Cuenca-Loja highway closed for 20 days; Misicata sees rapid growth; Area bakers say they need to raise prices; Ancestral knowledge is celebrated

Miércoles, 9/3/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

8 días de saberes ancestrales (8 days of ancestral wisdom) – Since 2015, Bryan Jara has organized dance and music anniversaries of his dance school, “Kaypimikanchik.” In 2021 he decided to add ancestral knowledge to the andean celebrations. This year Andesmanta will bring a new series of presentations and artistic expressions related to indigenous youth, andean gastronomy <get ready for your plate of cuy>, Azuayan games, philosophy of dance and community-based ancestral tourism. The free activities will be in the Museo y Parque Arqueológico Pumapungo. Presentations start jueves in the sala comunitaria of the Museo Pumapungo and will last 8 days. Dance and music groups will perform el 12/3 a las 14:00 and el 20/3 a las 10:00. Andesmanta will close el 20/3 with a Pawkar Raymi ceremony and an intercultural crafts fair.

Women gathered yesterday on the Hermano Miguel escalinata to remember women who were victims of femicide. (El Mercurio)

“Maestro espiritual” (“Spiritual teacher”) – Sheikh Esref Efendi, founder of the Instituto Mundial de Paz y Sufismo Centro Sufi Rabbaniya will participate in a religious session with religious personalities el viernes a las 9:00 in the Hostería Durán in Baños.

Congreso de Derecho (Congress on Law) – The V Congreso Iberamericano de Derecho Penal, Derecho Procesal Penal y Ciminología (sic) will be on el 16-18/3. The event is organized by the U. Católica de Cuenca. Go to https://bit.ly/3uXpNiE to register.

Exposición colectiva (Group exhibition) – There will be a group show with the theme, “mujeres dibujando mujeres” Thursday a las 19:00 in the galería Paul Cézanne at the Alianca Francesa.

Titular –

Destrucción vial (Road destruction) – Girón canton is feeling the stress of the strong rainy season with continuous landslides on the Portete-Santa Marianita stretch of the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje. MTOP, the province and the city are working to get the material off the road where there have been at least 10 slides between km. 28 & 34. MTOP will keep equipment in the area to address anything that will put vehicular circulation at risk.

Cuenca –

“Flores en el Aire”, una cartografía social (“Flowers in the Air”, a social mapping) – A new social mapping tool called, “Flores en el Aire,” was presented ayer at the U. of Cuenca in honor of the Día Internacional de la Mujer. The tool allows you to see the stories of 8 victims of femicide on www.otrosmapas.org/flores-en-el-aire.

Calles renombradas temporalmente (Streets temporarily renamed) – For the Día Internacional de la Mujer, the 4 streets bordering the parque Calderón were temporarily renamed along with the 12 monuments along Solano. The purpose was to make visible the contributions of women in the history of the country which often are not taken into account. <I suppose it would be just asking for too much to replace some of those monuments with statues of important women in Ecuadorian history.> Other events are a virtual talk on “Ecuador prehispáno con perspectiva de género jueves; a presentation of the work “Nantar, historias originarias shuar” el 11/3; and meetings in Santa Isabel y Sevilla de Oro el 12 & 13/3.

Tranvía se suma a la lucha de violencia de género (Tranvía joins the fight against gender-based violence) – The Tranvía will have a QR code people can scan to get an informational guide about basic concepts, types of violence, how to make a complaint, help sites, and more information for victims of violence. This campaign, “Del Punto a la Red” is organized by “Las Hijas de Pandora” to erradicate gender violence in the canton.

Misicata un foco de la expansión urbana (Misicata a focus of urban sprawl) – The Misicata sector which is in the rural parish of Baños and the urban parish of Yanuncay has become an area for urban expansion. Architect Pablo Luzuriaga said that less costly housing can still be built there with houses from $75,000 and apartments from $60,000. He said that a U. of Cuenca study showed that from 1970-2000 the eastern zones of Cuenca had the largest number of edificios compared to other zones, but from 2000-2010, the expansion has been towards the west in sectors such as Misicata, Huizhil, San Joaquín, av. Ordóñez Lasso y Control Sur. Marco Pintado, an architect and researcher in land development felt urban development in Misicata was due to good basic services and amenities. <Does that mean Misicata will be Gringolandia 2?>

1,899,000 dólares para Azuay (1,899,000 dollars for Azuay) – Of the $109,344,945 budget approved by the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) for the midterm elections in 2023, 1,899,000 will be for Azuay. Teodoro Maldonado, director of the CNE delegation in Azuay said the money will be for paying personnel, operating activities such as debates which will be on 14 & 15/1/2023, and renting an electoral processing center. He said an additional space would need to be rented because mobility conditions are inadequate in the center where the CNE offices are. <My guess is, El Centro traffic isn’t compatible with swift election results.>

EMAC retiró árboles en la Pana Norte (EMAC removed trees in the Pana Norte) – EMAC removed eucalyptus trees in danger of falling at km. 2.5 of the Panamericana Norte. The trees were leaning towards houses and had damaged trunks and roots. EMAC has identified some 2,000 trees in danger in different sectors of the city and is continuing to identify more to prevent incidents. Citizens can ask EMAC to inspect a tree to determine its condition. Before cutting a tree the company determines if it is on public property, then its size, age and condition and the health of the root system. For each tree removed, 10 more trees of native species are planted. EMAC has insurance to cover damage when a tree falls on private property or injures a person. <Remember to park or walk only under healthy trees.>

Region –

Se cierra la Cuenca-Loja por 20 días en sector San Lucas (The Cuenca-Loja will be closed for 20 days in San Lucas sector) – MTOP announced the closure of the Cuenca-La Jarota-Loja at km. 46 in the San Lucas sector for 20 days to repair a plugged up sewer. Km. 49 of the Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme will remain closed since the work to stabilize the slope can’t start due to the opposition of people in the Molleturo parish. The bridge over the río Gala in Camilo Ponce Enríquez is closed to vehicular traffic to fix cracks and subsidence. There are also slides on the vía Biblián-Zhud-Cochancay. <All of this has me wishing for fire season.>

Nacional –

Exigen aumento del precio del pan (Bread price increase demanded) – The bakers in 6 provinces including Azuay went to the Palacio de Carondelet to demand an increase in bread prices. <I had no idea bread prices were controlled.> Bakers said that prices of supplies, primary materials, and shipping increased as much as 60% so that a bread should increase from 12 cents to 20 or 25 cents. Materials increases in the last few months include a 20 liter drum of oil going from $24 to $36, 50 kilos of lard from $74.90 to $115, 50 kilos of flour from $30 to $40, and a 500 gram block of yeast went up 30%. <If this keeps up, I’ll be back to baking my own bread, which is better than bakery bread anyway.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne