Martes, 24/5/2016: Russian ballet in town, Traffic gridlock in Centro, Anti-mining conference, French movies, Grafitti

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming events –

Publication launch – Two books, “Flora del Páramo del Cajas” and “Áboles y arbustos de los ríos de Cuenca” (Flora of the Paramo in the Cajas and Trees and bushes of the rivers of Cuenca) will be presented Wed. at 18:30 at the U of Azuay in the Sala de Uso Múltiple.  (So if you’ve got a botanical bent, these may interest you.)

Puppet festival – The VI Festival de Teatro y Títeres (6th Theater and Puppet Festival) “Titiricuenca 2016” will be from 1-12/6 with 27 presentations in various locations and venues.

Finished events –

Tuesday movies at the Alianza Francesa.  They show French films every Tuesday at 19:00.

Articles about –
 
Grafitti – Urban Art is recognized by Cuenca which even sponsors a grafitti / mural contest for artists to paint on prearranged spaces.  But there is also the casual grafitti which belies the original concept of Urban Art.  (I’m sure you’ve all seen both and know the difference.  I don’t remember seeing grafitti when I first visited in 2010.)

Gabriel García Márquez – The ashes of the writer who died 2 years ago were placed in memorial built in the Claustro de la Merced in Cartagena, Colombia.

Russian Classical Ballet – the ballet will perform “La Bella Durmiente”  (Sleeping Beauty) in Cuenca on Wed, 1/6 at 20:00 in the Teatro Pumapungo.  Tickets available at the theater box office.  Cost: $40.00 main level, $25:00 balcony.

CCE – The sign up period for national president and VP of the cultural institution ends tomorrow.  (If you really need the details, you should be able to read the on-line version of the paper.)

Otras cosas –  
 
Titular – Centro de Cuenca ‘asfixiado’ por cierre de calles (Downtown Cuenca, suffocated by street closures).  Almost all of the bus routes have changed.  (The photo shows 2 blocks of Bólivar with bumper to bumper traffic – including across intersections.)  Street parking on Bolívar between Tarqui and Miguel Heridia has been eliminated and stop lights have been changed to blinking to give priority to the principal streets.  You should park outside of El Centro – there are lots under parque De La Madre (enter on Florencia Astudillo) and the Plaza Civica (under the 9 de Octubre market).  Next month, a lot will open at PRAC – the new artesan market at Bolivar y Huayna Cápac. Both sides of 3 de Noviembre as far as the plaza de El Otorongo will be changed to paid parking.

School supplies campaign – The Ministry of Education has a campaign to donate school supplies to Manabí, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and the cantons of Esmeraldas, Atacames and Muisne where there are 602,784 students.  The goal is to deliver 3 types of kits to zones with high rates of poverty that were badly affected by the earthquake.  (The article says their web site has the items needed for each type of kit, but when I tried, it told me how to teach kids after a disaster.  It’s nice to know teachers are getting tools for coping with post disaster education, but it wasn’t a list of school supplies.)  I think the donations will be channeled through schools.

Airport – The Cantonal Council held a special session about the airport which had 16 flights in 2012, but only 4 now.  (I assume that’s per day – some airports that might be per hour.)  The mayor discounted the idea of a new airport, at least in the short run, but said an alternative is enlarging the current airport.

Mining – Foreign experts arrived in Cuenca for a conference arranged by environental groups and warned of risks associated with mining in areas like Quimsacocha.  They spoke of contamination and that the environmental costs would exceed the benefits in terms of impacts on public health, and other industries such as agriculture, foods and tourism.  Canadian Jennifer Moore reviewed the studies from Loma Larga and pointed out the finding that there would be no affect on aquifers was false since the necessary studies weren’t done and that surface water would be contaminated and reduced.   She pointed out that ETAPA predicts a shortage of water by 2050 due to population growth.

Internacional –
 
Brazil – A newspaper revealed a recording of two politicians close to interim Pres. Temer who talked about using the impeachment process against Rousseff to derail investigations into the Petrobras scandal.  (Like a magician – distract the eye.  It seems to have worked – she’s out.  Maybe it’ll still unravel as more of her opponents are revealed to be corrupt.)

Deportes –
 
Everest – Quiteña Carla Pérez was the 6th woman to get to the top of Everest without extra oxygen.  (Probably helped that she’s from Quito and used to less oxygen anyway.)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne