Flights to and from Cuenca, Tram work closes streets, Start of Lent, Renovations at area mercados

Miércoles, 14/2/2018

Hola, Todos –

No El Mercurio in the front yard today. So you’re getting stuff from El Tiempo, which was the one the lady who sells papers had.

Pagina cultural –

Today’s agenda event –

Charla – There was a talk on the Life and Youth of Saint Hermano Miguel today at 19:00.

Articles about –

Start of Lent – Today was Ash Wednesday and churches in the city were applying ash to people’s foreheads. <If I’m writing as if this is an exotic custom, it’s because my religious upbringing included neither Ash Wed. nor Lent, and Easter was dyed eggs.>

Libro – “La sonrisa hueca del señor Horundi” (The hollow smile of Mr. Horundi) by Efraín Villacís is a collection of stories about work and life and as far as philosophy. It will be launched el próximo 22/2 a las 19:00 in the hemiciclo de la Flacso. <I don’t know if that’s that arcade of flags in parque Calderón or something in Quito where the author is from.

Book relaunch – “El ayer latiendo en el hoy” will be relaunched in a few months with a corrected and enlarged edition. The book tells the stories of 105 “personajes” in Cuenca.

Otras cosas –

Titular – San Valentín, un día señalado para casarse (Valentine’s Day, a designated day to get married) – El Registro Civil decorated its marriage halls for those couples wanting to formalize their relationships. The cost to get married is $50, and for $250 you can get married at home. Last year the Registro Civil celebrated 68 marriages on Valentine’s day – one every 15 minutes. <Does the official rattle off the vows at the speed of the small print announcer in TV ads?> Outside the Civil Registry, there were vendors of chocolate and flowers and photographers. <After all, this is Ecuador where the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and thriving.>

Citizen requests – The projects requested by the “asambleas ciudadanas” (citizens’ assemblies) from 2015 are 79% complete. 92.81% of the requests are in progress, and due to be finished this year.

Road closure and bus changes – Due to Tranvía work, traffic will be restricted in the south to north lane of av. España from Gil Ramírez Dávalos to the redondel with av. Hurtado de Mendoza from hoy hasta el domingo, 25/2. The north to south lane will become two-way for light vehicles. Heavy vehicles including buses on the 7, 10, 26 & 100 will be rerouted. A second closure will be from hoy hasta el 24/2 at av. Núñez de Bonilla y av. España. This will change the return route of bus line 2.

Mercados – The Director of Municipal Markets announced the improvement project of the mercado Doce de Abril is at 70% complete. They’re working on the metal structure and roof of the building next to where the market currently is. The parking lot and loading zones are also advancing. At the end of this month, 390 merchants will move to the parking area to allow for the next stage of work.

He also said that talks with the merchants in Veintisiete de Febrero are advancing to the point of being close to starting the work. Another project is the alley next to El Arenal which is known as “el callejón de la muerte” (death alley). <Makes you think twice about shopping there, doesn’t it.>

Expanding boundaries – Ecuador is looking to enlarge its “plataforma continental” (continental platform) beyond 200 nautical miles as far as the Galápagos.

Business page –

Flights – A chart of flights to and from Cuenca. Latam flies to and from Quito 3 times a day, weekdays, and twice a day on weekends. Tame has 2 flights to and from Quito every day and one flight to Guayaquil from lunes a jueves. <So forget about flying to Guayaquil for a weekend unless you brought your own plane.> More flights are on the way in March as Latam increases service and a new airline begins service to Guayaquil.

Andes Kinkuna – This Ecuadorian business is exporting “colágeno hidrolizado” (hydrolyzed collagen) to Mexico. Their powder has a base of mortiño, quinua, sacha inchi, and maca. Go to www.andeskinkuna.com for more info.

Assange – A British judge denied the petition <or whatever the legal name would be> to lift the arrest warrant against him.

Internacional –

Colombia – A soldier was killed yesterday in an attack by ELN near the Venezuelan border. ELN started an armed strike which continues to now, to put pressure on the government to restart the peace talks which were started almost a year ago in Quito. The attacks have been against a bridge, a road, tollbooths, and the soldier who was shot. The talks have been stopped since 10/1 after an increase in attacks by ELN. <I don’t understand the logic. Escalating violence is a way to motivate peace talks?>

Guatemala – The Pres. of Oxfam International was detained in Guatemala for a case of corruption when he was the Minister of Finances during Álvaro Colom’s administration (2008-2012).

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne