Lunes, 30/11/2015: Symphony outdoors, red tile roofs, tranvía, Germany

Hola, Todos – 

Pagina cultural – 

Fotógrafos – The Association of Ecuadorian Photographers will introduce the Directorio de Fotógrafos Ecutorianos (Directory of Ecuadorian Photographers) 2015-2016 tomorrow (1/12) at 19:00 in the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno.

Novena – The “Novena Cultural” will start tomorrow and end on 9/12. It will be at the Museo de las Conceptas and is a project of the Cuenca Department of Culture.

Premio – Cuencano writer Jorge Dávila Vázquez won an award for “Diccionario inocente,” poems especially for children. (An Ecuadorian Robert Louis Stevenson? I hope someone besides me remembers A Child’s Garden of Verses.)

Articles about –

A new direction for the Ethnographic Museum, which is a national museum, formerly administered by the Banco Central del Ecuador. Cuenca was named the custodian of the collection of 10,744 articles, 3,000 of which are displayed on the 2nd floor. The new vision and mission will include space in the museum for social and cultural groups to have a place and presence. During the 3 days of the conference to talk about this new direction, the morning conferences and meetings will be open to the public.

The Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca will  play Tues. (1/12) at 20:00 in the patio of the Antiguo Seminario San Luis, next to the New Cathedral (Benigno Malo between Sucre and Bolívar) to celebrate Cuenca´s 16th anniversary of being a World Heritage Site. Enter on Malo.

The Alianza Francesa will present a week of cultural activities including photography with a collection called “Cuenca” by Kurth Ehrmann in the sala Paul Cézanne, the film “El significado del amor” tomorrow (1/12) at 19:30, and a Christmas Fair on Sat. (5/12) from 9-13:00 (Tadeo Torres y av Solano).

“Obra Navideña” (Christmas Play) will be performed on Wed. 9/12 at 20:00 in the Teatro Pumapungo.  Tickets available at Librimundi (calle Hermano Miguel 8-14 y Sucre) for $10 or $12 on the day of the performance.

The debut of “Zhamán: El tesoro escondido de Atahualpa,” a novel by Marco Chango.  (I wish my Spanish were good enough to figure out what the novel is about. Or that I had two more hours to work on it.)

Otras cosas –

Titular – Patrimonio con heridas abiertas en sus tejados (Patrimony with open wounds in its roofs). Part of the historic preservation required by the World Heritage Site designation is the maintenance of the “5th facade” or roof.  The Department of Patrimonial and Historic Areas is using drones to get an aerial view of the roofs and their condition.  Satellite photography from 15 years ago shows very few places that didn’t have teja (tile – your word for the day) whereas recent drone photographs show roofing of other materials.  (Finally an article where the use of drones doesn’t sound like people playing with a new toy.) Red tile roofs are required in El Centro and El Ejido.  (From a practical standpoint, tile roofs are fire resistant – a good thing in a city with a citizenry that likes incendiary entertainments. Just ask the old Seminario San Luis.)  Another problem with the 5th facade is the conversion of patios into parking lots.  (And isn’t part of the magic of arriving in Cuenca by air seeing individual red tile roofs scattered in the mountains, then clustering into small villages and finally the panorama of Cuenca?)

The Cantonal Council – is discussing the 2016 budget and the tranvia needs another $35 million.

450 AIDS patients – are receiving free antiretroviral medications at the Vicente Corral Moscoso Hospital each month.

German week – was celebrated in typical Cuencanan style – with food, music and dancing.  (What? No beer?)

La Primera Feria por la Dignidad, la Interculturalidad y la Soberanía Alimentaria (The First Fair for Dignity, Interculturality and Food Sovereignty) will be on 11-12/12 from 10:00 in the parque de la Madre.  The fair is being sponsored by the provinces of Loja, Azuay, Cañar and Zamora Chinchipe, the Movimiento de la Unidad Plurinacional and Pachakutic.  The first day will showcase the culture and art from Cañari, Puruhá, Saraguro, Afroecuatoriano, Shuar, and Mestizo peoples.

Your sliver of life article is about – a noche cuencana held in NY this past 21/11 where a Chola Cuencana Migrante was elected in Queens.  (Why couldn’t we have a Miss Gringolandia contest? There are younger expats who wouldn’t look like 150 pounds of potatoes in a swimming suit.)

Deportes –

The first “Kanas en Acción 1.4k” (White hairs in Action 1.4k, if kanas is a play on canas which are white hairs) – nearly 1000 seniors ran/walked/wheelchaired from Otorongo to the parque De La Madre.  The event was organized by rhe Universidad del Adulto Mayor.  (Geezer U. – which has quite a selection of classes for senior citizens.)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne