Roadblocks continue to the north; Performances around town; Heart disease is the biggest killer; El Valle parish celebrate its 173rd anniversary

Bored?
Agenda –
4/10:
10-17:00 – Exposition, sale and exchange of antiquities El Vado – Casa Patrimonial Municipal de la Lira.
15:00 – Festival de Arte Cholas Cuencanas – Glorieta de Parque Calderón.
9:00 – Fiesta del Adulto Mayor & election of the Cholita & Cholito “Años de Oro & ll (?) – Glorieta de Sinincay.

Escenarios listos para el arte – The new edition of the Festival Escenarios del Mundo, will be in Cuenca from the 8-20 de octubre with 7 countries participating in about 60 events in different formats including theater, circus, dance, mime and puppetry. Most of the performances will be in the Teatro Pumapungo with open air events in the Parque Calderón, Parque de la Madre, El Vado and Turi, and other programs in the parishes of Azuay. The opening will be el miércoles, 8/10 with a parade starting at 18:00 from Parque Calderón to the Teatro Pumapungo with the official inauguration a las 20:00. This edition will see the premier of dolls 3 meters tall <Sounds like Carnaval parade figures in the Caribbean.> made by local students and artists with the participation of about 100 actors on the stage.

Cuenca’s International Theater festival kciks off.

The inaugural work will be “La Derniére Danse de Brigitte” from the Catalan company ‘Zero en Conducta.’ It will combine theater, mime and puppets to address death and memory. <Well, my memory is on its last legs, and will probably die completely sooner rather than later. One of these days I probably won’t remember who’s portrait it is in the frame above the bathroom sink.> The program also highlights several Ecuadorian groups including Círculo de Artes Escénicas with the play, “Impulso irresistible, Bobit vs Bobit” which reflects on media sensationalism. <Are we talking about Lorena Bobit who gave in to an impulse, took the result of that impulse, got in a car, threw it out a window, and gave any man who read about it the chills?> Tickets are available on Meet2Go, at Libri Mundi, Mall del Río, Galería Illescas, CuGallery and the box office of the Teatro Pumapungo on the days of the festival.

Cicleada UCuenca – The U. of Cuenca is holding the Cicleada UCuenca 2025 mañana (el sábado) a las 8:00 starting and ending at the Balzay Campus. The 8.5 km. route is through various streets in the city and open to the university community. Register on the links in the social networks of the university. 15 bicycles will be raffled to participants.

Fiesta por 173 años de El Valle – The El Valle parish will celebrate its 173rd anniversary with 5 days of parties, music and color. Activities started el viernes, and will continue over the weekend. On sábado a las 9:00, water and sanitation projects will be delivered and an agreement signed to promote similar projects. At 20:00, the Cholita de El Valle will be elected, concluding with a show with María de los Ángeles, Esteban Barrera, and Señora Cumbia. El domingo, a las 14:00, there will be festivals with dancing and bandas de pueblo in the Plaza Central. On el lunes a las 19:00 there will be solemn session in the facilities of the Parish Junta. The festivities will end el viernes, 10/10, with a festival of local music a las 20:00 in the Plaza Central.

Curious?
Cuenca conecta con Galápagos – Next week, a technical round table will end to continue the process of starting an air route Cuenca-Quito-Baltra (Galápagos)-Cuenca-Quito. In abril, 2024, LATAM Ecuador requested the Consejo Nacional de Aviación Civil (CNAC) to operate this route twice a week. First, the Consejo de Gobierno del Régimen Especial de Galápagos (CGREG) had to approve the request, which it did at first. But at the same time, another request for the same route came in from a different airline as well as an alert from Unesco which recommended reinforcing controls to protect the islands from the growth of visitors and unregulated lodgings on digital platforms. In junio, 2025, Unesco warned that if these conditions weren’t managed, the Galápagos could confront future observations that could compromise its designation as a World Natural Heritage Site. Because of this, the round table was reconvened with the Corporación Aeroportuaria de Cuenca (Corpac) and CGREG to define a roadmap so that CGREG could grant a definite authorization, and pass the procedure to CNAC with the hope that the route will be approved before the end of the year. Once finalized, tourists could travel directly from the Galápagos to Cuenca. Prices haven’t been determined which is in the purview of the airline. After CNAC authorization, the airline will take a few months before its first flight.

Restringen el paso de tanqueros – Road blockages continue on the Panamericana Norte due to the Paro Nacional. <Of course this is likely to be completely outdated news by the time you’re reading it.> On el jueves, protesters from Suscal Canton in Cañar impeded the passage of gas and fuel tankers. Members of the police and military tried to come to an agreement with the community to enable a humanitarian corridor. In spite of warnings that there could be an explosion due to contact with the sun, they did not achieve their goal. <Can that actually happen outside of a movie?> For today (viernes), residents of Santa Isabel canton mobilized for a peaceful protest although they did not rule out blocking the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje. <This is probably not the time to schedule a road trip around Ecuador.>

Cual es la principal causa de muerte en Ecuador?, según INEC – In Ecuador, the main cause of death is from coronary heart disease, taken from data published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC) for 2024 with 7,996 men and 6,475 women dying from this disease. The second most common cause were homicides (6,547); <Sounds like your diet, smoking and drinking are more likely to kill you than your enemies.> the third, cerebrovascular diseases (4,836); the fourth, diabetes mellitus (4,680); the fifth, traffic accidents (4,108); the sixth, flu and pneumonia (3,768); the seventh, hypertensive diseases (3,689); and the eighth, cirrhosis and urinary system diseases (2,609).