Martes, 15/12/2015: Tram will alter bus routes, Merchants want changes to San Francisco Plaza, Bring in the clowns, Ecuador ranks high

Hola, Todos – 

Pagina cultural –

Conferencia – Andrés Zambrano will talk about the writing of García Lorca tomorrow at 16:00 in the Dep’t of Design a the U of Azuay.

Teatro – “Un Pueblo Llamado Desesperación” will play Wed (16/12) at 20:00 and Thu (17/12) at 11:00 in the Teatro Sucre.  (And if you’re going you’re doing a lot better than me – I can understand about 50% of what I hear and sometimes can get up to 80% the second time.  The problem is with that 20% which I can turn around 180 degrees.  I usually get lost in the pronouns.)

Gala – The theater group Barojo will present their Gala de Fin de Año (End of Year Gala) in the teatro Pumapungo on Thu. at 20:00.

Articles about – 

“Semana por la Soberanía Audiovisual” (Audiovisual Sovereignty Week.) started today and will run to Sat in the sala “Vinicio Jáuregui at Avispero (Calle Larga 10-41 under the Museo del Sombrero)  (Wouldn’t want to be down there in an earthquake. But don’t panic.  Cuenca isn’t prone to earthquakes.)  9 independent audiovisual productions that talk about territory from diverse perspectives will be screened.

The Bienal closes the year with academic talks and workshops.

An exhibit of unframed drawings, “Viaje Interrumpido,” (Interrupted Journey) will open Wed (16/12) at 19:00 in the Salón del Pueblo “Efraín Jara Idrovo”.

The Art of Clown (at its highest level, isn’t that what’s practiced by most politicians? Especially one who doesn’t even need to wear a wig.) is a practical workshop from 14-16/1/2016 from 18:30-20:30 at the Centro Cultural El Prohibido (La Condamine 12-102).

Elections in the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (CCE) look to be turning into a political football.  A group of independents (I think artists who are not associated with the CCE) want to field candidates for the board.

Public Announcement – calling for the election of a president and board to the CCE and info about registering candidates.  (I don’t suppose any of you were planning to run?)  (This was placed next to the elections article.)

Otras cosas –

Titular – En Navidad hay que ser austeros (Google says “At Christmas we must be frugal”)  The article is basic financial advice – have a budget, save, pay off debts, invest, and avoid the Jan. bills.

Ecuador – has established itself as a country with a rating of “high” on an index of human development – .732, according to the UN Development Program.  Norway topped the list at .944. The rankings were based on 3 key factors – life expectancy at birth, access to education, and gross per capita income.

The Transportation Plan – will change the bus system.  It’s basic objective is to “insertar” (insert – an easy word for the day) the Tranvia into the transportation system.  (Sorry, but most of the article is quoting the Mayor’s speech and I zoned out after the 1st paragraph.  A lot of blah, blah, blah and no concrete information like which bus lines will stay in El Centro, where will parking be, etc.)

San Francisco Plaza – the merchants have an alternate plan which they want to present to the Mayor.

Anti-noise campaign – found that decibel limits were exceeded in 2014, but down from 2012.  (I’ve noticed a lot less honking since I’ve been here.  But maybe it’s because I’m driving better and more aggressively.  You get honked at for going too slow.) There were 30 monitoring points around the city, and the data from 2015 should be available next week.  70% of the noise in the urban zone of Cuenca is from traffic with El Centro being the noisiest.  (As those of you who live in El Centro can attest to.)

Internacional –

Paraguay – is the world’s 6th largest exporter of beef (who knew) and it will start exporting to the US, Panamá, Ecuador, Irán, and Hong Kong next year.  (Well, we’ll just have to wait and see if it hits the shelves at Supermaxi and hope it’s better marbled than local beef.)

Argentina – Pres. elect M. Macri “acaba” (ends – have you heard the word acabó (ended/finished)?  Have you ever asked for something at the market and gotten “se acabó” (basically – all gone or all done) as the answer?) export taxes.

Colombia – the gov’t and FARC have reached an agreement about reparations to the victims of the conflict.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne