Voting in today’s election is mandatory for most Ecuadorians; Cuenca’s best vegan dining options; Firefighters battle four wildfires; Dance festival

Sábado, 19/8/2023

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Cuenca ofrece una ruta vegana (Cuenca offers a vegan route) – Once more, Cuenca has surprised residents and tourists with new culinary offerings. Following is a list of restaurants that offer plant-based menus. This is in addition to the wave of eating based on fresh unprocessed foods that have not been frozen and that prioritize plant based or vegetarian eating.

Madeline Villarroel, owner of the Nandala restaurant, presents a dish of tigrillo with vegan cheese and avocado. (El Mercurio)

Zatua Miski – Alfonso Morena Mora 242 y Federico Proaño <And if you just can’t stand the idea of a meatless diet, you can always run over to the ItalDeli on Solano for your meat fix.> Paola Morocho’s cafeteria and vegan dessert spot has been in business 5 years. Currently it offers desserts, cookies, chocolates, vegan cheese, granola, and courses in making desserts without gluten <I think that’s what the article said>.

La Toste – Av. Solano y Nicanor Merchán <In the Monte Sinai Hospital?> – Paola Guazgambo offers fast vegetarian and vegan food in her restaurant which has been in business a little more than a year. Its specialty is sourdough toast with either savory or sweet toppings.

Nandala – Florencia Astudillo 1-28 – This restaurant was founded in septiembre, 2021 by foreigners who found an opportunity to offer healthy vegan food in Cuenca. Madeline Villarroel’s clients are those who like food with a Thai flavor, or whose life style is vegan.

Comer Sanar Vivir – Honorato Vasquez 6-93 y Pres. Borrero – Lizanna Castellanos y Giovanni Rojas have been offering vegetarian and vegan plates for 5 years, including at a previous location. They have an almuerzo from lunes a viernes as well as a la carte plates with falafel, pita bread and hummus.

Yua – Alfonso Cordero y Daniel Palacios – This serves dishes with combinations of vegetables, legumes and fruit and the menu is updated regularly. It has hamburgers with eggplant, garbanzo, quinua, and jackfruit; ceviche with dried mushrooms, and zuchinni ravioli. There are almuerzos from lunes a viernes.

La Violeta – Calle del Cirote 109 y los Cisnes – Rocío Valencia opened her restaurant in mayo, 2022 and offers plant-based food. She serves almuerzos from lunes a viernes and with reservations. She also makes desserts, cookies and bread. Her cooking is plant based with ingredients that are delicious, healthy and full of life.

<Buen provecho – notice that the restaurants are concentrated on the south side? Is that where vegetarians and vegans live? None of them in Gringolandia – where people who enjoy the SAD live?>

De El Mercurio del viernes, 18/8 (1 article):
Festival de danza se realiza en Cuenca (Dance festival takes place in Cuenca) – The 7th edition of the Festival Internacional Tradiciones y Culturas del Mundo will be until el 22/8. It started with a dance gala el 18 & 19/8 in the Casa de la Cultura. On the 21 & 22/8 from 10:30 to 15:00 there will be a workshop in Ecuadorian and international dance in the Sala Catalina Sojos (Luis Cordero y Pres. Córdova).

Titular –

Horas para meditar y definir por quién votar (Hours to meditate and decide who to vote for) – See Saturday’s article in CHL for story.

Elecciones –

De El Mercurio del viernes, 18/8 (4 articles):
Brigadas del CNE receptan voto en 36 casas del Azuay (CNE brigades receive votes in 36 houses in Azuay) – There are 36 people taking advantage of the Voto en Casa program in Cuenca (25), Gualaceo, and Santa Isabel. This program is for seniors or people with disabilities who cannot travel to polling sites. Voto en Casa was done on viernes. These votes along with votes from prisoners, will be counted first when the polls close el domingo.

Alta seguridad para voto de reos (High security for inmate voting) – The Armed Forces provided security for CNE (Consejo Nacional Electoral) workers on jueves when inmates who have not been convicted and have not received an enforceable sentence are eligible to vote. In the whole country, 4.756 inmates have the right to vote, and in the prison at Turi, 28 men and 8 women have that right. The process at Turi went smoothly.

Votación facultativa (Optional voting) – According to the Códico de la Democracia, voting is optional for people between 16 & 18, people over 65, Ecuadorians living overseas, <and active service members in the Armed Forces and Policía Nacional. Also people with disabilities, personas analfabetas (illiterate persons – your word for the day – I’m guessing most of you readers are functionally analfabetas en Español. So when do you plan to fix that deficiency?>), and foreigners over 16 who have lived legally in the country for at least 5 years.

Conozca al candidato (Meet the candidate) – the CNE has set up their web site, www.cne.gob.ec with a link, Conoce a tu Candidato, where you can read the work plans of the candidates. According to the Ley Orgánica Electoral y de Organizaciones Políticas, constituents can request the revocation of the mandate in case the authorities do not comply with their offers (campaign promises). <I wonder how often that happens? If it happened every time campaign promises weren’t met, would 90% of the elected polititians wind up unseated?>

<Even if it’s imperfect, as it is everywhere with any human system, Ecuador seems to take its democracy seriously. Universal voting is just that. I wonder what the percentage of people who vote will be? Undoubtedly much higher than in the US.>

Cuenca –

Cuatro incendios forestales simultáneos ayer en Cuenca (Four simultaneous forest fires in Cuenca yesterday) – Forest fires burned in Miraflores, Checa, Tarqui, Rayoloma which had the largest fire that burned at least 4 hectares of eucalyptus, pine, and bushes. Smoke from Rayoloma was seen in different sectors of the city. Vehicular access on the gravel road to Rayoloma was restricted until the fire was put out. Sixto Eras, Cuenca Fire Chief, called for citizens to avoid burning vegetation which can get out of control and turn into forest fires given current conditions with wind, dry vegetation, and intense sun. <Wait a minute, we’re not through with the landslide stories yet. Now the climate is so goofy that fire and flood seasons are overlapping?>

And that’s all for today so hasta el lunes –

Jeanne