Sábado, 15/12/2018
Hola, Todos –
Actividades –
Pagina cultural –
Exposición – “Personajes en la historia del Periodismo cuencano” (Characters in the history of Cuenca journalism) opened in the Casa Museo Remigio Crespo Toral with portraits of journalists in Cuenca’s history. The show will run for 3 months with hours from martes a viernes, 10-17:00 and sábados y domingos, 10-12:00.
Concierto – The OSC’s next concerts will be Christmas themed. El próximo jueves, 20/12 there will be a concert at the CRS prison in Turi <something to look forward to if you get arrested before Thursday>. Also on jueves a las 20:00 there will be a concert in the Iglesia de La Merced. El viernes, 21/12 a las 20:00 the concert will be in the main church in Sígsig.
Former president Rafael Correa welcomes passngers to the presidential jet.
Flashmob – There was a flashmob that sang Silent Night at 10:30 in the Parque Calderón Saturday.
CIDAP – The Feria de Artesanías de Calidad with 15 craftspeople will end domingo.
Del cuerpo del periodico –
Park opening – The Megaparque de La Luz opened Saturday. There was a fireworks show and a concert with the Verde 70 band. This is the 3d megapark in the “Cinturón Verde” (Green Belt) project to open after Tarqui-Guzho and La Libertad. The next parks will be Ictocruz, parque Del Agua and parque el La Música. With these and other recreation areas, the green area per person will rise from 5.98 m. to 9.06 m.
Biggest rosero in Ecuador – The Queen of Gualaceo has been drying the corn for this typical beverage on her roof for the past 3 weeks. It was ground last Wed. and she and a team of 10 helpers chopped fruit yesterday. 5,000 servings of the drink should be ready tomorrow. <Don’t ask me where they’ll serve it. You’ll have to do your own research if you want to partake.>
Otras cosas –
Titular – Vuelos a paraísos fiscales (Flights to tax havens) – The Comptroller’s office detected irregularities in the use of the presidential airplanes during Correa’s 2nd term. According to the report, during the period that was analyzed, the Correa’s gov’t spent $13,590,957 on 261 flights out of the country including flights that weren’t authorized by the president, did not list passengers, and did not register the weight of luggage. Flights included 214 on the two presidential planes and 37 on TAME and Petroamazonas planes.
There were 24 flights to destinations considered tax havens such as Panama, Barbados, United Arab Emirates, the Bahamas an Belize. Frequent flyers to those destinations were the Finance Minister, Canciller, and Manager of Petroecuador. On 12 of the 24 flights, there was no passenger list nor weight of the cargo. The ex-officials have 5 days to respond to the Comptroller’s office with justifications. <How do you explain taking a flight to a tax haven with several hundred pounds of bills in your suitcases?>
Niño Viajero – The Niño Viajero started his Christmas peregrinations with a parade Friday morning. He was accompanied by beauty queens, the military, artists, school children, and music. <I wonder what outfit he was wearing for the occasion.>
Bus accident – An intercantonal bus overturned in Quito, killing 5 and injuring 38. The bus had a current operating permit, was on its proper route and time and was registered and inspected in febrero de 2018. The driver had a type E professional license valid until agosto 2021 with 20 points. <So he’d already lost 10 points off his license.>
Tranvía accident – <You knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Given driving habits here, sooner did not surprise me.> A private car apparently made an illegal turn onto an open space over the tram tracks and caused an accident el tarde de viernes a las 14:00 at av. de Las Américas y calle Nicolás de Rocha. <I think it’s time for the driver education campaign to start.> There were no injuries – just scratches to the tram and dents to the car, which the car driver will be responsible for fixing. This occurred during a technical test in which EMOV, firefighters, the Guardia Ciudadana, National Police, and Risk Management personnel participated. <Lots of witnesses. I wonder if the operator used the stop, oh crap, or OH F**K braking system.>
Exports – Exports from Ecuador to the EU grew 12% since enero de 2017 when Ecuador joined a multinational trade agreement with the EU, Colombia and Perú.
Venezuela – The UN presented a regional plan to aid Venezuelans refugees and migrants based on a projected 2 million more leaving their country bringing the total to 5.3 million. The United Nations Agency for Refugees will work with 95 organizations in the countries involved with this humanitarian operation – the first of its type in Latin America. The UN representative pointed out the extraordinary level of solidarity and openness which the countries in the region have demonstrated, particularly Colombia, Ecuador and Perú which are most affected. <A mi casa es su casa mentality as opposed to NIMBY? Makes me happy to be here where there are folks like Bob Higgins serving lunches rather than armed militia yahoos patrolling the border and soldiers tear gassing families with children.>
Fines for informal lodging – The City Council approved the Ordinananza del Sistema de Turismo de Cuenca (Ordinananza of the Tourism System of Cuenca). One of its main objectives was to protect formal tourist services. It provides for fines up to $5,000 for hosts offering lodging without getting proper authorization from the city. <So all of you BnB hosts better get your butts down to the city and get permits. How long do you think you could run a brick and mortar business in the US without permits?>
Descuentos y compras –
RM – 20% off all clothing and 50% off selected merchandise – 15-18/12 – restrictions apply.
Superstock – discounts from 10% on liquor up to 20% on Xmas decorations – 15-31/12.
Kywi – grinder from $27.45, round Weber type grill for $34.76, split 55 gal. drum type grill from $94.42, iron for $14.99, etc.
Vatex – for every $200 in purchases, get a “regalo encantado” (enchanted gift). <Whoopee. This gift will self destruct the minute you put it in the washing machine.>
<It must be time to buy a car for Christmas.>
Mazda – A Mazda 3 from $29,990 to a Mazda CX-5 from $39,990 with up to a $4,000 bonus in diciembre.
Dodge – Journey from $36,990 and Druango from $69,990. <You could buy a house for that! Or just live in the truck.>
Logans from $14,390 to a Duster from $21,690 including “cashbacks.”
And that´s all for today so la próxima semana –
Jeanne
