It’s ‘U.S. Week’ in Cuenca, March against sex ed, Odebrecht financed Venezuela campaigns, New organic market, Chinese fishing ship, Puppet festival

Domingo, 15/10/2017

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Cuarto Ciclo de Cine (4th Film Cycle) – CIDAP and the Instituto de Cine y Creación Audiovisual <all cognates so you can do your own translating> will present a film cycle about Crafts and Popular Arts from 17-20/10 in functions at 10:00 and 19:00. The opening will be el martes próximo a las 19:00 en CIDAP.

Festival de danza – The Primer Festival Internacional de Danza en Pareja (First International Couples Dance Festival) with dancers from México, Perú, Ecuador and Colombia will be el próximo miércoles. Performances will be in the “Rizoma Plataforma Disidente,” the terrace of the Todos Santos Patrimonial Complex, and El Prohibido Centro Cultural. <Your guess is as good as mine as to the times. They might have posters in El Centro.> Cost: $3.00.

Taller de caricatura – There will be caricature workshops Monday at 10:00, 15:00, and 17:00 in the Pájarogato Gallery with maestro Alberto Tenezaca. <I bet if you drew a caricature of a man with a big pot belly and wearing a “Panama” hat, the other attendees would guess you were caricaturizing a stereotypical gringo.> Cost: $25.00.

Articles about –

TitiriCuenca – the 7th Edition of the Festival de Titeres (Puppets) will run until 28/10. Sunday’s opening parade from San Blas to Santo Domingo included 6 bigger than life characters <oversized dummies? Is there another word for those that I’ve forgotten?) showing the face of multiculturality. The figures represented the nationalities in the Sierra, Afro-Ecuadorians, and cultures from the Amazon. Shows will start el próximo miércoles in the teatro Sucre with “Strombolina” at 10:30 & 19:30 from Teatro Tecla; and “La Leyenda de Caipora” at 15:30 from “Gotas Mágicas,” which also coordinated the festival. On jueves, also in the teatro Sucre, “Rayuela” from Colombia will perform “Juanito y las semillas mágicas” (Johnny and the magic seeds) <at an unknown time>, and at 15:30, “Pulpo Teatro” from Ecuador will perform “Lukas y los Fantasmas” (Luke and the Ghosts). Performances will continue el domingo, 28/10 with works from “Gotas Mágicas” and “Pulpo Teatro.” On the Monday, the venue will switch to the teatro Pumapungo with performances by “Saltimbanquis” from Argentina and “De Betsy” from Chile. The festival will end on sábado, 28/10 with a workshop on animated figures and oral narration. <For those of you with limited Spanish, puppet theater might be understandable. Note that I’m not assuming that all of you readers can’t speak the local lingo confidently (just most of you).>

Future teachers – El pasado viernes (last Friday) <in case you’ve forgotten what pasado meant – I hope you all have a good handle on the days of the week by now.> saw the end of the first Workshop on Artistic Creation UNAE. The workshop was to get future teachers exposed to and involved in the arts, and give them tools they will be able to use as teachers. <All I can do with my pequeñitos is hand them a crayon and tell them to draw whatever they want. Unfortunately, not much teaching involved there, but they do know their colors in English! I don’t think they know as many English words as an average Border collie.>

Plan de Cultura – Starting Monday until 25/10, there will be 8 more sessions to structure the “Plan Estratégico Cantonal de Cultura, 2030” (Cantonal Strategic Plan of Culture, 2030). The meetings started last week with activists, artists, cultural managers, and resident foreigners. Subjects of the upcoming meetings are Culture and Economy mañana in the auditorium of MMAM; Culture, equity and social inclusion el martes in the Fundación María Amor; Culture, urban planning and public space el miércoles in the mercado 3 de Noviembre; and jueves in MMAM. All sessions are from 9-13:00. After these, there will be assemblies in rural areas.

Carlos Vásconez Gomezcoello – This Cuenacano author will give two conferences in Argentina at the Universidad de San Martín.

Otras cosas –

Titular – La educación de género recibe en las calles un “no” (Gender education receives a “no” in the streets) – Pro-family religious groups marched to defend the family and moral values and against the legislation currently in the Assembly which encourages gender education based on respect for sexual diversity. There were marches in 100 cities Saturday,including Cuenca.

Jorge Glas – The Corte Nacional de Justicia met hoy a las 15:00 to decide on the petition for habeas corpus by Glas’ attorney. (See article in chl.)

Chinese fishing boat – El Servicio de Gestión Inmobiliaria del Sector Público and the Armada Nacional del Ecuador (The Public Sector Real Estate Management Service and the Ecuadorian Navy) will sign an agreement and perform the “acta entrega-recepción” ( delivery-receipt act) for the boat that was seized in the Galapagos. <Does that mean the Chinese bought their boat back? Or did Ecuador’s line of credit just get increased?>

Odebrecht – The ex-president of Odebrecht in Venezuela said that he financed the campaigns of various of the chavista candidates from 2004-2013.

Casa Violeta – This shelter was opened to take in children and adolescents who are in situations of vulnerability to gender violence. The residents get the support of psychologists, social workers, and education.

Agroecological products – A new “organic” market opened ayer in the El Vergel barrio (next to the church). The goal of the municipal sponsored fair is to bring natural products straight from the country to the city. It will be every sábado from 7:30-12:00. In addition to fruits and vegetables you can get chicken and cuy, comida tipica, some crafts and chocolate. <Is this another market you have to get to within an hour of opening or “all the good stuff” will be gone?>

Actualidades – Articles about –

Chiquintad, the green emerald of Cuenca – It’s to the north of Cuenca and corn and beans are grown there, along with 23 cholita cuencana beauty queens. It is also known for “ebanistería” (cabinetmaking).

Resistence to antibiotics –

An unreadable essay <I’m not even sure what it’s about since it talks about a Statue of Liberty hologram in parque Calderón, slavery, a campaign for peace, and ecological monuments.>

Descuentos y compras – Ads for –

Estados Unidos Week – 18-21/10, schedule of activities follows.
Miércoles, 18/10 –
Information fair for foreigners living in Cuenca, 10-18:00 -Museo de la Ciudad (Benigno Malo y Gran Colombia) <Will insurance and visas be part of that info?>
Talks by the consulate – 14:00 – Museo de la Ciudad
Jueves, 19/10 –
Press conference – 10:00 – Galería de la Alcaldía de Cuenca
Workshop on cake and cupcake decorating for Halloween – 15-17:00 – El Patio Comida Urbana (27 de Febrero y av. Solano).
Viernes, 20/10 – Magic show – 19:00 – Mall del Río.
Sábado, 21/10 –
US week closes with a food and cultural fair – 10-14:00 – parque San Sebastián. <And what would the gastronomía tradicional of the US be? PB&J sandwiches? A MickyD family pack? Jello salad as a vegetable? (You’d need to be from Minnesota, maybe Wisconsin, to remember that.), or New England clam chowder, fried oysters, candied sweet potatos, and apple pie.>
Halloween painting contest – 12:00 – Register at internacional@cuenca.gov.ec
Rock concert and activities traditional to the country <square dancing and shootings?> – 12:30-13:30.

Gualaquiza (La Perla de la Amazonia (The Pearl of the Amazon)) – II Edición del Triatlón, Camino del Manigullán – register at (07) 278 1812. <The swimming portion seems to be inner-tubing. <Is the river too shallow to swim in?)

Concert – Pablo Milanés – “Canciones para siempre” (Songs for forever) – sábado, 28/10 at 20:00 – Coliseo Jefferson Perez – tickets at www.ecutickets.ec, Almacenes El Surtido and La Victoria, and Optica Calderón across from the Carlos Cueva.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne