Tag Archives: vacation

Ecuador — Cuenca; More Ecuagenera orchids


Ecuagenera Orcid Farm

One of the two largest species of flowers, ranging over most of the entire plant, is the orchid. Here at Ecuagenera over 8,000 species of orchids, as well as a wide selection of other types of flowering plants.

Ecuagenera Orcid Farm

Eight thousand species of orchid is surely enough tor even the most famous collector of orchids in detective fiction, Rex Stout’s creation Nero Wolfe. Now, being both a fan and a writer of mysteries, you just know at some point I was going to connect orchids with Nero Wolfe!

Shameless plug time: Alas, my characters are not nearly as famous — Donovan “Don” Grant of Decisions, and Reynard Chevalier of The Globe (caution on The Globe: adult content; violence; sexually graphic). Both books are available for the Kindle and Nook and priced at 99¢, € .99, £ .99. Now that’s cheap entertainment!

Ecuagenera Orcid Farm

Excuse the advertisement, but I haven’t done that in a while and sales have dropped off to nothing. Now, back to more orchids and other flowers:

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Ecuador — Cuenca; Ecuagenera Orchid Farm


Overlooking Cuenca — blue domes of the New Cathedral

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 our tour gathered for a little excursion just beyond Cuenca. Our first stop was the Eduardo Vega Gallery, which specializes in ceramic art from master artist Eduardo Vega. As lovely as the art was inside, the views of Cuenca from the hills high to the south were well worth the trip alone.

Eduardo Vega Gallery

After a brief visit at the gallery we continued east for several miles to Ecuagenera Orchids of Ecuador.

Ecuagenera — Orchids of Ecuador

I’m no flower expert, so at this point I’ll let the flowers speak for themselves:

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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

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.

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