Martes, 11/10/2016: Bank must okay San Francisco Plaza plan, World Bird Festival exhibit, Tram meetings

Hola, Todos –
 
There may not be a translation on Fri. – scheduling conflicts.
   
Pagina cultural –
 
Today’s agenda items –

Segundo Encuentro Internacional de Danza – The “Danza Folklórica Cuenca, Cultura y Tradición” International Encounter started Tues. and runs to 15/10 with performances at 19:30 in the Teatro Sucre.

Photo exhibit – As part of the Festival Mundial de Aves (World Bird Festival) a foto exhibit in the Ecology section opened yesterday in the “Pedro Paramo” Bookstore in the CCE.

Martes de Cine – The Alianza Francesa’s Tuesday movie was about the painter Berthe Morisot.

CCE – There was a movie in the Escuela Luis Cordero this morning.

Música – There will be an accordion concert by Rubén  Ruipérez this Thu., at 19:00 in the Bayou Caffe (Remigio Tamariz 2-31). (They moved back to the old place?)

Articles about –

Bienal – The Bienal de Cuenca has officially been postponed from 21/10 to 25/11. Delays in transferring funds made it impossible to open the Bienal as scheduled. (But you have to concede that for the previous 12 (?) Bienals, they got it together in time.)

Show – The Rotary Club is presenting comedian José Enrique Pacheco’s show “El monólogo del pipi,” (The penis monologue) Wed. at 18:30 and at 20:30 in the teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz.  The show will benefit the activities of the Club which includes a free dental clinic that treats 4000 people a year, surgery campaigns in Noviembre y Marzo (now I’m adding the names of months to the things I think you should know as a resident of Ecuador.  If you don’t live here, it would be nice to learn anyway.) to correct cleft pallets and harelips.  They are also raising money to build a potable water plant in San Juan, Manabí.  Tickets available at CASA FARAH, BOCATTI, and Comisariato Popular.  Cost: $12.00.
 
Bible Societies – Are proposing to promulgate books by Latin American authors who use references from the Bible even if neither the books nor authors are not religious.

Poetry competition – The Premio Nacional de Literatura “Aurelio Espinosa Pólit” 2016 in the poetry category was won by Andrea Crespo Granda, a young writer.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Continuidad de obras depende de diálogos (Continuity of work depends on dialogue)  Work on the Tranvía is at a standstill.  The CCRC (Consorcio Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca) notified the City of work suspensions in various stretches of the route because of work not included in the original contract. (Sounds like they’ve brought their change order team in.)  There are 600-700 items that weren’t considered in the initial budget and they are part of the extra $35 million that is needed for the project, but for which there is no funding.  (Notice how fast this info. followed after the announcement that another source of funding could not be diverted to the Tranvía?)

SIP phones – You can get this new type of phone service from ETAPA as of yesterday.  It costs $9.99 to sign up and $9.99/mo. You get 500 minutes of use at 1.6 cent per min. for fixed line and 17 cents/min for cellphones.  You get the plan, get a password and can download it, usually for free.  And you get a virtual land line with a land line number.

Bomberos – this is your civics article for the day – Over half of the firefighters are volunteers – 180 volunteers in a total of 300 members.  The Cuerpo de Bomberos de Cuenca (Fire Department) was formed in 1945 after a huge fire in El Centro. Their current budget is about $14 million, a good part of which goes to equipment and training.  It has one aerial unit which is used to evaluate emergencies.  They want to get one for forest fires and medical evacuation.  The article interviewed 3 firemen who had been with the department between 28 & 34 years and they all referred to their work as a “calling.”  (I interviewed a guy who quit NFL football to interview to be an Oakland firefighter. He said the football career was basically an unplanned detour from what he always wanted to be – a firefighter.  Good thing he quit before the game crippled him and he couldn’t pass the physical fitness exams.))

San Francisco Plaza – The Banco del Desarrollo (BDE – Bank of Development) has notified the Municipalidad (try say that 5 times fast) to not contract for the work until after the bank has given their approval after the project has been given a comprehensive evaluation. The design has changed since it was submitted to the bank and other work has been added.  (Sound familiar? That’s the same topic of discussion between the Tranvía and the City.)

Amenidades –
 
Comedy show – Colombian actress Paula Arcila will bring her show “Miss Cuarenta” (Miss 40) to Cuenca on 10/11 at 20:00 in the teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz.  Tickets available at Musicalísimo (Mall del Río), Óptica Calderón (across the street from the theater), and Almacenes El Surtido (Centro).  Cost:  $45.00 VIP, and $30.00, upper level. (And if she’s 40, she needs to be selling whatever beauty products she uses.)

Internacional –
 
Colombia – The government has announced that it will start public dialogues on 27/10 with ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), the 2nd most important guerrilla force.  (Sounds like everyone is for peace except that ex-president.)

Haiti – Proteccíon Civil (my guess is it’s a police force) announced 372 deaths, 4 missing, 246 injured, and 175,000 people displaced into 224 shelters as a result of Hurricane Matthew.  Local relief organizations and authorities said as of Fri, there were more than 800 dead.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne