Fresh from his recent appearance at Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, Ricky Martin is heading to Mexico for a highly anticipated performance at Guadalajara’s Estadio Panamericano (the home venue for Los Charros baseball) in March.
Ricky Martin to perform at Estadio Panamericano in Zapopan
Often referred to as the “King of Latin Pop,” Martin is credited with bringing Latin pop music to mainstream English-speaking audiences. His crossover hits “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “La Copa de la Vida” sparked a so-called “Latin Explosion” in the late 1990s, helping pave the way for other talented Latin artists such as Shakira, Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias.
The Puerto Rican musician’s last trip to Guadalajara was in 2022, when he performed at VFG Arena as part of his “El Movimiento” tour. Owing to his immense popularity here, the 2026 “Ricky Martin Live” tour plans to make stops in eight Mexican cities, including Monterrey, Mexico City and Mérida, in addition to Zapopan.
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 9 p.m.
Location: Estadio Panamericano, Calle Sta. Lucía 373, Tepeyac, 45150 Zapopan
Cost: Tickets start at 938 pesos per seat, excluding fees.
Guadalajara’s World Cup qualifying games approach, with extra security planned for the main event this summer
Amidst rumors that FIFA, the World Cup’s governing body, would move qualifying games scheduled for late March from Guadalajara’s Akron Stadium, Jalisco’s Governor Pablo Lemus was quick to quash them.
In speaking about those concerns, Lemus said, “There’s absolutely no intention on FIFA’s part to take any of Mexico’s host sites away.” And concerning Guadalajara’s match schedule specifically, he added, “Not the two playoff matches, or the four World Cup matches.”
Since cartel-related violence swept across Mexico following the death of CJNG drug lord El Mencho, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has reiterated the organization’s commitment to holding matches in Mexico.
This past week, President Sheinbaum herself visited Guadalajara to reassure the doubters. During last Friday’s visit, the government announced a new plan to deploy nearly 100,000 security forces during this summer’s tournament, to ensure order and safety for the nearly five million visitors expected.
General Roman Villalvazo Barrios, head of Mexico’s World Cup coordination center, said that the country’s security plan includes 20,000 National Guard troops and 55,000 police officers, on top of existing staff employed by private security companies.
In the meantime, two World Cup qualifying matches will be played at Guadalajara’s Akron Stadium later this month.
In the first match on March 26, New Caledonia will face off against Jamaica, with the winner advancing to take on the Democratic Republic of the Congo on March 31. The winning team from this series will punch its ticket into the main World Cup draw, joining Group K alongside Colombia, Portugal and Uzbekistan.
In more good news, FIFA released a new batch of tickets this past week for Mexico’s qualifying matches at prices accessible to local fans.
Dates: Thursday, March 26, for the New Caledonia vs. Jamaica semi-final. Tuesday, March 31, for DRC against the winner from the semi-finals.
Location: Estadio Akron, Cto. J.V.C. 2800, El Bajío, Zapopan, Jalisco
Cost: Available at FIFA.com starting at 300 pesos per seat (about US $17).
With reporting from ESPN and Front Office Sports.
Artisanal Mexican chocolate made with love by a native Tapatía
The creative spark for Guadalajara native Fabiola Zorrero’s journey into the world of cacao began on a trip to Europe before the pandemic. Standing in front of a shelf overflowing with chocolates from Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and elsewhere, she was struck by the absence of any Mexican varieties, despite the country’s abundant cacao production.
Back home in Guadalajara, she decided she needed to change that. Zorrero began her quest at home during the pandemic, with no prior cooking or chocolate-making experience.
She bought a small volcanic stone grinder from Colima, along with some cacao beans from Chiapas, and started tinkering in the basement of her father’s house.
Relying on tutorials, research, and plenty of trial and error, Zorrero mastered everything from harvesting to chocolate bar production. During her early experiments, Zorrero learned to appreciate that cacao is a living thing, with a tremendous array of flavors and varieties influenced by the soil and climate in which it grows, as well as how it’s cultivated.
An urban project with rural roots
When Zorrero launched Chocolate Metiche (Chocolate Busybody in English) in 2021, her goal was to produce the most sophisticated chocolate in Mexico. And while her products are made in a bustling urban metropolis, their roots are in the Mexican countryside.
Zorrero works primarily with cacao from Tabasco and Chiapas, two regions where farms are typically small in scale and use natural methods. To ensure exceptional quality, she visits the farms herself to observe their processes and taste each batch of cacao selected for Chocolate Metiche’s products.
Every chocolate bar and drink sold at her small shop in the Arcos Vallarta neighborhood of Guadalajara is made from scratch in a nearby workshop, using only fermented Mexican cacao.
Zorrero’s attention to detail has paid off.
In 2023, Metiche won two silver medals at the Chocolate Awards Mexico. One was for a 75% cacao bar developed in collaboration with the women-led Finca Las Delias in Tabasco. The other was for a 74% cacao bar containing marigold and almonds.
A gastronomic project with a social mission
Beyond her culinary success, Zorrero also sees Chocolate Metiche as a business on a social and ecological mission.
On her Instagram page, Zorrero observed, “Being a cocoa farmer is synonymous with being a guardian of the biosphere. The green areas where cocoa grows are home to endemic species, and the protection of these reserves is vital for the development and well-functioning of the ecosystem.”
On a more basic level, she derives deep satisfaction from the joy and connection her chocolates bring to customers. As she noted recently in an interview with El Mural, “I like this idea that the chocolates I make are shared as a ritual; you open a bottle of wine, prepare some tea and share it with people.”
Dates: Sundays and Mondays, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m; Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Location: Av. José María Morelos 2256, Colonia Arcos Vallarta, Guadalajara
Cost: Chocolate bars start at 140 pesos.
MND Writer Dawn Stoner is reporting from Guadalajara.
