Tranvía will test with passengers in February, The expats who help Cuenca, Homeless prefer the streets, Highwaymen robberies on Loja highway

Domingo, 12/1/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Encuentro Nacional de Cultura Funeraria (National Meeting of Funeral Culture) – This conference will be el jueves 23/1 y viernes 24/1 a las 9 -17:00 at the Museo Pumapungo and the Cementerio Patrimonial de Cuenca.

Reading Club – The City Culture Department is forming two reading clubs, “Los Clásicos (y no tan clásico) de la literatura mundial” (“The Classics (and not so classic) of world literature”) and “Tras los límites de lo real” (Behind the limits of the real). The first will meet este martes, 14/1 a las 18:15 in the Casa Patrimonial de las Posadas to see who wants to join this club aimed at youth and adults; and the second will meet el miércoles, 22/1 a las 18:15 for explanatory talks geared to teens, youth, and adultos soñadors (dreamy adults). After the first meetings the first club will meet every first martes a las 18:15 and the second will meet every 3d miércoles at 19:45.

Del cuerpo del periodico –

Otras cosas –

Expat Gary Vatcher helps cuenca HIV patients through proceeds from a second-hand clothing store. (El Mercurio)

Extranjeros jubilados trabajan por Cuenca (Retired foreigners work for Cuenca) – Retirees from the US and Canada are helping patients with HIV, managing resources to boost various arts, and cleaning graffiti covered walls in Cuenca. The community of foreigners or expatriots, mostly from the US, were attracted here because of the climate, people, food, and a peaceful pace of life. Among them were people who decided to work without pay for social causes such as cleaning walls, support the arts, and help others with limited resources who are suffering from various diseases.

Gary Vatcher, from Canada, created the Hogar Esperanza (Juan Montalvo y Sucre) which takes in HIV patients from rural areas who are receiving medical treatment in Cuenca, but don’t have money for transportation or food. Patients with other catastrophic illnesses, refugees, and others are also sheltered. Funds for these activities are earned from a store selling second hand clothing donated by extranjeros (foreigners) and Ecuadorians, and the Hogar Esperanza allies with other organizations for fund raising.

Laura Inks and her husband Clay Bodine identify themselves as gringos and became part of the Ecuadorian traditions of 6/1 under the name “Gringuitos Locos del Teatro Fishbon” when they marched in the fiesta de Inocentes parade and received a prize. The couple created the Centro de Arte “Fishbon del Sur” which is adorned with a giant mural painted by their artist friends, and which holds yoga, music and other events such as performances.

Susan Burke with her husband Ken March retired to Cuenca to rest, but never do. They are not against art, but the tachones (studs?), manchas (stains, spots), rayas (lines) y señales groseras (rude signs) that taggers leave in the city. They created a group, “Keep Cuenca Beautiful” which numbers 600 on Facebook, and includes extranjeros and Cuencanos such as Juan Neira who is also a leader in the effort to keep Cuenca clean.
The presence of the expat community can be seen not only in the parade de Inocentes, but in a large list of other areas.

Tod and Mary Freeman work in Helping Kids in Ecuador. They raise funds to help people with limited resources get simple, but necessary surgeries. Susan McBride leads Mujeres con Éxito, a home for women who are victims of domestic violence where they can learn skills to lead independent lives.

The expat community is served by an online English-language newspaper, CuencaHighLife, produced by Jhonathan Mogrovejo and David Morrill, which has 4,000 daily readers. <If you’re reading this article, you already know about CHL.>

Matriculación – The period for registering your car for 2020 starts el lunes. A increase in demand is predicted because all cars in all cantons and provinces must pass the technical inspection before they can be registered, and the Revisión Técnica Vehicular (RTV) in Azuay is only offered in Cuenca at two locations. The inspection stations in Ucubamba and Mayancela are run by the Empresa de Movilidad (EMOV EP – Mobility Company). In Cuenca, in 2017, 86,966 cars were matriculated, 92,906 in 2018, and 93,825 in 2019. More than 120,000 are expected in 2020. Adding to the load is that cars in Azuay outside of Cuenca will need to pass a full vehicular inspection and not just a visual inspection. <Is that how those smokey buses pass the inspection? The inspectors see that there are seats, a steering wheel and a bunch of tires which they can kick? But they never turn on the ignition and rev the motor?> There will also be returning owners who had their cars matriculated in cantons outside of Cuenca to avoid paying the tasa solidaria road tax which was repealed this year. EMOV is analyzing changing its hours to allow people to come in after work.

Tranvía – 4 Tranvía trains started running the entire route to verify that 18 subsystems are ready for commercial operation. In febrero, tests with passengers will start and the number of trains will increase. The number of people participating as security will be gradually reduced as well. <Someone should start a Tranvía pool for the first accident. Dates of first train/car accident and train/pedestrian accident. My money would be on the 2nd week of testing with passengers.> Testing will run for 6 months and authorities are asking drivers and pedestrians to respect the signals and signage. <I would, if I knew what they all meant.>

Robberies on the road – Last Saturday night, a gang of 10 delinquentes (criminals – your word for the day) stopped a car on the vía Cuenca-La Jarata-Loja at Oña and robbed the driver of $1,000 cash and 2 phones. The gang was dressed in police uniforms and took the driver, handcuffed him and drove him in his own car to the Gañadel sector in Cumbe where he and the car were abandoned. The same hampones (lowlifes? – your bonus word for the day) attacked a truck carrying 300 sacks of corn from Loja to Cuenca. They tied the driver up, and drove to Cañar where they stole the load and abandoned the driver and truck.

Section B – Actualidades – I will translate the headline and a brief summary of what these human interest articles are about. If you are interested, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec to read them for yourselves.

Paute, Luciérnaga del Azuay (Paute, Firefly of Azuay) – A long-winded article about holiday lighting.

¿Cuánto costará la compra hoy? (How much will the purchase cost today?) – About the recession and inflation in Argentina where prices vary from week to week in spite of government attempts to stabilize the situation.

Os sintecho de Delhi prefieren la calle a los refugios pese a frío histórico (The homeless of Delhi prefer the street to the shelters despite historical cold)

Descuentos y compras –

Sukasa – up to 50% off plus 10% for affiliates on selected merchanise – 11-19/1

Colineal – liquidation sale for closure of Megatiena on Hermano Miguel – up to 30% off furniture and 80% off accessories – 6-20/1 from 10-19:00 – Hno. Miguel 8-58.

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. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation