Lunes, 20/3/2017: Public drinking arrests, AA celebrates 51 years in Cuenca, Phone service interruption, Road work

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Today’s (Mon.) agenda events –

Concert workshop – There was a workshop Mon. on arranging music, spontaneous composition techniques, and vocal improvisation Mon. in the CCE.

Articles about –

Museo Pumapungo – An exhibit, “Cuenca, música y memoria” (all cognates, all yours) is at the museum with a graphic record and history with photos of prominent musicians of the city.  The museum is also updating the way the peoples of Ecuador are shown in ethnographic displays.  (As long as they keep the shrunken heads.  Why are they so fascinating?  Or am I just ghoulish or childish.)

On miércoles, a videogame developed by the School of Arts at the U. of Cuenca with the museum’s advice, will be launched. The game is a tour through the southern landscape to sites associated with Cañari myths and legends.

Libro – “Mickey  Mouse a gogo” by Paúl Puma was presented last viernes.  It’s an experimental book with a science fiction play and a futuristic monologue about a human clone in 2100.  (OK, on to the next article.)

Cine de Irán – An Iranian film series will be shown from today to miércoles with shows for the public at 19:00 in the Sala de Cine in the CCE (Luis Cordero y Pres. Córdova).  The films are “Niños del cielo” (Children of the sky), “La bicicleta verde” (The green bicycle), and “El color del paraíso” (The color of paradise).

City organized events – 

The Día de la Poesiá (Poetry Day) is this martes, and there will be a poetry recital, the form of which will be a surprise, at 19:00 in the Catedral Vieja.  (I think that’s a surprise I’d rather skip.)

Exposition – of paintings and ceramics by Gil Vanegas will open este miércoles at 19:00 in the Galería de la Alcaldía.

New books – “Escenarios del mundo” about 10 years of this theater festival will be presented on lunes, 27/3 and “Las alas del tiempo,” a childrens’ book will be presented on martes, 4/4.  (I’m not translating book titles – if you can’t read the titles, do you think you’ll be able to read the book?  And if you can read, then you don’t need the translation.)

Other art openings – miércoles, 29/3 – “Yasuni, paraíso de contrastes” (Yasuni, paradise of contrasts) by Jorge Chalco will open in the ExEscuela Central (now this reporter didn’t even bother with the Museo de la Ciudad part), and “Mujeres en el arte” will open in the Quinta Bolívar.

(This is an odd article, but it’s on the culture page so I’ll translate/summarize it.) – The Chinese gov’t wants to protect its children from foreign influences, and has identified children’s books as a problem.  Authorities have ordered a drastic reduction of the number of foreign books published in the country.  It’s part of a campaign to reduce the influence of foreign ideas and improve the ideological control of the populace. (The US already has Fox News to save us from foreign ideas.  Do you think this is sort of a reaction to the isolationism going on in the other side of the world?)

Otras Cosas – 

Titular – El CNE hace ajustes para segunda vuelta (CNE makes adjustments for run-offs)

Court – Antonio José de Sucre was put in charge of founding the The Court of Justice of Azuay which was created on 20/3/1822 and was the first one in Ecuador. In honor of the court’s 195 years, there will be the following events:
Mon. to miércoles at 15:00 – a training class on oral litigation. (Step 1:  become very, very fluent in Spanish)
Martes at 20:00 – Teatro Sucre – A comedy, “Aguita de Viejas” – get your tickets in the Presidencia de la Corte de Justicia (Sucre y Luis Cordero).
Miercoles at 20:00 – Teatro Sucre – a musical presented by the Colegio de Abogados (similar to the local Bar Association?).
Jueves at 18:00 – Solemn Session.

Announcement – Phone service from TVCable will be interrupted on 28/3 from midnight to 6:00 am for a software installation. Affected sectors include Totoracocha, Aeropuerto, Ciudadela de los Ingenieros, Andalucía, Empresa Eléctrica, Remigio Crespo, Universidad Estatal, Camino Viejo a Baños, Misicata, Mutualista Azuay, Pencas, Miraflores y Ucubamba.  (If you’re like me, you have no idea what sector you live in.  Or what your parish is – and I don’t think Gringolandia is a parish.  At least I know the canton I live in.)

Public drinking – 1,560 citations in Cuenca were issued in 2016 for drinking in public spaces.  18 were issued over the weekend and the fine is 50% of the basic salary or $187.50.  (Your picnic by the river should be without the wine.  Or at least decant it into apple juice cartons, not that I’m recommending you break the law.)

AA – Alcohólicos Anónimos has been in Cuenca for 51 years. (This is your trivia history lesson.)  The first group started functioning on 20/3/1966.  It all started when Cuencano psychiatrist Jaime Vintimilla Albornoz went to Medellín to specialize and found out about AA.  Currently there are 28 groups in Cuenca and other cantons in Azuay, at least two of them in English.

Road work – The city started work on patching potholes in calle El Batán from Esmeraldas to El Oro today after more than a year’s worth of complaints from neighbors. Av. 24 de Mayo from the IESS Hospital to av. De las Americas was or is being patched as well.

Your sliver of life article today – is about land titles.  The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fishing through the Subsecretary of Lands, will give out some 300 land titles to beneficiaries in Paute, Guachapala, El Pan y Sevilla de Oro. (I wonder if this means that the families who have been living on those lands since before the conquest now have legal title to it.)

Paukar Raymi – Gualaceo will celebrate Paukar Raymi, the festival of flowering, this martes, in the Unidad Educativa Gualaceo (Colegio Técnico) starting at 10:00. There will be a fair and exhibit of ancestral medicine, curing seeds, phytotherapy (had to look that one up – in English), and a ritual performed by representatives of ancestral medicine in Health Zone 6.

Internacional –

Perú – The number of flood victims on Perú has increased to 75 deaths, 263 injured, 4 missing, 100,000 damaged, and 630,000 affected.  Half of Trujillo and parts of Lima are without water service, and the Ministry of Transport authorized fishing boats to transport basic necessities from Lima to ports in the most affected zones.  The rains result from an atypical El Niño weather phenomenon with an unusual heating of the ocean surface off Perú which caused intense and unusual rainfall in the coastal desert.  (A travel companion once remarked he was expecting Lawrence of Arabia to come riding over the dunes.)

US – Pres. Trump’s travel bans have hit tourism, an industry with over 7.7 million workers.  A consultant reported that tourism reservations in the US fell 6.5% after the first travel ban, and another 4% after the 2nd ban.  Travel reservation sites such as Kayak & Hopper have seen falls in sales since the elections in Nov.  (Do you really feel safe traveling to the US?  Confident that there won’t be any hold ups or worse?)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne