LIVING IN CUENCA, ECUADOR AND DINING IN LIMA, PERU

One of the many perks to living in Ecuador is the easy travel to other countries in South America.  In the last year I took advantage of that perk by traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina for five weeks.  I also spent a prolonged weekend traveling by bus with other expats from Cuenca to the coastal town of Mancora in Peru; where there was surprisingly very good food, as well as sun-drenched beaches.  In July, this year, I traveled with friends, Doyle Beard and Nancy Thalman, to Lima, Peru for eight nights.  On impulse of suggestion, we decided one afternoon while dining at Aji Rocoto in Cuenca to procure our airline tickets from Guayaquil to Lima for the approximately two hour flight, and two weeks later we were in Lima.

Suddenly, the three of us invested time in a Google crash-course on Lima.  We had a list of restaurants, museums, historical tours, and other activities with the hope of encompassing as much as we could in eight days.  We were further helped with assistance from Michael Wagner, the young owner and chef of the recently opened Aji Rocoto in Cuenca, which in my opinion, is the most exciting gourmet restaurant in Cuenca today.  Michael is from Lima, and a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Academy in that city.  Who better to guide us through the labyrinth of Lima culinary delights than Michael.  Michael's suggestions as not only where to eat, but also what dishes he recommended as the house specialties at the various Lima restaurants proved to be invaluable.

Why the big deal about cuisine in Lima, Peru?  During this decade, Lima has become one of the gastronomical capitals of international cuisine.  The fusion of Peruvian, Japanese, and Thai cooking with their emphasis on fresh seafood in particular, has caught the International eye as gourmet restaurants now present this fusion fare to the haute-cuisine big city markets throughout South America, Europe and the United States.  Peru, like Ecuador and Chile, is along the western South American coast; all of which are blessed with the freshest, least contaminated, and greatest abundance of seafood that can be found anywhere in the world.  

You may be wondering why this unusual pairing of a Peruvian fusion with Japanese cooking?  Simply, there are a large number of Japanese who have settled in Lima over the years, and Japan being a series of large islands traditionally has focused it dining habits around seafood as well.  Increasingly, more Thais have moved to Lima as well in recent years.

An emerging practice in the gourmet restaurant realm is the world-wide franchising of fine-dining experiences into a standardize form of high quality.  Gourmet for some restaurateurs has become big business.  Astrid Gutsche and Gaston Acurio, the wife and husband team who trained in Paris, made their way to Lima, and contributed highly to Lima's current cuisine reputation as they opened Astrid and Gaston in Lima, one of the top five restaurants in Lima, usually ranking two or three in most ratings.  Some ratings rank it as the best in South America. 

The Acurios have franchised their culinary delights to many major cities in South America, the United States and Europe, further developing parallel restaurant chains in gourmet areas like Italian and Chinese as well.  These restaurants are ranked highly by food critics, and a recent restaurant opening in New York City cost its investors eight million dollars to open.  Nice deal for Astrid and Gaston, as they provide the brand and the formula without the economic risk.  

A standardize product is sent to the various restaurants around the world, and it becomes each individual chef’s responsibility to prepare and cook the prepared sauces without deviation to guarantee the  standardization of the product, while the actual combination and proportions of ingredients in the recipes remain concealed and protected from theft and duplication.  If the franchise financially fails, the corporate owners (in this case the Ascurios or their corporate company) do not take the hit, but the investors in the individual franchise do.  It’s a really sweet financial arrangement.  Of course, standards and new products and revisions must come from the international kitchen to insure quality, novel dishes, and refinement of dishes with a new flair to attract new customers and retain repeat customers.  Otherwise, the entire franchise can be in jeopardy, once it's reputation for quality is jeopardized or changes in taste are not accommodated. 

Noe is an example of a chain of fine-dining sushi restaurants in South America.  In Ecuador, Noe is located in Cuenca, as well as in Guayaquil, and in Quito.  I have found Noe to be very good; and  among the best with what I have eaten in some of the best sushi places in Chicago, Baltimore, California, and Hawaii. I don't pretend to know all about the nuances of sushi and sashimi, or how authentic places like Noe are with traditional Japanese sushi.  

 Noe Sushi Bar in Cuenca, Ecuador

I doubt authenticity of any cuisine in this day-and-age is possible as there is no one standard traditional Mexican, or Italian, or Thai, or Japanese cuisine.  Even in their countries of origin, there is such a variation of food preparations and tastes over time, from region to region, and among the various cooks within even the same neighborhood--similarities of preparation and taste, but each cook with his or her own personal touch.  

I doubt most people who generally patronize fine-dining establishments are able to tell the difference from a restaurant that offers a standardize meal to one that does not, as long as the aroma, and the flavor and texture to the palate is found to be tantalizing and satisfying.  The ambiance, the service, and the artistic presentation of dishes can all be the complement to good food, whether it is a standardized dish of preparation or created from scratch in the kitchen.  For better or for worse, standardization of gourmet food is increasingly becoming the norm.  Hopefully, however, there will continue to be a place for the individual chef operating from an individually owned restaurant as well.  I do feel sorry for a chef with a creative touch, who is impeded by the restrictions of following a formula dictated from afar.  Creativity is the difference between being an authentic chef and just being a cook who follows a set recipe.

Obviously, to be a creative chef in a large gourmet chain requires working out of the corporate head-quarter's molecular kitchen, which often looks like a cross between a science lab and a conventional kitchen.  Such chefs today need to have a background in chemistry to go along with whatever natural talents they have to produce whatever innovative product is needed to satisfy the tastings of the intended clientele or focus group in this increasingly new age of molecular gastronomy.

Since my friends and I made a spur-of-a-moment decision to travel to Lima, we were unable to dine at the Numeral Uno restaurante in Lima, which is Central,  led by owner and chef, Virgilio Martinez.  Central is not only rated the best in Lima, but fourth in the world, and has earned a Michelin star.  Martinez is renowned for using new types of herbs and bacterial plant life unbeknown to culinary cooking until his innovating introductions. Reservations need to be procured weeks if not months in advance.  So if planning a gourmet tour to Lima, and you want to experience the restaurant with a reputation for Lima's best, I would encourage you to initiate reservations at least two months in advance.  We met an Australian couple who attempted to book reservations after they arrived in Lima, and they were told the restaurant was booked for the next six weeks.

While we were unable to dine at Central, we did visit Astrid and Gaston, under the culinary direction of Chef Diego Munoz, who offers a thirty-three course themed sample menu in the restaurant’s staid dining area.  We decided to forgo the sampler dinner and dined in a more casual room, La Barra, where we could order from the regular menu, and do what the three of us often did, either share are  plates or offer samples from our plates, so we could experience a variety of dishes even if at times only for a taste.  Seafood was definitely our fare for the afternoon. Unfortunately, with the loss of my camera, I no longer had photos of our dishes to post.  Luckily, at least Nancy had a couple of photos of the interior

                      

 

The La Barra dining room at Astrid and Gaston was very busy when we arrived.  We were among the last to leave.  The bar is partially viewed above, but the open kitchen area further to the left is not visible in this photo.
 

Nancy especially was taken with the ceiling design.  Notice that these are live plants that are hanging from their pots inversely from the ceiling.

We had among our appetizers, octopus.  Now, I've never had octopus except from Chinese buffets, where the octopus inevitably was the texture of rubber.  Often even with squid, it is difficult to find a restaurant preparation which delivers a tenderized squid.  Astrid and Gaston delivered an appendage of octopus that was about four or five inches long with a thickness of approximately an inch-an-a-half that was out-of-this-world delicious, and remarkably tender as well.  It was truly cooked to perfection.  Nancy and I also had a very good fillet of white fish, which was one of the best I have ever had.  Nancy liked it as well, but would have preferred that the sauce had a touch of lemon to it.

Malabar, with its well-known chef, Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, is also ranked highly as one of Lima's top gourmet restaurants.  All of us dined on some very good seafood dishes and were not disappointed.  Chef Pedro puts his expertise to work, as he is known in Lima as its best chef for applying the dishes and fresh herbs of the Amazon to the palates of his clientele.  He has a reputation for always exploring new opportunities for new tastes and flavors.  

The yucca cheese bread called casabe (the round balls), and yucca cracklings were oh so delicioso.  They came with a house prepared Aji Negro and Brazil Nut Cheese, which was the perfect spread.

   Doyle had the Corvina of the Day with Clams (above photo)

    I had the Smoked Amazonian Paiche Fish with fresh palm salad,
    tropical red wild mushrooms, and fermented plantain juice.

  

Nancy had Homemade Noodles, Roasted Pig, and Crisp Mushrooms.

The first restaurant on our tour provided a very good meal, but did not appear on any critic's top ten restaurants in Lima.  Cafe del Museo, located in the Larco Herrera Museum, which is in a beautiful garden setting; and there we began our plunge into the delectable delights of fresh Peruvian seafood fusion dishes. 

Nancy had Spaghetti A La Huancaina Sauce with Shrimp in a creamy mild aji pepper and cheese sauce, topped with fried shrimp breaded in panko flakes.  I had Moche Steamed Sea Bass in a clay pot, served in its own juices with mild Peruvian spices, and accompanised by yucca.

Cafe del Museo with its indoor and extensive outdoor terrace furthered enhanced our meal by the fact that on this particular evening we practically had the place to ourselves.

 

 

             

Cafe del Museo, part of the Astrid and Gaston Gourmet Food Empire

One evening, we also dined at Las Bruges de Cachiche, which ranked as the third best restaurant in Lima on Virtual Tour.  The restaurant is located in a very large old mansion that has been converted into its current stateliness.  It was the single most attractive restaurant in our Peruvian dining experience.  The restaurant provided large open spaces that gave the appearance of separate dining areas as the spaces where divided by right angles, and by various height levels to the different eating spaces.  A grand piano was also on site.  We were amazed at how busy they were for a Tuesday evening.

Cerviche is a tradition from Mexico southward through all of South America.  Ecuadorian cerviche is prepared more in a broth, keeping with the Ecuadorian tradition of making fine soups.  Peruvian cerviche is not of a broth consistency.  Cerviche can be identified by various names dependent upon the type of fish or other seafood that is used in its making.  We had some very good cerviche at Las Bruges de Cachiche.  Cerviche is almost always served cold whether it is of Ecuadorian or Peruvian preparation.  However, the absolute best cerviche we ever had would be served to us the next day at Fiesta's Restaurant in Lima, and it would be served hot on Plantain leaves.  Once again at Las Bruges de Cachiche, the three of us dined on seafood delights, and Nancy very much enjoyed her Lobster Thermidor (below):

Almost all of our meals involved a focus on seafood, even when we ordered pasta dishes.  Corvina is a generic term used in South America for any variety of some 270 species of drum fish and croaker fish, which can be found all over the world.  Other varieties like tuna, or salmon, or trucha (trout) are often designated separately from corvina.  Lima is abundant in its use of fresh shell-fish as well, which is my favorite kind of seafood.  All of our seafood dishes were very good.  We certainly had no complaint with their preparation and variations of sauces.

While all of our seafood dinners were wonderful; Doyle, Nancy, and I unanimously agreed without a moment's hesitation that the absolutely two best meals we had in Lima were at Carnal and at Fiesta, and neither dinners were seafood.  The aforementioned restaurants were very good, the two to follow were outstandingly excellent.

Carnal is an excellent restaurant for steak anywhere in the world.  After five years of not enjoying a high quality steak in Ecuador, Carnal was an absolutely incredible blessing.  

 Kobe New York Strip Steak

From our New York Strip cuts of Kobe beef to our Angus beefs, the steaks were extraordinaire.  Broiled to perfection, and oh so tender.  Doyle and Nancy are from Houston, Texas, so they know something about good steaks.  They said their steaks were the best they've had anywhere in South America during the five years they have lived on the continent.  I especially enjoyed the fact that my  steak was served with fat along the edges, the way American steaks prior to the 1980's were served before some Americans became health conscious and foolishly were led to believe that all fat was bad for them.  The sizzle in the flavor and tenderness of the steak is in the fat.  

Our time at Carnal was a special day as we celebrated with Doyle his 85th birthday.

  

Our last full-day in Lima was enjoyed with another meal that truly was outstanding, which was Fiesta.  What a heightened way to end our gourmet tour of Lima's gastronomical treasures!  The restaurant was packed for its afternoon dining.  We partook of the best cerviche we ever experienced, followed by goat ribs braised with garlic, duck with rise chiclayo style, coriander, and famous loche squash.  Both dishes along with the hot cerviche were to die for. The cuisine at Fiesta is based on pre-Columbian northern Peruvian dishes known as chiclayo.

   

            The Hot Cerviche at Fiesta Restaurant

                 Jim at Fiesta Restaurant

What all of these restaurants had in common was very good service.  However, Carnal had a young waiter, I believe his name was Julio, whose service was exceptionally outstanding.  It was like he had a sixth sense, and just knew exactly what we needed and when we needed it.  He was always attentive, without hovering over us and making himself obtrusive, and he was never abrupt with us.  At one point Nancy began to cough repeatedly, but not for a prolonged time.  Julio was immediately there to provide her with a glass of water and placed a napkin under it without hesitation.  Nancy was very touched by his immediate and unsolicited response.

All the restaurants also had very good to excellent pisco sours (somewhat like a whiskey sour, only made from piscos (grapes), which is the national drink of Peru.  Fiesta had an excellent Passion Fruit (Mayacura) Sour that was out of this world.  Nancy and I imbibed on pisco drinks in practically every one of our restaurant settings.  Doyle was so thrilled to be able to order alcohol in Peru whose prices were not in the stratosphere like cocktail prices in Ecuador.  He loyally stayed with his Beefeater's gin, with each drink served over one large ice rock throughout all of his drinking endeavors.

I would characterized Peruvian cuisine as using recipes which are hundreds of years old, with spices that most Norte Americanos, Europeans, and Asians would have little if any familiarity.  Well on the other hand, the fusion dishes are innovative, as well as flavorful, and definitely not bland in taste.  Peruvian cuisine uses much in natural herbs and spices, but not in heat.

Obviously, since our visit to Lima was a gourmet tour for a brief period of time, we have no idea how Peruvian food tastes from regular "mom and pop" restaurants.  When I was in Italy earlier this year, it did not matter where one ate, it was next to impossible to have a bad meal.  Whether the same is true in Peru is an unanswered question for us.  Nor can we answer the question of how everyday meals in Peru compare with comparable meals in Ecuador. 
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If there was a disappointment in our dining experience, it came with the desserts.  All the desserts were good, and some had an original flair to them; but none of them had that “wow” effect that made us feel “now that was truly outstanding”.

What most surprised the three of us was the relatively inexpensive price for such up-scale dining.   The cost of our average dinners with at least one appetizer, main entree, and dessert, not to mention two alcoholic drinks, and sometimes coffee, with tax, and with ten percent tip only cost us between fifty to one-hundred dollars apiece, dependent upon the restaurant and what we ordered.  I know from experience that it would have cost at least fifty per-cent to double in comparable restaurants in Chicago.  In the late 1990's, I paid one-hundred dollars for the set-meal price for an evening at Harry Trotter's, one of the top gourmet restaurants in the world during its time, and that did not include drinks, tax, or tips.

We can easily return to Lima tomorrow and visit six or eight new locations.  No doubt our new choices would be equally as tantalizing.  However, we would definitely return to Carnal and Fiesta.  Doyle, Nancy, and I hardly scratched the surface of the fine-dining scene in Lima, despite our best efforts.  We are just glad that living in Ecuador increased the likelihood that we would travel and explore other places in South America like Lima; and that for you foodies out there, we have provided you with a starting point in any consideration you may have in exploring the gourmet dining in Lima.

Part II:  What to See and Do in Lima Besides Eat, and Would I Live in Lima or Cuenca?

BEST FOR RETIREMENT: ITALY OR ECUADOR?

Italy or Ecuador?

Where people choose to move and how long they choose to reside in a given locale will obviously vary from person to person.  A number of expats here in Cuenca, for example, have recently been exploring Italy for consideration as a possible place to resettle.  I am quite contented with my life in Cuenca.  My recent travel to Italy was the fulfillment of a life-long dream, and I never seriously considered it as a place for me to live.  However, for those who may wish to give countries like Italy a serious consideration for migration, let me present you with my perspective of the pros and cons of such a move:

Cuisine, Food, and Wine

1. Italy has some great advantages, such as some of the finest cuisine in the world that is exceptional at every level from gourmet to humble family-owned ristorantes.  It’s almost impossible to get a bad meal in Italy.  Italia is also wine country, and alcohol there is not as expensive as in Ecuador, which holds true even with the difference in value between the dollar and the Euro. I was in supermarkets where two to three dollar bottles of wine in Italy cost six to nine dollars in Ecuador. 

Travel to Nearby Countries

2. Just as Ecuador serves for me not only as my home, but also as a way-station to visit other parts of South America; Italy serves with the advantage of its great Euro-express trains to move travelers quickly to other cities in Europe without the hassle of visas, and without the inconvenience of converting currencies, since most countries in Europe use the Euro.  Both issues are a problem when traveling from Ecuador to some of the other South American countries.  For example, visiting countries like Brazil and Argentina will cost hundreds of extra dollars to secure the visas with a U.S. passport. Not to mention the time spent in processing a visa to Brazil.  Unlike Ecuador, other countries in South America are not on the dollar. Therefore,  currency conversion is required,  which includes the hassle of familiarizing oneself with the foreign currency, and then translating the cost of everything from a given country’s currency back into dollar value to understand what one is spending.

One can also travel from Italy to many countries in Europe in less time and with less expense than one can travel from Ecuador to most other South American countries, due to closer geographic proximity between Italy and their European counterparts. 

Cultural Capitals of Their Respective Countries

3. No doubt, Italy is a cultural center of the world, with which Ecuador cannot compete.  Cuenca may be the vibrant cultural capital of Ecuador, but it is not in the same cultural league as Roma or even Florencia.  Of course, to enjoy the cultural activities of Rome and Florence will be very expensive for most retired people, who no longer enjoy the incomes they did while they worked.  Cultural activities in Cuenca in comparison are reasonably priced and often free, and much is offered for retirees to explore and dabble in the arts at prices they can afford. 

Bio-Diversity and Natural Beauty

 

4. Both countries have remarkably beautiful scenery, with Ecuador possessing greater natural diversity, but Italy does not do that badly in that category as well.  Much of coastal Italy is breath-taking along the Adriatic and the Mediterranean seas, the mountains and lakes to the north, and the beauty of the Tuscan country-side, and Italy too has it islands.  Ecuador’s northwestern coast in the province of Esmeraldas is said to be quite attractive, but I have yet to visit it.  As one travels down the Ecuadorian coast south of Manta, the coast is nice but from what I have been told, it is not as attractive as north of Manta, and it is not comparable to the Italian coasts in beauty.  Both Ecuador and Italy have a great deal to offer dependent upon what appeals in topography and climate to various expats.

Cost-of Living Factors

5. The best bet for a somewhat comparable cost-of-living in Italy with Ecuadorian cities would be to settle in a small town in Italy, if you are amenable to small town living.  Generally, the small towns will often have more amenities to offer than one would find in many small towns in Ecuador. 

When compared to Cuenca, Quito, or Guayaquil; numerous small towns in Italy will provide less dependable electrical and internet services.  Even in Rome, we often had to step on a pump to generate tap water in public restroom sinks.  Small towns in Italy as compared to Cuenca will also have fewer people who speak English, which can be quite a problem for new expats who do not know Italian.  Nor will Italian small towns offer the cultural amenities and social activities that Cuenca or other large cities in Ecuador do. As for me, I am big-city oriented; the thought of living anywhere much smaller than Cuenca has no appeal for me.

Overall, the cost-of-living factor is definitely in Cuenca’s favor.  Unless people are quite affluent they can expect to forget about living in the nice neighborhoods of the central cities like Rome and Florence, as is the case in most of the big cities of the world.  Every day I spoke with well-educated, two-income couples in Rome, Florence, and Venice who daily took trains into work, because they could not afford the housing costs in the central areas.  Of course, the last leg of the trip into the historic districts of Venice requires boat rides to work as well.  

I also can’t imagine being an Italian and living in these particular cities and dealing with such massive waves of tourists who are there all the time, although I suppose to some degree that depends upon in what part of these cities one resides.   No doubt, some relief is experienced in the winter months, but there are still so many tourists even then.  Cuenca is growing as a tourist magnate.  However, unless the Chinese inundate Cuenca with throngs of tourists as they are encouraged by the Ecuadorian government to do, I don’t see Cuenca attracting the numbers of tourists that even Florence which is more comparable in size to Cuenca currently attracts.

Climate and Weather

6. I absolutely loved my month in Italy.  Nonetheless, at the end of my month-long stay, I looked forward to returning to my home in Cuenca.  Rome was just beginning to get very hot when I left, and I was just beginning to notice mosquitoes.   Avoiding the hot summers and the cold winters in Italy was also one of the major reasons why I left Chicago for Cuenca, and I don't miss mosquitoes.  No doubt, upon my return to Cuenca, I do miss some of the totally sunny days from mid-April through mid-May that I enjoyed in Rome, when I could bask in the warm temperatures that were in the 70’s and low 80’s.  I wish we had more sunshine in Cuenca than we normally get, especially in the afternoon.  However, nothing is perfect, and it’s difficult to beat Cuenca’s over-all moderate temperature patterns of general consistency throughout the year.  On the other hand, other parts of Ecuador do have some of the same extremes in temperatures as found in various times of the year in Italy, and Guayaquil is always hot and humid.

Italianos and Equatorianos

7. The Italians are an interesting, fascinating, and a generally helpful people.  They know that their contributions to Western Civilization from ancient Rome, through the unity provided to Europe during the Middle Ages by the Roman Church, through the Renaissance of the Italian city-states have far exceeded their numbers and the size of what constitutes modern day Italy.  Yet, they are not an arrogant people, and very much like being appreciated for their love of life, and their passion and zest for living.  Italian contributions include some of the most fabulous art and architecture ever created, world-leading fashion designers, creation of music and opera of a high order, development of sports-car designs second to none, and extraordinary cuisine and wines that all bespeaks of the Italian love for the sensual and the aesthetic; and Italians take the time to enjoy all that they have created.  What is there not to like about a culture and a people who have contributed so much to factors that make life worth living, and why an immersion by living in such a culture would not be appealing?

Generally, Italians can be helpful to tourists, but some can also become quickly short-tempered or impatient when faced, for example, with giving instructions in Italian which are not quickly understood by English-speaking tourists; or having difficulty communicating with a tourist over something being ordered. Cuencanos, on the other hand, are among the most patient and friendly people in the world, and very slow to anger.  Maybe it is part of the indigenous cultural background as well, but Equatorianos generally appear to be even more laid-back than the Italians.  Both groups have roots in a Mediterranean culture, and similar to Ecuador, Italians also take their respite at similar times from 1:30 to 3:30 every afternoon to close down their commerce to relax.  Even where I stayed in the Trastevere area of Rome, the department store and the supermarket closed as well, which doesn’t happen in Cuenca.

Parli Italiano a Habla Usted Espanol?

8.  I do miss the sound of Italian.  I believe it truly is the most beautiful language in the world.  No wonder the greatest operas were produced in Italian.  I love the emotive quality of the language, and the synchronization of hand and body movements of the people with the spoken word. In the U.S. if a guy uses his hands to speak, he’s accused of being gay.  In Italy, the hands are as integral to communicating as the spoken word.

I was surprised at how little English is spoken in the places I visited in Italy.  I marvel at the Northern Europeans who travel.  They speak in their native tongue, easily transition into English, and have no problems sounding fluent in Italian when speaking to the wait-staff or retail clerks.  

There definitely is more English spoken in Cuenca than in Italy, which was a surprise to me.  English is the universal language, and Americans and Brits are among the major tourist groups to visit Italy especially during the summer months.  Nevertheless; Italians, maybe out of a cultural chauvinism, generally resist learning English. 

As beautiful as Italian sounds to my ears, I want to continue to learn Spanish. At my age I don't  want to give thought to learning another language.  I also love the sound of Cuencano Spanish.  While it does not have the flourished intonations of the vowel sounds like Italian; it has none of the harsh (sh) sounds of most other Spanish dialects including Castilian.  Cuencano Spanish is also said to have a musical lilt to its sound, which truly makes it an inviting sound to the ears;  and is spoken with a crispness and clarity that is missing in many Spanish dialects.

Currency Convenience for Expats Living in Ecuador

 

9. At least for the foreseeable future, Ecuador and the United States will continue to share a common currency.  Italy also shares a common currency with most European countries.  However, for expats living in Italy, there is the inconvenience of exchanging dollars for Euros based upon their income sources from the United States.

Bureaucracy

10. From what I read and experience, both Ecuador and Italy are balls of monstrous confusion when dealing with their government bureaucracies; with their ever-changing laws, their ever-changing daily bureaucratic interpretations of laws, and their very bureaucratic enforcement of rules.  Make a move to Italy from Ecuador or as an alternative to Ecuador, and there will be no change for the better in dealing with bureaucracy, not to mention starting the entire documentation process of getting settled in a new country all over again. 

Medical Services

11. Both Ecuador and Italy have good to excellent medical services in the big city areas, and both countries offer socialized medical coverage as well.  Between the two countries, the cost of medical coverage to the individual and the quality of medical services appears to be a draw.

Political and Economic Factors

12.  Political and economic factors are also making both Italy and Ecuador very shaky at this time.  However, this is a world-wide phenomenon; so I cannot say in this respect that one country has an advantage over the other as far as a consideration for expat migration.  Italy, however, is being inundated with large numbers of migrants, legal and illegal.  Not to mention boatloads of refugees, most from Muslim countries; which if it continues unabated will certainly cause major problems in the big-city areas of Italy as is currently happening in much of Europe.

 

These are my perspectives as to the pros and cons of living in Italy or Ecuador, particularly Cuenca, and they are simply intended to be a starting point of considerations for any expats in Ecuador who may be considering the possibility of a move to Italy, or for others who wish to become expats and are considering what may be the best place for them to relocate.  As for me, while Italy has many favorable advantages, my deal killers are the extreme variations in Italian weather throughout the year, and the higher cost-of-living in Italy.  I will continue to enjoy my wonderful life in Cuenca, dream about where I want to travel next, and continue to drool over the memories and images of the fabulous food I left behind in Italia.


Click on the link below, if you wish to see the Story Photos of my travel in Italy:

http://cuencaperspectivesbyjim.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-06-30T00:06:00-05:00&max-results=7

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL ADVANTAGE FOR ECUADORIAN EXPATS

For most expats, who move to Ecuador; the cost-of-living, a nicer climate, and beautiful and diverse scenery­­­­ are many of the pluses that attract folks to make a move to Ecuador, and particularly to Cuenca.  Closely aligned with the advantage of a lower cost-of-living are the advantages afforded to expats who enjoy international traveling.  Thanks to the money saved by not living in the states, expats with a comfortable income can afford to do a good deal more international traveling while living in Ecuador. 

I have lived in Cuenca for over four years now.  While Cuenca is my home, it also serves as a way-station as I travel to other destinations.  Along with one or two trips a year to visit family in the U.S., I also traveled the last two years to other countries in South America and in Europe. 

Last year I enjoyed a long weekend in Mancura, Peru.  I intend to shortly visit Lima as well, and enjoy some of the gastronomical delights of the city with a reputation for some of the finest gourmet restaurants in the world.  Eventually, I would like to visit Medellin, Columbia, which has been a favorite tourist destination with many expats who live in Cuenca.   

Last year, I also spent a total of five weeks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and enjoyed both cities immensely.  The food in Brazil is outstandingly good; and from my experience, the Brazilian beef is superior to that in Argentina.  Later in the year, I rendezvoused with my brother and his wife to enjoy a couple of weeks in New Orleans, with its Cajun and Creole foods, and its evening’s of jazz and blues.  This year, I recently returned from a month in Italy; visiting Rome, Florence, the Tuscan countryside, and Venice.  I had extraordinarily great weather, and only a half-an-hour of rain the entire trip. For someone like myself who relishes art and architecture, city-planning, history, and food.  What more could I ask from an extraordinary month in Italy?

If I had been living in the states, the high cost-of-living compared with Ecuador would have prevented me from doing the amount of traveling I am currently enjoying.  This differential would also hold true even with the elimination of the cost of trips back to the states to visit family.  International traveling advantages are just another point which some potential expats may want to consider, if they haven’t already, as among their reasons for a possible relocation to Ecuador.

JIM'S MONTH-LONG TRAVEL TO ITALY; ROME, VENICE, FLORENCE AND TUSCANY COUNTRY-SIDE

For a month from mid-April through mid-May I traveled in Italy beginning with five nights in Rome, four nights in Venice, seven nights in Florence and the Tuscan countryside, and then my final ten nights in Rome again.  I was blessed with absolutely the best weather with which anyone could imagine.  The temperatures were always in the 70's and 80's with only my last day in Rome hitting ninety degrees.  During the entire month, I had exactly one-half hour of rain when I first arrived in Venice, and that was it.  I love history, art and architecture, walking cities for hours, exploring residential neighborhoods, visiting museums, sitting for hours in sidewalk cafes and people watching, visiting with everybody with whom I conversed, and eating some of the finest cuisine in the world.  Italy was everything I had dreamt it would be and more.

Below you will find one album link and seven story links of my travels.  Many stories offer a narration as well, especially the album.  I had more narrations on some of the others, but Google Plus messed me up.  I hope in time to do one more album of the art in the Guggenheim Museum in Venice.  I loved the works in the museum, so I only showed a sample in the Venice story below.  I may also edit all the emails I sent to friends during my time in Italy, and link them as well.  Time will tell.

I hope you enjoy whatever you choose to view, that it brings back memories for those of you who may have visited the same sights at one time, and that the album and stories may whet your appetites to visit Italia if you have not already done so.  Hopefully, in the process you may also learn something more about another culture and some of its contributions to Western Civilization. (Sorry, you are not going to get the teacher and the curriculum and instructional administrator out of me.)


The album is entitled, "The Trastevere Area of Rome".  Click on the link and it will take you to the album.  You will be able to view all of the photos on display.  If you wish to see each photo close-up, you click on the photo, and you will also be able to read the narration when applicable to the particular photo.  If you click on for the full photo and wish to continue in the mode with the narration, just click the arrow under each of the photos to forward to the next photo:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/111741036841400152108/albums/6156599381480496913?authkey=CKfXu9PXwMfkRQ


The following links are stories organized by Google Plus as I uploaded my photos from my camera to the computer,  and Google Plus further organized all the photos in chronological order during my travels,  I deleted or added photos not originally used by Google Plus for the story, and I wrote my own comments or narration:  (If the comments are not fully visible, you need to click your down key when you are at the end of the comment to continue reading.)  Also, a broader narration is provided for many photos when you click on the actual photo:


Friday in Rome:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/9f3ce333-7ae5-3b84-83c8-33e6dc691cf214d79e0fe4c


Venice:  Jim on the Heels of Marco Polo:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/eecea690-422a-39e2-b87e-134ef2f9a56614d77a2e72c


Thursday in Venice:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/360c56d2-451c-38e9-af8c-04dfd6583d9514d77a2e72b


Trip to Florence and Siena:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/3bf5c574-8929-36cb-a547-5a7b5e69723d14d77a2e72a


Trip to Rome:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/483d920f-4bed-3327-8072-235635ac9ca714d77a2e727


Wednesday in Tivoli:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/3d310407-c572-3460-ba42-ba2726b3e21014d77ada90a


Final Weekend in Rome:  A Story by James Mola

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111741036841400152108/stories/6fc60dfa-7f63-3f9e-b0e7-3f824d7f503a14d77ada90a

A TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL IN CUENCA

I learned early in life that I am not in control.  Most of us who have lived about seventy years, if we reflect back upon how we thought our lives would unfold over the next fifty years, we would never  imagine the ways our lives have played out.  Daily events in our lives generally follow the pretense of a routine; and even here, the unpredictability of life from one day to another is often something to behold, especially when events are within the context of a brief moment of time in our overall lives.  Here is a vignette of just two weeks in the life of Jim Mola here in Cuenca, Ecuador:

It was two weeks ago this past Friday.  I became aware of a medical problem the day after an amiga and I had visited a friend in Giron.  Giron is at a little lower elevation than Cuenca.  Therefore, it is warmer and produces more insects.  It was raining hard when we went up to the waterfalls for which Giron is famous.  My friend  was from Rochester, New York, and was only here for one more month before she would return home.  Therefore, we either see the falls then or not at all.  Actually, it was a magnificent time to be at the precipice of the lower fall as the heavy rains truly had the falls gushing water with a crescendo of thundering sounds.  The whole scene of the falls, and the immediate area across from the falls and behind us with its wisp of fog was like out of a scene from the movie Camelot, when King Arthur would visit Merlin in the primeval forest.  It was pretty thrilling to be in the midst of it all.  

It was the day after our venture to Giron that I noticed I had a red spot on the back of my left leg with a large puncture hole in the center of the spot.  At first I thought it might be jiggers.  I had a couple of bouts dealing with jiggers back in 2012 and 2013.  Unlike Jiggers, the spot did not itch, and I figured it would disappear in a few days.  I had no idea, however, if I was bitten/stung while on my friend's property, while up at the falls, or if it even happened in Giron.  I can't remember ever seeing spiders in my apartment.  The doctors eventually verified that whatever infected me was airborne.  

A few days passed and the original infected area did not disappear and had become bluish/purple in color, and now was joined by a much larger semi-circular red ring that was hard as a rubber ball.  I should have thought, "Maybe it's time to go see a doctor."  I thought instead, "Oh that's interesting, maybe, it will go away in a couple of days."  The next couple of days it became very inflamed with pain.  Now, I am not a lover of pain, so I decide that it is time to go see a doctor.  My doctor gives me a couple of antibiotics and he says, "James, come see me one week from today, by then your infection will have subsided, or I will have to lance it and clean out the pus.  One evening a couple of days later, my leg is in excruciatingly pain.  I almost decided to go to the emergency room of the hospital, but it was 10:00 p.m.  I didn't want to shower, dress, and go out in the Cuencano rain.  Over 5,000 taxis in the city, but most are not operating in the late evening, and all our occupied when it's raining.  I think this line of reasoning is called misplaced priorities, and thinking with my feelings instead of my brain.

About 12:30 a.m., I am ready to go to bed.  Just as I am about to climb into bed, I felt something dribbling down the back of my leg.  I checked it out, and I thought, "Oh great, my infection is beginning to drain itself, and the excruciating pain began to subside as well.  The next day, I explained to the doctor what was happening, and how the purple spotted area has enlarged, the outer skin has broken, and while I said to the doctor that the infected area wasn't looking good;  I did not tell him that it looked like rotten meat covered in maggots.

The doctor meets me in the emergency room at Monte Sinai Hospital the next day to lance the infection.  He takes one look, and is astonished at how quickly it has grown and changed from just four days ago.  Actually the change from when he first saw it had happened only in the last two days.  He says, "James (Every Ecuatorinano in Cuenca always call me James.)  we will need to clean it tomorrow, and take a specimen for a biopsy to better focus the most effective antibiotics for your very progressive form of bacteria.  Also we will need to schedule the anesthesiologist, since the procedure will be too painful for you otherwise.  In the meantime we need to check you into a room.

The following day, I am wheeled to the surgical unit.  I am relieved that I will be put under during the procedure.  The anesthesiologist informs me I am going to have, what for me will be a first, a spinal tap.  "What! You are not going to knock me out?"  The doc says, "Would you like to be put completely under?"   I reacted without a second of hesitation,  "Oh yea!"  In what must have been a moment of Ecuatoriano humor, the doctor, replied, "No you will have a spinal tap."  Well, I am sitting on the side of the surgical table.  Needles do not bother me, but when whatever the doc was injecting higher in the spine would hit the left kidney, that was not fun.  No empathy here.  Just with each dollop from the injection, "Do not move."  

Ten minutes later, the doc asks me if I can move my legs.  That's the first time, I realized I didn't have any legs,  It was like there was just me from the waist up and everything else just wasn't there.  I was actually trying to decide what was better, being totally free of my body or having to deal with one.  At one point during the cleansing, the surgeon dangles this elongated strip of what looked like pork in front of my face, and says, "This is the piece we will use for the biopsy.  Look at all the green pus on it."  I provide him with a stoic nod, and I am just relieved I am not feeling pain.  The doctors informed me that the infection had gone deeper than they suspected.  A few more days, I may have been at risk of losing a leg.  I asked one of the doctors, if I had to lose a leg would I be able to choose which one?  I didn't receive a response, just a puzzled look.  Maybe he just doesn't get American humor.  I spent another three nights in the hospital, while the doctors waited for the biopsy reports, and then determined how to adjust my antibiotics based upon what they learned.

Now during my life since I was a kid, God has put me in many humiliating situations whether of my own doing, someone else's, or just what appears to be random misfortune. I long ago reached the point in my life that I can no longer be humiliated, and at my age generally care little about being self-consciously in need of fitting other people's mold of expectations.  So I will continue with my tale,  you are about to read about the rest of that day that even my closest friends and family have not been told, including those who visited me at the hospital, and who until they read this post have no idea how the rest of my day transpired.

A few hours after I am returned to my room,  I am getting back substantial feeling in my legs.  I decide it's time to give my legs a try.  I get out of bed.  I am standing in what feels like a very solid stance, and I am relieved--only to suddenly without anticipation collapse.  Now it's bad enough that I didn't call for assistance; even worse, that I knocked over everything on my tray table which cascaded to whatever else was in the immediate vicinity; and much worse, that my I.V. was ripped from my arm.  Suddenly, there is blood squirting everywhere.  It takes me about thirty seconds to get to the gizmo I press to contact the nurses.  The first nurse enters the room, immediately does a 180; and returns with a bevy of nurses, aides, whoever was available.  The first priority was to stop my bleeding.  Then get me out of my blood-stained gown, which means I am standing there in the room for the next what seemed like ten minutes in the nude, while eight to ten women are scurrying around trying to put everything back in order and clean and mop up all the blood.  Notice, I'm standing through this entire duration.  The scene was chaotically surreal, and I looked around just thinking of the movie title, "There Will be Blood."   All these women eventually got everything in order without ever missing a beat, as if they handled situations like this everyday.  Maybe they do.  Nobody treated me like I had done something terrible.  Eventually, I was given a fresh garment, and I was no longer conspicuously exposed.  None of the women went into heat over my nudity, probably because none of them had a microscope on them.  (That's meant to be a joke.)  

I literally can't recall if this next incident happened in sequence or later the same day.  I needed to use the bathroom.  "Yo necessito usar los banos."  Generally, those magic words would get me sprung from my I.V. and I could move about, and get away with  lying continuously on my back.  For some reason beyond my understanding, the nurse did not understand what I wanted to do.  Granted, a container was beside my bed for urination.  The problem is I don't know the Spanish word for urination or for bowel movement, or defecation--a word I  hate, it always sounds much worse to me than using the other "f" word.  I can't recall how my room became filled with women again.  I guess nobody wanted to miss what I might do for an encore.  Also, everyone was trying to figure out what I wanted.  

Oh my God, how during my time in the hospital, I wished I had learned a great deal more Spanish, and practiced, practiced, and practiced.  Life is full of regrets.  Now, I am living one of them.  

I am desperate to get these women to understand, because I really needed to get some serious business done, and I did not want to have an accident on the floor, which just would be the frosting on the cake to a day people just don't choose for themselves.  Finally, I hoped that maybe "I have to do number one and number two"  works in Ecuador like it does in the U.S.  No such luck, the women just give one another quizzical looks.  I figured my only hope is to act this out.  So I begin to act as if I am peeing, and making a vocal pissing sound the entire time, in what was definitely a teaching moment and comedic besides.  Suddenly, in unison, the light went on for all the women. They got it, they all began to laugh, and I am granted release and relief.  There was actually something endearing about the episode, one I'm glad I had, and will long remember.  

I was always delighted when any of the women could figure out what I wanted or was trying to say.  They were anxious over wanting to understand me, and their faces would light up whenever communication was successfully made.  The young women in particular, all of whom are diminutive in size; whenever two or more were present,  were like groups of giddy girls in that twelve to sixteen age bracket in the states.  What brought tears to my eyes was whenever more than once some of the women would apologize to me because they did not know more English.  Here I am in their country, and they are apologizing to me.

Well, I wasn't home free yet.  My last evening in the hospital witnessed my blood pressure rising.  I don't have blood pressure problems, what's going on?  Within twenty minutes I had my answer, I looked down at my right arm and it doubled in size and had that hard rubber feeling to it.  Oh God, no, don't tell me I have another infection with which to deal.  The nurses were having a very difficult time finding a vein large enough for an I.V., so I'm already like a pin cushion.  It turned out the catheter for the I.V. was faulty, and the saline and antibiotics were not passing through my vein.  Problem resolved.  My blood pressure eventually subsided, and by morning the swelling in my arm has gone down.  I've spent much time in hospitals, if not for myself, then for family members in particular.  Things will go wrong.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Nothing is perfect.

I was really happy with the overall care by all staff involved.  No real complaints there.  The doctors and nurses all did a fine job.  The better hospitals in the big cities in Ecuador can hold their own with the better hospitals in the states.  Ecuador, however, can not provide some of the latest and most sophisticated medical attention that may be found in some of the specialized and research hospitals in the states.  

Hospital food is universally hospital food,and you better love rice as much an Ecuatorianos do, because you're going to eat plenty of it in Ecuadorian hospitals.  Toward the end of my hospital stay, I was given real soup not primarily broth, which had big, rounded white beans that made the soup substantial, tender, and tasty.  The chef could do no wrong when it came to preparing fish, always savory, and cooked to perfection.  My final evening meal, which ironically was on the night of Holy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper, had what appeared to be a pastry cup filled with fish.  Upon further investigation, the chef must have taken two or three fillets and somehow encircled them in a rather artistic mold that did not require an external pastry to contain it.  I must admit, the medical cost although inexpensive by American standards was higher than I anticipated for my four day adventure.  A buddy said, "They must have charged you for that gourmet chef you had."  Possibly, possibly.

Now I report to the emergency room every other day, so the doctor can examine the area, dress it, and put a new bandage on it. He warned me that there would be a big hole there, and not to panic  when I see it, it would eventually fill out.  Today, he took a photo and showed it to me.  Well, at least now the once infected site looks like dried meatloaf.  Yes, it also looks like a lunar crater, or the effusive end of a volcanic crater.  Doc says it is progressing nicely.  I hope so.  I have two weeks to make a final determination as to whether or not I will be able to follow-through with my month of travel later this April to Italy.  I have had so many medical and financial hurdles arise to challenge me from getting this trip off the ground.  I am determined to make it, and hope no more impediments emerge.  In the end, it will work out as it is intended.  There is only so much I can do to pretend I am in control.

I thank my friends who were bearers of flowers and gifts, visits (not visitations), prayers, dinners, and concern.  A friend who also brought me elegant chocolates, and hard salami from our very own Italian, Italian cheese and sausage maker; in a country where local cheeses leave a great deal to be desired, and imports are almost an impossibility due to government restrictions.  Needless to say, hospital personnel had no intention of letting me eat any of these things.  A very special shout-out to my Ecuatoriano friends who late at night and over the wee hours of the next day were busy--and--about running back and forth getting items I needed from my apartment, and just willing to do anything for me.

In the end I thought I would just share my story with whomever may be interested in the read.  In the bigger scheme of things, it doesn't mean much, and in years to come no one will remember.  For the moment, it is significant to me; even if in the grander scheme of things, like most of us, all our shared experiences will be lost floating on some inaccessible computer cloud somewhere in eternity.  Maybe, life is meant primarily to be experienced.  Well, this was one of my experiences.