Lunes, 5/12/2016: Musical fireworks, Low inflation for 2016, Property tax info online, Christmas crafts fair at Portal Artesanal

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Today’s (Mon.) agenda event –

Novena – There was one Mon. night in the Plazoleta de Santo Domingo.

Articles about – 

Straw weaving – The economuseo Casa del Sombrero gives free workshops that last 2 months and meet on lunes, miércoles y viernes from 8-11:00.  15 women are in the last class for the year and include youth to seniors and a Canadian.  (The accompanying photo is of several women sitting on stools and working.  So if Valería D. has blond or white hair, she is in the photo.)  The next class starts in febrero.  If you want to register you need to go to the museum and give them your data (name, cedula, contacts, etc.).

Feria Artesanal por Navidad (Christmas Craft Fair) – The fair will be from 9-11/12 in the Portal Artesanal de Cuenca (Huayna Cápac y Bolívar) from 10-21:00.  142 parking spaces are available. There will be 58 artisans including 4 in the area of gastronomy serving paella, Italian, Peruvian, and Ecuadorian food.  Other venders will be selling Christmas items and crafts for gift giving.

The first floor spaces will be occupied soon with an inauguration of the Gallery in mid-diciembre.  (Just in time for all those last minute gifts.  The problem would be shipping them – you have your choice of late or hideously expensive.)

Journalists receive training – Editors and journalists from El Mercuro and LATE newspapers took a course in the Use of Gerunds.  (Continuing education can be a real pain in the gerund.)

Fotografía – “extra-NOS” will open  martes, 6/12 at 9:30 in el Centro Cultural Casa de Chaguarchimbana (Las Hererías sector).  The exhibit shows the reality of young expatriates – from Ecuador in Spain and Italy, and from Perú and Colombia in Ecuador.  These youth are stigmatized as “extranjeros, extracomunitarios, extraditables, extraños” (foreigners, outsiders, extraditable, and strangers).  (Kind of how gringos are viewed without the extraditable part.  It would be interesting to see the photographs of their lives as expatriates versus ours.)

Concierto – “Concierto Ecuatoriano” will celebrate Cuena’s 17 years as a World Heritage Site.  The concert will be on miércoles, 7/12 at 19:30 in the Casa de Chaguarchimbana.  The program will include classic guitar, soprano Vanesa Freire, dancer Sandra Gómez and video.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – El título es Amarillo (The title is Amarillo – this refers to Barcelona which wears yellow shirts.)

Cost of Living Raise – The increase in the Salario Básico Unificado (SBU – Unified Basic Salary) for 2017 for private sector workers will be $8.41.  This represents a projected inflation rate of 2.3% in 2017.  The SBU is currently $366 (and you can do your own math).  (So give your cleaning lady her raise and don’t forget to pay the Décimo Tercera salary while you’re at it.)

Décimo Tercera – This extra payment is also known as the Bono Navideño (Christmas Bonus).  There’s a complicated calculation. (Talk to someone who knows how to do it or go to www.elmercurio.com.ec and look at the table for yourself.  It’s on page 3B.)

Road work – There will be 250 meters of repaving on Av. Pumapungo from the Monay bridge towards the Ciudadela Eucaliptos.  The work will also include water and sewer lines, electrical and phone conduits, and 20 cm. thick paving.  (Are they building a runway?)  The work will last 70 days.

Accidents on the Pana Sur – Between enero and noviembre, 2016, there have been 50 major accidents between  km.0 and the Cumbe roundabout on the Panamericana Sur.  Most of the accidents occur in the same stretches, on weekends, and at peak hours.  (The list of causes of accidents is terrifying.  How many of these causes are driving next to, in front of, or behind you?)  A Transit Commission official said there can be drunks leaving Yunguilla, sleepy drivers going up to Cuenca, semis, buses that pass, speeders, and drivers using cell phones not to leave out “negligencia y impericia” (negligence and imperfection). (Wouldn’t causing an accident fall well within the definition of imperfection?)

Property tax – You can find out what your 2017 property tax is going to be on line at www.cunca.gob.ec.  You need to enter either your cedula or RUC.  (If you bought property using your passport number, just go down and pay it.  It can’t be a whole lot more than it was last year.)  There are discounts for paying in the first half of the year.

Piromusical – Azuay is pioneering in musical fireworks using cold pyrotechnics.  (The picture makes it look like a fireworks fountain.  Substitute sparks for the water.)

Amenidades –

Concert – “Trova Fest” will feature well known Cuencanan artists bringing the best songs of all time on viernes, 8/12 at 20:00 in the Teatro Pumapungo.  Cost: $10.00.

Villancicos (I translated it for you last year and challenged you to remember.) – There will be an afternoon performance on viernes at the Mall del Río with choruses from different schools.  Afer this Christmas show there will be a presentation by the dance group “Dance Mob”, made up of North American residents of Cuenca.

Internacional –

Brazil – Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets in a massive protest against corruption.  (I bet they wish they had Dilma back.) Protests took place in about 200 cities including most of the regional capitals.  The protests are against a gutted anti-corruption law which was approved by the Chamber of Deputies and is likely to be approved by the Senate.  The law includes jailing prosecutors and judges who act for “partisan political causes.”  (Like charging government officials with corruption and graft?)

Oakland, CA – Last Friday, a fire in an industrial building converted to artists’ studios in the Fruitvale district, killed 33 people who were attending a concert.  Only 35-40% of the building has been investigated.  (This is for the only other long-time Oaklander I know here.)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne