Domingo, 19/3/2017: Ecuadorians airlifted from Peru, Cuenca joins international pilot project, Drug dealers and hookers

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Today’s agenda event –

Paz Interior Cuencana (Cuencana Interior Peace) – This meeting was at 3:00 in el Sono.

Articles about –

Cultural Agenda 21 – Cuenca is one of the Ciudades Piloto (Pilot cities) for the international “Agenda 21” project which proposes having culture as an axis for development.  The report will be released to the public tomorrow, and identifies areas in the field of culture such as culture and social inclusion, culture and the economy, urban planning and public spaces, and governance of culture in which Cuenca scored the lowest points in a self scoring evaluation.

This Pilot city project has been included in the 2017 budget, and will start with a Strategic Cultural Plan through the year 2030.  (Who says Ecuadorians don’t plan ahead?  Let’s just say that there’s more flexibility in the use of time.)  Other actions include the establishment of a Cantonal System for Culture and Heritage; a project of “Sacred Routes and Geography,” to highlight the value of the heritage of rural communities and promote rural tourism, and training community members in how to provide tourist services (hot water from a calefón and not a suicide shower to start). In urban areas, actions include creating a Network of Cultural Services, and planning special permanent zones to present cultural and art activities without a lot of paperwork and permits.

Primer Festival Internacional de Celumetrajes del Ecuador – The cellphone film festival is calling for entries in 4 categories – documentary, fiction, videoclip and stopmotion animation.  The films or photos (for stopmotion audiovisual works) created on your cell phone can be a maximum of 15 minutes.  If you’re interested in participating, send your work and a technical datasheet to festival@festivalinternacionalcelumetrajes.com or take it to the Intituto Metropolitano de Diseño de Quito between 1/4 and 1/6, 1017.  The best films will be entered in the “Bolivia Lab 2017” festival.  For more info go to the page in Facebook @festivalinternacionaldeceljumetrajes.

Art therapy – Cemior is a business offering art workshops along with inspirational talks and seminars.  Today, self esteem has deteriorated, including among those who are working employed but see their work as another load while it should be seen as a blessing.  The workshops let the attendee express their feelings through art.  For more info call 093 980 1868 or 099 840 9857. (I wonder if anyone thought about putting this on the business page.)

Workshop – A 3 part workshop on “La inclusión de personas con descapacidad en museos y centros culturales,” (Inclusion of the disabled in museums and cultural centers) will be given over the next 3 Mondays from 8-13:30 in the Sala Comunitaria in the Museo Pumapungo.  For info or to register call Karina Iñiguez at 2831-521.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Inseguridad prima en exteriores de Terminal (Google says:  Terminal Outdoor Raw Insecurity.  I think it’s more like Insecurity reigns outside the Terminal) – Drug dealers and hookers work around the Terminal Terrestre during the night and “madrugada” (early morning hours – a good word for the day.  Now when someone asks you how late a party went, you can tell then a la madrugada.)  13 security guards work inside the terminal every day, but there is a lack of surveillance outside. One store owner complained that the substation outside doesn’t do anything.  The existing camera system has been enlarged from 40 to 56 and monitors.

Schools – Most of the schools in the Centro Histórico aren’t in optimal condition due to years of wear and tear and rains.

Ley de Tierras – (Here’s your civics lesson.)  The Land Law took effect a year after its approval.  It regulates use and access to rural land, ownership rights, and if the land is fulfilling a social and environmental function.  The law also protects rural land from unplanned urban expansion.  To reclassify rural land to urban expansion, the land can’t have a public irrigation system or permanent productivity, it is not suited for agriculture, and it is not part of communal or ancestral territory.

Election simulation – The CNE is conducting a national election simulation today to test how well the information and security systems are performing.

Your sliver of life article today is about … 58 Ecuadorians were stranded in Perú and unable to return by land because of the rains and the state of the road.  Ecuador sent an airplane to Lima to pick them up today.  They had been sheltered in the Consular section of the Ecuadorian Embassy.  (Ecuador has been very generous with its embassy space, hasn’t it?)  The Panamericana Norte that connects Lima with Ecuador is cut where bridges washed out, and landslides are affecting other roads through the mountains.

Another road story – A slide at (the infamous) km. 88 on the vía Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme trapped a trailer.  The driver was unhurt.  Two passenger cars were also stuck in the slide, but were pulled out of the mud and continued their journey.  (I think that’s the stretch of road where they keep a bunch of heavy machinery close by.  And I think continuing a journey after being pulled out of a mudslide carries nonchalance to new levels.)

Symposium on water – “Cuidemos el agua desde su origen” (Let’s take care of water from its source) is a symposium and open house that ETAPA will hold on 23 & 24/3 in the Museo de la Ciudad.  It will cover topics such as hydrology and climate and ecology and watershed management.  Register at the central building of ETAPA. (The one in El Centro?)

Story from sábado –

Bike loans – EMOV and the Municipal Economic Development Company started a pilot bike loan program in El Centro.  So far it’s just on viernes from 8-18:00 in the PRAC plaza (Huayna Cápac y Bolívar) with a maximum time of 2 hours.  Anyone who wants to use a bike needs to show ID and fill out a form.  In the future, the project will have two rental stations and run from lunes a sábado.

Deportes –

Ad for FFC 15K (Festival Fundación de Cuenca) – domingo, 16/3 at 9:00 – Register until 9/4 or until all spaces are filled – at Mi Boletería in Mall del Río, Fybeca (Bolívar), Monay Shopping, www.tecdepor.com – $12.

Discuentos y compras –

MaxiTec – 17-26/3 – discounts up to 35% – electronics including turntables, tv’s, phones, mini-speakers – Miraflores shopping center.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne