Miércoles, 29/3/2017: Jeanne explains herself, Religious art, Anniversary of disaster, Police page

Hola, Todos –

I’m aware that some of you out there would like to censor what I write and curtail my freedom of speech.  (Glad to see your attempts at upholding the best of American values.) Let me tell you that the only reason I translate for you is out of sense of obligation since reading the paper is no longer doing anything to improve my Spanish and the only enjoyment I get is from making the side comments.  So the day I quit making the comments is the day I quit translating and you can buy your own paper and read it for yourself.  (Oh, but it’s in Spanish, so I guess you’ll have to make the effort to learn that, too.)

But I will do something for you that you absolutely do not deserve just because I’m a nice person.  I will continue to enclose translations into English between ( ) and will put the side comments between < >.  So as undeserving as you are, you can just skip reading the stuff between the < >.  So are you ungrateful sapos happier now or will you find something else to complain about?  You might bear in mind that beggars can’t be choosers.  Blessings on those of you who either appreciate or don’t complain about the comments.

Pagina cultural –

Header event – “Mujeres en el Arte” (Women in Art) will open today in the Centro Cultural Municipal Quinta Bolívar and run until 23/4.  The show has paintings and sculptures from several artists including 3 gringas.

Articles about –

Arte religioso (Religious art) – “Cuaresma, pasión y resurrección” (Lent, passion and resurrection) opens tonight at 19:00 in the Museo de Conceptas.

Teatro – “Under and Under and Under” is an experimental work in which the actors perform in a waterfilled space for 80% of the play.  The work will be performed tomorrow at 20:00 in the teatro Pumapungo.  <I hope the waterproofing is better than your typical roof membrane.>

“Infinito Teatro” (Infinite Theater) – This theater group will present “Historias de amor y muerte” (Stories of love and death), a series of 3 short plays starting tomorrow in the teatro de bolsillo (pocket theater) at Sono Centro Cultural.

Review – “Impulso Vital” (Vital Impulse) was a contemporary dance and music show staged by the Compañía de Danza Contemporánea  <You can figure that out, si?> from the U. of Cuenca.

Escenarios del Mundo (Stages of the World) – The 10 years of this international theater festival were commemorated in an 180 page book that was launched last Mon.

Otras cosas – 

Titular – Pánico en la “TRI” (Panic in the “TRI”) – The Tricolor <Ecuador’s national fútbol team> lost to Colombia yesterday.  It was a game it needed to win to stay in the running for the Mundial de Rusia 2018 (2018 World Cup in Russia).

La Josefina – <This is your recent history lesson for the day.>  On 29/3/1993, a “macrodeslizamiento” (macro-slide) from the Temuga hill dammed the Cuenca and Jadán rivers.  The “lake” extended about 8 km. upstream and took land, houses and hundreds of lives.  The water went all the way up to Paute.  A slope stabilization project in two phases started with phase 1 from 2012 to 2014.  The second phase is 28.27% complete. For more, see article in CHL today.

Forest protection – The Socio Bosque (Forest Partner) project of the Ministerio del Ambiente (Ministry of the Environment) is protecting 8,949.35 hectares of native forest in Azuay.  The project started in 2008 with 20 hectares in Azuay.  Currently there are 42 partners, 37 individuals and 5 collectives, whose work is focused on encouraging people, communities and private individuals to have areas in a good state of conservation.  The program has reduced deforestation from 77,000 hectares in 2008 to 47,000 this year.

App against gender violence – The AG’s office and CNT launched a phone app “Junt@s CNT” which allows someone “al verse ante” (faced with – your phrase for the day) a threat of aggression to contact ECU 911 and contact 3 other people.  <What happens if your contacts get there before the police?  Do they get to beat up the aggressors?>

Cruise ship – Le Boréal, a cruise ship in the yacht-boutique style, will dock at the Port of Guayaquil el próximo jueves.  It is part of the French line, PONANT, and carries 264 passengers with a crew of 139.  <I wonder if you can get start or end your cruise in Ecuador?  What happens to a cruise passenger who jumps ship?)

Encuestas a boca de urna (exit polls) – CNE has authorized 5 companies to conduct exit polls this domingo.

Election materials – The materials for the elections arrived in Cuenca yesterday afternoon.

Rabies vaccinations – The national campaign “Vacuna a tu mascota” (Vaccine to your pet) ends at the end of the month.  It’s a free service you can get from all “establecimientos de salud” (health establishments).   <My guess is the public health establishments – I wouldn’t run up to the Hospital del Río with Fido in tow.>

Tests – The Ministerio de Salud Pública (Public Health <I think you can translate ministerio for yourself>) has a program to test people and prevent hearing loss.  The exam is free and available at all the ministry’s Centros de Salud, at the Centro de Rehabilitación Integral Especializado (CRIE) and the “Vicente Corral Moscoso” Hospital.  The program is open to everyone, and especially those under 14 and over 60.

Municipal aphalt plant – <now there’s an example of vertical integration> The asphalt plant will be moved from El Descanso to Guangarcucho in about 3 weeks.  The move is expected to take 15 days during which the plant will not operate.  Alternate sources for are being analyzed so projects can keep going.

Police page – Two suspects have been arrested for a killing near the Terminal Terrestre.  The victim, who was shot in the head, died over the weekend.

Pagina Intercultural – Today’s article is about “La presencia Inca en los Andes Ecuatoriales” (The Inca presence in the Equatorial Andes).  <As usual, I’m just letting you know about the article.  If you’re interested, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec and read it for yourself.>

Amenidades –

Comedy – Comedian Santiago Illescas, known as “El hombre voz” (The voice man), will perform jueves in the Teatro Sucre in two shows at 19:00 and 20:30.  In the show, “El origen de su especie” (The origin of your/his/her/its species), uses different voices to describe Darwin’s theory of evolution.  He will also perform a presidential debate.  <Not that I know what either of the candidates sounds like.>

Internacional –

Venezuela – 20 countries issued a declaration along with the OAS to decide on a pathway to support the functioning of democracy and the Estado de Derecho (Rule of Law – I like this for a phrase for the day, too.) in Venezuela.

Bolivia – Pres. Evo Morales went to Cuba to remove a benign tumor in his larynx.  <It’s an emergency when something threatens the ability of a politician to speak.>

Perú – Pres. Kucqynski said that 10,000 people need temporary shelter in the district of Catacaos, in the Piura region of northern Peru.  The río Piura overflowed after passing flood stage this past domingo y lunes.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne