Martes, 30/5/2017: Int’l film festival, Tranvía contract, Tame asks for delay, Music festival

Hola, Todos –

I think it’s time for a reminder of what this column is.  I translate or summarize El Mercurio.  (I also add commentary, between brackets, which you are free to ignore if you don’t like it.)  I do not do any research.  If there is information missing it’s either because it was not in the article or I couldn’t find it.  You are free to follow up on the details if you are interested. <Imagine a half page article about a singer.  Midway through paragraph 4 is a mention of a concert. Half way through, the venue is mentioned and the time is buried in the next to last paragraph.>

Pagina cultural –

Today’s agenda events –

Round table – There was a discussion of “La revolución del 28 de Mayo de 1944, proceso politico y campo cultural” tonight at 19:00 in the Casa de las Posadas.

Upcoming and ongoing agenda events –

Fiesta de Música – The festival organized by the Alianza Francesa will be on 16-17/6 at 12 different venues with 43 invited musicians and another 200 artists.

Arte escénico – “Trans-figuración” will be performed on sábado, 10/6 at 20:00 in the teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz, at 12 Abril and Agostine Cueva.  The synopsis is: “Yo no sé de pájaros, no conozco la historia del fuego.  Pero creo qui mi soledad debería tener alas.” (I do not know about birds, I do not know the history of fire. But I think my loneliness should have wings.)  <So now you know as much as I do as to what this performance is – theater, opera, dance, all of the above, a and b only, etc.>

Articles about –

FICC – The Festival Internacional de Cine de Cuenca will show 50 films over 5 days from 3-8/6.  “Gilda” will be projected on 3/6 at 19:00 in the teatro of the CCE.  It’s a biography about Argentinean singer Miriam Alegandra Bianchi whose stage name was Gilda.  <If you want to know what the other 49 films are you’ll have to Google it for yourself.>

15th High School Scenic Arts Festival – The festival starts tomorrow at 16:00 in the auditorium of UDA (U. of Azuay).  13 high schools are participating with performances in theater and contemporary and folk dance.  This year is the first time dance academies will also perform.

“Indor puertas adentro” (Indor (indoor football) doors inside) – This exhibit is at the Sala Proceso at the CCE, Luis Cordero at Presidente Cordova, and has sports memorabilia.  There was also a talk today at 18:00.  One of the most popular sports events in Cuenca is the Campeonato Interbarrial de Indor Fútbol or “Mundialito de los Pobres” (Interbarrial Indoor Soccer Championship or “Little World Cup of the Poor  <Would a little cup be a couplet?).

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Empresarios presentan plan a Moreno (Businessmen present a plan to Moreno)

Airport – TAME EP has asked the Dirección General de Aviación Civil for an extension of at least another 60 days to the deadline to resume Cuenca-Guayaquil flights.  The original 60 days ends 17/6.  Mayor Cabrera is hoping to meet with Pres. Moreno to talk about the airline problem.  TAME said it discontinued the route because there was not enough demand to make the route profitable.

Lufthansa is analyzing 5 aspects of the airport.  Technicians inspected the airport on 18-19/6 with an eye to revisions to the control tower, cameras and security installations, and verifying the measurements of the runway.  There is no date for the completion of this first analysis from which the scope of the study can be defined.

San Blas – The church is undergoing a restoration which will include cleaning, sealing and anti-mold treating the marble facade.  There will also be extensive work to the interior with a completion date in octubre.

Tranvía – The Alcaldía is calling for companies to submit expressions of interest in completing the Tranvía project. Submittals are due on 28/6 with notification of results on 3/7. <Those 5 days include a weekend – how do you do due diligence on the firms that submit in that time period?>

The land at the cuartel Cauyambe is now in the name of the Municipio de Cuenca.  The city plans to sell the land to help complete the Tranvía.

San Francisco Plaza – The merchants are waiting to be relocated to temporary stalls on Padre Aguirre which will have security guards, police, porta-potties, and electricity.  <Given what the pissers have done to the Hotel Association building, can you imagine what they’ll do to the porta-potties?  If they’re locked at night, they’ll be peed on.>  The leader of the Asociación de Comerciantes 20 de Octubre is hoping they will be relocated on 9-10/6.

Plans for old hospital – The old IESS hospital on Huayna Cápac was bought by the U. of Cuenca with an area reserved for the Programa del Adulto Mayor (Senior Citizens Program) which will serve IESS’s retired affiliates.

Water service shut off – There was a water shut off that started at 8:00 today for the area served by the “Proyecto Nero” plant which includes the parishes of Turi, Baños, El Valle, Huayna Cápac and Monay.  A broken water line was found at the Unión de Turi.

El Tahual – The stretch of road El Descanso-Puente Europa has been reopened under the following conditions:  limited hours from 6-18:00, permanent monitoring of road conditions and slope stability, and closure of the road in the rain or more rock fall. Unrestricted alternate routes are:  El Descanso-Azogues-Matrama-Bulán-Paute; the vía Guangarcucho-Jadán-Gualaceo; and Cuenca-El Valle- Dizha-La Unión.  <And I doubt even your GPS could distangle you from that mess.>

Key week for economy – You can verify if the price of a product has been correctly reduced with the “Veeduría SCPM” app.  On 1/6, prices should drop because the IVA will return to 12% from 14%.  Taxes for UE products should also drop.  With the app, on 31/5 you go to the store, enter your data, the store you are in, the name of the product, its price and take a picture.  On 1/6 you go back and enter the new information and send it.  SCPM will respond immediately to tell you if the product is correctly priced.

Deportes –

“Leoncio running 5K” – The Unidad Educativa Leoncio Cordero Jaramillo will have it’s first 5K run on 4/6 at 7:30 to celebrate the school’s 40th anniversary.  They have 1,000 of the 1,500 runners they are hoping for.  Register at the school (Cantón Santa Rosa y Antonio Lloret – sector Santa Marianita de El Arenal).  Cost: $2.00.

10K Ruta del Patrimonio – This run will be in Sucua on sábado, 10/6 at 10:00.  They are expecting 5,000 runners, both national and international.  Register on line at http://www.sucua.gov.ec.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne