Local surgery turns man’s face into a woman’s, Venezuela ‘suffocates,’ Ethnographic exhibit at Pumapungo Museum, Oil pipeline springs leak

Domingo, 6/8/2016

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Finished agenda event –

Colonia vacacional – The Galería Yuyay closed its summer camp with an exhibit of paintings done by the children who attended.

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Book launch – A book of poetry, “Estaciones” (Seasons) will be presented mañana a las 19:00 in the “Manuel Muñoz Cueva” Library (Luis Cordero y pres. Córdova) at the CCE.

Crafts fair – The Concasur Corporation and the centro cultural Queso, Macanas y Chocolate (Cheese, Ikat weavings, and Chocolate <I hope you figured out the last item on your own.>) will hold a fair from 9-11/8 in the plazoleta de UNE (Pres. Córdova y Borrero).

Articles about –

Dialogue – About 200 artists, cultural managers and representatives of institutions met el pasado viernes to talk about material and immaterial patimony, cultural endeavors, music, visual arts, stage, literature, applied arts such as design, and film.

Project incubator – The CCE is seeking to advance a creative economy by promoting sustainable cultural businesses and enterprises to generate “bienestar” (well-being), social inclusion and employment in Azuay. The program will assist cultural managers with business planning on the front end to help them get financing and develop marketing and promotion strategies.

Academia Nacional de Historia (National Academy of History) – The academy has welcomed José Miguel Castellanos, a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Educación (UNAE), into its ranks.

Opening – The sala nacional de Etnografía (The National Ethnographic Hall) in the Museo Pumapungo will open el próximo miércoles a las 10:00. Exhibits will be labelled in Spanish and English. <So those of you who don’t, can’t or won’t learn Spanish can enjoy the exhibits. You should take this as an opportunity to try learn a little Spanish since the museum has taken the remodeling as an opportunity to improve service to its foreign guests. “Those people” are incorporating English for “us,” so quit complaining about Ecuadorians not learning English. Just in case you hadn’t noticed, this is a country where Spanish is an official language. Or would you rather learn Quechua?>

Otras cosas –

Titular – Crisis “asfixia” a Venezuela (Crisis “suffocates” in Venezuela – The 4 founding members of Mercosur, -Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, have applied the “cláusula democrática” (democratic clause) to indefinitely suspend Venezuela from its membership. This clause is used when the democratic structure of a country has been broken. This suspension is of a political nature and no economic sanctions are planned. Pres. Maduro has rejected the decision, calling Mercosur an organ of political persecution. The newly constituted Asamblea Nacional Constituyente removed Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz from her position. See Sunday’s CHL for details.

J. Glas – In an “enlace ciudadano” (citizen link <like a fireside chat without Roosevelt>), transmitted on Facebook, VP Glas reiterated his innocence of the accusations of alleged corruption. His presentation was organized similarly to ex-Pres. Correa’s sabatinos with a giant screen, tents, seats, and a group of supporters for applause.

Oil pipeline – The Sistema de Oleoducto Transecuatoriano (SOTE – Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System) stopped pumping temporarily due to a “pinchazo” (little hole) in the line at km. 108. Work in the oil fields will not be affected since the system has storage for at least 3 days in tanks. Investigators are searching for those who caused the damage. <Some yoyo who ran out of gas and decided to siphon something out of the pipeline? His car’s probably not running right now.)

Jigsaw puzzles – The biggest “rompecabezas” (puzzles – literally, head breakers – your word for the day.) in the world is in Barranquilla, Colombia, which is holding a marathon to assemble a 33,600 piece puzzle of the mural “Vida Salvaje” by Adrian Chesterman. <Google it – it would be difficult at 1,000 pieces.>

Operation – The first surgery to feminize a face with a voice change was performed on Tifany, a 35 year old transgender patient at the Hospital Universitario del Río. The surgeon, Juan Pablo Arias, said that there is a high demand for this type of surgery. <I include the surgeon’s name because if he can make a man look like a woman, maybe he can make some of us look 50 again.> Since enero of this year, there have been 10 transgender “intervenciones” (procudures?) in Ecuador, 3 of them in Cuenca. The photo shows the before and after pictures of Tifany’s neck and “nuez de Adán” (nut of Adam or Adam’s apple). <I’d always thought Adam’s nut was located lower than his neck.>

Actualidades – Articles about – If any of these summaries interests you, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec to read the whole article.

Women’s groups – The Aequitas collective is painting womens’ silhouettes and hearts on sidewalks to bring awareness to the issue of violence against women.

La Ruta del Sol – An obligatory stop along the Ruta del Sol on the coast is watching super fine straw hats being made in Montecristi. <Are these the ones that can hold water?>

Parque Nacional del Cajas – The article covers its status as a World Heritage Nature Site, tourism as an alternative to mining, its ecology, and a legend about lake Quimsacocha.

Pucará canton – The canton was created in 1988; is 1300 sq. kilometers; and contains 4 climate zones – polar <achachay!>, temperate, sub-tropical and tropical. Its highest point is the Fierro Loma at 4070 m. above sea level and it descends to 200 m.

Deporte y Salud – Injections into muscle and joints.

Amenidades – “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee is the most viewed video in the history of YouTube with about 3 billion visits.

Internacional –

Germany – <This has nothing to do with Latin America but it’s kind of funny.> Two Chinese tourists were arrested in front of the Reichstag for making the Nazi salute. They were taking pictures of each other on their phones and probably not aware they were committing the crime of using Nazi symbols.

Descuentos y compras –

El Mercurio – Collection of decorating books at $1.99/ea. or all 6 for $10.00 at all their offices – collection includes dining rooms, studies, living rooms, nooks, gardens, and children’s rooms. <I bet this would be interesting in a sociological or cultural anthropological sense, too. Or is this thought just another demonstration of my mental instability? >

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne