New shopping mall, Megamaxi set to open; ‘Jurassic Park’ planned for Paute; Birth family information available to adoptees; Two weekend stick-ups

Lunes, 13/11/2023

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

De El Mercurio del sábado, 11/11 (1 article):
Dinosaurios ‘reviven’ en el cantón Paute (Dinosaurs ‘revive’ in Paute Canton) – About 40 km. northeast of Cuenca is the new “Jurassic Paute” in the Pirincay sector of Paute. Full-sized robots of 12 dinosaurs imported from China have been installed on a hill that recreates the habitats of the animals. This local Jurassic Park is on one side of the E40 (Paute-Guarumales-Méndez). The park is expected to open in febrero, 2024 before the festivities for 164 years of the cantonization of Paute. The attraction will also include a food court, sales area, and 500 car parking lot. <It would be cool if you could climb into the T-Rex’s mouth, activate a chewing motion from inside, then slide out the back.>

Titular –

Cuenca’s first Megamaxi opens in a new shopping mall Nov. 24. The mall is adjacent to a new dog park. (El Mercurio)

Adoptados en busca de sus raíces (Adoptees in search of their roots) – People who have been adopted and have now reached majority (18 yrs) can access information from the State to look for their biological families. This right is in a Hague Convention and in various international treaties as well as local laws and the Constitution of Ecuador. Currently, the Ministerio de Inclusión Económica y Social (MIES) is responsible for the adoption process. The data is also in the court system since the previous adoption process required judicial approval. Since the end of 2021, MIES implemented the ‘El Abrazo de la Adopción’ plan to speed up the process. Before that plan the process took an average of 3 to 4 years with one case taking 10 years. <You get your kid just in time to cope with an adolescent you don’t really know, or in time to send him/her away to university.>

The current process takes 9 months. Since mayo, 2021 to noviembre, 2023, there have been 172 adoptions with 159 of them national, and 13 international. Up to octubre, 121 families had completed the process and are ready to adopt. Of these, 27 are single parents, and 94 are nuclear families. MIES has 15 written agreements with organizations specializing in international adoptions in the US, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and France.

Cuenca –

ARCSA controla retiro de producto contaminado (ARCSA controls recall of contaminated product) – La Agencia Nacional de Regulación, Control y Vigilancia Sanitaria (ARCSA) announced it is controlling a voluntary recall of WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Fruit Purée due to elevated levels of lead in certain lots. The product is made in Ecuador by AustroFood S.A.S. with the ARCSA code BPM N° 0032-BPM-AN-0818, and was exported to the US. ARCS is asking if you see the product on sale, report it to control.posterior@controlsanitario.gob.ec.

Registro de museos (Museum Registry) – Thje Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio announced that the Registro Ecuatoriano de Museos, Archivos Históricos y Biblioteca (Remab – Ecuadorian Registry of Museums, Historical Archives and Libraries) has a digital platform to connect and consolidate the network of repositories of social memory. It is also a way to disseminate the cultural richness of the country and gain access to museums, historic archives, libraries and other repositories in a geo-referenced manner. The registry is available at https://remab.cultura-patrimonio.gob.ec.

De El Mercurio del domingo, 12/11 (1 article):
´Wayra Plaza’ de Megamaxi por estrenarse (Megamaxi’s ‘Wayra Plaza’ to be opened) – After 2 years of work and an investment of $40 million, the Corporación Favorita will open its first MegaMaxi in Cuenca on el viernes 24/11 a las 10:00 on av. 24 de Mayo y 10 de Agosto. The ‘Power center’ complex will bring together other stores in the Favorita family including a 6,500 sq. m. MegaMaxi hypermarket with 11,000 items of food, textiles, beauty, cleaning, household appliances, hardware, garden. liquors, household management, sports and more.

There will also be a 6,000 sq. m. MegaKywi hardware store; a 2 story Sucasa; the 2nd Juguetón in the city; a Maxipet pet store; a Maxitec technology store; and Tatoo sporting goods. There will also be an itinerant Navidad or Eventos Salón which will house different events and vendors depending on the season of the year. A banking area will include Produbanco, Banco del Austro, Cooperativa JEP and Jardín Azuayo. Álvaro Rothembach, regional manager for the Corporación Favorita, said “Si no hay en Wayra Plaza, no hay en Cuenca.” There will be two coffee franchises, Sweet and Coffee and Juan Valdez. The corporation also collaborated with the city on the construction of the first “Parque de Mascotas” located across from the Megamaxi. Wayra Plaza hours will be lunes a domingo from 10:00-21:00. <Just don’t park your dog in the park and go shopping for 3 hours.>

Sucesos –

De El Mercurio del domingo, 12/11 (2 articles): <Here’s the flip side of living in Paradise.>

Con armas, desconocidos asaltaron joyería en Cuenca (Unknown assailants robbed jewelry store in Cuenca with guns) – On Sat. morning, 3 men armed with guns robbed a jewelry store on Gran Colombia between Padre Aguirre y Benigno Malo. They fired shots using rubber bullets and fled on 2 motorcycles. Most of the jewelry was recovered when a woman outside the store hit one of thieves in the head with a motorcycle helmet causing him to drop his backpack filled with loot. About $10,000 in gold jewelry was taken.

Agrupación delictiva asaltó en barbería de la Don Bosco (Criminal group assaulted barbershop in Don Bosco neighborhood) – Neighbors are fearful after an assault in a barbershop on Don Bosco y Loja in the Fátima 2 barrio. 9 men armed with high caliber weapons entered; subdued the owner; and stole a plasma TV, 10 branded caps, 3 motorcycle helmets, 10 clippers, and $200 in cash. The fled in 2 luxury vehicles and a moto. A witness said it was just like on TV. <Except on TV whoever gets shot, gets up at the end of the scene and goes home for dinner. I hope that witness lives long enough to learn that there’s a big difference between real life and TV.>

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne