Tag Archives: Cuenca

July 21, 2017 · 5:35 am

Fun Food Friday — Cuenca, Ecuador; Cositas Restaurant Review

Cositas Restaurant on Simón Bolívar

On our first evening in Cuenca, Ecuador, Ursula and I asked various locals where they enjoyed eating for a taste of traditional local food. Several recommended the place you see here — Cositas 10-24 Restaurante. How good was this place? Good enough that Ursula and I broke away from the tour group the next night and, with two tour comrades in tow, returned for a second helping. More on the second visit and our companions in a moment.

Cositas 10-24 Restaurante

On our first visit to Cositas we noticed the wall was adorned with innumerable photos of celebrities and body builders. Here we met an expatriate American who claimed she was the former spouse of one such body builder who also had starred in several movies. I asked the name of the actor/body builder expecting to not recognize the name at all, but she surprised me when she replied, “Steve Reeves.” “Hercules?” I asked. And, yes, he was indeed the actor from the ’50s Italian films Hercules and Hercules Unchained. She was very pleased that I recognized the name well enough to associate it with his most famous role.

Ties and Celebrity Photographs

Our dinner companions on our second visit were Purviz Eivazi and his lovely wife Fatemeh, a delightful couple from Henderson, Nevada, originally by way of Iran. An absolutely wonderful couple whose company we enjoyed very much.

Parviz Eivazi

Fatemeh Eivazi and Ursula

Unfortunately, Cosita has no printed menu, and I failed to make note of our orders on these two visits, but both Ursula and I recall that the meals were very good (obviously, since we returned), and that Purviz and Fatemeh also enjoyed their choices. In place of traditional menus, photographs and descriptions of various offerings are displayed on the wall as you first enter and behind the cash register.

Menus behind the Register

Menus on the Wall

Everything was nicely prepared and delicious, as you can see from these photos of our dinners:

Cositas Restaurant

Cositas 10-24

On your visit to Cuenca I can highly recommend this enchanting place with its unique choice in decorating accessories, intimate dining areas, and charming owner and staff. Google Maps seems a bit confused as to the location, so beware. Costias 10-24 is at 4-49 Simón Bolívar Street between Mariano Cueva and Vargas Machuca, about three and a half easy walking blocks east of Parque Calderón.

3 Comments

Filed under Fun Food Friday, Photography, R. Doug Wicker, Restaurant Review, travel, vacation, Wine & Food

Tagged as Cositas Restaurant, Cuenca, Ecuador, Fatemeh Eivazi, Fun Food Friday, photography, Purviz Eivazi, R. Doug Wicker, restaurant review, travel, travel photography, vacation, wine and food

July 19, 2017 · 5:35 am

Ecuador — Cuenca; Dusk to Dark

Ministry of Social Welfare

It was getting late, and Ursula and I were getting hungry. So, after receiving some recommendations from the locals, we set out on foot to a restaurant that was so good we visited it twice, the second time with a couple from our tour group who asked to accompany us on the return. You’ll see a review of this little gem on this week’s Fun Food Friday.

Cuenca Street Scene

Dusk was starting to settle, so I had to get creative on exposure control and finding ways to hold the camera steady (see: Available Light Photography without a Tripod). I still had a little time to work some handheld magic, but that time was rapidly running out.

New Cathedral

The following picture was taken near the restaurant were we eventually dined that evening. For the following picture I pushed the camera to the limits of the sensor at ISO 800, which is asking a lot from a 1-inch sensor. This is a rather impressive government building on the corner of Simón Bolívar and Presidente Borrero:

Ministry of Social Welfare

But I went even further on this next one, going up to ISO 1250:

Cuenca Street Scene

This next shot was taken at ISO 3200, which I thought at the time was going to be a total disaster, but the Panasonic FZ1000 seemed to handle the image with relatively little loss of detail and not too much noise:

Cuenca Balconies

Here’s another shot at ISO 3200, since I could not find a place to balance the camera (I wouldn’t want to blow up this shot to poster size, but it worked for probably anything at or under 6×9)::

Iglesia de San Blas

Finally, I was able to drop down a bit to ISO 1600 for this last night shot:

Del Buen Pastor — The Good Shepard

4 Comments

Filed under Photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, vacation

Tagged as Cuenca, Ecuador, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel, travel photography, vacation

July 17, 2017 · 5:35 am

Ecuador — Cuenca; Church of Santo Domingo

Iglesia de Santo Domingo

Not all the churches in Cuenca worth visiting are around Calderón Park. If you travel on foot northwest of the park you’ll come across another gem, but before you get there you’ll find some colorful buildings along the way: