El Cafetón Cubano

On the corner of Veintimilla and Río Amazonas just inside la Mariscal, I highly recommend this unassuming café.

It’s a nice taste of costeño of a different variety – not because of the food, rather because of the dueños and those who frequent it – Cubans living in Quito.

Conversations touch on Cuba, fiestas, bailes, comida and much more. It’s a nice escape from this ciudad serrana – which at times can feel a bit could-shoulderish.

For example, the other day I received an abbreviated history of Cuban independence movements – a conversation that meandered from being able to tell Cubans apart from other Latin Americans in a café (apparently they use a ton of sugar, all of which ends up in the bottom of the cup – and according to the dueño, leads to ‘ability’ problems for Cuban men over 45...warning for all you male sugar-lovers) to how to properly use a machete as both a tool and a weapon (whoa!). The conversation made complete with the wrist-flicking-finger-snapping motion from them both.

(Cuban anecdote – rationed meat in Cuba allows only so much per person per month, and to get it, you have to stand in line. Often arriving at 5am to be one of the first, hard or unusual times/practices may characterize this island. But standing in this line vas a morir de risa, porque la gente se reúne para hacer estas filas y empieza a hacer bromas y reír de las peculiaridades del país y de sus mismos. Imagínate! Haciendo cola para obtener carne o pollo o cualquier cosa para comer por el mes y disfrutando del buen humor de los cubanos todo el tiempo! Esta manera de deshogarse de los cubanos es uno de sus valores. Como me dijo el dueño del café – los psicólogos morirían de hambre en Cuba).

Like I said before, don’t have any plans and talk with them about anything and everything. They’re up for it.

So far it’s the best coffee in town for me – coffee and good company and relatively free of tourists (go figure, it’s not listed in the Lonely Planet guidebook).

Una troza de advice – don’t trust the LP. The maps are handy, but as far as restaurants, hotels, etc...be adventurous and discover the non-LP Ecuador. It’s a much more interesting experience.