Cuenca declared ‘magical’; How to get your senior tax refund; Flu shots available; Megamaxi opens Friday; JetSmart flies to Lima; Ecuador football wins

Miércoles, 22/11/2023

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Molleturo con recorrido por ´Camino de García Moreno’ (Molleturo with a tour of ‘Camino de García Moreno’) – Molleturo parish is offering a new tourist route to the “bold and fearless” to enjoy contact with nature and the history of the city. Although there is only one section of the Camino de García Moreno left, you can also walk where the ‘guanderos’ walked. These are people who transported goods on their shoulders <like the people who carried the first car in Cuenca up from Guayaquil?>

Cuenca has been designated a “Magical Heritage” city by Ecuador’s Ministry of Tourism. (El Mercurio)

The tour is planned for el domingo, 26/11. The cost of the tour is $20 for adults, and 2×1 for children up to 10 and includes transport, a snack and lunch. Register at the iTour offices next to the Salón de la Ciudad, or call 098 787 1176 and 099 513 3854. The meeting place will be in the parque Miguel Leon next to the San Sebastián church. <I looked on a map which said the park is parque San Sebastián with a statue of Miguel Moreno.>

Titular –

‘Angelical’ triunfo (‘Angelic’ triumph) – Ángel Mena scored the winning goal against Chile in Tuesday’s football game. <I think this does something for Ecuador’s chances to make it to the Mundial (World Cup), but the point system looks more complicated than putting together a space ship.>

Cuenca –

Aerolínea JetSMART de bajo costo llega al país (Low-cost airline JetSMART arrives in the country) – JetSMART airline will start service to Ecuador in marzo, 2024 with the option of buying tickets starting yesterday (martes). <Anyone want to gamble on buying a ticket for a flight 4 months out given the history of airlines starting and quiting here?> The international routes they will cover are Quito-Lima and Guayaquil-Lima, both direct flights, with ultra bajo costo (ultra low cost – your favorite words). Quito-Lima flights will be los miércoles, viernes y domingo; and Guayaquil-Lima flights will be martes, jueves, y sábado. <I guess no one wants to get up Monday morning.>

A Cuenca la declaran ‘patrimonio mágico’ (Cuenca declared ‘magical heritage’) – Cuenca received the title of ‘Cuenca, Patrimonio Mágico’ from the ministro de Turismo, Niels Olsen, <The Norwegian Tourist Minister?> as part of the ‘Rincones Mágicos’ program. Lorena Aristizábal, director of the Fundación Municipal Turismo para Cuenca said a Magic Corner is a destination full of attractions, activities and tourist experiences highlighted by the offering of a variety of products with unique cultural connotations for visitors. <But you live here and know all that. Unless of course your experience of Cuenca is limited to your favorite stool at your favorite watering hole.>

De El Mercurio del martes, 21/11 (3 articles):

Todo listo para inaugurar el Megamaxi, el viernes (All ready for Megamaxi opening on Friday) – The first Megamaxi in Cuenca, on av. 24 de Mayo, will open el viernes. <Seems like someone looked on a map and saw that 24 de Mayo doesn’t intersect with 10 de Agosto, but what do I know. I just translate what I read and don’t write what I think is correct. I’ll leave the corrections to you smart folks in the room.> The shopping center also has stores affiliated with the parent corporation. Some of these are Sukasa, MegaKywi, Maxitec, Tatoo, and Juguetón. <Happy Black Friday, y’all.>

Devolución del IVA a adultos mayores tiene 3 mecanismos (IVA refund to seniors has 3 mechanisms) – The refund of the Impuesto al Valor Agregado (IVA – Value Added Tax) is a tax benefit to seniors and disabled people. The maximum monthly refund in 2023 is $108. The Servicio de Rentas Internas (SRI – Internal Revenue Service) has 3 ways to issue the refund. The first is by going to an SRI office in person with your original physical facturas, cédula, and a copy of your application which you can download from www.sri.gob.ec. The recipient can authorize a 3d person <like a facilitator if getting money isn’t incentive enough for you to learn Spanish> to do your paperwork.

The 2nd method is for refunds from electronic receipts which you can do online at the SRI en Línea option. For this you need the password of SRI en Línea. All facturas need to be in the beneficiary´s name. The 3d manner is an automatic refund at the time of purchase from affiliated establishments. To do this, you need to download the request for a code from the SRI web page. <Or have your facilitator do it?> Print and fill out the document <Definitely time to call your facilitator.>, attach a copy of your cédula and take it to an SRI office. You will receive a code in the Taxpayer Mailbox in SRI OnLine. You can use this code to make purchases and subtract the IVA at the time of purchase.

Sigue campaña para vacunación contra influenza (Flu vaccination campaign continues) – The Ministerio de Salud Pública (MSP) is conducting the ‘Vacúnate y sé un influenzador de vida´ (Get vaccinated and be a life “influenzaer” <a pun that doesn’t translate well>) campaign. 280 health centers and sub centers have been set up to give vaccinations. José Ricardo Serrano from the Zone 6 Epidemiological Monitoring Coordination said flu cases have increased in the last 3 weeks.

The campaign will end in febrero 2024 and is directed at children from 6 months to 7 years, seniors, pregnant women, health workers, disabled people, people with chronic diseases and immunosuppression, prisoners, and workers in the poultry sector. He recommended that if you show flu symptoms, stay at home, rest, and don’t self medicate. <Does self medication include a shot of lemon, honey and Zhumir/Jack Daniels/Beefeater? I’m not including a nice single malt Scotch because who’d want to waste that making a cold remedy?> He also recommended going to your doctor to find out if you have flu or COVID and take the appropriate measures.

Sucesos –

De El Mercurio del martes, 21/11 (1 article):

Roban caja fuerte con medio millón en joyas y efectivo (Safe with half a million in jewelry and cash stolen) – El domingo, 19/11, a criminal gang broke into a house in Totoracocha and stole a safe containing $300,000 in jewelry and more than $150,000 in cash. They broke through the security system and entered when the owners weren’t there. They did encounter one of the people living in the house on their way out, and threatened him with guns. They escaped in a red vehicle. William Reyes, Chief of the North Cuenca Police District, said that investigators think the robbers knew about the safe. The victim said that the safe was installed in the house 30 years ago, and he has been using it for his jewelry business for 18 years. Currently there haven’t been movements that would lead someone to think that there was a safe in the house.

Reyes said that the gang went to the 2nd floor where the very heavy safe was. He said it would take at least 5 people to remove it, carry it out, and put it into the trunk of the car. <Poetic justice would have been if the car’s back tires exploded when the safe landed in the trunk.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne