Martes, 2/2/2016: Music Festival needs bands and bars, Tranvía is back on track, New U.S. ambassador, Chinese firm to make meds

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Show humorístico en el Repúblic Sur, Wed. 1/3 (do I need to translate that? Naw.) – Ave Jaramillo (that’s his name, not the street which had me confused for way too long – I kept thinking, they misspelled Ave. which should be av.) will present a comedy show at 20:00. Cost $6.00. (Don’t bother going if you don’t have fluent, colloquial Spanish. Comedy is one area where you really need to know a language and culture well to “get” the jokes.)

Teatro con las Marujitas – “Entre memorias y efemérides” will be performed by the Marujitas at a dinner show tomorrow and Thu at 20:00 in the Café de la Vaca Cuenca (The Cuenca Cow Café or the Cow Café, Cuenca (just in case there´s also a Cow Café in Quito or wherever)) (Gonzalo Cordero 2-122 y Juan Iñiquez. Call 098 445 0834 or 098 445 0834 for more info. (Are there enough of you out there for me to include phone numbers since it would require that you use Spanish to make that call?)

Fiesta de Música – the call for musicians; venues such as bars, restaurants and hotels; designers, photographers and others interested in participating will be open as of 1/3. You can request a registration form from fiestadelamusica.org.ec. The 20th Music Festival will be on 17 & 18/6 and is organized by the Alianza Francesa. (I know there a ton of you out there making music and taking pictures.)

Articles about –

Articulo 103 de la Ley Orgánica de Comunicación (Article 103 of the Communications Law) which requires music content on the radio to be 50% national (as in Ecuadorian) is being applied gradually and this year the content should be 35% national. There is a new platform, “Latitud 1X1 Ecuador” where stations can download music for free. Artists and radio stations can go to www.supercom.gov.ec, click on the Latititud 1X1 Ecuador icon and fill out the registration form. (So all of you music downloaders who don’t have a radio station won’t qualify for this program.) Station owners are complaining that not enough national music is being produced, especially if their station has a theme (like jazz, oldies, elevator music, etc.)

CCE (Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana) del Azuay has opened a new branch in Sígsig which is currently electing directors and planning their programs. For now, it will operate in the Casa Comunal (Community House).

El centro cultural Avispero has a new program called “La Metáfora” (The Metaphor) which is a 2 month long workshop for youth and adults who like to read and write. Avispero dedicated a space for reading Latinamerican poets and the practice of writing. The workshop will convene on 17/2 at 16:30 and you don’t need to know poetry to participate. For more info call 0992023651. Cost: $40/mo.

Diego Muñoz will will represent Ecuador in the Bienal del Sur in Venezuela. The objective of the Bienal is to promote the work of independent Latin American artists. The painting is about Ecuador’s classifying for the 2014 Mundial (World Cup for all of you who think the only football is NFL.) and if you turn off the lights and shine an ultraviolet light on it, it changes the painting which includes phosphorescent paint.

Otras cosas –

Titular – ‘Oxígeno’ financiero para obras tranvía (Financial “oxygen” for the tranvia project) (OK – I’m trying to untangle this whole deal.) Local businesses will buy Central Bank securities at par instead of at the usual 2% discount. The Banco Central will use the money for the tranvia, and the businesses who purchase the securities can use them to pay their taxes. This $460,000 will be earmarked for El Centro. The federal gov´t is also transferring almost $10 million to the city. The tranvía project manager says it’s possible to complete the project by July, as planned. With money, the contractors can increase the current El Centro labor force of 200 to 500 workers.

Todd C. Chapman – is the incoming Ambassador from the US to Ecuador and he will start his official duties once he’s presented his credentials to the Ecuadorian government.

Enfarma (the public pharmaceutical business) – will associate with a Chinese firm to produce 8-14 new vaccines in Ecuador including flu, menengitus (?), polio, H1N1 virus and others. A new plant will be built in Guayaquil and should be ready in 10 months.

Money laundering – charges were made against an Ecuadorian couple who were stopped at the El Salvador airport with $40,580 in undeclared cash. (They were busted by a dinero sniffing dog and the cash also tested positive for drugs. So the moral of this translation is don’t try to smuggle money into Ecuador. Maybe the dogs are trained to tell the difference between $9,999 and $10,000.)

The Ministry of the Environment – is proposing to include the “Río León-Zhingata” forest on the Convenio Ramsar list, an agreement which was signed in Ramsar, Irán in 1971 to protect wetlands.

Intercultural –

The Sarayaku, a people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, have two divine principals: Amazanga and Nunguli which say to take from the jungle only that which you need if you want to have a future. They don’t accept hunting for more than you are allowed. (Very different life view from typical Americans who acquire much more stuff than we need and then throw a lot of it out. And that life style is leaving our future on the planet in doubt.)

Internacional –

Bolivia – truckers are blocking internal highways and roads across the borders into Chile and Perú to protest a government tax policy.

Venezuela – an economic survey showed 79% of Venezuelans felt 2015 was worse than 2014, and 52% felt that 2016 would be better. Another 39% thought 2016 would be worse.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne