U.S. trade preferences approved, International airport certification, Healing food, Traveling artisans

Mar 26, 2018 | 0 comments

Domingo, 25/3/2018

Hola, Todos –

Pagina cultural –

Upcoming agenda event –

Complejo de Todo Santos – You can visit the complex from martes a sábado, a las 8-18:00. The tourist route will take you into the church <recently restored>, terrace, patrimonial garden, restaurant and bakery.

Articles about –

Traveling artisans – There are several artisans that sell their work on the escalinatas from calle Larga and Hermano Miguel, many of whom are traveling through Latin America and fund their trip through sales. Two pairs of traveling companions who make jewelry were interviewed.

The Cuenca Dispatch – This weekly English language newspaper for foreigners is in circulation and is free. Director Jonathan Mogrovejo said they are available at Supermaxi stores, and the 2,000 copies quickly run out. The paper serves readers over 60 who grew up reading printed newspapers. <If you read Spanish, you’ve got a choice of at least a half dozen paper papers.> Before, extranjeros could read the digital paper, www.cuencahighlife. <Which is probably what you are reading right now.>. The two other partners in the The Cuenca Dispatch are David Morill and Michael Soares. <The photo is of Jonathan in front of a moniter. I’ll save the issue for you.>

Conciertos – There are sacred music choral concerts scheduled for Semana Santa (Holy Week). Both will be at the Museo Catedral Vieja. The first two will be hoy y mañana 26/3 a las 20:00 with the Coro Polifónico and the Orquesta Sinfónica of the U. of Cuenca with a program including “Scéne de Ballet”, op. 100 by Charles Auguste de Bériot and “Réquiem de Mozart.” On martes, 27/3 a las 20:00 there will be a a concert, “Ave Verum” with the Santa Catalina chorus.

From el periodico del sábado –

Airlines – The Minister of Tourism welcomed Spirit Airlines and hoped that another 3 companies will be adding flights to Ecuador this year. Spirit, a low cost airline, will operate a daily flight between Fort Lauderdale and Guayaquil. <That just made visits for you Floridians that much easier. But I bet the people who really use this will be well heeled Ecuadorians on shopping trips.> Condor, a German Airline <named after a new world bird> is expected to start Frankfurt-Quito flights mid-year. Aeroméxico will serve Ciudad de México-Quito, but when the service will start has not been decided.

Preferencias arancelarias (Preferencial tariffs) – The US renewed preferential tariffs for 122 countries including Ecuador for 3 years until 31 de diciembre, 2020, effective retroactively. This will benefit over 840 Ecuadorian businesses and 300 export products.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Pacto binacional apunta a blindar frontera norte (Binational pact aims to shield northern border) – See Sunday’s CHL article for the story.

Airport – The Cuenca airport is in the process of getting certified as an international airport. <If that process is anything like the process to get San Francisco Plaza remodeled (remember that started in the mid-50’s), most of us will be long dead and gone.> The head of the Dirección General de Aviación Civil (DGAC) was interviewed. In response to a question about service to Cuenca, he said that fares and flights were airline decisions and that DGAC was responsible for the technical part, and operational and flight security. When asked where Aéreo Regional was in the certification process he said it was in the part of the certification to fly to Cuenca to improve service for Azuayans. <So what kind of non-answer is that?> The airline will fly a Cuenca-Quito-Guayaquil-Cuenca loop with the planes leaving from and returning to Cuenca.

Bus accident – An accident in Portoviejo, Manabí took the lives of 12 and injured another 18. A Rutas Portovejenses bus overturned on the vía Jipijapa-Cascol on a stretch of road called “curva de la muerte” (curve of death). <How can the quality of the drivers be improved?>

House collapse – A 3 story adobe house collapsed el sábado in the barrio Colina de Cullca, “Chicha Huevona” sector north of Cuenca. Neighbors called 911 which dispatched 3 Red Cross and Public Health ambulances, a Fire Department rescue vehicle, Empresa de Movilidad (EMOV EP) agents, Guardia Ciudadana officers, and the National Police. 3 women, 14, 17, & 24, were trapped. The Red Cross was first on the scene and rescued the two minors. The older woman was freed from the debris by the Bomberos (Fire Department and your word for the day.) and Public Health teams. <Aside from the collapsed house, the rest of the buildings in the photo really reminds you that Ecuador is a developing or third world country. What’s not collapsed is a 5 or 6 level accident waiting to happen. It’s clad in corrugated metal siding, boards and plastic. The roofs are corrugated panels, overlapped plywood sheets and what appear to be plastic held down with boards. And then there’s a motley collection of stuff projecting off the building holding laundry, bicycles, buckets and construction debris.> <Probably building codes and enforcement could have prevented the collapse, but at least the response is reassuring.>

Bike lanes – A study by LlactaLAB – Ciudades Sustentables of the U. of Cuenca pointed out that intersections were risky for bicyclists, and they need signage for cyclists, motor vehicles, and pedestrians. The various bike lanes need to be connected to each other. Most of all, drivers need to respect bike lanes and cyclists. The new lane on Agustín Cueva is one of the most used at 15-20 per hour, with most cyclists going to the U. of Cuenca from the Yanuncay area. There will be a total of 26.79 km. in the network when it’s finished, and the 6.95 km. in Phase I are complete. These include Tadeo Torres, Luis Moreno Mora, Agustin Cueva, Remigio Tamariz, Alfonso Morena Mora and 3 de Noviembre. Phase II will include José Peralt, Del Estadio, Manuel J. Calle, Paucarbamba, Diez de Agosto, Francisco Moscoso, Roberto Crespo Toral, Luis Cordero Dávila, Ricardo Muñoz Dávila, Juan Bautista Vázquez, Loja, Isabel La Católica, Galápagos, Del Batán, Remigio Romero, Pichincha & Tres de Noviembre. Phase II will be part of the “Cinturón Verde” (Green Belt) project.

Actualidades – As usual, if the description of an article interests you, go to www.elmercurio.com.ec to read the whole thing. <Or run it through your translation program and then read it.>

Community Paramedics Project – A group of paramedics is bringing training to communities. The training is what to do to save lives or give time to the victim before the first responders arrive.

Macas – This city is known as “La Esmeralda Oriental” (The Eastern Emerald) and is noted for its natural beauty. From Cuenca, the 215 km. trip takes 3.5 hours and you take the vía Gaulaceo-Limon-Macas.

La “pena de muerte” en la Colonia y República (The “death penalty” in the Colony and Republic) – by that essayist I just can’t read.

Pagina Intercultural – The article is about “Alimentos sagrados que sanan” (Sacred foods that heal). Planting traditional foods is an action of resistance against industrial agriculture, the monopoly on transgenic seeds and agricultural poisons, factory livestock, and junk food. An 8 points alternative to a hyper-consumeristic life – the nutrition of the original peoples and the implications – was proposed at the Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos Sobre Cambio Climático y Defensa de la Vida en Cochabamaba, Bolivia in 2015.

Deporte y Salud – The article is about knee injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament.

Amenidades – The 10 candidates for he Morlaquita 2018 were presented el viernes. The Pageant will be el 6/4.

Internacional –

Perú – Ex-president Kuczynski has been prohibited from leaving the country. Two houses in Lima belonging to him were raided.

Bolivia – Pres. Evo Morales went to the Hague to support the Bolivian delegation arguing the demand that Chile negotiate a sovereign path to the Pacific for Bolivia. Bolivia lost some 400 km of coastline and about 120,000 sq. km. of territory in the Pacific War of 1879. <And I think a particularly inept president also played a large part in the loss of that territory.>

US – The lead story on the Pagina Internacional covered the March for Our Lives.

Deportes –

Ad – FFC 15K (Founding of Cuenca Festival) – 22/4 a las 9:00 – register at Mi Boletería at Mall del Río or Fybeca (Bolívar) – $12.00.

Descuentos y compras –

4 Points by Sheraton <up the hill from the Mall del Río> – fanesca – $9.00 for fanesca and dessert plus taxes or $14/liter.

Mutualista Azuay – new home loans – 100% of the appraisal, 20 years, 9.78%.

And that´s all for today so Hasta Mañana –

Jeanne

CuencaHighLife

Dani News

Google ad

Property 3br News

The Cuenca Dispatch

Week of March 24

“They are pressuring me to resign so they can remove me from office,” denounced Verónica Abad, Vice President of the Republic.

Read more

Ecuador Navigates Economic Challenges with IMF Agreement Looming.

Read more

“Since when does thinking differently mean being a traitor?” Pierina Correa questions in reference to the Tourism Law.

Read more

Google ad

Fund Grace News

Amazon Eco lodge News

Hogar Esperanza News