Heavy rains flood some Cuenca barrios; Expats clean graffiti from city walls; IESS will pay vendors; Adventure sports film series; Cultural agenda

Viernes, 24/11/2023

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Agenda cultural –

24/11, 10:00 – Workshop on creative writing – Manuel Muñoz Library.
25/11, 14:30 – Book event – Memorias de mi embarazo (Memories of my pregnancy) – ‘Catalina Sojos’ Auditorium.
26/11, 8:00 – Exposition – Chúa Fest – parque Paraiso.
27/11, 9:00 – Show – Creative showcase – City Hall Lobby.
28/11, 16:00 – Training event – Dance workshop – University Museum.
<Do you prefer this format where everything is translated even if it might make things harder to find? Such as the University Museum or Manuel Muñoz Library which a taxista might or might not understand.>

A group of Cuenca expats, called ‘Keep Cuenca Beautiful’, are busy painting over graffiti on city walls and bridges. (El Mercurio)

Feria de emprendedores (Entrepreneurs Fair) – Grupo ArLo is organizing the ‘Conectados en Black Friday’ with 10-50% discounts on clothing, accessories, shoes, make up, books, artesanal wines, circular fashion, gourmet products and more with 60 participating vendors. On sábado there will be live music from 15:00, and raffles on domingo a las 17:00. The fair is in the parking lot next to the Cámara de Comercio, across from Parque de la Madre.

De El Mercurio del jueves, 23/11 (3 articles):

Festival Navideño – The 4th Christmas Market Las Américas will be this weekend from 10:00 – 20:00. It is a space where citizens can enjoy a fair with gastronomy, culture and crafts from 8 international communities living in Cuenca. There will also be Cuencanan booths sharing with the foreign community.

Fundación “La Palabra” presentará tres libros – As part of the fiestas de Cuenca, the Fundación Cultural “La Palabra” launched 3 new books: “Sublimación en ALPHA” de Edita Galarza, “Odisea en el corazón” by Rubén Vélez, and “Filosofíe, Ética y Pedagogía de la razón vital” by Patricio Pesántez.

El festival Ecuador Cine Aventura llega a Cuenca – Extreme sports and nature are the subject of the Festival Ecuador Cine Aventura 2023. Documentaries and short films will be screened from el 3-6/12 in Batan Shopping and the Teatro del Pumapungo. The festival will start with “Al otro lado de la niebla,” the latest work from Sebastián Cordero. The last 4 documentaries of Afuera Producciones, organizers of the festival, will also be shown. You can get tickets at ecuadorcineaventura.com.

Titular –

Noboa llama a la unidad (Noboa calls for unity) – See today’s (viernes) CHL article for story.

Cuenca –

Hubo inundaciones en cinco zonas del norte (Flooding in five northern areas) – There were reports of flooding and problems due to dammed water from the strong rains in at least 5 zones in the north of Cuenca including the ciudadela Kennedy, Challuabamba, Capulispamba, Mayancela and the Panamericana Norte where traffic was restricted due to falling rocks. ETAPA moved crews to various zones to clean drains and catchbasins. There was a clog on calle Alemania between Italia y Portugal as well as on Roma and the redondel where the Pananorte converges with González Suárez. ETAPA also announced the probability of overflowing bodies of water in areas where intense rains are expected. Inamhi estimates that there will be intense rain accompanied by lightning and gusty winds as well as probable hail. It also forecasted high levels of solar radiation in Azuay and especially cantons such as Sevilla de Oro, Paute, Guachapala, El Pan, Gualaceo, Cordeleg y Sígsig. <This rain is an example of be careful of what you ask for.>

El IESS ofrece pagos a prestadores externos (IESS offers payments to external providers) – IESS has offered to pay about $250 million to outside providers on a national scale. The payments will not be disbursed directly since it requires the issuance of facturas and documents. <Paperwork shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.> The Unidad de Servicios Renales del Austro (Unireas) said the factura for febrero was not requested and that from June to now, they couldn’t upload facturas due to a problem in the system. <So to get paid, providers have to submit facturas to a system that needs to be fixed before it can accept the uploads. Welcome to IESS.>

Extranjeros unidos para ’embellecer a Cuenca’ (Foreigners united to ‘beautify Cuenca’) – Different from the rest of the country, Cuenca is the only city where the second largest population of foreigners is from the US. But many are not just passive citizens, but active in positive actions such as keeping the walls of the city clean. ‘Keep Cuenca Beautiful’ (KCB – Mantener hermosa a Cuenca) is a group that is committed to eliminating lines, spots, and illegible texts from the walls of the Centro Histórico.

There are 5 active members taking care of the walls and enclosures that are close to where they live. <After all, who wants to haul 5 gallon buckets of paint 10 blocks away when there’s a spray painted house 3 doors down.> Mike Hardy, one of the most active members, said the idea is not to engage in a war with the people who damage the walls, but come to an agreement. He is a programmer, cyclist and American executive who lives in the city center. At this point, he can recognize whose who paint the walls from their signatures. But he doesn’t eliminate all paint and leaves what he considers art where there are artistic elements that also beautify the environment. What is clear to him is not converting the walls in Cuenca into a battlefield with winners and losers. The only rule for the group is to clean disfiguring lines and spots. Another goal is to make spaces available for grafitti artists to express their ideas.

Descuentos y compras –

MaxiPets – if you have 4 paws, you get a 20% discount in the whole store from 24.-26/11 – in the Megamaxi Wayra Plaza. <So does your pet come in with you to get its discount? I’m guessing if you’re reading this you’ve got 2 feet, 2 hands and no paws. But you’re the one with the cash or card.>

Maxi days – 20, 25, & 30% discounts with 50% on selected merchandise <Need Scott toilet paper or 3 k. of Súper Chola spuds at 50% off?> – 24-27/11/2023.

Juan Eljuri – Cyber Monday up to 70% off in Eljuri.Store – free delivery anywhere in country.

Decameron – Mompiche & Punta Centinela from $79.99 per person, per night – conditions apply – 1800 DECAME (332263), ventasweb.ecuador@decameron.com, www.decameron.com.

Coral – Viernes Negro – best discounts from 23-26/11.

And that’s all for today and Happy Shopping so hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). If information is incorrect, it is the responsibility of El Mercurio. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.