Floods wash out roads, isolate Macas; Events closed down as health rules are ignored; Feria Libre is half-way open; Wear your mask!

Martes, 23/6/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Audiovisual memories of Ecuador – The Cinematica Nacional of the Casa de la Cultura has put dozens of videos on their web page at http://www.cinematecanacionalcce.com/Cinemateca in order to maintain the audiovisual memory of Ecuador. One example is a documentary about a highjacking of a plane in 1967 when an armed leftist group forced the captain to detour to La Habana. The plane was flying from Guayaquil to Miami.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Indagan muerte de Morales (Death of Morales investigated) – The prefect of Guayas, Carlos Luis Morales died of a heart attack yesterday. This kicked off a controversy between his children and doctors who treated him. His children said that he was unconscious but alive when he entered the hospital and that the electronic ankle bracelet delayed his resuscitation. Medical reports indicate he had no vital signs when he entered the clinic, and that the bracelet would not impede the use of a defibrillator. (See the article in Tuesday’s CHL for more on the story.)

Macas is at risk of being isolated – Macas, the capital of Morona Santiago, is at risk of losing its connection to Pastaza y Azuay due to constant rain which has damaged its two main access roads. <I imagine you could still get there on foot or hoof.> The vía Macas-Puyo which connects Macas with Pastaza as well as the vía Paute-Guarumales-Méndez, which connects it with Azuay are damaged.

Many Cuencanos keep their masks down.

After 72 hours of rain and the alteration of the natural channel of the río Upano due to a large amount of volcanic material from the Sangay eruption, the river overflowed. About 100 meters of the approach to the bridge over the river was washed out. The mayor of Morona is hoping a Bailey bridge can be built across the gap since the bridge abutment seems to be OK. The alternate road Puyo-“Y” de Santa Ana-Sevilla Don Bosco-Seipa-Sucúa-Macas is also in bad condition due to the rain. <If you’re going to Macas, saddle up.>

New outbreak – The Municipality and health systems are concerned about the mis-use of masks and disrespect for social distancing which could lead to a new outbreak of COVID. Over the weekend, the Intendencia closed a festival in Yunguilla (Santa Isabel), took down volleyball nets, and sanctioned people who were not wearing masks. Citizens complained about a park near the Feria Libre where a lightning indoor <fútbol> championship complete with uniforms, trophies, and referees was held. Neighbors also reported a house in Yunguilla where over several fines de semana (weekends – your word for the day), there were events with music and alcohol. <And there does seem to be a lot of misuse of masks – I’ve seen Gringos as well as Ecuatorianos wearing masks under their chins. Shame on them.>

Feria Libre – The feria libre at El Arenal will partially reopen mañana after 3 months. As a safety measure, only half (850) of the merchants who usually work every miércoles selling clothing, shoes, toys, decorations, crafts, and prepared food will be there. Merchants will alternate weeks so that everyone can go back to work at least half time. There will be an average of 5 m. between each stall and everyone is required to use a mask. Food will only be sold “to go.” No informal vendors will be allowed. All vendors will need to show a negative COVID.19 test to enter. Security guards will fumigate cars bringing in loads, and take people’s temperatures. <I wonder of all of the customers will come back or only half of them, too.>

Voter registration – A total of local 15 foreigners, mostly from the US and Canada, registered to vote in the 2021 elections by last Friday’s deadline. <Yes, it would have been nice to learn about the deadline before the deadline passed. l’m hoping that I’m still on the rolls from registering and voting in the last election.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne