My mission in publishing this blog is first to provide a living history of my settlement and life in Cuenca, and to provide myself and the reader with a journal account delineating my reasons for why I have chosen to settle in Cuenca. Second, the posts are my way of staying in contact with family and friends back in the states, and to provide them with an understanding of a country and culture that most North Americans have little knowledge and awareness. Third, the blog is open to one and all who wish to compare and contrast the experiences of expat bloggers living in Cuenca, so that you can determine whether or not from your perspective Cuenca is an appropriate move for you. Fourth, my blog provides another example of how expats view and interpret life in Cuenca. Ecuadorians and Cuencanos who may read this blog are especially invited to post comments that may enhance all expats understanding and appreciation of Cuneca and its people, or to correct any misinterpretations in my assumptions and perceptions of Cuencano culture. Finally, I hope I can convey the feeling of love and appreciation that grows within me each passing day for this heavenly city nestled in the Andes and its very special people.
A great many changes have taken place in El Centro in recent months. When the lockdowns turned Cuenca into a virtual ghost town, I thought much of the center would be filled with vacant buildings when the covid scare ended; just the opposite happened. The city is more vibrant than ever. Many owners of businesses in the city have lowered rents either to avoid losing commercial renters or to fill their vacant stores and offices. Much of South America and the United States are experiencing steep inflation spikes. At the moment, as reported by the government; Ecuador has been moving in the opposite direction.
My brother, Leo, who visited me in January of 2020 before the pandemic, would be surprised with the changes that have taken place since that short time ago. Here is one of the main changes. The heart of El Centro is Parque Calderon, and the square around it is a mecca of new restaurants and stores. Today, I will focus on the yellow limestone building on the east side across the street from Parque Calderon on Avenida Louis Cordero and Avenida Simon Bolivar.
The building in the photo above which has laid vacant for some years, has finally undergone renovation in a most fabulous way. The whole two story building, now known as Parque Casa, which running along Avenida Cordero, shares the block with the Old Cathedral, and has become a food emporium.
Parque Casa by night.
The entire second floor is occupied by Matilde Mansion Restaurant, which is partitioned into three spacious, but intimate dining rooms. There is also a fourth inner room with a large rectangular table that can seat twelve, either for a business group or private affairs. The restaurant also includes a splendid pub.
What makes Matilde Mansion worthy of attention is that it is the most elegant restaurant in the city. When I arrived in Cuenca more than ten years ago, I never thought such elegance in an eatery would be found in Cuenca. The interior design is breath-takingly beautiful, and reminds me of the Palace of Versailles outside of Paris. Matilde is not as ornately lavish and at times as garish as Versailles, which was built at the time when the French royalty were living well beyond their means, and were unwittingly laying the groundwork for their own decadent downfall through the French Revolution. However, Matilde is a lavish splendor to experience.
As the old saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words," so let us begin our tour.
Matildes is entered through an interior courtyard on the first floor. We make our way up the stairway.
The stairway alone is inviting and entices us to the anticipation of something grand.
The ceiling and chandeliers only enhance our expectations as we leave behind the stairway and make our way up to the Mansion.
There is no such thing as simply entering a dining area, as we arrive at the top of the stairs, but first we pass through the inner courtyard as the various dining areas radiate from the center.
There is a long table resplendent with flowers, candles, and lamps; which complement beautifully the ornate décor of the walls and ceiling, and the chandelier.
Each dining room is adorned with its own personalized very plush décor.
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The dining room above and its ceiling in the photo below has it own distinct character and appearance.
There is a interior salon that can be used for small private affairs and professional conferences over dinner. The room is an eye opener of beauty, and is done in a wall paper style of elegance that is reminiscent of a style that was very much the style in some of the restaurants in the United States in the 1980's.
Friends and I were gathering for a surprise birthday party for our friend Maria Rosa, who is the mother of Mathias, Esteban, and Andres Rios. Maria knew that her sons and I were taking her out for her birthday. However, she did not know that some of her other friends would also be there, or that the restaurant we were taking her was Matildes Mansion.
Betty Jones, and a partial view of our dining room behind her.
Above is Mathias, Betty and Mike Jones.
Unlike the other dining rooms our ceiling was painted with sky, clouds, and cherubs; so reminiscent of various palaces in Europe, as well as some of the rooms in Versailles palace.
Mathias did the decorations for the dinner party, as he sent the balloons skyward..
Friends included Loren and Nancy Kuehne.
Birthday lady Maria Rosa with Karen and Sieg Braum.
Michael and Betty Jones are below. The rose was Mathias, Esteban, and Andres' gift to their mother. The flower is alive, and is suppose to remain fresh and living for approximately five years. The perfect gift from her sons to a loving mother, whose name is Maria Rosa.
Below is Sherri Nadeau, who shares her birthday date with Mathias.
Here is a photo of me enjoying my gin and tonic. I sure am glad I have a group of friends, who enjoy going out to eat, look forward to new dining experiences, and just having fun. I am always ready for a party.
All the tables in each dining room are decorated in their own unique style and dinnerware. Our table settings were of bone china imported from England. It seems ironic that a dish called China was made in England, when almost everything else in the world is made in China.
Escargot was the favorite appetizer. They were large and plump.
The best entrées appeared to be the seafood entrées. Karen especially enjoyed her octopus, which since I was sitting at the opposite end from Karen, I don't have a picture to show you.
Fish above or surf and turf below served on beautiful china.
Below a photo of a grilled seafood platter.
Steak is tricky in Ecuador. It has improved since I first arrived over ten years ago. I failed to take a photo of my steak. The steak was good. It was not tough, but not the most tender and flavorful that now can be found in some of the restaurants in Cuenca. The steak, in a restaurant of this quality, should be among the outstanding offerings to match the lavish décor. Appetizers can also be open to a redo. I had the onion soup, and it was good, but not exceptional. A traditional French Onion would actually be better if prepared properly.
As dinner plates were cleared away, we prepared for the birthday salute and the cake and ice cream.
After a round of Feliz Cumpleanos, Maria Rosa cut the cake, as each piece was passed around. Below is a brief video.
What a better way to enjoy cake and ice cream or just simply to close out the night with a cappuccino.
Karen and Maria Rosa above and Maria Rosa with Jim Mola (me) below.
Below is Maria with two of her sons, Andres, and Esteban, with Sieg in the background.
A salute to the Birthday Lady on her special day. May she have many more birthdays and happiness to look forward to in the future.
The twelve of us spent four hours having a really wonderful time. By the last hour the many people in our dining room were gone, and we continued to enjoy the celebration.
Below, Betty could now move to the other side of the room opposite our party tables, and show off the painting on the wall.
As 11:00 p.m. enclosed upon us. It was time to say goodbye. Dapper Mike below was prepared for the almost inevitable in Cuenca--rain.
Adjacent to our dining room was the pub. Beautiful in itself, and the crowd of young people still in the bar continued to keep the night young.
Matildes Mansion is a great place for a dinner party, or just to come and enjoy a drink or a pastry and a cup of cappuccino. Ladies enjoy the afternoon Tea Room. Surprisingly, its prices are in-line with other upscale restaurants in Cuenca. Most main dishes are in the $12 to $20 range. Alcoholic drinks are comparable in price to other upscale restaurants in Cuenca as well. When we first visited, we thought menu prices would be the most expensive in Cuenca, but that to date has not been the case. A lavish evening like this in a luxurious restaurant in major European or American cities like Chicago would cost us two to three times the price here in Cuenca. We shall return!
I arrived in Ecuador on Sunday, March 14th of 2011 to begin my new adventure of living in a foreign country. Monday morning, I visited my attorney in Quito, and on Tuesday after spending the previous day touring the historic area of Quito, I flew to Cuenca.I always thought when my ten year anniversary arrived that I would do a post on the changes in Cuenca over the ten years of life here. However, I would be writing a book, and I decided instead that I would simplypost a linkthat captures much of the essence of life in Cuenca for me. Adventure, beautiful mountainous scenery, friendly welcoming people, a big city with a small town feel, a feeling of being alive, social life as much as anyone can handle or desire, and friends upon friends.
A special thank you is extended to Maria Rosa, who is Mathias and Esteban's mother, and who brilliantly compiled the link above of Mathias, Esteban, and me capturing the spirit of Cuenca.
Bella Ciao is an Italian song which is a favorite of ours, as the three of us were caught up in the Netflix series entitled, Casa de Papel, an exciting series of about five years running that takes place in Spain, and does a fabulous job of combining action with character development, in a timely fashion with all that is going on in the world today. Some of the predicaments are preposterous, but never boring. Mathias learned Bella Ciao on the guitar, the center piece song of Casa de Papel which was one of the songs he played at his brother, Esteban's birthday party.
Mathias 18th Birthday Party
As many of you know, if you read my last two blogs I have the two older Rios brothers living with me, and we recently celebrate Esteban's birthday in December when he turned fourteen and we had the Paella party with friend and Chef Michael Wagner, and now in late February we celebrated Mathias eighteenth birthday.
It was a surprise party. Mathias birthday was actually on Friday, the 26th of February. However, he and Esteban had English language classes until 8:00 p.m. Esteban and I deliberately chose not to wish Mathias a Happy Birthday, since his surprise party was the next day. Mathias traveled home to his mother's that evening, and disappointingly told his mother that James and Esteban did not remember it was his birthday.
Saturday, and Mathias arrives with his brother, Andres, on the pretext that I was injured and needed his help, since I had recently torn my rotator cuff. Mathias arrived to a chorus of Happy Birthdays. We really pulled this surprise off.
Mathias give his mother a kiss in appreciation for the wonderful party she planned for her son. The decorations where all her idea. Esteban was such a great help in getting everything setup, and helping his mother prepare the meal in the kitchen.
Early arrivals were Michael Jones, Loren Kuhne, Karen Braun, Nancy Kuhne, Betty Jones, and Seig Braun.
Those of you old enough to remember the old Ben Caseytelevision series will remember how it always began each new episode with drawings of man, woman, birth, death, and infinity. Mathias, below, is displaying his infinity symbol, with the blessing of many more birthdays to come.Ben Casey would have been a great role model for someone like Mathias, who aspires to be a medical doctor.
Below is a photo of the Rios family Esteban, Mathias, Maria Rosa, and in the front is Andres.
Below are the Rios Brothers Trio
The evening began with different hors d oeuvres of crackers, spreads, cheeses, and fruit bites. When I first came to Cuenca, it was impossible to find good cheese. In recent years, many craft cheese and delis have appeared on the scene to meet the need for quality cheeses of all kinds, among them are cheese makers from Europe who have found their niche in Cuenca.
For dinner Maria Rose prepared a very inviting Chaulafan Mixto, which was fried rice with chicken and large shrimp.
Seig and Karen brought a delicious side dish of Cheese broccoli.
Loren and Nancy brought their fantastic ambrosia salad.
Michael and Betty brought a creamy potato salad that was no ordinary potato salad.
The evening was topped off, due to the generosity of the guests, with eleven bottles of wine, a bottle of champagne, and two beers.
Seig and Karen Braun
Before the cake, there was the cavalcade of guests who took their turns having their photo taken with the birthday boy.
Below Nancy and Loren Kuhne
Andres Garcia and his wife Veronica.
Betty and Michael Jones
Mathias with his mother and Lourdes Guzman.
Below, Mathias and James having fun with Mathias' age.
Below, Mathias growing an alien out of his head.
HAIL, HAIL, THE GANGS ALL HERE!
Mathias with Jerry Ramos
Below Juan Garcia (UFO), his sister Belen Garcia and their brother Andres Garcia, all three family members are electrical engineers. It is not unusual in Ecuador to find many members of the nuclear family following the same career paths. Three or four members may all be engineers, medical doctors, educators, dentists, bankers, and/or identical fields in the craft industries.
Below with Mathias is Silvia and her husband Lenin Alvares. Although Lenin is not related to the Garcias, he is also an electrical engineer.
Below is Juan (UFO) and his wife Gabriela. UFO is also Mathias' godfather.
The maravillosa chocolate cake was created by a friend of Maria Rosa, and gifted by Sherry Naudeau, who was unable to attend the party.
After the cake and ice cream was indulged. Silvia was ready to get the party hopping with some dancing.
The dancing continued until midnight when everybody suddenly turned into pumpkins, and an evening of enjoyment was brought to a close. While Mathias had an 18th birthday celebration he will long remember.
It was in December of 2009 that I accidentally turned to Yahoo during one Christmas vacation morning and saw the list for the ten best cities in which to retire. Cuenca which I had never heard of before was listed as number one. Only Cuenca of the top ten cities did I not find anything negative. I began my research of Cuenca, and fell in love with it before I even made my exploratory journey of one month to this South Andean city in July/August of 2010. My greatest fear was that there was no way Cuenca could live up to my expectations. However, when the month came to completion, I did not want to leave. I retired in January of 2011, and moved to Cuenca the following March. I don't know where the time has gone. On one hand, my visit of 2010 seems so long ago after all the multitudinous changes that have taken place in my life since then. On the other hand, my time here has gone by so fast that it is scary to think how quickly the next few years of my life will speed by as well. The beautiful thing is that Cuenca is my home, and I did not choose Cuenca. It truly was destiny that led me to this beautiful city in the mountains.
