Assembly awaits Moreno’s budget, Saraguro spiritual drink, New safety checks on long-distance buses

Lunes, 24/7/2016

Hola, Todos –

I will not translate El Mercurio starting este viernes, 28/7 hasta el miércoles and will be back el jueves, 3/8.

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Encuentro Binacional de Narradores (Binational Storytellers’ Meeting) – this event will be Tuesday a las 20:00 in the sala “Alfonso Carrasco” at the CCE. Cost: $10:00.

Concierto – The concert “Sin ruido” (Without noise) will be miércoles a las 20:00 in the República Sur with artist Rubén Montoya. <A concert for the deaf?>

Festival de Cine La Orquídea Cuenca – Entries are open for films “En Marcha” (ongoing – in production?) until 30/8. Prizes are post production services from Bunker Sonido and Máchica Films.

La Lira – Entries are due on 31/7 for the VI Certamen de Poesía Hispanoamericana Festiva de la Lira at the offices of the Bienal de Cuenca (Bolívar 13-89 y Estévez de Toral).

Articles about –

UPS students in Saraguro – Groups of students in communications at the U. Politécnica Salesiana, went to Saraguru on an assignment on Intercultural Communication <More of us gringos need to do more of this kind of communication. We may never be “real” Cuencanos, but at least we can stop being a boil on Cuenca’s butt.>. Their assignment was to use digital platforms to disseminate their research. Each group researched a different topic – Intercultural and bilingual education, clothing, ancestral health and indigenous justice. One community, San Lucas, asked UPS to start a Community Radio project so that people could be informed about mingas, meetings and events.

Bolívar – Music and dance will be part of a festival to honor the 234th birthday of Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios y Blanco, Libertador de América who was born in 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. <whew. How would you like to be a teacher calling roll in a room filled with kids with names like this? It would take until lunchtime.> The festival began Monday in the Centro Cultural Municipal Quinta Bolívar.

Rizoma Platformas Disidentes (Rizoma Dissident Platforms) – This artistic-cultural space is preparing various programs which will start Tuesday a las 18:00 with a meeting “Laboratorio de poéticas sensoriales” (Laboratory of sensory poetics – <whatever that means>); continues with a conference on “Procesos Artísticos en la lucha ecologista” (Artistic processes in the ecological struggle) el miércoles a las 19:00; and opens the exhibit “Cielo Abierto” (Open Sky) el jeuves. <Nowhere does it tell me where this espacio is located, or if it’s a virtual or mental space. But the foto shows people hanging things in a physical, exhibit space.>

Otras cosas –

Titular – Aplican cambios en el parqueo de hospitales (Changes apply to hospital parking) – Starting hoy, the parking lot next to the main entrance to the IESS hospital will be for the disabled. <I don’t think the mental or cultural disability that causes poor anger management skills counts, no matter how privileged you think you are.> There are 5 parking lots at the “José Carrasco Arteaga” Hospital – disabled, emergency, administrative personnel, administration, and everyone else whose parking access is from 24 de Mayo. Parking is free. <But I think it’s common to tip the attendant.>

Dispositivo (device, gadget, gizmo – your word for the day) – Two engineers who graduated from the UPS have created an electronic doohickey that coordinates with a cell phone app to help Parkinson patients when they suffer from a “bloqueo” (blockage, freezing up) which keeps them from walking. The device which is attached to the patient’s ankle, transmits a signal to a phone every .76 seconds. If a patient suffers from an episode of “FOG” (Freezing of Gait), the phone senses the freeze and will signal the device to vibrate which takes the patient out of the FOG episode.

Breathalyzers – For about a year, the 3 breathalyzers at the Terminal Terrestre for guaranteeing that drivers wouldn’t drive drunk have not been working. Drivers would blow into a tube and if the results were negative, the breathalyzer would issue a ticket so the driver could leave the terminal and continue his route.

Budget – The Asamblea Nacional is waiting for Pres. Moreno’s budget which will be submitted 28/7. Public sectors had until ayer to submit their budget implementation report. The president of the Quito Economists Association was worried since actual figures of public indebtedness inherited from the last administration have not been revealed yet. He said the only number he knew of is a total external debt of $63 billion.

Turismo comunitario <and booze!> – The community of Gera in Saraguru in Loja Province, makes guajango, a spiritual drink. <And a spirituous drink, too.> According to the inhabitants, guajango cures colds and livens fiestas. It is made from penco (agave – the plant tequila is made from) which is cultivated in the area. <There are garden tours, food tours, jelly bean factory tours – are there alcohol tours? With sampling? Or would the insurance on a bus load of borrachos be an obstacle.>

Interprovincial buses – The Policía Nacional has stepped up its operations to prevent assaults on the buses. They are searching passengers’ belongings for weapons. On the robbery of 13/7 in the Tamarindo sector of the Guayaquil-Cuenca route, included in the stolen items were foreign tourists’ passports. On the same route, on 17/6, the robbers shot the driver who died later at a health facility.

Salud – The Health page articles today are about botox and eye problems caused by excessive viewing of electronic screens. The Mexican Social Security System did a study showing a 50% increase in people with eye problems in the last 20 years. Problems included visual fatigue, blurred vision, double vision and dry eye.

Trueque cañari – The second Cañari barter was held in the coastal community of Javín. Producers from Junducucho in the sierras, were bussed to Javín by the Provincial Government and Municipio de Cañar. The people from the Sierra brought potatoes, fava beans, melloco, strawberries and animals (cuy) to exchange for gallinas (hens), fruits, coffee, yuca, bananas, honey and cane. <I wonder how much trade went on before roads and cars. Probably zero in strawberries.>

Internacional –

US – 9 immigrants out of 38 who were locked in a cargo truck with non-functioning air conditioning, and parked outside a big box store, died of asphyxiation or heat stroke in San Antonio. The others were taken to health centers and hospitals.

Venezuela – Pres. Maduro urged the opposition to start a new process of political dialogue to achieve coexistence in leaving the crisis the country is suffering from. <Oh dear, I ended that sentence with a preposition. So fire me.>

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne