TRAVELING TO BEIRUT, LEBANON (TYRE, SIDON, MAGHDOUCHE) Part I

I spent the month of May traveling first for two weeks to Beirut, Lebanon and then for two weeks visiting Paris. It was my first visit to both cities. My time in Lebanon was fascinating, and I very much look forward to sharing it with you.

There are many archaeological excavations in or near Beirut.  I will share more about modern day Beirut and Lebanon in later posts. Today's post is about the ancient cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Maghdouche.  All of which lie south of Beirut.  I must admit that when the brochures offering these day trips from Beirut would mention like "eighty kilometers south of Beirut", I had no idea I would be in densely Muslim southern Lebanon. The north is still predominantly Christian.

Lebanon is a very little country just to the north of another very little country called Israel.  To the east of both of these small countries is the much larger country of Syria.  Damascus, the oldest continuously living city in the world, and the capital of Syria, is relatively close to the Lebanese border.  Needless to say, next to North Korea this part of the world is the biggest hot spot currently on the map.  Northern Lebanon is dominated by Christians, which is probably the largest group of Christians concentrated in one area anywhere in the Middle East today.  Southern Lebanon is dominated by Muslims, particularly Hezbollah, and Hezbollah and Israel have tangled in major conflicts more than once, and basically threaten each other to do so again in the future.

I had no idea how quickly one could pass from northern to southern Lebanon in this little country. Whatever the deal, the government appears to have worked out an agreement that keeps these touristic, historical, archaeological areas open; possibly since they do bring money into the Lebanese coffers, and the sites are on the western side of southern Lebanon as opposed to the eastern side, where part of Lebanon's and Israel's border meet.  

Nonetheless, our first city to visit was Tyre, which is not that far from the Israeli border.  In fact, we were able to see Israel from Tyre, although we were still some miles from the border.

TYRE

Tyre is one of the oldest cities in the world.  It began as a city-state in the ancient Phoenician civilization, which according to the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, was founded about 2,500 B.C. Phoenicia stretch along the Mediterranean coast across modern day Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Phoenicia was known for its unique purple dye that would be exclusively used by kings and royalty throughout the ancient Western World.  Tyre became one of the most important maritime centers on the Mediterranean.  It trade made it one of the wealthiest cities in the world for its time.     

King Hiram of Tyre sent materials and an architect for the building of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon.  This first Jewish temple was built with timber from the cedars of Lebanon.  The cedars to this day still present a scenic beauty in northern Lebanon.

Tyre would later be conquered by Alexander the Great, who would take its stones to build a Greek city, later Tyre would be conquered by the Romans, who built a Roman city on the site.  The excavations below are from the Roman period.

Below is the Roman Road built in the 2nd century A.D.  We are touring through a necropolis or Roman cemetery.

Below are Roman sarcophagi.  Much like the vaults in which the caskets are lowered into today. There are hundreds of sarcophagi that have been excavated on this site alone.

Below are vaults very much like modern day mausoleums.

Above is the Arch of Hadrian, named after the Roman Emperor. The Roman Road on the far side of the arch was made in Roman times. The road on this side of the arch was built in Byzantine times, after the Roman Empire divided into two in 285 A.D.  The eastern half of the empire was called the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire.

Below is a close-up of the arch's construction.

Of course, the Romans built an entire city.  What remains of the building ruins are seen on site.

Below is a rear view of the ruins of a Roman Hippodrome.  Our guide, Madeline, said it was the largest hippodrome in the Roman Empire seating 40,000 people.  Some sources agree with our guide. While other sources claim the hippodrome's occupancy was 20,000.  

The frontal view of the Roman Hippodrome shows its stadium-like appearance.  Charioteers would circle the track seven times to determine a winner.  There were also two large, luxurious buildings with Roman baths for the elite supporters of the two teams.

 

The ancient Greeks made their pillars from one stone.  The Romans would use three stones with rods running through them to make a pillar.  You can see the segmentation in the photos above and below.

 SIDON    

Sidon is another ancient city going back to Phoenician times.  It birthed the city of Tyre.  By King David's day in Israel, Sidon was already in decline to be replaced as a maritime power by Tyre. King Solomon of Israel, David's son, made a matrimonial pact with Sidon, which include women from Sidon that brought idol worship into Israel.  The infamous Jezebel, queen of Ahab, a king of Israel, was also a woman of Sidon.  Both Tyre and Sidon were also mentioned in Old Testament prophesies of the doom and destruction that would come to them.

Centuries later, the crusaders, especially the first crusades, were successful in recapturing Jerusalem from the Muslims, and the crusaders built a chain of fortresses or castles along the Mediterranean.  The Sea Castle (below) in Sidon is one such fort, and was built in the 12th century.

                                       

The crusaders were not large in number as they were scattered throughout the Mediterranean. Just enough to secure the areas for trade, and put down any rebellion.  Most were driven out these areas, about 100 years later by the Muslims, who reasserted themselves.  

Unlike the Muslims, who conquered and forced the people they conquered to become Muslims, or if people of the book--the Bible--the Jews and Christians, to this day, live in a subordinate position to the Muslims.  The crusaders by virtually running a holding operation made no significant or lasting impact on the people, who went about their daily lives as always while under the subjection of the crusaders. 

The Mediterranean is a beautiful blue, as seen from the Sea Castle looking out as the city-scape of Sidon, which is 80% Sunni Muslim and about 10% Shia Muslim.  

Below is a view of the restaurant where we would be eating. Everywhere I ate in Beirut and its environs, the food was very good.

While all of us ate outside to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather, the interior of this elegant and exquisite restaurant can be seen below.

Customers at the restaurant could choose their fresh sea-fare of the day for preparation by the chef.

Below was another elegant restaurant across the street from where our tour group had dined.

Maghdouche

Maghdouche was our last destination for the day, with only a few 

miles between it and Sidon. Maghdouche, which numbers about 8,000 inhabitants is a much smaller community than the city populations of Tyre (60,000) or Sidon (80,000). The vast majority of people are Melkite Catholic and a few are Maronite Catholics.

In 1986, Conflict broke out between the Shia Muslims and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The conflict spilled over to Christian Maghdouche. Much of the town was destroyed.The town was completely destroyed in 1990. Christians began to resettle and rebuild Maghdouche beginning in 1994. The town and other nearby Christian communities still find themselves in a precarious position. Some of the legal conflicts involve claims to land rights, and building and zoning restrictions that the Christian believe are being used to limit them in this primarily Muslim region.

Christian tradition holds that when Jesus visited Sidon of which Maghdouche was then a part, He was accompanied by His mother. However, Mary was not allowed to enter the city.  Jewish women were not allowed, I assume by the Jewish patriarchy, to enter into a pagan city.  Mary, therefore, waited in a cave, until Jesus returned for her.

Various shrines down through the centuries were built here to commemorate Mary. The Emperor Constantine built a shrine in in honor of Mary, which was destroyed later in an earthquake.

The photos of the chapel below are inside a cave where Mary was to have stayed while waiting for Jesus.

The Tower of Our Lady of Matara below is the most significant shrine in Maghdouche, and it is built over the caves shown above.

A painting of Mary as the focal character, with Jesus seen in the upper left of the painting.

This icon of Mary (below) with its rich gold patina had been lost due to an earthquake many centuries ago, and was found centuries later.  It is of Byzantine style and origin.

                                     

As our tour group made its way back to Beirut, we first stopped again at Sidon to walk through the Souks.

The Souks are the original part of town of the Mamluk Era that is made up what seems like an endless maze of cavernous alleyways, which are constructed of mammoth stones.

Today the Souks are a huge bazaar.  Every kind of shop, eatery, and craft imaginable. I really enjoyed the Souks. It was a fun time, and the highlight for me of what was a very good day.

 

At one time, there were these wealthy homes above the Souks called palaces.  These homes were not owned necessarily by royalty, just people with money.  Some have been turned into museums.

Can you guess what the banner below is?  It is actually a family tree or genealogy.

Below, the soap after it is cut into precise blocks.

A structure of the stack soap blocks.

A calibrator, which further shaves the bars of soap to precise smoothness.  The shavings are gathered up and reused.

When I saw the scene below, I had to laugh. It so reminded me of when I was in India, with all of the overhanging cables and wires. However, in India the amount of cables strung across the street would have been a much greater, very intertwined, overlapping, discombobulated mess. I am convinced that Indian electricians must be the world's most knowledgeable. How in the world they can figure out among such a maze of cables what goes to where and for what is for me an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.

The Souks also have many alleyways named after the crafts and their craftsmen found in a particular alley.

A courtyard done in an Islamic style of architecture, with its Moorish touches. Reminiscent of what I had seen in a number of buildings in Lima, Peru.

U.S. BABY BOOMER GENTRIFICATION WREAKS HAVOC ON CITY (CUENCA) IN SOCIALIST ECUADOR

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/06/08/u-s-baby-boomers-gentrifying-socialist-ecuador-threatening-stability-of-its-welfare-state/

U.S. Baby Boomer Gentrification Wreaks Havoc on City in Socialist Ecuador

by FRANCES MARTEL8 Jun 20171,020

The small city of Cuenca, Ecuador is struggling to address a growing wave of American “Baby Boomers” who have decided to retire there to take advantage of a socialist welfare state designed for its locals.

U.S. retirees, a recent city study revealed, are also causing conflict in the city, raising real estate prices, demanding English-language service, and threatening to sue locals accustomed to more “casual” business contracts.

In a report this week, the Miami Herald highlights the blissful existence of upper-class white American migrants who have flocked to Cuenca, attracted by retiree blogs and news sites that emphasize the appeal of its temperate weather and inexpensive healthcare and real estate.

“In Cuenca, a city of about 350,000 people, they’ve found robust public transportation, an extensive museum network, solid healthcare and markets bursting with fresh fruits and produce,” the Herald notes. “It’s a place where their two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath apartment costs less than $400 a month. They’ve found that for about $1,500 a month, they can live a solidly upper-class lifestyle, dining out frequently and traveling.” The newspaper notes that a bus ride for seniors costs $0.12, and medical procedures are orders of magnitude cheaper than they would be at home.

The city commissioned a study on its foreign population in February 2017 that identified the majority of these new Cuencans as “‘baby boomers’ who began retiring in 2010 and… 4 percent of this population, estimated at 78 million, is planning to retire abroad.” North American countries – mostly the U.S. and Canada – make up 93 percent of Cuenca’s foreign population.

Cuenca’s “boomers” are more likely to have been professors before retirement than any other occupations, with “executives” coming in second place. The study delicately notes that many of these individuals “are not interested in being part of a new culture, and are more interested in that the city and its people respond to their needs and demands.”

Paramount among the city’s concerns is that many Americans are demanding Cuencans speak English and creating English-speaking neighborhoods within the city. “There is a large group for which learning a language is outside of their interests and, faced with the frustration of not being able to communicate, express annoyance with Cuencans who do not tend to their demands in English,” the study reads, adding that the city has invested in Spanish and idiomatic dictionaries for the new residents, but this has not solved the problem.

Boomers are also annoyed by “the ‘slowness’ of service” in Ecuador compared to the United States, and the common use of verbal or informal contracts. “Cases have been reported in which retired foreigners suggest a lawsuit against those who have not completed a previously agreed upon work,” the report notes.

In addition to cultural tensions, the study notes that 65 percent of the native Cuencan population is under 35, and many are frustrated that they must pay taxes and invest in the welfare state that foreign retiree migrants are now abusing.

The Herald story, which cites some findings from this study, is the latest trend piece on Cuenca in a crowded genre. The Cuenca study followed years of anecdotal journalism noting the idiosyncratic Boomer wave moving south. The city of Cuenca, in a study published in February, found its foreign population grew 173 percent between 2001 and 2010. By 2012, outlets like the BBC were calling it an American “promised land.” That article traced the Cuenca viral sensation among retiree migrants back to an article on the website Gringo Tree, which in turn noted that the wave of thousands of American ex-pats hitting the city followed the 2009 publication of an article in International Living that described the city as “the top destination in the world to retire.”

At the time, Cuenca’s International Relations Director Dani Jara appeared pleased by the new influx of high spenders to her city. She told BBC, “Tourism we promote, one creates strategies for the medium and long term. But in the case of a migratory phenomenon, that is due to the city conditions. Cuenca has grown throughout its history into a city where one can live well.”

By 2013, Cuenca Mayor Paul Granda was describing the mass migrant wave as “a little complicated for us.” “The city is less accessible to Ecuadorians” due to the wealthy Americans flocking there, he argued to ABC News, noting that average prices of basic goods had increased 40 to 50 percent.

Two years later, Ecuador’s Secretary of the Vice Ministry of Human Mobility was warning of wealthy American “ghettos” threatening the character of Cuenca. “There should not be ghettos forming in zones where Americans live, versus those who live permanently in these places,” Humberto Cordero said. The migration, he urged, “must be regulated.”

Cuenca’s American invasion was not regulated, in part because local businesses and real estate owners preferred selling and renting to Americans. “They care for their spaces and pay what is fair,” Cuencan homeowner María Torres told Ecuador’s El Comercio newspaper last year. She noted that their comfortable economic status and lack of children made for quiet, reliable tenants.

The government has nonetheless continued to express concern over American migrants overrunning the city. New International Relations Director Ana Paulina Crespo told the Herald in this week’s column that “Cuencanos are feeling like strangers in their own city” and emphasized, “Cuenca never wanted to attract retirees… we’re facing lots of problems over how to deal with a phenomenon that we aren’t responsible for creating.”

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.

For those who may wish to peruse the comments section to the Breitbart article, here is the link again:

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/06/08/u-s-baby-boomers-gentrifying-socialist-ecuador-threatening-stability-of-its-welfare-state/  

BELOW IS MY RESPONSE:

I would like to discuss a few corrections to the above article and to some of the comments in the comment section:

Cuenca is a city of approximately 310,000 people, and its canton (county) population is a little over 600,000 people. There are approximately 7,000 to 9,000 expats (Almost exclusively Americans, Canadians, and Europeans; who hold dual citizenship or who are permanent legal residents.) However, the actual expat population in Cuenca at any given time is approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people. Some expats procured legal residency with the intent of using it on a permanent basis if the political climate from their perspective continued or continues to deteriorate in the United States, but otherwise, continue to live in the U.S. Some expats intended to remain in Cuenca the rest of their lives, but attenuating circumstances changed those plans Some expats spend a few years of their retirement here, and then as they approach their seventies return home to their families. Most of the expats who have permanent residency without actually living in Cuenca the year-round are snow birds, who may live in Cuenca from two to six months during the North American winter months. Therefore, in the city proper where the vast majority of expats live, their total percentage of the population is approximately 1.5 per cent. Hardly, earth-shattering.

I have found it ironic that at times I have be asked by Cuencanos (people born and raised in Cuenca) and particularly by taxi drivers, if I think there are too many Gringos coming to Cuenca. I am never quite sure why they would ask me as a Gringo such a question, but I have always appreciated their openness to raising the question, and their curiosity about my point of view. (First, let me state that in Ecuador, the term Gringo is not used as a pejorative term; and in fact, we expats adopted it for ourselves, and use it as a badge of honor. One of our leading on-line publications is called the "Gringo Post", and we use to have weekly social Gringo Nights in the city, when there was an influx of Gringos, who needed to learn the ropes and acclimate to their new home.) 

I always reassure Cuecanos when they ask about the growth of Gringos in Cuenca that many of the Gringos they see in El Centro are often tourists who bring money into the economy, and while many check out Cuenca as a place to retire most will never move here. Quite frankly, while there are expats who would love to see Cuenca become another North American city; many of us are contented with the current level of expat population, and do not by any means want to live in a majority expat population. We came to Cuenca, because we wanted to experience and enjoy a Latin culture.

Obviously, in any society, outsiders to a culture will be viewed as outsiders. Some outsiders may be accepted, more outsiders to a society may be tolerated, too many outsiders to a society will be seen as a threat. The threat is especially seen when outsiders are not willing to assimilate to their new culture, but remain aloof or actually want to change the native culture into their own image and likeness, which is happening today with much of Islam all over Western Europe, and with the deliberate initiation and encouragement of the global elites.

While some Cuecanos are concerned about an influx of foreigners taking over their culture. The numbers have stabilized, and there has not been any genuine net gain in expat population since 2014. People from outside Ecuador continue to arrive; while other continue to leave after visits of months or of living for two or three years in Cuenca, and then decide Cuenca was not for them. Unlike practically every American enclave in various countries throughout the world, Cuenca is unique in that the low numbers of expats have spread throughout the city. You will not find any neighborhood in the city that is majority expat. The article on this count is wrong.  There are no rich enclaves of foreigners, who even come close to making up a majority of any neighborhood in Cuenca.

While some Cuencanos will criticize expats, and their complaints, like many expats who are not willing to learn the language beyond rudimentary levels, are valid; it is also understandable that expats who come from societies like the United States, that are expected to provide language translations to customers in businesses, assume the same should be provided in Cuenca. Most Ecuadorian businesses who deal with a significant number of expats; whether it is the restaurant, legal, or banking industry as three examples, have learned to hire some English speaking employees in Cuenca. The number of young people in Cuenca in recent years have observed that it improves their job prospects by learning English. English language schools strive all over the city, and English is taught extensively with varying degrees of effectiveness throughout many of the schools.

The greatest economic and social impact on the city comes from Ecuadorians who legally or illegally were living in the U.S. and have returned to Ecuador voluntarily or involuntarily. Many have money in their pockets, and have been able to return to Cuenca living a middle class life-style by Ecuadorian and sometimes by American standards. They also bring with them cultural accouterments from North America, which begin to impinge favorably or unfavorably upon the local culture dependent upon one's perspective. These returning Ecuadorians far outnumber the expat counterparts, and therefore, have a much larger impact on price increases and upon cultural changes than the small expat community primarily composed of retired expats .

While it may be true according to the Miami Herald article that the single largest group of expats in Cuenca are academics, they would still make up a small plurality of the total expat population. It is just totally false, when some of the commentators extrapolate from the comment in the Herald article that Cuenca is some kind of retirement haven for Left-wing academics. The expat population is tremendously diverse; politically and economically and culturally.

There are expats here who once were very affluent in the U..S. and were greatly hurt financially by the economic crash of 2008. Many of them were entrepreneurs, stock and commodity investors, or contractors in the construction industry. Others were managers and workers who earned upper-middle class salaries, but were forced into early retirement by the economic retraction. Some of them are still affluent by American standards, but can find they can live an even richer life-style here as they once knew in the U.S. before the economic downturn or before retirement adjusted incomes.

In the last three years, Cuenca has experienced an increase in economic refugees from the United States. These are people who basically have little more on which to live than their social security checks. Many refugees find tight budgets in Ecuador, but easier than trying to survive financially in the U.S. However, some of these folks often do not want to be here, and needless to say, some of them make no effort to hide their animosity, and those who behave in this fashion are resented by both Ecuadorians and expats alike.

Another great myth in this article is the idea that expats can come to Ecuador and live an upper-middle class or lower upper class life-style on $1,500 a month and even travel as well. Absolutely, totally false, especially if we are speaking of a couple. People can find some very middle class apartments on that income, but will be pinching pennies  on an $18,000 annual income. A $30,000 income would be more in line for two to live an American-styled, upper middle class existence for two. Expect the need for an even larger income, if you think that you are going to be a traveling globe trotter while living in Cuenca.

While it is true that Ecuador has a socialist government, so does the United States. The U.S. currently is less socialist only in the sense that unlike Ecuador, it does not have universal health care coverage provided by the government. Even Ecuador's newly inaugurated president, although the leader of the socialist party, sounds like President Trump when talking about less regulations on businesses and lower taxes on businesses to jump-start the economy. Otherwise, the United States in its mixed capitalist economy provides all the social welfare benefits even more extensively than the Ecuadorian economy could afford; not only to the low income, but to the corporate welfare rolls as well.

There are Ecuadorians who understand why President Trump wants to build a wall or at least limit immigration, and especially end illegal immigration. As some of them have mentioned to me, "You would not be allowed to remain in Ecuador if you did not meet our immigration requirements, so why should Ecuadorians expect it to be any different?" Even now, many middle class and professional Venezuelans have been entering Ecuador to escape from the mess the communists have produced in that country. They are competing with Ecuadorians in a tight job market since the collapse of oil prices; and the government is and has been taking action against illegal immigration particularly from Cuba, Columbia, Peru, and now Venezuela.

Of course, many low-income Ecuadorians don't care about the niceties of law, and if they have an opportunity to enter the U.S. to improve their lives for themselves and their family back home; I can't blame them for taking advantage of a country that allows its laws to be flaunted and not enforced. That is up to the American people to elect officials to enforce their laws, and to limit immigration in ways that benefit the people of the United States. Every culture should have a right to protect itself, and every country should have a right to protect its sovereignty. Only White Anglo societies and White European societies are being denied that right in today's world. However, they can only be denied that right, if they themselves continue to elect Cultural Marxists and globalists to governed over them.

One of the biggest contentions in Ecuador has been over the number of expats who came to Ecuador to take advantage of the medical system, particularly when they were not yet old enough to be eligible for Medicare, and then returned to the U.S. after exploiting the medical system in Ecuador. Many expats had serious illnesses, and literally contributed to the bankruptcy of hospital-sponsored insurance programs, and private insurance plans. Many of these programs were somewhat flimsy to begin with, did not have actuarials hired to determine price effectiveness; and it appears that private health insurance companies emerging from this mess of a few years ago may be learning from their mistakes. 

The fact that many medical tourists come to Cuenca to take advantage of the excellent medical and dental programs has been a boon to doctors and those in the medical professions. These same doctors know they can not charge more to the native population, so it is not like it is causing medical expenses to rise in any appreciable way for the general population.

It was the Ecuadorian government's decision to allow expats to be eligible for the Ecuadorian medical insurance program, and expanded the program which originally covered workers to include medical coverage for spouses, children, and preexisting conditions. While all fine and good from a humanitarian point of view, it had added by the end of 2016 a two and a half billion dollar deficit to the insurance program, that many Ecuadorians believe may be jeopardizing their entire social security and pension system.

Recently, the government now requires that expats will need to pay 17.5 percent of their income toward their premium costs, where before they were paying roughly eighty dollars per month for two people. It is only fair, and most expats agree in light of the kind of incomes expats make in comparison to native Ecuadorians. However, such a problem and its concomitant resentment by Ecuadorians was caused by government policy, and not by the expats. Most expats will drop the program, and it appears only about 400 or 500 expats were signed up for the program. The reduction of expats from the program or the higher premiums paid will not be nearly enough to turn the huge deficit in the medical insurance program around, but it is a move in the right direction.

New International Relations Director Ana Paulina Crespo told the Herald in this week’s column that “Cuencanos are feeling like strangers in their own city” and emphasized, “Cuenca never wanted to attract retirees… we’re facing lots of problems over how to deal with a phenomenon that we aren’t responsible for creating.”

Wow, what a statement in a community where expats contribute so much in terms of income, hiring new employees because of the money they spend, restaurants that could not survive without expat trade, hours of expat charity and volunteer service and financial contributions, not to mention an entire expat-Ecuadorian facilitator industry that would dry up overnight, as would the tourist industry and its concomitant services as well. Cuenca can survive without the expats; but there would be some economic injury, and probably some reduction in a wider world perspective culturally as the Cuencanos would become somewhat more isolated, although today the Internet and television mitigates some of that cultural isolation.

I could understand Ana Paulina Crespo's attitude, if there were huge influxes of expats moving into Cuenca, and I could understand her concern if the growth of expats were to dramatically increase again. Nonetheless, only 1.5 percent of the population of Cuenca is expat with no appreciable growth in recent years.  When one considers with what the Cultural Marxists and the Globalist corporations and elites are subjecting North America and Europe to in illegal and refugee immigration growth, it makes her comments hysterically laughable. Under the current circumstances, Crespo's remarks are beyond the pale. I have found the Ecuadorians to be generally very friendly, accepting, and helpful. It's ashamed political appointees like her choose to exploit the differences, and play off the resentments of a handful of the local population.  

However, there will always be politicians who will scapegoat a group for that politician's political advantage, when that claim is unfair. There will always be nativists who will fear the unknown and the different. There will always be people who will resent out of envy and jealousy those who have more than they do. It's human nature. There will always be news media who attempt to exploit differences and engender conflict, as the Western media has done since Obama was elected president and continue to do so today. In the end, it will all play out, however it is to play out, like everything else in life and throughout history.

AJI ROCOTO TRANSFORMS INTO LA CILINDRADA

Last year I posted a post on Aji Rocoto, a gourmet Peruvian restaurant, which opened in Cuenca in 2015.  Due to the economic slow-down, and the closing of the airport for a couple of months in 2016; the tourist trade was hit hard, and so were many restaurants. Aji Rocoto became one of those casualties, as its chef and owner, Michael Wagner, closed the restaurant, and opened in a new location with a rethought dinner venue.

If you would like to read about Chef Michael, a graduate of Cordon Bleu Academy in Lima, Peru, and his culinary arts; here is the previous post:

http://cuencaperspectivesbyjim.blogspot.com/search/label/Aji%20Rocoto%20Restaurante  

  

Transformation Number One

Michael moved his location from El Centro to the south-side of the city.  The transformation became a new restaurant,  Aji Rocoto had transformed into La Cilindrada Restaurant, which is located at 3-47 Avenida Roberto Crespo (cross street from Luis Moreno Mora; next to the Honda Motorcycle dealership), approximately one block from the stadium.  

Transformation Number Two

This transformation is a change in concept, as Michael now offers at reasonable prices a main-room restaurant of smoked and grilled meats, costillas, hamburgers, sandwiches quesadillas, and a daily executive amuerzo.  In the evening, Michael also offers a daily dinner special as well to his regular menu items.  

Having eaten lunch with friends at La Cilindrada, we all agreed that it is great food for casual-dining. Michael uses high quality meats, and flavors them only as Michael can do.  The hamburger I ate was substantial and of high quality beef.  No fill in this burger. Definitely, one of the best burgers in Cuenca.  Even the fries are exceptional.

If, on the other hand, you are wondering, "but what about all those fantastical dishes Michael prepared at Aji Rocoto?"  Do not fear, they are yours yet to enjoy, if you are willing to call Michael and reserve a seating in advance, and let him know what dishes you would like him to prepare.  Chef Michael even has a private room that can handle a capacity of ten people.

To make reservations for Michael's gourmet meals, the La Cilindrada's telephone numbers are:

099-044-8248  or  099-946-6241

You can also email Michael at 

michaelwagner77@hotmail.com

If you are wondering, "but I don't recall the names of some of my favorite dishes", or "I never had the chance to savor Michael's Aji Rocoto's dinners", Michael can guide you through menu choices to your liking when you make your reservation.

Transformation Number Three

Michael very soon will be opening at La Cilindrada a covered-patio adjoining the restaurant where European-style breakfasts will be served.  The photos of the dishes were mouth-watering.  I envy anyone who lives anywhere in the vicinity of La Cilindrada.  I would be eating there every day.  I will share more with you shortly, when this concept restaurant is in full-swing. The patio will also include home-made condiments that can be purchased as well.

Transformation Number Four

Michael at some future date, hopefully this year, will also be opening a beer garden in the front of his restaurant that will serve crafted beers, and the specially-made treats and appetizers to go along with your crafted-beer choices as well.

Transformation Number Five

Eventually, Micheal intends to re-open Aji Rocoto on the second floor of La Cinlindrada, as he completes his various concept restaurants on-site. It will have a similar, upscale ambiance for those of you who enjoyed the original Aji Rocoto. Michael is as exceptionally creative and as passionate with his planning of his dining concepts and rooms, as he is with the aesthetic appeal of the tastes and appearance of his Aji Rocoto dishes.

Below is the link to La Cinlindrada's Facebook page, which will give you not only reviews, but photos of the dishes offered, and directions to the restaurant.  The restaurant is currently open from noon until 4:00 p.m., and from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. seven days a week.  Once the breakfast patio opens, hours will be extended from earlier in the morning, and the restaurant will remain open all day until 10:00 p.m.

Also, you can find on Facebook the latest on what Michael is offering in the way of planned evening dinners. For example, Michael had forty in attendance for a seafood paella dinner one evening, in which he prepared the paella and his guests were able to observe how the dish was grilled and prepared. Michael is planning another paella dinner evening in March as well. On Valentine Day, there are also two special dinner selections offered for the love-birds. All of these events are and will be announced on Facebook as they have or will be scheduled.

https://www.facebook.com/LaCilindradaCuenca/

LONDON AND AMSTERDAM IN PHOTOS--SUMMER 2016

Oh joy!  I may actually get this album posted. From the middle of July until the middle of August, I spent three weeks in London, and one week in Amsterdam.  Here are the photos with some narrative writing.  This is the third and final post related to my travel:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNL9sVQZu7jGgIO4WDPTlsueSByCOW6DuYPZv_lmX_hiRhfDihE7OLlMLszTPtt5g?key=VVc1dGtwNVZibVNZXzNScTVHMnM0emlqVDNuR2ZR