Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A cool sighting


The guy from "Once" sat next to me at my local sake bar last night. Apparently he is renting a place in my neighborhood for a bit.
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More SoCal

"I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I'd like to lay my weary bones to rest tonight
On a bed of California stars"
-Woody Guthrie

After my meetings ended in Long Beach, I drove (took car service, actually) down to San Diego for the weekend to visit Tommy and Kristin. This was my 3rd trip to San Diego in 5 1/2 years. And my reaction when I've arrived each time is "it's just WRONG for people to live here." Breathtaking sea views, abundant sunshine and palm trees galore conspire to create an unbelievable scenario. I'm not planning a move or anything but am admittedly somewhat jealous of people who get to experience this everyday.

Tommy and Kristin just moved into a different beach cottage in the Ocean Beach neighborhood. The house is not yet Architectural Digest-ready, but presumably will be by my next visit (I saw the floorplans).

View from Tommy & Kristin's new house. If you look past the big palm tree, that's the ocean.


Pier in Ocean Beach, the longest pier on the West coast.


Waiting on a wave. These surfers look like seals in the water.

Had massive sushi dinner Friday night at Umi. Saturday we went up to Carlsbad and drove back down the coast on Route 101. Ate lunch by the beach at Las Olas in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Saw cute towns like Del Mar, and the day trip ended in Coronado. Went to the Gaslamp Quarter downtown for dinner Saturday at Neighborhood, a somewhat upscale burger joint. Loved the art (oil paintings of people eating hamburgers and a gigantic greyscale tile mosaic of the San Diego skyline). Saw "The Bank Job," a pretty entertaining action flick. Enjoyed Easter breakfast outside Sunday morning and then was time to fly home.
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Strong Beach

Had client meetings in Long Beach, CA all last week. Long Beach is actually one of the larger cities in CA. During the 2nd half of 1900s, the city fell into disrepair, but now it has a renewed sense of vibrancy. Instead of knocking down all the older buildings, much is being done to redevelop existing properties. Case in point: one of my clients lives in downtown Long Beach in a former Masonic Temple that’s been converted into lofts. We went over there for drinks one night – cool space. When I rode around town, many of the apartment buildings appear to be refurbished (think Miami Beach).

Our hotel was on the water, with a view of the harbor. The original Queen Mary is permanently docked there. Long Beach is a hugely active port, so there were lots of cranes. To that end, the skyline almost looked like Dubai.

Hey, look! It’s the beach!


Crane central at sunset.

Other surprises: you can actually walk to some places downtown! And we had a decent dinner at neighborhood Italian joint Bono’s on 2nd Street. Was a long week, but I can’t really complain when the weather is 30+ degrees warmer than NY.
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Cuidad de Mexico

I had to change planes in Mexico City on the way back to NYC, so I decided to stay for a couple of nights. Why not?

The hotel
I stayed at Condesa DF, a design hotel that's a few years old. It's a 1920s building that was gutted, but its facade was kept intact. It only has 40 rooms, which were pretty nice and comfortable. Constant scene. There was even a breakfast scene!! I've never encountered a morning scene before, though frankly I would have preferred less of a scene and more hot coffee at breakfast.

The hotel plan is somewhat open-air; all the rooms overlook a central area: upstairs is a rooftop bar, and there's a ground floor restaurant dining room. Anyway you look at it, it's loud. I live on 14th Street, so I'm used to noise, but this would probably be a big pain in the ass on weekend nights.

Hotel exterior.


View of hotel's interior courtyard from my patio. The white panels create privacy for guests, but they're also shifted/rotated during the day to block glare from the sun.
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The neighborhood
The Condesa neighborhood was cool. The hotel is adjacent to the lovely little Parc Espana. This neighborhood was very walkable, and was so much prettier than I expected. Kinda reminded me of Palermo Soho in Buenos Aires, which Enda describes as "like the Lower East Side but much cleaner": lots of boutiques, restaurants/cafes and galleries.

Townhouses on Avenida Veracruz.


Residence across the street from the hotel. Not too shabby.

Cultural activity
Went to Museo de Arte Populare, a museum that focuses on Mexican folk art and crafts (clothing, jewelry, pottery, sculptures). Good choice. The exhibits were strong; the work was intricate and beautiful; and I found it all to be very interesting.

Kites in the atrium of the Museum of Popular Art.

The food
Not surprising, but Mexico City meals were more expensive and not nearly as good as at the beach.
Monday dinner - Capicua, a "Spanish-style" bar. Upscale place, but they serve their sangria in big, pint-esque glasses (hola!). Croquettas were pretty tasty, but rest of the tapas didn't change my life.
Tuesday lunch - El Califa, a traditional taqueria. Frankly, am not sure exactly what I ordered/ate but the sauces and condiments were fresh.
Tuesday dinner - La Vinero, a wine bar. Had a mushroom pastry puff to start and a chicken breast smothered in a mustard sauce for main course. This came with Curly-Q french fries on the side (I suspect this was an added extra just for me because I was an English-speaking, white person).

Observations
- I'd heard Mexico City is a city of fairly formal dress. I really underestimated this statement. Men especially were immaculately dressed, usually in insane tailored suits. When dressed casually, they were wearing designer jeans and exquisite loafers. Even people walking around looked like they'd just stepped off a runway or photoshoot set.
- Like LA, Mexico City is quite car-obsessed. There was mad valet action outside the taqueria I went to!
- The metro (subway) was quick, safe, and easy to navigate. A one-way ticket costs about $0.20.

The summary
Was pleasantly surprised with Mexico City. I found none of the stereotypes about the city to be true... The city seemed safe. I walked to dinner by myself at night and actually felt safer in Mexico City than at the beach (probably because it's a city and lots of people were out walking/driving around). I didn't see/experience any air pollution there. Actually my allergies flared up more at the beach. Bottom-line: I was happy to have had the opportunity to see some of the city and was a little bummed I didn't have at least one more day to explore.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Ah, la playa

"I'm eating right and living good
Doing everything I said I would
I should have left a long time ago
Who needs you, I've got Mexico"
- Country song by Eddy Raven that was a hit in the early 1980s

The background
I had carry-over vacation from last year that had to be used by the end of March. I found myself in desperate need of a beach holiday and wanted one involving as few American tourists as possible. A couple of guys I know had been to Puerto Escondido and liked it, so I booked a trip and went the 1st week of March...

Puerto Escondido ("Hidden Port") is on the Pacific side of Mexico, pretty far south and fairly close to Gautemala. It's a small town that's known as one of the best/most difficult surfing spots in North America.

My travelling companions
Just me. My first solo vacation!

Other travelers

1/2 surfers and backpackers in their early 20s
1/4 Mexican families on vacation and miscellaneous Canadian, Italian, Danish, French and German tourists
1/4 American retirees in their 60s stopping by the beach for a couple of days while touring Oaxaca
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The beaches
Truly beautiful beaches. While some people find it difficult to spend a week at the beach, I do not suffer from this dilemma. In fact I can actually stare at waves for hours at a stretch. No book, no iPod - I'm content to be looking at the water. Not sure why the ocean mesmerizes me so much, but it does.

Lovely Playa Zicaleta, the surfing beach. This is where I spent 99% of my time.


Boats docked in the cove in front of Playa Principal. I didn't really care for this beach at all, but it makes for a nice snap.

Waves were gigantic, and it wasn't even prime "surfing season." The surf was too strong for swimming, unless you're a total expert. Hanging out at the beach was my only activity, aside from the instances I swam in the hotel pool.
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The lodging
I stayed in a bungalow at Hotel Santa Fe, the nicest hotel in town by far. After assessing the scene, I realized I probably would have been OK in a less expensive hotel. Though since I was travelling solo, lodging was not something I wanted to skimp on. Hotel Santa Fe still wasn't that expensive anyway, and I really liked it. The bungalow was a good call - much more spacious and private than the main hotel.

Entrance to the bungalow.


My cute bungalow.

The food
Excellent, super-fresh seafood: grilled camarones and red snapper ceviche. Authentic Mexican food: chile rellenos, huevos oaxaquenos, and huevos mexicanos. Well-prepared beach snacks: Tacos de pollo and jamon y queso sandwiches.
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The nightlife
Sunset drinks on the beach, dinner, then an early bedtime. (Surfers need their rest.) A guy from Toronto runs Cinemar, a shop on the beach with a little movie theatre that holds about 12 people. He shows 2 movies every night. Sometimes it's surf-themed movies like "Point Break" and "Blue Crush". However, I saw the recent release "La Vie en Rose."



The assessment
While other Mexican beaches have been OK I also found them to be pretty developed, almost trying too hard for what the gringos would want. To that point, Puerto Escondido is great - not very developed at all. However, it's simply a matter of time before the masses find out about it... Puerto Escondido is my favorite Mexican beach thus far.

Another gratuitous surfer shot.
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Jan got married


Jan & Mike tied the knot on the beach in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Congrats to the happy couple!
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February blah

Haven't been blogging much lately. (And some of you have harassed me about this!) February was cold, I was kinda busy, and frankly I've become obsessed with Facebook. However, some good stuff happened:

1) Another successful installment of Fork Floozies at Accademia di Vino, a wine bar in East Midtown.

2) Me finally trying Bar Carrera. Friendly bartender, tasty tapas plus some of the best red wine I've drank in a while = me having dinner there two nights in a row.

3) An opening at a gallery in Chelsea. There were 2 exhibits, but the most interesting was "Lost Constellations" by Tara McPherson. In addition to the full-blown paintings, the exhibit also included the pencil sketches that informed the paintings. Basically reminded me that I need to surround myself with more art.
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