Martes, 28/2/2017: Pick-up truck laws, Carnaval ends, Dance festival, Art exhibits

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Exhibit – A show called “Orillas” (Banks, shores, edges, borders and more.  Take your pick or picks.) by painter Ariel Dawi will open jueves a las 19:00 in the Museo de Arte Moderno.

Articles about –

Fiesta de artes escénicas (Scenic Arts Festival) – The CCE is celebrating this festival all marzo, and it will open with an exhibit of scenery from the plays that have been presented in the sala Alfonso Carrasco  (CCE was cleaning out the “attic” and decided it would make a show?).  On miércoles 8 and jueves 9/3 at 19:00 and 21:00 in the sala Alfonso Carrasco, 4 plays will be staged:  Heraldo, En tus recuerdos, Última función, and Peñelope.

Agua de Carnaval – Writer Fernando Díaz-Plaja explained that the origin of throwing water at Carnaval was Spanish, along with other traditions such as lots of food, teasing, parades and masks. In Spain, however, these customs were not allowed during the dictatorship of Franco.

Libro – A book of poetry by Edy Castro, “Desvelando los sueños” (Keeping dreams awake)  will be launched este viernes, 10/3.  (I bet the time and place will be in an item on Fri.)

Museo Pumapungo – The museum is getting 3 new exhibits ready.  The first is on máscaras and the other two are intersecting: on art, photography, ethnography, and archeology.

Dance festival – 5 dance academies are organizing the Festival de la Danza with workshops each sábado in marzo.  4/3 – hip hop and danza casino (maybe Cuban salsa?) at the Academia de Baile Dance Step;  11/3 – quisomba and bachata – in the Digma dance school;  18/3 – salsa estilo lady (dedicated to the ladies) – at the Academia Dance Lab;  25/3 – afro-cubano and others – at the Fama dance studio. There will be party, show and Cuban orchestra the last night.  Cost: $15 per workshop or $52 for all.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Carnaval se juega pese a clima lluvioso (Carnival is played despite rainy weather) – There was a big celebration in the linear park at Max Uhle and 24 de Mayo with families cooking, playing with water and foam and then enjoying a free show.

Tourism was concentrated in the El Centro with an accompanying “salida de “morlacos”” (exit of Cuencanos) to the beaches and other cantons which offered complete programs of music, dance and diversions.  Parque Calderón was an obligatory stop for tourists (and pickpockets?).

Interprovincial bus stop – A new stop is being built across the street from the Hospital del Río to serve passengers going north. A bus lane that can hold two buses is 70% complete and a covered passenger waiting booth will be a future project.  There is also an interprovincial bus stop at Control Sur for buses going south, and at the redondel of the Mujeres de Piedra for buses going east.  (I guess if you want to go west you still have to go to the Terminal Terrestre.)

Pick up trucks – If you have a pick up, it is illegal to carry passengers in the bed of the truck.  You also can’t carry them on your “parachoques” (stop crashes – bumpers – I like that for the word of the day – almost Germanic – what English speakers consider a phrase, Germans consider a word.), running boards, steps, or hanging on the back.  The fine is a whole basic salary (around $375 now), and the loss of 7.5 points off your license.

Oil spill – The Attorney General’s office is investigating an oil spill in Puerto Balao, Las Palmas near the Colombian border to see if it was an accident or intentional. Petroecuador has finished cleaning up the 20 barrels spilled.  (Is there any widely accepted ratio between the initially reported number of barrels/gallons spilled and the eventual agreed on amount?)

Mañana – On Miércoles de Ceniza (Ash Wednesday), primary school kids return to class and the Assembly to its chambers.

Your sliver of life article today is about – the biogas plant.  EMAC is starting to burn methane produced by the Pichacay landfill in Santa Ana Parish.  It had hoped to sell the electricity generated, but had technical problems.  However, it is reducing air pollution by burning greenhouse gases that were previously released into the atmosphere.

Internacional –

Colombia – The Colombian prosecutor froze 686 assets of Ex-Senator Otto Bula in relation to the Odebrecht case.  The value of the assets was about $18.3 million.

US – Jewish centers in various states were evacuated after receiving threats and vandalism.  More than 100 gravestones were damaged in a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. (Kristallnacht US style?)

Discuentos y compras –

(No classified pages today – interesting.  When I started taking the paper, there were maybe 4 pages of classifieds which has been reduced to 1-1/2 or 2 more recently.  A result of the economy?)

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne