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8/31/2006 bocas del torobocas del toro... best place to go visit in panama! that is, if ur into paradisiac caribbean islands, rustic but exotic hotels, and excellent & varied food.
heres the lowdown on my experience:
we stayed at el limbo. rather nice! will stay there on my next trips, im sure!
we partied at barco hundido. the club is the one thats happening... hot bartender and all!
we beached at:
red frog - for $2, walk thru a dense and pretty jungle to get to the beach. check out the bar, flip flops, w swings seats. expect strong current and big waves here. boca del drago - quiet beach. calm waves.. almost non existent! 40-min taxi cab drive but well worth to spend a morning there.
we ate at (the most memorable):
pargo rojo - all around nice. this is the place if u feel like eating and being trendy while at that.
el pecado del sabor - cheesy name not reflective of the food! i felt like at a mexican cantina. awesome environment. high-end food.
here are other general links:
always support our locals and travelling hippies when here. they made our stay the most enjoyable. so.. come out to bocas and play!
L 6/12/2006 san blas left me speechless...... so ill just post a few links for u to check out:
where i stayed.
who live in san blas.
what the govt of panama says.
do check out my pictures too!
if ur into beachy, relaxing, rustic kind of spots... san blas is the most stunning place u could visit... ever!
L
ps. coincidentially enough, today i found this article (in spanish) in la prensa, on pierre-dominique gaisseau, a french cinematographer that filmed an unreleased documentary called iberogun: god is a woman, about the kuna culture in san blas. i would have liked to see that out. pity.. 4/30/2006 belfastbelfast is my new favourite city. its big enough to not get bored, and small enough to not get lost. what about a city where not only u can still smell fresh air... but u get a fabulous view of the country side from just about any point..? i loved every walk i had there.
city centre is nothing but a truer city's center. everything is going on there. the train station, the buses, all commerce and big shops. but as for shopping i have to say my favourite was walking down lisburn road to check out all the little boutiques. very affordable too for how artzy they are.
weather was blissful! i got lots of sun.. not one time it rained... except when it poured on us in giants causeway.. of all places! giants causeway was amazing.. breathtaking.. and slippery! i felt miniscule.. it sunk in right then how big this world is and how much more there is to see, appreciate, and learn from. i know.. all of that right there, right then.
i was sooo missing my girlfriends there! it was great to see them again... and see how they do the day by day. then.. there was the night by night. heres the list.
cafe vaudeville - good tacky.. that art nouveau thing. but loved the decour! crowd is a total *ignore.. so its pretty much all about the place and the people u go with.
whites - best by far. hipster, slash, everyone and everything goes. music, ur 80s, 90s hits.
the nothern whig - a tat of a cheesy crowd, but ur great new and old house music hits. bad wine list.. but great mojitos!
v bar - went there for 2 pound cocktails! and quiz nite. our group of people won the quiz challenge that nite.. 100 pounds! 10 each. cool!
the bot - u cannot get any more typical irish sports bar than this!
milk - real popular club. heard its a rough crowd usually... well.. not on monday nite for.. gay nite! props to belfast tranny titty von trapp for the lovely time...
as for food in belfast, must recommend rain city. not only my friend emma works there... but its just really good cuisine. eastern-western fusion. their cocktails are lovely... so is their goat cheese salad and curry mussels! the restaurant is owned by paul rankin, famous chef and restauranteer in belfast. besides it.. we did the late nite food, after drinking. the list..
esperantos - ur kebab joint w questionable items as tops.
dragon rendezvous - how bout a sit-in dining place, white top table cloths, open till 3 am? they have best orange duck! 71-75 donegall pass.
libertys - i had to wait forever for my homemade hawaiian pizza.. but it was goooood and well worth it! 44 bradbury place.
i also checked out newtonards, where my friend claire is from. and port rush.. lovely little surfing town.
about belfast here:
L 4/11/2006 feliz martes santoi can now say i experienced holy week in seville. it was... whoa! quite sumptuous.. and quite different.
in a nutshell, u watch processions of brotherhoods that walk their monuments around the streets of the city center all throughout the week. the one i saw was the Hermandad Los Javieres, properly called the Hermandad y Cofradía de Nazarenos del Santísimo Cristo de las Almas, María Santísima de Gracia y Amparo y San Francisco Javier. got milk w that? ;)
 Santísimo Cristo de las Almas, Cristo de Pires Azcárraga, 1947
 penitentes, who carry the crosses and wear their brotherhood's traditional 'antifaz' which preserves anonymity. many of them walk the procession barefeet as a form of their personal penance, hence their name.
 nazarenos, who, as the penitentes, wear their brotherhood's traditional 'antifaz', but also a 'capirote' conic face cover, very reminiscent of... yep. u got it.!
 Virgen María Santísima de Gracia y Amparo, Virgen de Fernández Andés, 1936
more information on this brotherhood and semana santa in seville here.
L 3/29/2006 cadiz.. a bit late!i spent carnival in cadiz w the hottest and most intelligent boy in the whole wide world.. abe. haha.. how cheesy am i! we stayed in a town very close to cadiz called puerto de santa maria. it is a very picturesque little town, right by the guadalete river in the cadiz bay. our hotel, bodega real, was just opened last summer. for a 4 star hotel we paid a rather cheap price. i have to rate it a 9.5.. as the eggs in the morning were gross.
we ate at little bars, for the most part. they are located everywhere.. literally! we dined both nights at pasta gansa, we surely loved it that much. we could not coordinate in regards to food and open restaurants due to the siesta.. but we managed!
we went to cadiz via renfe and via taxi one nite. the carnival itself was rather different than the usual carnival festivities i have heard of in other places, like the new orleans mardi gras, carnaval in rio de janeiro, carnaval in panama, different even from the carnival in tenerife! people dress in costumes, mostly kids and group of friends, and stumble around town. i didnt see much drinking.. perhaps cuz i was so drunk myself the whole time! chirigotas were cool. they are small groups of people that go walking around town, all dressed up in uniform costumes, they sing and play instruments. their songs are of various themes, political, humourous, celebrity, etc. they even participate in contests and such. rad!
L 8/2/2005 "... be sure you wear some flowers in your head"i honestly dont know why the lyrics. certainly, flowers grow beautifully there. other than that.... crazy ass lyrics!
i went to san francisco and met up with my best friend from high school there, lisa. she moved to austria couple years ago to unite with her austrian boyfriend klaus, so i had not seen her since year 2000. so when she said she'd be coming on a trip to california, i had to meet up with her..and her boyfriend. just had to. she dropped the big news... she's engaged! no thoughts about wedding and all that jazz.. but they are a committed couple.. how bout that? i wudnt have thunk it.. ever! not the girl that would dye her hair blue and wear mini skirts with green tights with socks and boots and was free like that. i was delighted to hear the news.
did the whole touristy thing in san fran. who would have thunk that as well?? not me. did alcatraz which.. is just a prison to me. kill me for sayin that.. i know. they did have a veeery good exposition that seems like eveyrone in the island missed: prisoners of age. take a peek, when u can. that was the highlight in alcatraz. did the pier thing. oh my. talk about tourists all jammd in one place. lombard street, chinatown, and walked down back to union square/downtown where we were staying at (olympic hotel). the walk was painful, but very interesting. this is the way to do san fran.
the next day i fulfilld my shopping duties. in union square first, and then in haight. met up with the roommates who came out as well and stayed with adrians uncle curt. we walkd over to haight and met up with alec there. we all four went down haight and adrian and i went craazy shopping. what a cool area. gimme an area like that anywhere in the world, utah, north dakota, just anywhere, and could live there easily. so free. i spent that day and night with the roommates. we all had lunch with alec, dinner with adrians uncle, and partied with david, dj friend.
the third day i reunited with lisa and klaus again and did japancenter, golden gate and walkd a bit of haight since they had not seen it.
san fran reminded me a bit of new york city. i didnt feel disappointed, but i guess i was expecting different.. not too nyc.. r not too LA. heres a veery very true quote: "if you,re not smart enough for new york, and not pretty enough for LA, then your place is san francisco." awwwwwww.. so mean.. but a bit true.
heres to check out:
to dine:
cha cha cha in haight - first come, first serve, no reservations. awesome! about time we kept that concept. it is a spanish tapas type of restaurant, very latin though, with veery generous portions. cute wild decor inside.
sumi in the castro - this is my favorite type of restaurant. a total hole in the wall, private. looks like a best kept secret type. i had the miso roasted chicken and that was sehr gut!
benihana in japan center - pretty good japanese steak house. don't be fooled by the pics that its got/cuz the real prices n stuff r all inside! hehe. very good turnout.
boudin at the fisherman's wharf - so empty when we got there, everywhere else pretty packed. not sure if linked to this was the kind of bad service the table next to us got. the lady had her salad for hours.. before her man got his salad and sandwich. weird. then they almost forgot about lisa's cola. my main entree wasn't all that great, but the shrimp cocktail was delish!
to shop:
haight! most definitely. all funky and original stores are here, including the infamous wasteland from west hollywood. if you opt for your classic high street and high couture stores, then union square/downtown will fit you fine.
to go out:
unfortunatly miss luz was too tired every night to hit night spots... blame it on the hills! i did go to a private event at mighty, cute place, warehouse type, to see mr. david harness, favourite house/garage dj at the moment. met him in miami, and now i have become a true follower. lovely guy too.!
L 6/20/2005 the puerto vallarta reportcomin in a bit late.. sorry readers!
what a beautiful place! we couldnt have gone to a better place to vacation. it was 5 of us that met there: mason (who just moved to nyc in february) stephen (who moved to atlanta back in 03), my roommates nick and adrian, and myself. the boys had been there before as it is the yearly trip they make all of them together. it was my first time at that place. we were living it large: staying in lovely casa isabel... waking up late... walking down to the beach... getting lunch in the way... beach... walking around town... shopping... coming up to the hotel... hanging out in the pool... watching MTV LATINO... then out to fancy restaurants. that was the agenda every day.
a vacation is not a vacation for luz without something outrageous happening. i got an absess 2 days before the trip, so as soon as i arrived, i went to doctor to get it checked out. yep, thats the luck of the luz. but it turned great at the end, as i only had to pay $80 for consultation, surgery, and meds. take that, USA! after that, it was all fun and games.... until my return. since im not a US citizen, i had to do immigration separately coming into the US. there were 2 escalators going down to immigration.. one for US citizens, the other one for resident aliens (yes.. thats what we, non US citizens, are called). im the only one taking the escalator down when, accidentally, my bag slides all the way down making this pretty loud noiise and setting off the emergency alarm. all from the sudden a whole group of immigration officers show up at the end of the escalator down, reaching their firearms. here i am... atop the escalator.. raising my hands up... telling them it was an accident. yeah right, they're thinking. so i take about 45 minutes in immigration.... all the questions, fingerprints... etc. thank god ive been in that situation before... *sigh
but back to my beautiful trip. please let me be condemned if i make fun of mexicans again. yes, you've heard me say it. mexicans to the rest of latin america, are like texans to the rest of USA. we make fun of their accent... their 'picante' in everything they eat... and lets not even start with their music and soap operas! but these people are the most hardworking, humble, and honest of all latin countries i've visited. not once did we note them trying to take advantage of us tourists (which we are experts at back home in panama!). mexicans are the gay-friendliest people too.. that's always a plus plus. mexicans rawk!
Try these restaurants/bars when you go: Bianco - in the romantic Puerto Vallarta area, with a terrace outlooking the Cuale river. all white decor inside, with a very trendy bar and dancing area downstairs.
L |
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