Lunes, 4/7/2016: Input needed for Law of Agrobiodiversity, Barley for beer, More drunk drivers headed to the pokey

Hola, Todos –

Happy July 4th.  El Mercurio has a special insert to commemorate July 4th.

Pagina cultural –

Books to China – The Ministry of Culture sent Ecuadorian books to China to the U. of Nanjing in Shanghai with the goal of creating libraries about Ecuador in the principal universities in China.  (Let’s hope they send a cultural show back – acrobats and stuff like that.)

Articles about –

Museo Remigio Crespo Toral – There are two parallel projects at the museum – one to restore the building which is 20% complete, and the other to complete an inventory.

Grupo de Cámara – The Chamber Orchestra will present a recital on 7/7 at 19:00 in el Museo de Arte Moderno.  They will play pieces by Bach, Mozart and E.E. Yepes.

Vacation workshops – The CCE will have workshops in painting, drawing, modeling clay, childrens’ theater, guitar,  woodcutting, lomography, collagraph and silk screening.  Go to www.elmecurio.com.ec to see the times, days, age groups and costs for the workshops.  (Even if you can’t read the article, your kid, if he/she has been in school here, probably can.)

Exhibit – “La Belleza en Blanco and Negro (Beauty in Black and White) – The mainly pencil drawing exhibit of faces is in the main hall of the U of Cuenca.  The artist, Fernando Tenesaca, is a sports doctor for Deportiva del Azuay.

Book launch – “Pensamiento detractor, un aporte no convencional al Buen Vivir” (Thought detractor, an unconventional contribution to Good Living) – This book by Sebastián Endara will be launched on Wed, 6/7 at 19:00 in the library of the Casa de Cultura.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Tranvía: rompen tramo de ductos por no cumplir normas técnicas (Tranvía: stretch of ducts broken for not complying with technical specifications) – There was a backhoe tearing up part of a platform to tear out the ducts for electrical cables near Coral Centro and Súper Stock.  (Nothing like having to tear out completed work on a project that isn’t even finished yet.)  The cost of this corrective work will be paid by the contractor.

Consulta – The president of the Commission on Food Sovereignty is inviting members of communes, communities, indigenous and Afroecuadorian peoples, and montubio people (mestizos from the coast) to provide input on a Law on Agrobiodiversity, Seeds and Agroecological Development.  (I hope the law will tell Monsato and cronies to go take a hike although if TPP passes, Monsanto could sue a country for impairing its potential profits.)

Iglesio San Alfonso – The work to start restoring the stained glass windows at the church will start this semester.

Your sliver of life article today is about – a stoplight post at Las Américas and Don Bosco that’s in danger of falling over and possibly injuring people or damaging property.  The photo shows it at an angle about like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  (I wonder who had enough juice to get an article about a leaning stoplight into the paper?)

The Federación Ibero-latinoamericana de Cirugía Plástica – will be performing free surgeries on 21, 22, & 23/7 in 22 countries including Ecuador.  (No, this is not your chance to get that facelift you’ve been thinking about for free.)  The surgeries are for patients of limited means and mostly to correct hare lips and cleft palates.  These birth defects affect about 1 in 1,000 babies, but in Ecuador the incidence is 1 of every 500.

Cerveza (I bet this is a word every gringo knows even if it’s the only word he knows.) – Seeds for barley (Scarlet and Cañicapac varieties) have been given to farmers in Nabón and Oña.  They can be used by artisenal brewers who now import barley or get it from northern Ecuador.  (If you’re a brewer, be patient – the seed hasn’t even been planted yet, and even if it’s been adapted for the local soil and climate conditions, who knows how it’ll work.)

Traffic stops – 12 drivers were detained for drunk driving last Sat. on Los Andes in the Totoracocha sector.  Yesterday the drivers were brought for an arraignment hearing.  The traffic court judge gave them jail time.  (So don’t drive drunk – and remember you’re legally drunk here at .03%.  Did you really want to spend a few days in jail?  I bet you’d learn some Spanish fast.)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne