Cuenca Holidays feature 330 events and the ‘tastes of Cuenca’; Country needs an extra 1,300MWs; New city hospital opens; A Land Rover conquers the Cajas

Bored? –
(De El Mercurio del sábado, 24/10) Cuenca se viste de gala (Cuenca puts on its best show) – There are over 330 activities in the agenda for the 206th anniversary of Cuenca’s independence. <Cities here each have their own “4th of July” with those of Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca celebrated as national holidays.> Part of those 330 events are 27 ferias in different sectors of the city and 14 different genres of musical performances. There will be 6 free concerts with local, national and international artists.
viernes, 30/10 starting at 18:00 – in the parque Curiquingue in Totoracocha – with Los Búfalos and other groups and orchestras.
sábado, 31/10 a las 18:00 – in the sports court of the ciudadela Álvarez – a romantic concert with Marqués, Sergio Sacoto, Sonora Dinamita and others.
domingo, 1/11, no time given – in the sports court of the ciudadela Álvarez – a night of vallenato – with Los Diablitos del Vallenato, Dubán Bayona & Las Musas.

domingo, 1/11 at night – in the parque del Ángel (av. Latinoamericana y Malvinas <sorry to you Brits, but they are NOT the Falklands>) – with Roman Santa, Ente Death Metal, Zuchos del Vado y Tigre Blanco.
domingo, 1/11 a las 18:00 – in the parque Iberia – a festival of bandas de pueblo (village bands) – with Banda 24 de Mayo, Beth River and others.
lunes, 2/11 a las 18:00 – I think along av. Huayna Cápac – the traditional Huaynacapazo – with 3 stages and Fulanito, Los Dukes, Proyecto Coraza and other groups.

Besides ferias and conciertos, there will be social, gastronomic, and cultural activities running until the middle of diciembre. The independence of Cuenca will be el 3/11 with official and religious acts. The solemn session will be a las 11:00 in the Salón de la Ciudad with various dignitaries who will not include Pres. Noboa who was invited but will not attend due to travel. <Back to Miami – practicing a smooth, quick escape for when he leaves office?>

Click here for a list of Cuenca Holiday fairs, festivals and concerts

(De El Mercurio del domingo, 25/10) 4 países en Festival de Danza (4 Countries in the Dance Festival) – Cuenca will be the seat of the VIII Festival Internacional de Danzas Wainaiyamo from el 28/10 to el 1/11. Delegations will be from México, Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador with the programming dedicated to traditional and folkloric dance. There will also be cultural exchange activities. The festival will close el domingo, 1/11 with a Noche Cuencana a las 18:00 in the sports arena of the Sindicato de Choferes Profesionales de Azuay.

(De El Mercurio del domingo, 25/10) Exposición ‘Matices de Vida’ (“Nuances of Life” Exhibition) – The ‘Matices de Vida´show, organized by a school and crafts training center will have paintings and products made by its students in the Galería de Arte e Historia José Domingo La Mar at the Azuay Government. The products will include paintings, marquetry, sewn items, ceramics, jewelry, and home decorations. The students range in age from 14 to 40.

(De El Mercurio del domingo, 25/10) Ad for Casa Abierta (Open House) Garden Fest – a show and sale of orchids and exotic plants – Uzhupud Garden, km. 32 on the vía Cuenca-Paute in the La Higuera sector – from el 29/10 to el 8/11 from 9 am to 7 pm. – sales with 20-50% off – free mini-workshop on orchid care el miércoles 4/11 a las 3:00 pm. <Time to dust off your green thumb and check out the orchids.>

(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/10) Rescatando al Jambato (Rescuing the jambato) – The 2nd edition of the Rescatando al Jambato fair will be el domingo, 1/11 in the Portal Artesanal. <The jambato is a species of frog with a black back and limbs and a red tummy that was rediscovered in 2016.> The fair is organized by the UDA (U. of Azuay) and the Bioparque Amaru to promote environmental conservation. The fair will offer jewelry, clothing, illustrations and other products as well as booths raising awareness about initiatives to protect nature.

Hungry? –
(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/10) De rojo y amarillo se viste a Cuenca (Cuenca is decked out in red and yellow) – Hanging flags in the streets of Cuenca opened the 206th anniversary of the Independence of Cuenca. Part of the agenda is gastronomy with festivals, culinary routes, and experiences in local and rural parishes. On el lunes, the Fundación Municipal Turismo para Cuenca presented the Agenda Gastronómica Turística with about 30 activities. One of the main ones is the 3d edition of the Festival de los Sabores Cuencanos from el 31/10 to el 2/11 from 10:30 to 19:00 on calle Federico Malo, next to the parque de la Madre. This festival gives a space to the traditional food and products of the rural parishes. The festival will have more than 30 food vendors plus crafts, business start ups, cooking demonstrations, and performances.

The gastronomic agenda includes brewery tours and experiences related to cacao and chocolate. Mindo Maya Chocolate is a family business that will offer visits to show the stages of making chocolate from the treatment of the seeds to the preparation of bars. The tour takes about an hour and includes tastings. Another option is the Tour Cervecero Cuenca, with tours dedicated to the history of artisanal beer, how it’s made, its styles and food pairings.

(De El Mercurio del domingo, 25/10) La Churona y el legado de la cocina tradicional (La Churona and the legacy of traditional cuisine) – In La Churona, Chef Javier Baculima seeks to preserve the flavors of Cuencanan recipes that are handed down from generation to generation. These would include recipes with mote, maíz, pork, and soups that are part of families’ memories and daily lives. Baculima hopes that his customers will try known recipes and be open to those that are lost to contemporary tables, such as beef tongue and tripe which are rejected by some people due to their ingredients. <And I imagine plenty of gringos for whom organ meats make their stomachs turn. Not everyone had the privilege of living high on the hog.>

Items on his menu include empanadas de viento, tamales, locro de papas, mote pata (which he serves all year <good to know since I always seem to miss it during Carnaval>), slow cooked ribs, tongue, grilled meat, mote pillo and mote sucio, and llapingachos. The restaurant is on Juan Jaramillo 5-95 y Mariano Cueva in a restored historic house in the Todos Santos sector. Call 098 455 1397 for reservations.

Curious? –
(De El Mercurio del sábado, 24/10) En noviembre estrenará hospital (A new hospital will open in November) – After a postponement, the ceremonial opening of the new Hospital Municipal de Baños in Cuenca will be el 8/11 with service to the public starting el 9/11. A medical consultation will cost $10. <Good news for you gringos who complained that your last visit to a doctor cost (gasp) $50 and not the $40 you were used to paying.> The hospital has at least 31 specialties including gynecology, traumatology, and pediatrics. It has 22 beds, 2 operating rooms, 12 consulting offices and diagnostic services. This is the 2nd of the 3 rural hospitals. The first is in operation in El Valle and the one in Ricaurte is almost finished.

(De El Mercurio del sábado, 24/10) Inauguran Plaza Santa Cecilia (Santa Cecilia Plaza opens) – The Plaza Santa Cecilia, a shopping complex on Av. Abelardo J. Andrade y Isaac Newton in El Cebollar in the Racar sector, opened last viernes. The center has a supermarket and 10 commercial spaces including a gym, pharmacy, food, a children’s recreation zone, and parking for 150 cars. Hours are from 8-23:00. The supermarket is offering discounts, combinations, and 2 for 1 prices on selected merchandise.

(De El Mercurio del lunes, 26/10) Se normaliza barrido de calles (Street sweeping returns to normal) – The Empresa Municipal de Aseo de Cuenca announced street sweeping services returned to normal last sábado after the signing of new contracts. The schedule will vary according to the zone with the Centro Historico getting swept daily while more distant sectors will have a different schedule.

(De El Mercurio del lunes, 26/10) Ecuador registra un déficit eléctrico de 1.300 megavatios (Ecuador is facing an electricity shortage of 1,300 megawatts) – Ecuador is facing an electricity deficit of about 1,300 MW depending on rain <everybody start praying real hard and maybe start saving water>, imported electricity <hope that El Niño doesn’t hit Colombia>, the energy barges, and thermal power plants. For energy consultant Jorge Luis Hidalgo, overcoming the structural problems in the system will take 3-4 years. He said Ecuador’s strategy has been to avoid power outages while it should be pursuing a national energy security strategy. He rebuked the country for importing gas without accelerating exploitation of the Amistad field.

It would cost about $5 to produce a million British thermal units (MBTU) domestically, while the cost of importing that same energy costs from $25-$30. He also didn’t think that disconnecting industrial consumers would guarantee the stability of the system. Regarding the Government’s announcement that industrial disconnections would be suspended as of 1/11, he said that he hadn’t seen the technical information to confirm that there was generation capacity to support that decision. <Why does it seem like Noboa’s always pissing into the wind? And he makes the whole country stand behind him to share the pain.>

A Land Rover made the first crossing of the Cajas Mountains by motor vehicle in 1969.

(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/10) Raid de 1969 marcó primera conquesta vial (The 1969 Raid marked the first road victory) – This story, which is too long for me to translate completely at what is now past midnight, is about a “road” trip. It had long been thought that building a road from Cuenca to the coast was impossible. Roberto Samaniego, a Jesuit priest from Molleturo and Raúl Pérez Valladares, director of the Sindicato de Choferes, decided to prove conventional wisdom wrong. Their plan was to take a Land Rover Jeep <Jeep = SUV here> from Cuenca to Naranjal on horse trails. An engineering company said it would be impossible to build a road at over 4,000 meters above sea level, and it bet 100,000 sucres that the expedition couldn’t make it to the coast within 30 days.

On el 20/10, 1969 a las 9:00, 22 raidístas met in Parque Calderón with 30 citizens who went along for the adventure bringing tools, ropes, and planks to improvise bridges, fill holes, cut down trees, and set up camps. Radios maintained contact with the military in Quito, Loja and Cuenca. On el 26/10, the Land Rover and raidístas arrived in Naranjal. So in 6 days they won the 100,000 sucre bet and showed that a road was feasible. <I wonder if there were stretches where they had to improvise a big, big stretcher to actually carry the Land Rover over the worst parts. This adventure looks like a missed opportunity for Land Rover to make a heck of an ad. How many of you guys reading this would have signed up?>

(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/10) Día 27: la conquista del Cajas (Day 27: The conquest of the Cajas) – On el domingo, 27/10/1969 a las 10:00, the raidístas started their return trip via Cochancay and Cañar. On their arrival back to Parque Calderón, they were met by their families, and happy about meeting the challenge. The Land Rover was kept as a souvenir by the tire company that donated it although currently, no one knows where it wound up. This feat coincided with the first moon landing. <I bet Cuencanos were happier that man and Land Rover made it to the coast than they were about the small step for a man but a giant leap for mankind. Much more practical value and Ecuadorians seem to be very practical people.> In addition to the 100,000 sucres, the Sindicato de Choferes Profesionales de Azuay got the land on av. Solano that their offices still occupy.
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Information in this column, including dates, times and locations, is courtesy of the El Mercurio newspaper. Comments between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), are the personal opinions of the author and not part of the news translation.