern day orations that will climax with a litany glorifying national heroes and howling cheers of “Viva Mexico!” on Monday, September 15.

Judging from the eager crowds of users in its first few days, Metro Can, the largest dog park in Mexico, should prove to be as popular as the rest of Zapopan’s Parque Metropolitano itself. 

Hundreds of circus performers concerned about their livelihoods marched Thursday to protest new laws that prohibit animals in circus acts in the Guadalajara municipal area.  City councilors on Monday voted 16-5 in favor of banning animals in circuses.

It’s been a long time coming but new ‘ecological’ buses are gradually being introduced onto Guadalajara’s streets. State authorities hope it won’t be long before they become the norm rather than the exception. The buses, which are running on various routes, including 51A and 51B, 371, 633 and 368, each cost 1.2 million pesos (91,000 dollars). Currently, 290 of the green-painted buses are in operation, 50 of them powered by natural gas. Owners and drivers, however, are pushing for fare increases on routes using the new buses.

Guadalajara has a passion for breaking Guinness records (the biggest tequila bottle in the world, the most mariachis playing together, the most couples kissing at once), and this year’s International Mariachi Festival offered another opportunity.

Construction is inching ahead on the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art La Barranca in the Parque Mirador to the north of Guadalajara.

Chocolate thief nabbed

Ruben Dario Jimenez has a weakness for chocolate that has put him behind bars for the fourth time this year. The 45-year old chocoholic from Colonia Loma Dorado in Tonala was detained by private security guards as he pilfered a chocolate bar on September 9. He had been arrested once late last year and again July 7 and August 4.

The first public hospital for pets in Jalisco finally opened this week four years after work on the building had finished. Problems with drainage connections were cited as the principal reason for the delay in getting the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG)-operated facility up and running.