How to watch the lunar eclipse; Azuay ranks 3rd for cedulas issued to foreigners; Cuenca-Peru flight status; Gov’t is in noncompliance with Yasuní oil ban

Bored? –
(De El Mercurio del martes, 18/8) Ecuador podrá ver “el mejor eclipse de Luna” (Ecuador will be able to see “the best lunar eclipse”) – Ecuador, including the Galápagos will be able to see a partial lunar eclipse on el jueves 27/8 with the penumbral phase starting at 20:23. The partial phase will start at 21:33, with the maximum eclipse at 23:13 when the earth’s shadow will cover 93% of the diameter of the moon. This is the equivalent of about 96% of the visible area of the moon. The eclipsed part will take on a reddish or orange hue. Unlike a solar eclipse, you won’t need to wear sunglasses or special filters to protect your eyes. <First of all, it will be at night. And I’ve never heard of moonglasses to protect your vision from moonlight.>

Seven municipal bus lines have extended their routes. The extensions follow the increase of bus fare to 40 cents from 30 cents, with a city subsidy covering the 10-cent increase. (El Mercurio)

The partial phase will end at 00:52 el viernes, 28/8 and the eclipse will end completely at 2:02. The partial phase which is the most dramatic will take 3 hours and 19 minutes. The position of the moon will help the viewing since it will be 72 degrees above the horizon of continental Ecuador. <Keep your fingers crossed for clear skies. The hard part for a lot of you will be staying awake long enough to see more than the initial phase. Maybe 2 pots of coffee will get you to the finish.>

(De El Mercurio del miércoles 19/8) Pesca, música y tradición en el Festival de la Trucha (Fishing, music and tradition at the Trout Festival) – The l7th edition of the Festival de la Trucha will be el domingo, 23/8 in the Miguir community in the Molleturo parish. The festival will start at 8:00 on km. 46 of the vía Cuenca-Molleturo- El Empalme near the center of Miguir. Activities include a festival of eagles at 10:00 with the support of Alberto Vélez, owner of the Refugio Yurak Allpa. There will also be folk dance and musical performances. At 14:00 there will be a music show with the Las Diosas group and the Deseo group. <Maybe someone will sell some nice, juicy cuy for those of you who are allergic to fish.>

(De El Mercurio del jueves, 20/8) “Quéjese” entre comedia y música (“Quéjese <so complain>”: A mix of comedy and music) – The stand up comedy and live music show will be in Cuenca at the Teatro Pumapungo el sábado, 22/8 a las 20:00 and el domingo, 23/8 a las 18:00. The show’s starting points are daily situations, contradictions, and frustrations that become stand up routines, music, characters and imitations. Interaction with the public is part of the improvisations.

Curious? –
(De El Mercurio del jueves, 20/8) 167,440 cédulas se han entregado a extranjeros (167,440 cédulas have been issued to foreigners) – Azuay is the province in 3d place for issuing cédulas to foreigners. The Registro Civil reported that between 8/2024 and 8/2026, the province issued 11,818 documents representing 7% of the cédulas issued to foreigners residing legally in Ecuador. The province issuing the most was Pichincha with 67,446, followed by Guayas with 33,844. As for recipient nationalities, Venezuelans were in the majority with 76,954 and Colombians second with 53,923. The two countries accounted for 78% of the national total. The next 3 countries were China with 5,867, Perú with 5,461, and the US with 5,116. All remaining countries accounted for almost 20,000. To get an Ecuadorian cédula, the foreign citizen needs to have an approved residency visa and process the cédula application in advance through the official system of the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana. This paperwork can be done on the eVISAS digital platform of the Cancillería. Once the foreigner has the order, they should go to a Registro Civil office with a valid passport and pay the fee. <Either this is a very condensed version of getting a cédula, or it’s much simpler than I’ve been told it is.>

(De El Mercurio del viernes, 21/8) Ruta Cuenca-Chiclayo tendrá una inspección (The Cuenca-Chiclayo route will undergo an inspection) – A technical inspection of the Mariscal La Mar airport, planned for the 1st week in septiembre, will be the first step to finalize the Cuenca-Chiclayo air route which is expected to start in the first days of noviembre. This timing is to facilitate tourism during Pope Leo’s official visit to Perú from the 11-17/11. José Luis Aguilar, executive director of the Corporación Aeroportuaria de Cuenca (Corpac), explained the evaluation would determine the infrastructure and adjustments needed to start the international flights. These will involve the national Immigration, Customs and Anti-narcotics offices as well as an inspection of the terminal.

The airline that will serve the route needs to be determined along with the flight frequencies and type of aircraft. AeroRegional has expressed interest and proposed an initial schedule of 2 flights weekly with the first flights moving between 10 & 20 passengers. The idea is to start with a moderate demand and adjust frequencies and aircraft later depending on demand. <If you do go to Chiclayo, go to the Museum of the Señor del Sipán.>

(De El Mercurio del viernes, 21/8) Se amplían recoridos de siete líneas de bus (Routes for seven bus lines being extended) – As of el 1/9, 7 bus lines will be extended as part of an improvement plan between the Cámara de Transporte and the City. It was one of the conditions agreed to by the transporters after the fare was raised to $.40 with the municipal subsidy increasing from 4 cents to 10 cents.
Line 1 – Lirio-Las Muñecas de Piedra – the route increased by 4 km. From the redondel de la Familia on av. González Suárez, it goes to the entrance to Llacao at the Cuartel Dávalos.
Line 5 – Connects the Complejo de Totoracocha with Control Sur – extended 1 km. to the parque Altiplano in the Totoracocha sector.
Line 10 – Paluncay-Puente de Misicata – extended 3 km. From the Ochoa León bridge it goes to Bibín with 2 frequencies each day. Meanwhile from the Paluncay bridge, the extension is to the entrance to Checa with 6 frequencies per day.
Line 13 – Connects El Tejar with the IESS – it adds 3 km. to its route from the parque El Rosario to the Santisima Trinidad de Racar church.
Line 14 – El Valle-Feria Libre – extended 5 km. from the center of El Valle to the new municipal hospital. This line will operate with a new route.
Line 23 – Connects the Cementerio Patrimonial with Rayoloma – extended 4 km. from Rayoloma to Cabullín with 5 frequencies daily.
LIne 26 – Checa-Mercado 27 de Febrero – extended its route 4 km. From the Ochoa León bridge it goes to Tixán with 2 frequencies per day and from Jatumpamba the route was extended to the entrance of Santa Rosa with 3 frequencies per day.
<I hope if you live on these bus lines, these extensions will make sense to you.

(De El Mercurio del viernes, 21/8) No cesa explotación en Yasuní (Exploitation continues in Yasuní) – Attendees of the Foro Social Panamazónico (Pan-Amazonian Social Forum) in Puyo yesterday, characterized the Government’s noncompliance with the 20/8/2023 referendum as a mockery of democracy and the will of the people. In the referendum, 58% of the voters voted to suspend oil exploitation in the parque Nacional Yasuní in block 43. It has been 3 years since the vote, and 2 years since the expiration of the year the Corte Constitucional (CC) gave the government to finalize the closure of 247 wells.

The results of the referendum were made official 1/9/2023, and the court gave the government of Guillermo Lasso one year to remove oil extraction activity. On el 8/5/2024, Pres. Noboa created the Comité de Ejecución de la Voluntad Popular Yasuní-ITT (CEVP -Yasuní-ITT Committee for the implementation of the will of the people) composed of various Executive branch institutions. The committee was to coordinate the closure of the wells. According to Petroecuador records, as of 12/2025, only 59 wells had been abandoned leaving 188 still operating. It said that it would need 5.5 year to close block 43. It reported that from enero to junio, 2026, the ITT produced 42,105 barrels/day. In 2023, before the referendum, it pumped 52,335 barrels, a reduction of 10,230. On el jueves, the Yasunidos collective which organized the referendum, petitioned the CC to convene a public hearing for the Government to explain the progress on closing the ITT, why it has not complied with the referendum, and why the Court has done nothing. <Because the Government hopes that if it keeps delaying, the problem will go away?>
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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.