Heavy rains flood buildings, trigger landslides; 4×4 joy riders damage an area of Cajas Park; El Tambo train will roll again; Ecuador returns to the bond market

Bored? –
(De El Mercurio del miércoles, 28/1) Reactivarán tren de El Tambo a Coyoctor (Train from El Tambo to Coyoctor to be reactivated) – The Ministerio de Infraestructura y Transporte, the GAD Municipal de El Tambo, and Ferrocarriles del Ecuador (Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Municipal Government of El Tambo, and Ferrocarriles del Ecuador), the last of which is in liquidation signed an agreement to reactivate the railroad line El Tambo-Coyoctor for tourism, heritage, and economic development. The agreement, which will be in effect for 5 years, addresses the rehabilitation and maintenance of the railway, tourist operations, recovering the stations and railway assets, and the integration of local communities. <Well, it won’t be the Orient Express, but it’s a lot closer and will probably be a lot cheaper.>

The Teatro Pumapungo presents the IV Festival de Danza Folclórica Wawa Huma el jueves 29/1 and el domingo, 1/2. The festival promotes children and teens as the living carriers of memory and cultural identity. (El Mercurio)

(De El Mercurio del miércoles, 28/1) Pumapungo acoge el Festival Wawa Huma (Pumapungo hosts the Wawa Huma Festival) – The Teatro Pumapungo will welcome the IV Festival de Danza Folclórica Wawa Huma el jueves 29/1 and el domingo, 1/2. The festival puts children and teens in the center as living carriers of memory and cultural identity with more than 95 early education centers, schools, and dance schools participating. In four shifts, the stage will be occupied by dancers of different ages with choreography that reflects a teaching work that assures the transmission and currentness of folklore from infancy. The festival will be developed in distinct hours. <Which are not specified in the article.> Admission: $1 for children and $3 for adults.

(De El Mercurio del miércoles, 28/1) Festival de frutas previo a Carnaval tendrá Bulán (Bulán to hold pre-Carnival fruit festival) – The 8th “Colores, Aromas y Sabores” (Colors, Aromas, and Flavors) festival will be held el sábado, 31/1 in the parish center of Bulan in Paute canton. It will start a las 9:00 with local producers who will present a wide variety of seasonal fruit grown in the area. Bulán is especially known for the production of different varieties of apples, reinas claudias <those small yellow plums>, pears, capulíes <The small local cherries?>, and more. Besides the fruits, there will be a gastronomic festival with traditional dulces and typical foods such as roast chicken and cuy with potatoes. <Mmmmm – cuy – delicious little critter.> There will also be contests, music and dance. <It’s a nice drive through the area when all those fruit trees are blooming as well. I did that drive by mistake once.>

Curious? –
(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/1) Aguacero generó emergencias (Downpour caused emergencies) – The downpour of Monday afternoon resulted in several emergencies in different sectors of the city with accumulation of water, structural collapses, and impacts on mobility. One of the most critical points was on the Cuenca-Azogues freeway in the stretch near the Mall del Río and Hospital del Río where water accumulated on the road, impeding traffic. There was also water dammed up in the Ucubamba sector, on av. de las Américas near Miraflores. The Centro Histórico was also affected with water on the first floor of the Mercado 10 de Agosto which collapsed the sistema de aguas negras (black water system or sewage system). A wall fell on calle Larga near the Todo Santos sector, and a facade at Bolívar y General Torres partially detached. <Now that would be very unsettling – walking into your living room and seeing the front wall leaning over into the street.> A house in the Plaza del Arte was flooded and part of the roof of the Chemistry Dep’t at the U. of Cuenca was affected. There was also flooding in the Feria Libre and the Sagrados Corazones sector. The Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología forecasted heavy rains continuing to Wednesday.

(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/1) Denunciarán daño ambiental al Cajas (Environmental damage to Cajas to be reported) – ETAPA park rangers removed several 4×4’s <and presumably their drivers> from inside the Parque Nacional Cajas (PNC) and reported the incident to the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía (MAE) to take appropriate action. These activities are strictly prohibited in the páramo due to the severe impact on the soil, vegetation and fragile high mountain ecosystems. According to the penal code, invading areas of ecological importance such as those in the PNC which is part of the Sistema Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (SNAP), is a crime punishable with 1-3 years in prison. <After 100,000 people marched to protect water sources, you’ve still got a handful of idiots playing with their new Christmas toys in those very areas so many others marched to protect. I hope none of those yahoos were gringos.>

(De El Mercurio del martes, 27/1) Recompra de deuda (Debt repurchase) – Ecuador received offers from investors willing to sell sovereign bonds maturing in 2030 for $2.482 billion (81.62% of the existing issues). Meanwhile the interest on 2035 bond issues rose to $2.122 billion (32.65%). As part of the mechanism announced by the country to repurchase the bonds, the next step involves international markets and their interest in buying new Ecuadorian debt in the form of bonds maturing in 2034 and 2039. The hope is to sell those bonds at interest rates no higher than 10% <I hope I got that right – finance is not my field, and I’m guessing it’s not the reporter’s either. So here you have two people guessing about complex financial matters.>

(De El Mercurio del miércoles, 28/1) Precaución en la Cuenca-Molleturo (Caution in the Cuenca-Molleturo road) – Early in the morning of el 27/1, a rockslide completely blocked the vía Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme at km. 69. This is the main route between the provinces of Azuay and Guayas. The Ministerio de Infraestructura y Transporte (MIT) with the Molleturo Parish Government cleared the road. One lane was opened mainly for light vehicles. Heavy vehicles could use the vía Zhud-Cochancay-El Triunfo as an alternative route. Agents were deployed in sectors where falling rock was reported to warn drivers of the risks. MIT called for those who drive along this route to respect speed limits and signage since there is an increase in risk of new slides during the temporada invernal (winter season) <So there you have it. It’s winter even though it’s the warmer half of the year. For me it’s slide season since those are the stories in the paper, as opposed to the fire season.>
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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.