Juan Carlo, the chef/owner of Testios suggested we try Mediterraneo for dinner, so we did. We were planning to go around 7, but our neighbor, who owns the building we are living in decided to drop by for a visit, and to drop off an article he wanted me to read. He is a naturopath and has a guru in India that he follows, but didn´t want to tell me his name. That´s ok. I am not in the market. He likes to talk to us as we are pretty like minded and he is not so keen on Ecuadorians. He is from South Africa and has lived here for 21 years. It is taking him a while t get used to Ecuadorians, I guess. Anyway, we wound up leaving around 8:30 instead. Mediterraneo was amazing. I immediately developed a liking to Davide, the owner, who is an Italian from Milano. He has been here with his wife and 3 kids for 11 years. God was the food ever great.Areally good Italian restaurant in Cuenca definitely means alot to me, and Ella too. I had ravioli de carne and Ella had ravioli de funghi, mine was with pomodore fresca and hers with pancetta, parmigiano reggiano, cream and muchrooms. Oh lordy. We also had some killer bruschetta and a half litre of a great Chilean house red. Ella, who adores tiramisu, said this was the best she has ever had. We pulled our chairs together and sat for a long time and the place was eventually packed by about 10. There were a few Italian guys who were waving their hands furiously in typical fashion, but mostly there were hip young Ecuadorians which made me feel like i was on the Upper West Side. At the next table were 2 Ecuadorian gents who were maybe in their mid-seventies. The system with serving drinks is they bring the bottle to the table add ice and pour. And pour. And pour. After several hours, the gentleman who would eventually make his way to our table, Francisco, was pretty much snot-slinging drunk. His amigo was literally falling asleep at the table and could barely get a word in edgewise, so Francisco made his way to us while his friend siezed the opportunity to give Francisco the slip. Francisco sells sofa beds from a business card . He has nowhere to actually display them. They seem to come only in red. And he wants us to buy one. Badly. He was rather hysterical, with an asthmatic (sp?), painfully long laugh and i will reiterate, as smashed as i have ever seen a standing human being. Needless to say, all eyes were upon us. so for about a half-hour. we simultaneously enjoyed and endured Francisco. I gave him my number, but i am pretty sure he will have no clue today as to much of the evening. We walked the 10 or so blocks home and the streets were packed with people and traffic was gridlocked at around 11:30. As i said there is music everywhere. This night, a group of several hundred 20-somethings was gyrating to the Doobie Brother´s Greatest Hits in a park where a .Go figure. The custom in Ec, if you are a man, is to start drinking with your workmates at around 3 after you return from lunch on Friday. Then, you leave work, go out, and just keep drinking. This is unlike the U.S. in that they get a 2 hour jump on it, at work.