Corruption in oil pre-sales investigated, Carnaval schedule, Skeleton museum, Exodus from Venezuela, House for sale – $13,500, 10k San Blas run

Viernes, 9/2/2018

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Today’s agenda event –

Carnaval de me Tierra – The colegio Manuela Garaicoa de Calderón celebrated Carnaval this morning at the high school campus on av. 24 de mayo.

Articles about –

San Blas – The restoration of the church is in its final phases with the re-opening expected some time in abril to coincide with the founding of Cuenca celebrations. San Blas is one of the oldest churches in Cuenca and for about 4 centuries was the eastern limit of the city. It is the only religious structure built in the shape of a latin cross and was started in the last 3rd of the 16th Century, using stones from Incan buildings. During the restoration, masses have been held in the Parish House.

Concierto – The OSC played a program with national music Fridayin the teatro Pumapungo. A work by Luis Humerto Salgado featured guest pianist Alex Bravo Fabre from Quito and the program also included works by Borodín and Stravinski.

Traditional dance – 23 students in the “5 de Noviembre” academy (Vega Muñoz Estévez de Toral) will perform in Cañar today. The academy also trains teachers in the crafts of dressmaking and beauty. <Students can graduate and open their own one-stop bridal shops – dress, makeup, and hair all in one place.>

Museo de Esquiletología (Skeleton Museum) – This is the only museum of its type in the country. The 120 animal skeletons are of natives of the region and country and include species in danger of extinction. The museum offers guided tours by appointment from lunes-sábado. Email the director, Juan Pablo Martínez, at juanpablomartinezm@gmail.com. Cost: $1.50 for kids and $2.00 for adults. <Your chance to get a look at the inside of a llama or a deer or alligator.>

Taller – There will be an origami workshop Saturday desde 10:00 hasta las 14:00 in Pajarogato (Juan jaramillo 6-16 entre Borrero y Hermano Miguel). Cost: $15.00 including materials. <Manuel dexterity required. An activity for those of us who couldn’t catch or hit a ball if our lives depended on it.>

Otras Cosas –

Titular – Alegría por Carnaval (Joy for Carnival) – Carnaval – Karla Kanora was presented as the Comadre de Carnaval yesterday and over 10,000 Cuencanans filled Parque Calderón in spite of early evening rain. <Takes more than a little rain to wash the party out of a Cuencano.>

Final election results – The CNE announced the final results last night. This is the first time that the vote count has been done in 3 days. Votes from 17 of the 24 provinces were counted in the 1st 24 hours, another 5 within 48 hours including the largest provinces, Guayas and Pichincha, and the last to be completed were Manabí and Morona Santiago.

Oil pre-sales – The Comptroller has established indications of criminal responsibility in the pre-sales of Ecuadorian crude to Petrochina and Unipec pushed during Correa’s term. According to an activist, this cost the gov’t $2.2 billion. <How many schools, hospitals, and roads could that have built? Or one state of the art NFL stadium?> There were inconsistencies in the precontractual and contracting processes from 12/1/201 to 31/8/2016. Irregularities included missing technical, economic, and legal studies; no responsible administrator who would evaluate, make decisions and report to the authorities with respect to the negotiations; and other deficiencies.

Música on line – the Superintendencia de Comunicación maintains an on-line platform, “Latitud 1×1 Ecuador,” where musicians can register and radio stations can download the music that suits their audiences. Register at http://latitud1x1ec.supercom.gob.ec/. <Nothing in the article says you have to be Ecuadorian. So go for it, all you musicians and singers.>

Road work rescheduling – The work on repaving on the Panamericana Sur will be rescheduled due to the Carnaval holiday. The work will now be done from 20:00 el jueves, 8/2 hasta el próximo jueves (until next Thu.). <I wonder what genius thought repaving a main highway to and from Cuenca on a holiday would be a good idea?>

Carnaval agenda – The following cantons are having Carnaval celebrations. I will show the canton, the day(s), the starting time each day, and maybe a featured activity.

Santa Ana – domingo – 9:00 with free dulces y mote pata at 10:00.
Baños – sábado – 9:00 and 2,000 plates of free mote pata at 10:30.
Nulti – domingo – 13:30.
V. Portete – sáb – 9:00 and a pampa mesa at 13:00.
Tarqui – dom – 9:00.
El Valle – sáb – 9:00 and a dance with Los Fabulosos at 14:00.
Cuenca – sábado y domingo.
Santa Isabel – dom – 14:00; martes – 14:00.
Gualaceo – sáb – 10:00, domingo – 10:00, lunes – 10:00, martes – 14:00.
Sígsig – viernes – 20:00, sáb – 14:00, dom – 14:00, lunes – 14:00, martes – 14:00.
For the rest of the cantons I’m just giving the days.
Paute – sáb, dom, lunes, martes.
Guachapala – dom, lunes.
Nabón – sáb, dom.
San Fernando – sáb, dom, lunes, martes which has a wet T-shirt contest and sport fishing at 12:00.
Girón – dom, lunes.
Chordeleg – sáb, dom, and activities in the parishes on lunes.
For more details go to www.elmercurio.com.ec. This Agenda is on p. 1B of the print version.

House for $13,500 – The family run business IMSA-LE is selling houses made of expanded polystyrene. There is an example of this 30 sq. m. house in Challuabamba.

Amenidades –

Movies – as usual, go to www.multicines.com.ec for show times and locations. The following movies open this week. All movies this week are in 2D.

Maze runner: La cura mortal – Esp. y Sub.
50 sombras liberadas – Esp. y Sub.
Payaso siniestro – Esp.
Tadeo explorador perdido – Esp.

The following movies are continuing. All are en Esp.

Coco
Olé, El viaje de Ferdinand
El pasajero
La noche del demonio: la última llave
Paddington 2

Internacional –

Summit of the Américas – Representatives of all the countries in the Americas will be in Lima, Perú on 13 & 14/4. The theme will be corruption.

Venezuela/Colombia – About 35,000 Venezuelans cross the Simón Bolívar International Bridge daily between Cúcuta, Colombia, and San Antonio del Táchira, Venezuela. The bridge was closed to vehicles two years ago. 1,000’s of people wait for the border to open and cross on foot to get food, medicines and other necessities; and some do not intend to return.

Deportes –

San Blas 10K – The 35th edition of the San Blas 10K will be on 25/2 a las 8:30. Register in the office of the Club Amigos Siempre (in the Portal Artesanal), Cooperativa de Ahorros Gualaquiza (Manuel Vega y Bolívar), Referee (Av. De Las Américas y Padre Aguirre, Remigio Tamariz) and Subatería (Rocafuerte y José Joaquín de Olmedo). Cost: $10.00.

Discuentos y compras – <Must be car buying season again.>

Chevy – S-Cross for $26,490 incl. IVA – <So why does the car in the picture have that stylized “S” for Suzuki? Are they the same company now?>

Tedasa – tires – 3×4 plus 6% extra discount – until 10/2.

Creta – Carnaval buffet – mañana from 13:00 – $15.99 incl. taxes and soda.

Valentine’s Dinner Buffet – miércoles, 14/2 – Convention Center, Mall del Rio. <They’re going to have to do a lot of decorating to make that space look romantic.>

And that´s all for today so Hasta Domingo –

Jeanne