Chapala quietly pulls out the stops for beloved icon
Festivities surrounding the annual summer visit of the famed statue of the Virgin of Zapopan were replete with all the usual religious pageantry, with a few novel twists for the several thousand devotees in attendance.

Hundreds of off-road enthusiasts roared into Chapala last Sunday to mix it up in the mud at the area’s first Festival del Lodo.
Chapala will welcome the beloved Virgen de Zapopan on Sunday, July 14 for a two-day visit that will be enveloped in colorful fanfare and religious fervor.
Christian de la Cruz, a four-year-old boy from San Juan Tecomatlan who was born deaf and without ears, has just returned to lakeside after receiving specialized surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Montreal, Canada.
In response to continuing fallout from the recent electronic music blowout held at Ajijic’s Tecoluta soccer field, Chapala Mayor Joaquin Huerta has issued a formal apology and a firm promise that he will henceforth prohibit all events of that type in the municipality.