Taxi fares set for an increase; Cuenca is country’s recycling champ; Holistic medicine heals the inner child; Dairy industry aims for more digestible milk
Domingo, 19/5/2024
Hola, Todos –
Actividades –
De El Mercurio del sábado, 18/5 (1 article):
‘Lizmett’ publica en las redes sociales su sencillo “Vencer” (Lizmett’ publishes single “Vencer” on social networks) – <This is for you heavy metal fans.> The group “Lizmett” published their single, “Vencer,” on their social networks this week, prior to the release of their first disc in the next few months. The heavy metal band has 6 Cuencano musicians, one woman and 5 men, who have been on the music scene in Ecuador for a year and half.
Titular –
Cuenca is the city with the highest garbage recycle rate in Ecuador. Read the instructions about how to do it right. (El Mercurio)
Fiesta ‘miguelista’ por bodas de oro (Miguelista Golden Jubilee party) – The Miguel Merchán Ochoa school celebrated its 50th anniversary with a parade in which 1,000 students and alumni marched. The life of Miguel Merchán Ochoa was noted for his involvement in communications, including the daily paper, El Mercurio. <Which is the source of your news, albeit indirectly.>
Cuenca –
Taxistas solicitan un estudio para actualización de tarifas (Cab drivers request fare update study) – La Unión de Cooperativas de Transporte en Taxi del Azuay have asked for a study to update the costs associated with their work. Eduardo Andrade, president of the union, said the last fare revision was in 2014 after a study by the U. of Cuenca, and to date, there have been no fare increases while the costs of living and operating have gone up. They are planning on getting proposals by the end of mayo and contracting out the study in junio. He said in order to determine fares, variables such as the costs of fuel, replacement parts, maintenance, vehicles and living costs need to be considered. He hoped the citizenry would understand that drivers also have responsibilities, families, and debts. Currently, the meter starts at $.55 <I’ve forgotten the word for that> and the minimum daytime fare is $1.39, and $1.67 at night.
Sanación con terapia holística (Healing with holistic therapy) – In the past years, alternative medicine has gained ground as an option for those who are seeking integral health. Far from being limited to treating symptoms or ailments, this practice focuses on the totality of being human — to achieve balance between the body, mind and spirit. The therapies use medicinal herbs, energetic cleansings, sound therapy, energetic massage, conscious eating, taita tobacco, flower baths and Reiki, and more. Diego Pesántez Merchán, an architect by profession, and Heidi Cevallos, an Andean doctor with the Instituto ‘Jatun Yachay Wasi,’ have 20 and 15 years of experience in ancestral medicine. They practice in the El Vado sector. <And don’t you dare ask me how to make an appointment and where their office is. The article doesn’t say.>
To do their work they fulfilled rituals and initiations by taitas who had a deep knowledge of ancestral medicine transmitted through generations. Pesántez said that the current social structure has altered the natural order of people and we are not healed but cured momentarily from a pain. According to ancestral knowledge, illnesses have emotional causes, so they apply regression to observe the inside child and see how it has led to the adult illness and how it has changed the course of the person’s life. The therapy used depends on the need of each person, and what is needed is to change the way a person thinks to return to body, mind and emotional health. The Ministerio de Salud Pública (MSP) recognizes and respects ancestral knowledge. The Códico de Ética de la Medicina Ancestral has been in effect since 2020 and recognized the practice of Andean medicine.
De El Mercurio del sábado, 18/5 (1 article):
Un 20% recicla en Cuenca (20% recycle in Cuenca ) – <This is your how to be a good citizen article.> The International Day of Recycling was el viernes, and Cuenca is the city in Ecuador that recycles the most, with 20% of households, industries, businesses and companies reaching that percentage according to EMAC EP statistics. <I hope that every blessed one of you gringos is in that 20% and managing your garbage ecologically.> It also said that Cuenca is the only city in the country that has “zero contact” with biohazardous and sanitary waste since workers in this business do not touch these waste materials. EMAC is developing a project with the Agencia de Cooperación Internacional de Corea (KOICA) to strengthen the capacity for integrated waste management. The $9 million budget will be spent on technology to circulate resources towards the circular economy. In junio, this environmental program will start with implementing belts that separate wastes allowing large scale recycling. However, the separation of waste that’s done in households, businesses and industries is still basically the most important way to recycle effectively.
There are 236 recyclers who walk the streets and go to houses to collect materials that should go into the celeste (light or sky blue – your color for the day) bags. These bags are also collected by EMAC and delivered to 2 associations – El Chorro and the Asociación de Recicladores Urbanos de Cuenca (ARUC). They sell recycled materials to large and medium sized businesses which in turn stockpile the materials until they have sufficient quantities to sell to industries. Cuenca currently has 7 ‘Pichaybot’ machines to recycle plastic bottles. <You can find them on university campuses and in parks.> Another national initiative, Reciclemos, allows recyclers to get 2 cents for each plastic bottle they collect and bring to bottlers, recycling plants or factories.
Following is what can and/or should go into the black, green, and celeste garbage bags. <There is some conflicting or unclear info about fruit and vegetable peels.> <It can’t be a coincidence that these are colors of SuperMaxi bags. I don’t know where the orange ones fit in.>
Black garbage bags –
– organic waste and food including fruit and vegetable shells, husks, peels; leftover food; animal waste <Which gets us to another way to be a good citizen. Pick up your dog’s poop.>
– dishes and packaging made of styrofoam.
– polyethelene plastic bags or noisy plastic bags (ones that snacks, noodles, and candies are packaged in)
– inert waste such as cigarette butts, broken ceramic items, wood, fabric, dust and floor sweepings.
– bathroom waste such as toilet paper <Do I really need to say used toilet paper?>, disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, toothpaste tubes, razors.
Celeste (light blue) bags –
– plastic containers and cutlery such as soda <or pop depending on where you’re from> bottles, containers for yogurt, juice, shampoo, and cosmetics; plastic cutlery; plastic bottles, jars, tubs, and piolas (cords and string).
– soft plastics such as shopping bags, milk and food bags, plastics for packaging for food and drinks, plastic for wrapping suitcases <like at the airport>. <So Saran wrap.>
– paper and cardboard such as notebooks, books, magazines, egg cartons, bags for cement, tetrapack containers (milk cartons), shredded paper.
– scrap metal and electronics such as copper, bronze or aluminum items, wire, kitchen items such as pots, spoons, and home appliances. <I’m thinking things like blenders and coffee makers rather than washers and dryers that wouldn’t fit in a celeste bag.>
– aluminum and cans such as spray cans, tin foil, tin cans and drink cans.
Green bags –
– organic waste such as from fruits and vegetables, waste from grains <for those of you who hull your own rice and wheat and barley, etc>, bark, grass, and branches and waste from plants. <I’m sure the garbagemen love it when I trim the mora <if you’re Ecuadorian> or raspberry <if you’re gringo> bush and set out those bags of thorny branches and twigs.
– this kind of waste can also be dropped off at BIOEMAC (av. 24 de Mayo y Ambato), lunes a sábado from 9:00 to 17:00 and all holidays. <You can trade your garbage for compost or humus at a 10 to 1 exchange rate. You can also run a tab.> You can also drop organic waste off at the planta de Compostaje El Valle (vía El Valle next to the ciudadela Laguna del Sol), lunes a viernes from 8:00 to 16:00.
When should you put garbage out? There different days for different sectors with garbage collection either lunes, miércoles y viernes or martes, jueves y sábado. The black and green bags are collected on all 3 days. The blue bags are collected only on miercoles or jueves depending on your sector. <If you don’t know your collection days, just look outside to see what days your neighbors put their garbage out.>.
Nacional –
En el pais se producirá una leche más digerible (More digestible milk to be produced in the country) – <This is for all of you who don’t consume dairy products unless you’re planning to stay at home alone for the next few hours. And you definitely don’t chug a liter of milk then go to a party. Maybe you can get the host to pay you to come to the party when the host wants their guests to clear out.> You think you suffer from lactose intolerance, but for 50% of people who have intestinal problems, the actual diagnosis could be an intolerance to beta-caseína A1. This is a protein that Ecuador is working to get rid of in favor of a more digestible milk. To find out if your reaction to milk is lactose intolerance or intolerance to A1 milk, you don’t need a medical test. The symptoms for both are similar. All you have to do is consume some goat milk or cheese. If you don’t react, you are not lactose intolerant since goat milk has more lactose than cow’s milk, but intolerant of the beta-caseína A1. <Easy peasy.>
58 livestock farmers in the Baquerizo Moreno parish in Pillaro, Tungurahua Province, are part of a project to produce A2A2 milk which is more digestible for most people. The A2 milk is estimated to come into production in 3-8 years. According to researcher Jacobus de Waard, beta-caseína A1 is present only in cows because of the processes to which they have been subjected to for the mass production of milk. However, it is possible to return to the milk that people consumed 100 years ago when cows produced only A2 milk. Countries like Australia and New Zealand have already eliminated A1 milk. In Ecuador, 85% of cows produce A1 milk so A2A2 milk cows are scarce. 150 cows in Tungurahua will be inseminated so they will produce only A2 milk, with a similar project that will start in Cotopaxi with 500 cows.
Droga oculta en cajas de banano en Puerto Bolívar (Drugs hidden in banana crates in Puerto Bolivar) – <Here’s another de vez en cuando drug bust article.> The Policía Nacional seized 1.4 tons of cocaine in 1,276 bricks hidden a container of bananas in Puerto Bolívar, El Oro Province. As part of the ‘Poseidón XV’ operation, the Dirección Nacional de Investigación Antidrogas inspected a suspicious warehouse which contained bananas for export. The drug dog Malinda detected the narcotics inside a container where the drugs were hidden in boxes. The final destination of the drugs was the US, with a transfer in Guatemala. <I wonder how much the demand would go down if every fancy party in Hollywood and NY was attended by uniformed and armed narcotics agents with free access to all parts of the venue and a mandate to arrest anyone using drugs?>
And that’s all for today so hasta ? –
Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). If information is incorrect, it is the responsibility of El Mercurio. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.
