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Last updateFri, 02 Jan 2015 5pm

Barra de Navidad’s weekend in the limelight

A slew of dignitaries will descend on Barra de Navidad next weekend, as the Jalisco coastal town hosts the 450th anniversary of the start of the expedition Mexico-Philippines.

Present at this commemorative event will be Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval and his cabinet, the Philippine and Spanish ambassadors in Mexico and more than 100 historians and geographers participating in a conference to mark the occasion.

According to organizing committee member Jorge Armando Alvarez del Castillo Cardenas, the three-day commemoration will feature performances by the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Chapala, the Youth Orchestra of Autlan, as well as local choirs, and jazz and Polynesian dance groups.

Also in port for the weekend will be the Marigalante galleon, a replica of Columbus’s Santa Maria, which normally caters to tourists in Puerto Vallarta.

Three gala dinners are planned on the Marigalante, including free drinks, a pirate show and fireworks. They are scheduled on Friday, November 21, 8 p.m.; and Saturday, November 22, 5 and 9 p.m. The Friday event costs 1,400 pesos and two on the Saturday 1,250 pesos.

Ticket can be obtained by calling (315) 100-9240 (English spoken) or on the website www.puertodelanavidad.mx.

Among these will be an all-day academic program in Spanish on November 22, held on the Barra malecon, where historians will present papers on themes related to the expedition and its consequences.

The presentations will include titles such as “The Southern Coast in the Conquest of the Philippines,” “The Spanish Language in the Philippines,” “The Biocultural Interchange between Nueva Galicia and the Philippines,” “The Philippines-Mexico. The Same Origin. One Brotherhood.”