"Gringo Tree", which emails one to three times a day to those who sign up for its email list, does a fine job of listing events, rentals, items people wish to buy or sell, or people just looking for particular services. However, social and cultural events are often times not submitted to "Gringo Tree" until days before the event, which means people are not alerted until almost the last minute about such events. A monthly calendar allows for people to plan their schedules around any particular event that transpires in any given month. The calendar also provides the user with a graphic web page of all events in one month.
The monthly calendar offered by the "Offical Guide To Cuenca, Ecuador" unfortunately is quite sparse in the events listed for the month of July. Certainly major city-wide and neighborhood social, athletic, and cultural events should be listed. Workshops and other things of that nature should be listed as the sponsors present them in the prior month to the officials responsible for the publication of the "Official Guide". Since the calendar is a computerized web page, events can be added as they are submitted, and the viewer can click on a particular event and additional information is provided. Nevertheless, it is the convenience of early listings at the beginning of each new month that allows the viewer to make ample use of the calendar.
Officials need to work closely with the universities, the Cuenca Orchestra, and other concert venues as examples of events which should be submitted to the Guide Office well in advance, so that the events can be placed on each monthly calendar in a timely manner. For example, I would think the Cuenca's professional futbal team and those of its two major universities, as well as the venue for the season of the Cuenca Orchestra are set months in advance. I would suggest that somebody working in this department should have the responsibility to follow-up on procuring the schedules for these type of events from these major venues rather than wait for them to be submitted. The monthly calendar can be a valuable asset to residents and tourists alike, but only if the events are listed.
I know from the last two years that this is the month where I believe it is called the Church of St Carmen on the square of the Flower Market, which will be having cultural and religious activities on the square each evening for a week. Some of these activities involve music, traditional dance, plays, etc. It would be nice to see what is being offered each evening and approximately the time, so people can plan ahead to whatever nightly program may appeal to them. Tourists, for example, would only stumbled across nightly activities like these by chance, and I know people living in Cuenca who are unaware that such events are even taking place.
The "Official Guide To Cuenca, Ecuador" does a very good job of offering a number of informational tabs that once again can prove of interest to both residents and tourists. Below is a copy of just one example on Geography taken from the "Official Guide". The Guide includes tabs that provide information about hotels, transportation, Carnival, Handicraft Basin, history, Basic Cultural Heritage, places to visit, other activities from churches to adventure tours, etc. There is also a tab that deals with services from the consulate, to mail, to hospitals, to laundry, and a great deal more.
If you have not already visited the "Official Guide to Cuenca, Ecuador" site and live in Cuenca, or plan to visit Cuenca, or are seriously thinking of moving to Cuenca; I would encourage you to browse this site. My congratulations to the officials responsible for putting such an attractive and informative site together. Make the monthly calendar more useful and complete with events, and the site will be perfecto.
Here is the link to the site
http://www.cuenca.com.ec/cuencanew/
http://www.cuenca.com.ec/cuencanew/calendar
Geography
Cuenca Ecuador geography & climate
Geography
The city of Santa Ana of the 4 Rivers of Cuenca is located between 2.350 to 2.550 meters above sea level, in the Southern area Ecuadorian Andean Mountain range. It was built on the ruins of the old Guapdondélig of Cañaris, which means "great valley of the sun". This gives us an idea of the valley.
The area is surrounded by a complex of terraces, 4 altogether, which offer a great layout to the city. Most part of the city is located on flat areas, surrounded by mountains. These terraces are bathed by 4 rivers, which give their name to the city: the Machangara (to the north), the Tomebamba which splits the city in two areas, the Yanuncay and the Tarqui (to the south) which join together in the Tomebamba River.This valley enjoys a great climate, along with a great availability of water, and fertile ground, allowing lots of green vegetation. This is the reason why the Cañaris, Incas and Spaniards took advantage of the area.
A cliff divides the slightly elevated second and third terraces, which constitute one of the most interesting characteristics of the geography of Cuenca and it is the present boundary between the colonial city and the new city.
There are two noticeable climatic stations. The dry season affects Cuenca from June to September. During the rest of the year it is variable rainy, with heavy rains during the months of October and December and from March to May.
