Hey, coffee friends!

How's your day, need a little extra energy and coffee? I know just the place to get some of that while I tell you my thoughts on this week's prompt: #tcsp 77 ☕️

I'll risk saying that the breeze of Cumaná, its sky, the green of its trees make anyone fall in love. The development of its infrastructure is a whole different story, but there are places that have survived the neglect; and although if you look closely, you can notice the inexorable dents of time, you can also feel the comfort of seeing images that speak to you of a long tradition...

...An open space and wide round tables. It was our feeling of freedom at coffee time, not fearing someone would come and steal your bike, car battery, purse, etc... Not that it happens often nowadays; Crime was greatly reduced after many delinquents moved out of the city and the country in search of more prosperous people to rob. Bittersweet.

Dough, dough everywhere!

The delicacies I used to buy here are gone. I used to drive here expressly after picking up my son from school. We would choose from the different stuffed and cured meats they sold here. All delicious and healthy.

Now they have these amazing treats. Even when I shouldn't eat stuff like this, they make a happy view, don't you think?

My husband bought me a chocolate glazed donut ☝️☝️☝️ He knows I love donuts, and the last time I ate one might have been a year ago. I keep away from them, hehe. We sat inside and ordered coffee 👇👇👇 That sign in neon lights that reads "Fuente de Soda" represents a strong reason for me to come back here; the expression fuente de soda, or soda fountain in English, refers to our tradition. It turns out that back in the 80s, there were not cafés but soda fountains--unless you were in the "big cities" 😉

My husband ordered a macchiato, and I ordered an espresso.

Twenty years ago, the crema on my espresso used to be three times as thick 👇 The same goes for the milky foam on macchiato. Fortunately, both tasted really good.

My husband's coffee did look nice despite the sticker being totally out of place and poorly adhered to the beautiful classy mug.

I hid the sticker to get a better feel.

I was happy we felt like eating only half of the donut even though it was totally delicious. Seems like we can't take that much sugar anymore 😏 Oh, but donuts like this one will definitely make me come back here.

In the photo below you can see my view of the barista room as seen from my table. It looks cozy.

The variety of treats and cakes make this place a good option to come here and enjoy a cup of coffee. If they sell ice cream (Helados), I'm not sure, but the sign is pretty.

They also sell birthday cakes.

When I was little, this bakery, "La Mansión del Pan" had another name ("Panader[ia Miranda," I think); I don't remember when I first came here, but I do know that I was a teenager when I first tasted their coffee.You see, in my city, the coffees were not in the cafés but the espresso coffee, "de máquina" ("from the machine") was served in the bakeries... and you could see how men in their office suits would stop quickly to have a "cafecito" and some of them would also accompany it with a cigarette. Now men rarely wear suits or ties.

Personally, I remember my Photography teacher in high school doing just the latter before entering our class and since our classroom had been divided in two in order to build a darkroom, the small space we had left for our class was quickly permeated with his coffee and nicotine laden breath. It was awful indeed, and yet it's part of memories with a lot of value to me. But I digress...

I should tell you that I stopped coming here when the friends I used to come here with left the country. Now I only come back here almost exclusively when one of my best friends comes to visit from Germany; otherwise, I may come two or three times a year. It's one of my favorite places and their coffee is still good, but the friends and most of their excellent quality products, what keeps me coming back to any place, are gone. Hopefully, this bakery & coffee shop will see better days soon. In the meantime, you can still sit out here on a cool afternoon enjoying good coffee, good treats, and if you're lucky, good friends.