Thousands of Carnaval tourists head home; Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day coincide; Search for Camilo Ponce Enríquez landslide victims continues

Miércoles, 14/2/2024

Hola, Todos –

Happy El Día del Amor y la Amistad

Titular –

Imposición de la Ceniza en el Día del amor y amistad (Imposition of Ash on the Day of Love and Friendship) – This year, Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day are commemorated on the same day. The faithful who went to church today heard the phrase “Conviértete y cree en el evangelio” (Be converted and believe in the gospel) as the cross was drawn on their foreheads in ash. For Teresita Mejía, Ash Wednesday is important since it marks the start of Lent and is a time for penance and sacrifice. The day is important for her to lead a good life with good actions and to become a better person day by day. <Something that all of us, Catholic or not, should aspire to.>

The Catholic faithful in Cuenca wait to have the Ash Wednesday cross applied to their foreheads. (El Mercurio)

Elaboración de la ceniza (Preparation of the ash) – <And it’s not just any old ash like burning the scraps from the latest church remodeling project.> Felipe Bustamante, parish priest at María Auxiliadora, explained that the ash is made from priestly implements and ornaments such as tablecloths or linens that are no longer used because of age or damage. These are burned with rosemary and the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. <Those palms should be nice and dry after a year of curing.> The material is sifted and the powder obtained is blessed at the first eucharist on Wednesday. The priest reminded people that the placement of the ash on foreheads has an allusion to the cross because it is there that Christ redeemed us and forgave our sins by giving his life for us.

Cuenca –

Retorno masivo a la Costa (Massive return to the coast) – The movement of masses of people at the Terminal Terrestre in Cuenca started at mid-day on martes. Most of the tourists were returning to Guayaquil and Quito where there were no large assemblies due to the state of emergency. A driver with the Cotrain Alianza bus line said that they doubled and tripled the number of buses, mainly for people going back to Guayaquil. The cooperatives serving Azuayan cantons, especially Gualaceo and Paute, had a large number of passengers returning to Cuenca.

Soterramiento de redes de telecomunicaciones (Undergrounding of telecommunications networks) – ETAPA is continuing with its project to underground telecommunications networks. The work includes construction of conduits, inspection wells, replacement of concrete slabs in chambers, and checking the adequacy of posts.

Sucesos –

Deslave causa muertes y bloqueo de vía (Landslide causes deaths and road blockage) – Heavy rains that started el domingo caused the río Guanache to overflow in western Azuay Province. There was also a landslide in the Polvorín sector on the road to Bella Rica in Camilo Ponce Enríquez canton that buried one person and several vehicles. On Tuesday morning, a body was recovered from under pieces of logs on the bank of the river. It is believed to be one of the guards of a warehouse where explosive materials were stored by the military. Road clearing to the Guanache, Tres de Mayo and Bella Rica sectors continued ayer. The bodies of the two people reported missing, probably the guards for the warehouse, were found. It is unknown if there are additional victims.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne