Domingo, 19/2/2017: American football in the park, Dry law violators shut down, U. of C. orchestra performs, Carnaval news

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming agenda events –

Open mic (micrófono abierto – same abierto you see on doors when the store’s open) at the Broken Bridge Bistro (pasaje 3 de noviembre, next to the Puente Roto) mañana a las 18:30.  There will be an open mic every lunes.  (Take your act down to the bistro and see if it flies.  If it doesn’t, they toss you off the bridge into the Tomebamba.  That vaudeville hook?  That’s to fish you out.)

Articles about –

XIII Encuentro de Literatura  – The 13th Alfonso Carrasco Vintimilla Meeting on Literature will open next month, and will announce when the noviembre event will be.

“Revista” – The Casa de la Cultura del Ecuador magazine is in circulation after a 50 year hiatus with a study on “Cómo entender la poesía en un país sin lectores” (How to understand poetry in a country without readers); articles on generational conflict in film, image and representation of customs, and Shuar sound aesthetics;  a story by Eliécer Cárdenas, a log of an expedition by Alejandro Malaspina in Guayaquil in 1790, and a study of CCE’s museums. There is a special section of color photographs of the Parque Nacional Yasuní.  The issue is 416 pages.  (Where do you get one, you ask?  Who’s the publisher?)

University Orchestra – the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Cuenca will include Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons, Piazolla (the tango guy?), the Beatles (the elevator music guys?), Led Zeppelin and others will be on the Symphony’s next program. There will be two performances of Chamber Music next week.  On miércoles, 22/2 the concert will be in the CCE theater in Azogues and on jueves, 23/2 the performance will be in the República del Sur (Pres. Córdova 5-55).

Cineclub – The Network of Film Clubs in Ecuador has a branch in Cuenca – “Catarsis” which functions in the Museo Pumapungo. The Cineclub is interested in democratizing and promoting alternative film so that it’s seen in the barrios, museums and high schools and not just in art film houses.  (No, we are not talking about “art film” houses with sticky seats and floors, bad lighting and furtive customers.)  The clubs hope to engage a wider public with “films with an intellectual and ideological form that contribute to opening up knowledge and shape us as human beings, independent of language or country; film that talks to people, human and political conflicts.”  (They’re going to have to get the movies into the multiplex where there’s popcorn and cola.  And where viewers don’t have to stick around for a post movie analysis.)

Libro – “El amor y otros valores” (Love and other values) by Román Izquierdo Beltrán was presented in the CCE.  To contact the author go to romizbel@hotmail.com.

Otras cosas – 

Titular –  Día de decisiones en Ecuador (Day of decisions in Ecuador) – The only requirement to vote is your cedula.  And the offices of the Registro Civil are open today.  (Just in case you were supposed to renew it last month and didn’t.) 12,816,698 Ecuadorians will be voting today.  See the CHL article for more details.

Most valuable brands – A list of the 50 most valuable brands in Latin America was announced.  Their value has declined by 22% from $131,900 million in 2015 to $103,395 m in 2017.  5 of the top 10 brands are beer – Skol & Brahma from Brazil at Nos. 1 and 6, Aguila from Colombia at No. 8, and Corona and Modelo from Mexico at Nos. 2 & 9.  The others in the top 10 were 2 communications companies and 3 retailers.

Penal Law Reform – One of the reforms of the law sent to the National Assembly is the proposal for sanctioning consumption of narcotics in public spaces with 2-6 mo. in jail.  (So down on the riverbank would not be the best place to pull out your bong if this passes.)

Odebrecht – The latest documents declassified by the Dept of Justice does not contain a list of those Ecuadorians involved in the bribery scandal.  (Is that the Justice Dept’s way of staying out of Ecuadorian elections?  Or are they holding onto info. that could be harmful to their chosen one?)

Dry law – A couple of bars and a “speakeasy” were closed and fined for selling alcohol, and a few drinkers were caught and fined 50% of the basic salary. ($187.50)  (I think I dodged a bullet there.)

Orthodontics – The specialization program in Orthodontics in the Department of Dentistry at the U. of Cuenca has received an international prize.  (So if you need braces, you’re in luck.)

Fundacion Los Fresnos, Casa de la Diabetes – The Casa de la Diabetes is celebrating its 15 year of services to diabetes patients and their families.  (As usual, if you’re interested in an article, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec and turn on the translate button.)

Actualidades (Section B) – Articles about –

Asperger’s – An article about a 14 year old with Asperger’s and his family.

Pekeband – Pekeband is the first band playing childrens’ music and composed of adults.  It grew out of the leader’s graduation thesis in music education.

Happiness – ¡La alegría está en ti, bajo tu propio techo! (Happiness is inside you, under your own roof!)  One paragraph talked about the differences between happy and sad people. Happy people are more altruistic, productive, useful, creative, supportive, cordial, healthy and spring back from adversity faster. They make better friends, coworkers, and neighbors.

Sad people don’t think about tomorrow or enjoy today.  They don’t think about other people, only themselves; they don’t look after their souls or their bodies.  They live alone in a world where there are individuals, but no society;  where there are manners, but no values; and where there is crying for no reason.  (So, as Bobby McFaren teaches, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”  My prayer is to be able to hang around with all of you happy folks.)

Carnaval – The article explains how Carnaval is celebrated in different areas and cities of Ecuador.  Cuenca is bringing back the old custom of Jueves de Compadres (Godparents Thursday) – in large part as a tourist attraction.  The Compadres are selected in a 3 week process and are people who are well known in the country.  The public celebration will be Thu. night in parque Calderón with espuma (foam – it’s also known as carioca – like people from Río.).  In earlier times, families would bring a tray with a guagua de pan (bread baby), a jar of chicha, confetti and rose petals to the Jueves de Compadres.

Food for Carnaval in Cuenca is mote pata (a soup/stew with pork loin and ribs and mote).  (Somewhere, there will be the biggest mote pata in the world – the picture shows something the size of a Humvee only not as tall.  Hopefully more info is coming. I’d hate to be the neighborhood stuck with a Humvee full of mote pata no one ate because they didn’t know where or when.)

Sports and health – Part two of an article about hormones and exercise.

Amenidades –

Movies – as usual, go to www.multicines.com.ec for show times and locations.  The following movies opened this week.  All movies (every single one) are in 2D.  (Did the 3D projector break?)
La la land – Sub.
La gran muralla -Esp.  (Is this about the one in China or the one the Mexicans are going to build for El Sapo – or something else altogether?)
La cura siniestra – Esp. & Sub.

The following movies are continuing.
Cincuenta sombras mas oscuras – Esp.
Lego batman – Esp.
El aro 3 – Esp.
Moana – Esp.
Talentos ocultos – Esp.
Instantánea – Esp.

Classes – A workshop for entrepreneurs, “De la idea a la empresa” (From idea to business), will be held on 21,22,& 23/2 from 18-20.00.  Register on Facebook at imakinaconsultora. Cost: $60 for students and $80 for professionals.

Internacional –

Spain – There was a massive protest in Barcelona to which police estimated 160,000 people came, and organizers estimated at 300,000.  Protestors were marching in favor of immigrants and said that Spain’s 2015 promise to receive 10,722 people has remained unfulfilled.

Argentina – There were 2 quakes of 6.4 and 4.4 that hit in the northern province of Jujuy near the Chilean border and in Chile.  The larger was at 9:10 local 160 km west of San Salvador, Jujuy’s capital, at a depth of 19 km.  A simultaneous quake shook Antofagasta in Chile, across the border from Jujay and Salta.

Venezuela – Opposition supporters of Leopoldo López, who has been in prison for 3 years, protested in Caracas while another group in favor of the government marched on the other side of town.  The US is applying pressure to release López, whose wife, Lilian Tintori met with Trump at the White House.  (I wonder if he agreed to see her based on her looks.)

Deportes –

El “Football” Americano – the Troyanos and Cóndores played a friendly match in the parque Paraíso ayer (yesterday).  The “tacleadas” (jugadas para derribar al jugador que corre con el balón – plays to knock down the player who runs with the ball – a tackle) were the hit of the match.  There will be the Mitad del Mundo National Tournament starting in abril and ending in noviembre with 3 teams from Quito, one each from Santo Domingo, Guayaquil, and Portoviejo and 2 from Cuenca (because Cuenca’s got a bigger pool of coaches?)  There is also supposed to be a university team.

There will be another friendly game between the Troyanos, coached by Todd H., and the Colorados de Santo Domingo on 11/3 in Cuenca.  (The picture shows the coaches and a bunch of guys about as big as middle school players, although some US middle schoolers are pretty dang big.)

Extreme sport –  The 13th Huairasinchi Race will be in Quito from 26/4 to 4/5 and include mountaineering, trekking, rowing, ropes and orientation.  The Élite category has a route of 400 km without obligatory stops, and the Aventura category is a 3 day route with camping overnight.  For more info, go to www.proyectoaventura.com/site/3/section/90/inicio.  Cost: (Be warned – extreme applies here as well as to the sport) $1,700 plus IVA for national teams and $2,500 for international.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne