Biggest Christmas tree to be lit, Quito water service restored, Cuenca museum exhibits, Referendum budget announced, Billiard championship

Domingo, 10/12/2017

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Taller – There will be a workshop on community museums and social management el próximo martes a las 14:00 in the Museo Pumapungo, arranged by the museum, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, and the Ambato, Argentina Archeological Museum. <Do I need to remind you that you will need all the Spanish you’ve got (and maybe a lot more than you’ve got) to understand the workshop.>

Exposiciónes – There are two exhibits at MMAM this month. The first is by Jorge Càrdenas with more than 30 pieces which are an “intromisión” (meddling?) into the world of kinetic art and geometry. The second is “Ceniza” by Janeth Mèndez.

Danza – There will be a dance presentation by Impulso Vital, choreography, and “Cacho” Gallegos, theater, el próximo sábado a las 19:30 in the sala “Alfonso Carrasco” at the CCE. “Impulso Vital” (Vital Impulse) is what philosopher Henri Bergson called the creative force of life, the powerful and mysterious flow in all humans.

Articles about –

The sápara nationality – Ruth Moya has published a research paper “La selva y la nacionalidad sápara: conocimientos sobre la biodiversidad” <The rainforest and the Sápara nationality: knowledge about biodiversity) which will be presented by the Instituto de Idiomas, Ciencias y Saberes Ancestrales (Institute of Languages, Sciences and Ancestral Knowledge) el próximo miércoles a las 17:00 en el Museo Pumapungo. (I’m showing you the titles in Spanish because I’m afraid for too many of you, exposure to Spanish might be a rare thing, and if I don’t force it on you, you might never see it.>

Talleres – There will be workshops on introduction to clown and on directing theater given by Carlos “Cacho” Gallegos, actor, playwright and director. The clown workshop will start Monday a las 18-21:00 in the Museo Pumapungo, and is open to the public. It has space for 18 people and will run until 19/12. The directing workshop will be el martes próximo desde 9:10 a las 10:40 at UDA <9:10 sounds like class hours or shrink hours.> and is for people with theater experience. This workshop will run until el jueves, 21/12 with space for 12.

Presentation – “Ensayos Filosóficos. “Estudios de Filosofía Aleman, Tomista, y Francesa.” ( Philosophical Essays. “German, Tomista, and French Philosophy Studies) <Tomista is the philosophy of St. Thomas of Aquinas. And I hope you don’t think that I didn’t need to go to Google to find out what Tomista philosophy is. Kudos to whoever educated you if you knew what it was without Google.> This work by José Vega Delgado was presented to commemorate the 50 years of the Asociación de Profesores de la Universidad de Cuenca (ACAY).

Otras cosas –

Titular – DT cuencana se lleva al Macará a Libertadores (DT cuencana takes the Macará to Libertadores) <It’s sports and I have no idea what that headline means. And I’m not going to spend time reading the article to find out, either.>

Ad from the Mayor’s Office – Enciende tu luz (Turn on your light) – The Christmas tree in Otorongo will be lit este martes, 12/12 a las 18:30. It is the biggest tree in Ecuador with a height of 35 meters.

Personas con descapacidad – The “Cuenca Unida por los derechos de las personas con discapacidad” (Cuenca united for the rights of people with disabilities) was held Saturday to make the rights of the disabled more visible. <Say it loud, because Cuenca is not an accessible city, and we old folks who may be needing walkers or wheelchairs all too soon will be wanting better sidewalks and curb cuts.> Disabled rights activists held an event on behalf of about 19,000 Cuencanos with disabilities for recognition of their rights and equal opportunity.

Quito – Mayor Mauricio Rodas reported that potable water service has been restored to 99.5% of the sectors affected by a landslide.

Consulta Popular (Referendum) – The CNE (Consejo Nacional Electoral – National Electoral Council) has established the amounts that can be spent on referendum campaigns. The total campaign fund will be $3,907,979 to be divided between “si” and “no.” The amount is reached by multiplying $.15 times the number of citizens in the National Register – 13,026,598. <Seems high if the total population is around 16,300,000 with kids up to 14 composing 27% of the population. <Maybe we’ve got dead people voting.> Each referendum question is assigned a budget determined by dividing $1,953,989 (half the total) by 7. IVA not included. Communications media and billboard companies need to register between 8-15/12. Delagations in the 24 provinces are being trained to manage the system. <How novel – a campaign budget based on actual voters with equal amounts to each side. Could a billionaire buy a desired result in a campaign designed like this one?>

Restoration – The chapel at the Unidad Educativa Mariana de Jesús has been restored with a new carved alterpiece. The church was built in 1943.

Internacional –

Perú – Opponents to Pres. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski are accusing him of having ties to the Odebrecht case. The pres. said that he’d swear on a cross or a Bible <not a stack of Bibles, though> that he never favored any private business during his political career. Before he went into politics he was a financial advisor to various international businesses, and was a banker in NY.

Colombia – FARC, now a political party instead of a guerrilla group, has registered its slates of Congressional Candidates for 2018.

Venezuela – The 100,000 Bolívar bill, the largest one, will buy you a kilo of detergent or a shampoo. And as the Bolívar falls against other currencies, its purchasing power decreases further.

Deportes –

Billar (Billiards) – Some 20 Azuayans will be competing in the Ranking Provincial de Billar este miércoles 13/12 to el viernes 15/12 at the Complejo Deportivo Bolivariano. The 3 rounds will be played from 17:30-22:00.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne