New Cuenca mayor faces his campaign promises; Todo Santos nuns offer new dining options; Uzhupud resort reopens with 5-star hotel, 50,000 orchids

May 13, 2023 | 3 comments

Viernes, 12/5/2023

Hola, Todos –

Cultura –

Todosantos ofrece una experiencia gastronómica (Todosantos offers a gastronomic experience) – New dining opportunities offered by the Hermanas Oblatas in the Complejo Patrimonial Todosantos include a bakery and chocolatería, a restaurant offering fine dining with local products, and a cafetería with coffee from Yunguilla. The nuns started by opening the church tower, then opened their museum and have now added gastronomy with Hannan, Cafetería Popular and Curu.

The Uzhupud resort reopens as Uzhupud Gardens and features a 5-star hotel and thousands of orchids. (El Mercurio)

Hannan sells bread baked in the wood oven which was built in the 19th century, and the chocolate is prepared in Paccha. The wood oven baked breads start at $.25. Hours are lunes a sábado from 10-20:00. Curu is a restaurant offering almuerzos and a fine dining tasting menu at night. Lunches are served lunes a viernes from 12:30-15:00 and dinners jueves a sábado from 19:30-22:30. The Cafetería Popular which has been open for 6 months on the terrace will continue with food and music. It wants to promote the organic coffee and take advantage of the terrace, a cultural space in Cuenca. The museum and chuch can be visited by reservation. Call 099 592 4649.

Titular –

Fin a la pandemia, pero no descuidarse (Pandemic ends, but don’t be careless) – See Friday’s article in CHL; use a mask if you have respiratory symptoms <more to protect others from your cold or gripe if that’s something you feel a responsibility for>; and get a flu shot if you’re a child or over 6. There will be 360,000 Pfizer Covid-19 boosters for priority groups starting junio, 2023.

Cuenca –

Tareas que le esperan a Zamora al llegar al poder (Tasks awaiting Zamora when he takes office) – Cristian Zamora will officially take office este domingo after having served 2 consecutive terms as a councilman. First he should fulfill 2 campaign promises: to remove the radars installed by the consortium Móvil Technology Ecuador under a contract with EMOV, and to control roads entering the Centro de Privación de Libertad (CPL) Azuay <did they change the name?> in Turi to prevent the arrival of prisoners from other provinces except Cañar and Morona Santiago. <So will there be showdowns between Cuenca cops and prison guards on the roads to the prison?>

According to Juan Pablo Medina, an attorney and political consultant, other challenges will be to implement actions to confront insecurity and ask the National Government to help improve roads connecting Cuenca with other cities. Zamora also will also need to relocate various institutions which was delayed by the preceding 4 administrations. <Oh, heck, why doesn’t he go for 5 administrations and leave the relocations to his successor? The list of relocations includes the livestock market and municipal slaughterhouse which is in Patamarca, the tolerence zone in Cayambe, the wholesale market in El Arenal, and the Terminal Terrestre on the north side of town. Also on the list, but with less priority are the estadio Alejandro Serrano and the Mariscal La Mar airport <But please don’t relocate the airport to Oña although that would put the airport midway between Cuenca and Loja, but convenient for neither.>.

For Pablo Mocha, a member of the Federación de Comerciantes Minoristas del Azuay (Fedacomi), another challenge is getting some order to the street vendors in Cuenca. There is data showing that there are 10-12,000 informal merchants working in the streets because there isn’t a site where they can go work safely and in dignified conditions. Mocha said that after the pandemic, there were 300 available spaces in the 6 mercados and 7 itinerant platforms. Carlos Vidal, a microbusinessman fabricating metal supports for construction, said the city needs space for industrial uses. The Asociación de Empresas del Parque Industrial (AEPIC) calculates it requires about 130 hectares of land for industry. This is in addition to the 340 which has already been defined in two land use plans (PDOT & PUGS).

Empresarial –

Uzhupud Garden, busca impulsar el turismo (Uzhupud Garden seeks to promote tourism) – After a 4 year closure, the hostería Uzhupud will formally reopen as Uzhupud Garden. The complex has been remodeled and enlarged with new features to become a 5-star hotel. The hotel has a strategic alliance with Ecuagenera and is owned by the same family which wants to place Ecuador as the country of orchids. There are about 50,000 orchid plants in the hotel’s 10 hectare space with plans to increase the number to 100,000 in a year.

An orchid show that runs until el 14/5 with hours from 9-18:00 features 3 newly discovered species from Zamora Chinchipe that have already been registered with “The American Orchid Society,” and included in the April edition of its publication. Amenities of the hotel include lodging, national and international gastronomy, a pool, tennis and professional fútbol courts, and public areas. By julio, there will be the Green Garden, koi ponds, a lake with boats, multi-sports courts, a children’s area, and a paddle tennis court. Another of the hotel’s goals is to become a venue for destination weddings. The official reopening will be el 15/6 which cooincides with the 30th anniversary of Ecuagenera.

Region –

La ‘Ruta de las Macanas’ expedita (The ‘Ruta de las Macanas’ is expedited) – The first phase of paving the ‘Ruta de las Macanas’ was opened ayer. The 2.2 km. road runs from Bullzhún to Tocteloma and Barrio Lindo, and includes sewers. The second phase will be from the center of Bullzhán to Bullcay and then to the national highway that goes to Gualaceo. The workshops of the macanas (ikat) weavers in the community of Bullzún will benefit by making it easier to enter and leave the zone.z

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne

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