Miércoles, 17/5/2017: Cuenca is a ‘clean city’, Music festival, Int’l Museum Day, Turkey Week, Bus fare cards

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Today’s header event –

Ballet – There will be a ballet class for girls and youth from 10-15 years in the Centro Cultural El Alfarero (Convención del 45 y Marisca La Mar on miércoles y sábados from 15-17:00 through the month of mayo.  Free.

Articles about –

21st fiesta de la Música – This event with 43 bands and more than 200 musicians will be on 16-17/6 in Cuenca and also Azoques.  On viernes, 16/6, the schedule will include performances from 14-19:00 in the Universidad Nacional de Educación in Azogues; 15-19:00 at UDA (U. of Azuay); and 19-21:00 in the Centro Cultural Abraham Lincoln; at 20:00 there will be an inaugural concert by the U. of Cuenca orchestra at the teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz; and from 20:30 to midnight alternative rock, indie rock and reggae will be at 4 bars.

On sábado, 17/6 there will be indie music from 12-18:00 in parque Calderón; rock metal from 16-21:00 in El Otorongo; world from 17-21:00 in the teatro Carlos Cueva; electronic from 17-22:00 in the old Escuela de Medicina; and from 16:30-1:00 a mixed bag in the parque De La Madre.

Book launch – “Temas de Filosofía el Derecho” (Topics in Philosophy of Law) by Carlos Castro will be presented tomorrow at 18:00 in the Colegio de Abogados del Azuay (Azuay Bar Association).

“Semana Turca” (Turkish Week) – Various events have been planned until el próximo sábado.  Wed. at 10:00 was the inaugural with a foto exhibit, “Colores de Anatolia” at the Portal Aretesanal de San Blas followed by a talk on Economy and Commercial Opportunities in Turkey.  El jueves at 16:00, the Turkish ambassador will give a talk on “Cultura y Economía en Turquía” in the auditorium of the Facultad de Filosofía at UDA; and at 18:00 the film “Cinco minaretes en Nueva York” will be shown in Park Cuenca (frente a San Blas).  El viernes, the film “Visiontele” will be shown at the same place and time.  On sábado, from 16-19:00 will be the Feria Cultural Turca with food and gastronomy from 16:00-19:00 in la Calle Santa Ana.  <I miss the Turkish restaurant on University Ave. that had a wonderful lunch buffet. Good food – I’m hopeful about Sat.>

Ruta nocturna – Thurs. is el Día Internacional de los Museos and there will be a night tour from 18:30-21:30 of the Ruta de los Museos starting from the Museo de la Ciudad with stops at the Galería de la Alcaldía, Catedral Vieja, Museo del Sombero, Centro Cultural El Alfarero, Casa de las Posadas, Museo Remigio Crespo, Quinta Bolívar and Casa de Chaguarchimbana.

Review – The youth symphony and chorus performance on lunes was reviewed.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Ciudad limpia, gracias a los recicladores (Clean city, thanks to recyclers) – About 600 people, many of them women belonging to 6 legally registered associations, 3 of which have their own sorting centers, work in recycling which started about 10 years ago with EMAC EP.  The activity generates about $25k/mo. About 50% of the population now has a culture of 7recycling .  <I hope all of you gringos are part of this and you put recyclables in the blue bags.  If you’re not recycling, what’s your excuse – color blindness? Tiene un descapacidad mental?)

Cuenca generates 487 tons of garbage daily.  Every month, 600 tons of cardboard, 140 of paper, 130 of plastic bottles, 25 of glass and from 1,200 to 1,400 of chatarra (junk) gets recycled.

Bus cards – The Cámara de Transporte de Cuenca should install at least 150 more locations to recharge bus cards before the mandatory electronic payment system goes into effect.  New electronic cards being made in Korea will be available in about 3 months and will be distributed to vulnerable groups first (students, disabled <maybe even including those of you whose excuse for not recycling is a mental disability>, and seniors.)

Presidential security – The Coordinador de Seguridad is assessing the risks to Pres. Correa to determine if he needs security when he moves to Belgium.  Ex-presidents can receive security protection for a year and VPs for 6 months after leaving office. <That would be interesting – a university professor accompanied by men in black with earbuds.>

Business page –

“Jakana Megafood” – This organic superfood mix of spirulina, moringa, maca <you guys might be interested in maca which is used to treat erectile disfunction – so toss those blue pills>, quínua, chocho and dried banana was created by Manuel Ugalde for health reasons.  He had a stall at the recent Mercart fair and currently sells in 3 locations and via phone orders.  Call 098 789 8118 or 098 334 0121.  A 250 gram container is $15 and a 400 g. container is $25.

Cabinet – The presidential cabinet is practically set.  Pres. Moreno has kept many of Correa’s cabinet and is considering eliminating 14 Ministerios Coordinadores created by Correa.  <The Minister of Health looks young enough to be a college student.  An effect of the population distribution here?>

Internacional –

Colombia – The Government and ELN started a 2nd cycle of peace talks in Ecuador. Colombian government delegates and representatives of countries guaranteeing the dialogue breakfasted with Pres. Correa yesterday.  The direct talks will start tomorrow near Quito.  The chief of the ELN delegation hoped that the new round of negotiations will bring benefits to neighboring countries such as Ecuador which will likely be the permanent seat of the peace talks.

Deportes –

Benefit bike ride – The ride, organized by the Corporación Mucho Mejor si es Hecho en Ecuador, will be on 25/6 with distances of 90, 50, & 25 km starting and ending at the Mall del Río. Register at the Corporation Mejor…(av. Florencia Astudillo y Alfonso Cordero, Ed. Cámara de Industrias, 13th flr.)  <13 must not be an unlucky number here – try finding a 13th floor in a US elevator.>, at FASEC (10 de Agosto entre (between) Augustín Landivar y Emiliano Crespo behind SOLCA), Tecnocyclo (Remicio Tamariz y Agustín Cueva, Supermaxi and Gran AKÍ stores.  Cost:  What you want to give.  The ride benefits FASEC which supports cancer patients and the Orfanato Tadeo Torres <so don’t be stingy>.

Run – The 5Katas run will be this domingo at 9, starting at the Unidad Eucativa Rosa de Jesús Cordero.  Funds will be used to build a chapel at the high school.  Register at la Fornace (on Remigio Crespo, Borrero and Sucre, Millenium Plaza, Mall del Río), and V-Pink Boutiques in Miraflores and El Vergel, and Doña Menestra at the Estadio and Monay Shopping Center. Cost: $10 which includes a T-shirt.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne