Chapala rolls out mat for off-beat circus fest
The second biennial International Circus Act Festival of Mexico (FiCHo) opens ten straight days of lively activities with a series of events scheduled Thursday, November 14 through Sunday, November 17 at various venues in Chapala and Ajijic. The program continues November 18-24 with all kinds of happenings scheduled in Guadalajara.
It all started in November 2010 with the launch of a weekly soup kitchen that provided free meals to impoverished families living in Chapala’s bleakest neighborhood. In three short years the Tepehua Centro Comunitario has evolved into a vibrant hub of activity where needy children and adults congregate to receive a helping hand in dealing with the full gamut of troubling family issues and most importantly, gain the practical skills and self-respect needed to overcome the oppressive cycle of poverty and despair.
The Son de Mexico dance troupe from San Juan Cosala opened its three-performance Dia de Muertos show series on Wednesday, October 30, putting on a magnificent two-hour spectacle for the small but appreciative audience in attendance at the Auditorio de la Ribera.
Chapala is all dolled up for the Dia de Muertos holidays with a community-wide display of giant catrina statues spanning the waterfront boardwalks and other central points in Ajijic, San Antonio Tlayacapan and the municipal seat.
Local contractor Marco Zaragoza is the brain behind an ambitious plan to develop an aquatic sports center at the Ajijic waterfront. He has drawn up a basic blueprint of a complex to house a semi-Olympic swimming pool, a smaller pool for teaching local kids to swim, a ramp for launching rowboats and kayaks, a gymnastics platform and dressing and restroom facilities.
Jose Luis “Chelis” Vazquez Rios, the ever-cheerful blind beggar who frequented local marts of trade, died in his sick bed early Monday, October 28, aged 56.