Miércoles, 19/4/2017: Tranvía won’t run in 2017 (surprise!), On-line car registration, Tour agents protest Tame decision

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Header event –

Documental ecuatoriano (Ecuadorian documentary) – The movie “Mi Tía Toty” (My Aunt Toty) premiered Wedneday at the Festival de Cine Independiente de Buenos Aires. The documentary is about Toty Rodríguez, and Ecuadorian actress who worked in French cinema in the 70’s.

Articles about –

Colegio Asunción – The high school has written and is performing “Apodo 17” (Nickname 17) which is about Cuencanan astronauts who go on a mission to the moon to find E.T. so they can bring him back to raise funds to finance the Tranvía. <Made me want to laugh just reading the newspaper’s synopsis.>  There will be a public performance el próximo martes in the colegio Enriqueta Aymer at the Sagrados Corazones Community.

Danza – “Tras-figuración” is a contemporary dance show performed Wed. in the sala “Alfonso Carrasco.”  Tomorrow at 20:00 in the same location, there will be a presentation of Buthó dance from Manabí.

Bienal – The bienal is exploring a literary nexus with other arts. There will be a conference with writer Javier Vásqonez at 19:00. <The rest of the article makes my eyeballs roll around.>

CCE – There is an interim president.  <Is that about enough information on CCE?>

CIDAP – The exhibit “Hilando Sueños” (Spinning Dreams – nice words for the day.) by Mónica Molo opened Wed. at 19:00 in the main room of the “casona” at CIDAP. She uses silk, sheep wool and alpaca.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Declararan a Moreno Presidente electo (Moreno declared President-elect) – Read Wednesday’s CHL article for more details. <I find it LOL funny that Lasso actually lost votes.  Given this trend (he lost votes in the previous partial recount, too) he should just quietly disappear.>  <Right wing wing nuts are on the internet claiming that the ballots that were recounted were not the same ballots from the run-offs.>

Lasso – The Prosecutor’s office has called Lasso to freely and voluntarily testify in the Cedatos case on 28/4 at 14:30.  The office is investigating a charge by an Alianza Paíz assemblist that Cedato and its CEO manipulated poll results to swing votes to Lasso.  Assemblywoman Alvarado presented documentation and emails indicating the principal client of Cedatos is Libercostas S.A., a publicity firm whose main clients are the Banco de Guayaquil and Lasso.

Tranvía no circulará en 2017 (Tranvia will not run in 2017) – A representative of the city unit for the Tranvía said that an extensive audit and inventory of the project which started almost a month ago, will take about 3 months to complete, which means the train will not be rolling by the end of the year as previously predicted.  With those results, a budget can be written and a contract signed for finishing the project.  <I’m hoping I’ll live long enough to see that.>

Online car registration – You can now matriculate your car on line at the EMOV web site, www.emov.gov.ec. Just follow the instructions.  There are 11 steps and you can see them at www.elmercurio.com.ec – page 6A of the paper paper.  <You still have to have your vehicle checked since that can’t be done on line.  Maybe one day.)

Feriado (holiday) – The Semana Santa holidays were good for tourism given the rains and bad conditions on the roads.  Hotel occupancy was at 61%.  Cuenca has been marketing itself heavily in Guayaquil.

Bus lines – The numbers 7, 10, 20, 26 & 100 will resume their routes along av. España.  If the lines 7, 10, and 26 take av. Gil Ramírez Dávalos, they will get onto España, and after the Fabián Alarcón bridge, they will take Octavio Chacón into the Industrial Park where they will resume their usual routes.

Tame – Tourist agents are protesting against Tame’s suspension of its Cuenca-Guayaquil flights since tourists comprise 77% of the passengers from Guayaquil and Quito.  Van services have seen an increase of 10-15%.  TAME explained that flights between Quito and Cuenca cost $280 to 340 because that fare subsidizes other routes that Tame flies at a loss such as between Quito and the Oriente.  Local agents asked why the Cuenca-Guayaquil route isn’t subsidized.  <Because Cuenca isn’t sitting on huge oil reserves.>

Travel agents asked that Mayor Cabrera start subsidizing fuel costs again.  They also asked to reactivate the contingency plan put in place when the airport was closed last year.  <The photo shows the interior of the airport with the ATrain ticket booth.> CORPAC shows 3,303 passengers flew the Cuenca-Guayaquil-Cuenca route between 1-3/17 on Tame’s 6 flights per week.

Apple festival – The parish of Bulán will have its II Festival de la Manzana this sábado in the parish center.  The parish has about 400 hectares of apples of 26 different varieties.  The picking season is between enero y junio, but abril y mayo are the most abundant.  In Bulán fruit is fumigated once or twice a year, where in Chile it’s sprayed 16 times.  Mini Cheff Daniel Coronel of Corvel Restaurant will oversea the making of a giant apple pie which was 12 m. last year.  The pie has a base of bizcocho, orange marmalade, slices of apple and grated cheese.  <But I bet that cheese won’t be an aged, extra-sharp cheddar.  Did that get your saliva glands working?>

Inercultural – 5 young chefs are collaborating on a project, “Nuestras Raíces, Cocina Ecuador” (Our Roots, Ecuador Kitchen or Cooking) to learn and recreate recipes, ingredients and techniques of their grandparents.  <Who are probably my age.> From that base of knowledge, they want to cook and create classic-modern food.

Amenidades –

Cantos de LLuvia (Songs of Rain) – This Cuencanan group will perform this viernes at 20:30 in the Sucr Sale (Luis Cordero between Bolívar y Sucre).

Deportes –

National Rally – The 2nd qualifying round for the Campeonato Nacional de Rally will be 21/22/4 in Gualaceo.  The drivers will cover 178.8 km.

Billaristas (pool) – 9 Azuayan pool players are competing for slots in the Panamerican Championships in Argentina in agosto.  They will play this 21-23/4 in Portoviejo.

Discuentos y compras –

Coral – up to 80% off – televisions, textiles, mattresses, hardware, construction, finishes, motos, small appliances, bikes, games, clothing, plastics and more – 21-23/4 for the public – 20/4 for Grupo Ortíz employees and families.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne