June 19, 2008
Providence
Power Plant at Night, Providence
We visited Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of "the biggest little state in the union." Our friend Brett found it "cute" and even "cutesey" at points. I suppose in contrast to Los Angeles, it could be so considered.
I thought it had that cool college town feel that many places do; both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design are located there, right next to each other, in fact. We stopped to see the RISD Museum, which I suspected would have a lot of design-oriented stuff. They did have that, but they also had a bunch of more traditional art such as ancient statuary and European paintings.
The RISD Museum, Providence
That museum is on Benefit Street, which is an old historic street with lots of old houses. Shawn insists that I put in a picture of one of them, so as to give all you dear readers a sample of the old crap that one can see there.
Aston House (built 1790), Providence
In contrast to several other college towns, the college angle doesn't seem to be overdone in Providence. You do not have a lot of ratty bars that cater to the drunken carousing of students, nor numerous mid-quality fast food outlets that pass off sandwiches that are merely overpriced as "gourmet." It might be that this is because Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design are both top-notch schools, or it might be that the city's raison d'être is not just the schools. In any case, it is a very beautiful place with some very interesting offerings.
I wanted to specifically note a place called The Meeting Street Café (220 Meeting Street), because it was incredible. They are more-or-less a deli, but not of your specifically Jewish variety. They have soups and sandwiches, as well as some other entrees and desserts. Everything we had there was really tasty, and incredibly huge. Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed with the eating experience there, I didn't get any photos.
Apart from the cutsey old homes, there are some killer buildings in the downtown. Among them are...
The Bank of America Building, Providence
...and...
Court House, Providence
...and...
Citizen's Bank/Apartments, Providence
...and...
Some Random Building, Providence
We also had some good Italian food in Federal Hill, and went to a pretty cool gay bar named "Mirabar."
I'd tell you about our shocking hotel fire alarm experience (5:30 am!), but I don't have time now. That'll probably be related in a summary of our hotel experiences in a later posting.
Posted by crispy at 09:09 AM | Comments (2)
June 13, 2008
A Look at Boston
Shawn in Chinatown, Boston
The above shot was taken in Chinatown, as was this one of a bilingual Dunkin Donuts sign.
Dunkin Donuts in Chinatown, Boston
The Theatre District is next to Chinatown, and one gets the "border effect" of sorts at the Wang Theater.
Wang Theater, Boston
Let's just say that I was greatly disappointed with that place. Not so with the Museum of Fine Arts.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
They have a great Asian section, as well as an incomparable section of portraits of several early Americans.
Portrait of Paul Revere, MFA
They have a lot of pre-American stuff too, like the British lion on top of the Old State House, seen below.
Lion, Old State House
This is one part of the Potato Famine Monument, which shows an Irish immigrant woman looking back to the Old Country.
Potato Famine Monument, Boston
This building has fire escapes that are all spiral staircases.
Buildings with spiral fire escapes, Financial District
These are homes in the South End.
Residences, South End
These are in the Union Park area of South End.
Residences near Union Park, South End
These last two were not taken in Boston itself, but rather in Milford, an outlying town where Shawn and I spent the night. This first one was such an oddity that I had to include it. I figured readers (apart from those who live in Oregon) have not seen full-serve gas for a long time. It was roughly the same price (or cheaper) than the self-serve gas places in neighboring towns.
Full-Serve Gas, Milford
And the former smoker in me has to gasp at these cigarette prices. Note that these are on sale.
Cigarette Sale, Milford
Posted by crispy at 09:28 AM | Comments (3)
June 12, 2008
Specialists Admitted in Rear
General Hooker Entrance
It's even funnier because it's an entrance for the State House.
Posted by crispy at 06:03 PM | Comments (1)
June 08, 2008
The Photograph That Helped al-Qaeda
MBTA Advisory, Riverside Station
I was snapping this very photo of a sign at a train station for a collage I'm going to make once we return to Mexico of signs telling of all the things Americans are not permitted to do when I heard a voice asking, "May I help you?"
"Oh!" I exclaimed, having not seen him walking over. "I'm just taking a picture of the sign."
"You're not supposed to take any pictures of the equipment," he told me.
"No photos of any equipment?" I asked, not exactly sure how a sign was equipment.
"No," he replied with a sigh, indicating a mild annoyance.
I suspected I knew the reason for this, despite its being utterly ridiculous. Recently, I have been stopped from taking any number of seemingly innoccuous photographs like the one above.
The first time we ever ran into the phenomenon, we were in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Shawn was going around to see the locations used in the opening credits of one of his favorite shows of all time, The Mary Tyler Moore Show - the house where she supposedly lived, the park where she walked, the street where she tossed her hat in the air. When attempting to take a photograph of the escalator she rode in the Nicollet Mall, he was stopped by a private guard that wouldn't allow him to take a picture "for security reasons." At that time, it actually took us a while to figure out how a photograph of an escalator could be a threat to anyone's security, but by now, we've heard it as often as we've heard the one about putting your liquids in three-ounce bottles in a clear Ziploc® bag in your carry-on luggage.
All the same, I like to hear them say it. I put the camera down and asked him.
"Why is that?"
He looked at me for a moment with a corner of his mouth raised and issued a brief snort, and replied simply, "9-11." He stopped just short of following that with, "...smart-ass."
I thought I'd try to lighten the mood a little, so I asked him about what caused us to notice the sign in the first place: to reach the exit of the station, one has no choice to cross the tracks (visible at the lower left) about five feet from the location of the sign telling riders it is FORBIDDEN. I asked him how one was to get out of the station if they adhere to the mandate of the sign.
He was not amused.
"You exit down there, in the yellow zone," he said, pointing to a strip painted on the ground.
It was late. He didn't need some joker taunting him about the rules; people probably hassle him about the contradictory signage on a daily basis, each one thinking they're the genius that was the first to notice it. I abandoned my hopeless mission to turn his frown upside down and exited the station as he had indicated.
In my defense though, I wouldn't have joked with him about it if I could have just taken a photo of the sign. In his defense, he seemed, by his manner and tone of voice, to realize that it was ridiculous that I couldn't take a picture of signage at the station.
It made me wonder exactly how long people will continue to actually enforce such ridiculous knee-jerk prohibitions in the United States that were pushed on them in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. I mean, honestly. Even if I took a photograph of the entire station, it's a train stop in a suburban town in Massachusetts. It's unlikely to be a high-priority target on even the most unambitious terrorist's list. I would be open to consideration of the idea that high-resolution photographs of more serious targets (Grand Central Station, airport terminals, Fort Knox) might be of aid to those wishing to do harm to the United States and its citizens, but one would be an idiot to think that a tourist's snapshot taken in a train station, especially one that simply shows what a sign says, is helping terrorists.
I know, it's easier to just write a blanket law that uses language like "transportation facility" and "equipment" than to exhaustively list which manifestations of those things are subject to a law and which are excused from it. I understand that such vague terminology has certain advantages to legislators writing the laws and those who enforce it. Yet when will the old chestnut of selective enforcement of such laws start to kick in and give people a little relief from the martial law effect in the United States?
Even the guy that told me to stop taking photographs seemed to find it ridiculous, but he had to do his job. Will life in the United States be like this for the rest of my life?
Posted by crispy at 10:59 PM | Comments (8)
June 01, 2008
Toronto: What I Liked
CN Tower, Toronto
Two and a half days in Toronto is not much time. It is not enough time to experience a decent sample of what the city has to offer, let alone to get a good feeling of what the city is really like.
Given that our stay at the Sheraton Centre Toronto was the worst part of our trip (I won't go into that here; let's just say that the $18 veggie burger was not the only rip off there), I wanted to talk about some of the great things I liked about Toronto.
View from the CN Tower, Toronto
Toronto is a huge city. It is big not only in population and area, but in vertical space as well. Unlike Shawn, I am not a huge fan of high views, so I let him go on his own to the CN Tower to get his fix. The pictures he took there show how massive the city is, in terms of big, tall buildings. I have yet to reach New York City, but Toronto is in many ways how I picture it: skyscrapers cluttered together perilously close and teeming with surging masses of people betweent them.
View from the CN Tower, Toronto
I also liked that the people here are of all different types. Half of the population here is foreign-born. We had a cab driver from Kenya that told us about being thrown into jail in the United States at a border crossing and being held for six hours in a crowded cell just because the country where he was born (but hasn't lived for more than 20 years) is on "the list." We heard all kinds of different languages on the radio here, many that I couldn't identify, and of course, the ubiquitous French.
Multilingual Signage, Royal Ontario Museum
I love Mexican food. I have found a number of places in Guadalajara that have tasty delights that I miss already, having been on the road for a couple of weeks. Yet the ethnic diversity results in a great diversity of ethnic restaurants, the likes of which I'm not even sure they have in Mexico City. We didn't eat there, but yesterday we passed an Eritrian restaurant. We were so taken with Full Moon Vegetarian Restaurant (638 Dundas Street West, 416/203-1210), a place that serves a huge selection of all-vegetarian Chinese dishes, that we ate there twice. We also had great Indian and Thai food too.
Full Moon Vegetarian Restaurant
This was a sauteed eggplant with vegetarian ham, which had a beautiful palette of rich colors.
Eggplant with Vegetarian Ham, Full Moon restuarnat
Big cities always have the best graffiti, and Toronto has some of the best I've seen in a while. Moreover, one doesn't tend to see all that many boring, crappy tags, but when there is graffiti, it's almost always the elaborate kind that demands real artistic talent.
Graffiti, Toronto
I don't like to see Shawn in pain, but this was one of the funniest unexpected things I saw on the trip. I looked up from taking that last shot and saw him bent over and rubbing his back next to this sign. I quickly snapped another shot just because the symmetry was so funny.
Shawn In jured, Toronto
Posted by crispy at 11:45 PM | Comments (3)
May 31, 2008
Toronto, Ontokyo
The Amazing $18 Veggie Burger
Shawn and I are in Toronto, where we are enjoying a beautiful view from our 33rd story view at the Sheraton Toronto Centre Hotel.
What we're not enjoying is the nickle-and-diming. They charge guests an additional CAD $9 to use the pool, hot tub or gym, and a CAD $2 access charge (plus CAD $0.15 per minute) to make toll-free calls. They give you coffee in the room, but apparently they only give you two packages (enough to make two cups total) for your entire STAY (not per day), and if you want more, you can buy it from them.
But what really got us was this CAD $18 veggie burger in the restaurant. Of course, it's $18 for fish and chips too...
Posted by crispy at 03:30 PM | Comments (3)
May 27, 2008
I went to Cleveland and it was closed.
Shawn and I planned three days in Cleveland, as there were several things we wanted to do, like visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
We also thought we'd need considerable time to visit the renowned Cleveland Museum of Art and the Contemporary Museum of Art in Cleveland. Yet as our luck would have it, neither one is open to the public at the moment. The former is closed for renovations; the latter is closed for the installation of their next exhibit. Go figure. That exhibit opens the day we leave town.
The Cleveland Museum of Art closure makes us really mad. It's lame to close the whole musuem at once. Usually places will renovate in sections so they at least have something open at all times. Instead, they suggest that you visit one of their traveling exhibits. That's all well and good...if you're in Nashville!
We will end up going to see the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum at Case-Western University, and that will be cool. We hope to join the leagues of people that claim that they expected the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to be lame (as do we), but were pleasantly surprised to find it both interesting and cool. We have tickets at will-call to see the world-famous Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall, considered one of the top five orchestras in the country.
So we won't be without things to do, but it is a pretty big drag for us that both of the big art museums will be closed while we're here.
Posted by crispy at 10:14 PM | Comments (3)
May 24, 2008
Chicago: Part Two
Friday we moved downtown, to stay in the W Chicago - City Center. I was a bit apprehensive about this hotel, because I'd read some reviews of it that had criticized it as being very dark and having miniscule rooms. In fact, when you make a reservation for the cheapest room rates they have, it even warns you with the text "SMALLER ROOM" in the description.
The person at reception that checked us in upgraded us to a larger room, which is, I believe only the second time that we've really been upgraded at a Starwood property, despite the fact that we've been members of their frequent stay program for a few years. That perhaps tipped our perception of the place toward the positive from the start, but I have to say that this downtown W seems a lot cooler than the Lakeshore. The staff is a lot friendlier, the location is killer, and the hotel itself is dazzling. It was formerly the Midland Hotel, and still retains the vaulted arches in the lobby and the gold, silver and bronze plaster-cast ceiling on the mezzanine. Yeah, it is kind of dark, but in a good W Hotel sexy way, not a dim, seedy, too-cheap-to-buy-decent-light-bulbs kind of way.
That can be fun too, I guess, but after our return flight experience and the Chicago zombie tour of our first 24 hours in town, it is good to be in a cushy spot. In addition to the featherbed and down pillows, this hotel softens the blow of being in a strange land by providing a concierge. In our experience, the W Hotel concierges range from being so well-informed you fear their falling into the wrong hands and being used for evil, to having such a lack of knowledge that might be similarly dangerous, if they actually had any follow-through whatsoever. Luckily, at the W Chicago - City Center, we had the benefit of Li Feng.
Li is the kind of concierge that can tell you the street addresses and hours of operation for a restaurant in town at the mere mention of the name. He pointed us to the incredible experience we had at the Green Zebra, and he sent us to the fabulous Lou Mitchell's diner for breakfast today, after we'd slept through it here at the hotel. He explained that the latter is kind of a greasy spoon kind of diner, although it is really very good. "People actually line up there in the morning to get a table," he told us as he wrote the address out on one of his W business cards. "If you get there and there is a line, just go in through the door to the hostess, give her my card and she'll get you a table right away."
We went to the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture on Saturday, then that night we went to see "The Strangerer" at the Chopin Theater. Sunday we're checking out of the W Chicago - City Center and heading down to Effingham by train, where my father will pick us up and take us to Olney.
Posted by crispy at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2008
Chicago: Green Zebra
Tonight we ate at a restaurant called Green Zebra. It is at 1460 West Chicago Avenue. The phone number is (312) 243-7100.
I cannot begin to relate what an amazing experience it was for me. I have long griped about how vegetarian restaurants are prone to overlooking flavor, taste and artistic merit for other, less interesting criteria. Vegetarian food often gets a bad reputation because those that make it do not approach it as chefs approach regular food. Too often "vegetarian food" means simply "health food," and while it most certainly is not the case that food that is tasty must be unhealthy, it is presumed that if vegetarian dishes are more healthy than your average dish, they will be appealing to vegetarians. This is not true.
Vegetarians appreciate presentation, balance, complimentary flavors, texture, just as much as meat eaters, but rarely do we get the same attention paid to these details by chefs cooking for us as those cooking for omnivores at the finer establishments. Often vegetarian dishes are accomplished by merely omitting the meat from dishes that normally contain it. This upsets the integrity of the dishes, and often leaves such plates thoroughly unsatisfying. Dishes so prepared are about as rewarding for vegetarians as girl-on-girl scenes in heterosexual pornographic films directed by straight men are for real-life lesbians: they may achieve a technical accuracy, but they have no real depth or soul.
Green Zebra does not get overly concerned with being a vegetarian restaurant as much as it just makes great food from products that are not meat. There is no effort to substitute anything to replace "missing" meat. Green Zebra's dishes do not originate from a position of inferiority because they start out already lacking some aspect for which the chef must compensate. They are just well-designed dishes that are made from the wide variety of things that fit into the category of not being meat.
There are plenty of dishes that are vegetarian in the traditional cuisine rosters of various ethnic foods. Italian has lots of pastas and polentas, Greek has salads and spanikopita, and Asian has tofu and tempura vegetables. These are all great, but they are not necessarily exciting. The stuff at Green Zebra made me go, "Wow! That's really brilliant!" Fresh burrata cheese, grilled mango, haricot verts and shaved fennel. Hawaiian heart of palm, cape gooseberries, pasion fruit cream and szechuan peppercorns. Poached Prospera Farms egg, smoked potato puree, served with country sourdough toast. It doesn't all work equally well, but enough comes together in an unexpected way to make it a truly exciting experience of eating vegetarian food. And when was the last time you thought of eating vegetarian food as exciting?
Sure, this is a place for foodies without a doubt. If you can't imagine spending ten bucks on a plate of vegetables, no matter how well they're crafted, this place is not for you. Yet if you are a vegetarian who appreciates culinary artistry, this place is arguably the most important restaurant in the world.
I'm not kidding.
Read the New York Times review.
Posted by crispy at 10:00 PM | Comments (1)
May 19, 2008
The United States Trip
It is official. Shawn has reached a settlement with his former employer, so we will be visiting the United States for several weeks to visit our parents. We will also be doing a bit of sightseeing along the way in places like Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto and New York.
I already have mixed feelings about the trip.
On the positive side, it will be great to see the folks and our friends, and to catch up on what is going on. I will delight in going out to a bar, being able to choose a whiskey from a list that has more than just eight Scotches and one Bourbon, then sitting back to enjoy some real jazz played on a real piano, not a synthesizer with a built-in drum kit. I will revel in the cool cascade of iced air that pours forth from the open freezer case as I try to decide which of the ten varieties of Morningstar Farms® burgers I want, or maybe I'll just get a box of Boca® Bratwurst, some sauerkraut and pumpernickel buns. I might just buy some electronics without the 270% markup.
Yet while I look forward to basking in the unrestrained consumerism that is perhaps the best remaining aspect of life in the United States, I fear just being there. It is funny to us that gringos coming to visit invariably ask if it's safe here in Guadalajara, because it's so quiet and calm around where we live. Here one has to be cautious about the occasional cab driver that wants to overcharge you by ten pesos, the government official that promises to fix the roads and then absconds with half the funds for the project, or the sharp pieces of metal that jut forth from the crumbling remains of some neglected building, started long ago but never completed. There is danger here, but it does not seem to have the same violent, lethal quality that danger in the United States has.
Sure, Mexico has some dangerous places. News stories appear with an alarming frequency about the escalating war between the narcotraficantes and the authorities. Charles just recently reminded me that, while I fall in love with Mexico City every time I visit the Zona Rosa for a few days, in neighborhoods of the capital that have not been sanitized for public consumption, people are afraid to walk the streets at night or wear jewelry outside. There are parts of Mexico that are dangerous, but in general, for most people, Guadalajara just isn't. It is a big city where one should be cautious, but overall, it's a nice, quiet place.
In contrast, in the United States, it's the nice, quiet places that scare me the most. It will be a long time before I forget the experience of driving across the United States with Shawn about a year before we left, going to Massachusetts to get married. Along the way, we got our fair share of weird looks from front desk clerks when we checked to a reservation for only one bed and caused many an eye to roll when we asked for the salad without the apple-smoked bacon or the flame-broiled chicken breast on top. Yet it was the public opinion we heard on the radio driving through nice, quiet places that finally got to us.
"Them immigrants come here tuh steal awr jobs, 'n' they don' even bother tuh learn them some English!" one caller to a talk show railed. "They needs tuh learn the language if'n they wanna live here."
Another, calling in to answer the host's question about how the audience would feel if Condoleezza Rice ran for president, said, "I don't think America is ready for a black woman to be president." She was not the only caller to have such sentiments, although other callers said, "I don't think America is ready for a black woman to be president."
The last time we visited the United States, in April 2007, while stuck waiting in an airport, the TV monitors were showing an Anderson Cooper special on CNN. Despite plenty of ongoing real news (a bomb set by Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq in the cafeteria of the National Assembly of Iraq kills eight people, 33 people are killed and 29 others wounded by shooter Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin dies at the age of 76), Cooper was immersed in an hour-long, special presentation investigating the gay question.
Once again we will be driving across the United States, and I hope that this time we find that Americans have gotten tired of discussing whether homosexuals and people of color deserve any rights and have moved on to discussing what new direction they want the country to take. I hope that we are surprised to find our fellow citizens engaged in a respectful and intelligent debate about things like the economy, education, or technology instead of fiercely arguing the source of the next great threat to life and liberty and the best way to snuff it out entirely before it takes over.
The last time we were traveling across the United States, the whole place seemed like one big paranoid science fiction film from the 50s, where people are threatened by some metaphoric mouse and end up razing entire cities in their fearful panic, trying to cleanse the world of the menace that never really was. The events of September 11, 2001 were not yet five years past, the War on Terror was blindly lashing out against inappropriate targets, and the American public was too numbed to give a damn that their government was torturing prisoners, wasting billions and illegally monitoring their communications. Maybe enough time has now elapsed that Americans are ready to get back on the horse and take their place at the reins of one of the most powerful countries in the world, tackling difficult problems and returning the nation to a place where at least the ideas of truth and justice have some value. Or will rising inflation of key goods, a collapsing housing market and an impending recession bring out the worst in people?
If history is any indication, I'm afraid we are to be disappointed.
Posted by crispy at 07:08 AM | Comments (9)
May 09, 2008
You Pee, You Pay!
Bus Station Pay Toilets, Querétaro
They lack the vitriolic signage of some facilities in the United States, but Mexico has its fair share of toilets where one has to pay for entry. These are especially common in bus terminals, like the one in Querétaro, pictured above.
In most cases, they cost MXN $3, which is roughly USD $0.28. The machines as shown above make change for 10 or 5 peso coins, but they do not accept 20 or 50 peso notes. If there is a human standing or sitting outside the entrance of the facility, they usually can make change for smaller bills.
The theory is that the money goes toward the upkeep of the bathroom and to provide things like toilet paper, hand towels and soap. I'm not convinced that there is not some serious skimming off the top going on.
I do not expect scented terrycloth towels and a foot massage for that price, but I have been to several such bathrooms where it seems like a rip-off. At times, an attendant will give you three squares (yes, three individual squares) of toilet paper for your MXN $0.30 as you enter. It's better if they have an actual roll of toilet paper you can use as you need it, but often, when these are provided, they're not in the stalls where you use it, but rather out by the sinks where you wash your hands. All the stalls share one big industrial roll from a dispenser mounted on the wall, and the user is supposed to tear some off as she enters. I do not understand where the economy is in that. I think the idea is that they only have to pay for one dispenser that way, but when faced with the decision in advance about how much toilet paper one is going to need when the actual time comes, the tendency is to over-estimate. No one wants to get caught with his pants down, literally, in such a situation.
It doesn't hurt when traveling in Mexico (and probably anywhere, for that matter) to bring one's own toilet paper. It seems odd to me that no company has come up with any kind of product for this here. I've seen Charmin travel rolls (small, packed in a hard plastic case) in the United States, but to my knowledge, they don't sell those in Mexico. Go figure. The best commercially-available product that I've seen here are moist wipes that are used for babies, and those seem to be available everywhere here. Otherwise, you should try to remember to wad up a bunch and stick it in your bag or pocket before going out and about.
Sooner or later, you'll be glad you did.
Posted by crispy at 12:10 PM | Comments (3)
April 30, 2008
Querétaro: Part Three
Paper Head Guy, Querétaro
I wanted to see the place where Emperor Maximilian was executed, El Cerro de las Campanas, or "The Hill of the Bells." We set out on foot this morning before noon to check it out.
It was already hot, and I was in semi-dressy clothes. At first, it wasn't so bad. Walking down Avenida Hidalgo, I saw a bunch of stuff that struck me as funny or cool, and I was able to snap some photos of them.
Lavandería/Tintorería Veronica, Querétaro
I don't understand the one below. It's a sign for a place that sells medical implants and prosthetics, and I'm sure their products help their clients to live fuller, more satisfying lives. Yet I suspect most of them do not go on to be communications directors on the crew of an open-wheel, off-road racing team.
Adventures in Prosthetics, Querétaro
I mean, where did they get this photo? Did they make it themselves? It looks like a poster for a Hollywood summer blockbuster about a racer that loses an arm in a terrible accident but whose courage allows him to take his former teammate to the championships as the tough but caring crew chief that inspires everyone that gets to know him.
A reward is being offered for this lost dog.
Perrito Perdido, Querétaro
Why, I'm not exactly sure. It looks like Darth Poodle to me, but then again, I'm not a big dog fan.
Is it just me, or does this...
I AM A MONEDA!, Querétaro
...remind anyone else of Don Hertzfeldt's "Rejected"?
Soon enough though, we started having to go uphill to get to the summit, and site of the historic stuff I wanted to see. This was annoying because I was a little dressed up, and I was sweating like a pig the whole way. As we got nearer and nearer to the top of the hill, Shawn noticed that all the gates to the park were closed. He started to worry that one had to go in through one specific gate to get in the park, but there were no signs whatsoever anywhere to direct one to the proper entrance. The gates that were closed didn't even have a sign telling one which gate to go to.
This isn't entirely unusual in Mexico, but one would think that, at one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city, they'd have signs telling you where to go to buy your ticket to get in. Of course, our friends Larry and Joseph would argue that this is where you make your first mistake, presuming that people think about such things here.
We finally got to the top, and found that we were in a big empty parking lot, unable to get in through the fence that encircles the whole park. Luckily, Shawn spotted a gate that was ajar, although it said (in Spanish), "EMPLOYEE ENTRANCE ONLY!" They can't afford the time or expense to put a sign up telling you where to get in, but they can somehow manage one to tell you to keep out. I was annoyed, hot and sweaty by this point, so I squeezed in through the gate after Shawn. I wasn't about to go back down the hill just so that I could go back up to get to the proper gate.
View from El Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro
While climbing the hill, I was quickly losing interest in the park, cursing our even thinking of going there. Yet once inside, I was glad to have made the effort, because it was quite verdant and beautiful.
Shawn at El Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro
There is a great, enormous statue of Benito Juárez in the park, which is kind of funny because he was a pretty short man.
Monument to Benito Juárez, Querétaro
Shawn commented that it looked so severe as to seem Russian.
Monument to Benito Juárez, Querétaro
You can't really tell in the above photo as resized for the blog, but Shawn's giving old Juárez the Lynndie England.
The Lynndie England, Querétaro
Emperor Maximilian was Austrian, and had been appointed as Emperor of Mexico by Napoleon during a period when France had conquered Mexico. His reign was brief though, as Juárez and the resistance movement overthrew the monarchy and had Maximilian executed. The family of Maximilian sponsored the building of a chapel to commemorate the re-establishing of diplomatic relations between Austria-Hungary and Mexico in 1900.
Chapel at El Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro
It is a nice little chapel, but it does not seem like people are allowed to enter, but they do have the doors open so you can see inside. When we arrived, a bunch of school kids on a field trip were all bunched up at the entrance checking it out.
Chapel at El Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro
There's also a fountain that is dedicated to children, their learning, and being the future. Yada, yada, yada.
Child Reading Sculpture at El Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro
We didn't notice until posting the picture, but it looks like the kid in the above sculpture is missing a foot. Maybe he needs to visit the prosthetics store and make something of himself, instead of just moping around reading all the time!
We exited the park, buying the entrance tickets as we left. I suspect they thought we were crazy, but I didn't want to explain our whole gate-crashing earlier. We hailed a cab and went to Harry's, a New Orleans-style restaurant and oyster bar in the Plaza Constitución.
Shawn at Harry's
Harry's was a pretty nice place, and they had a handful of things on the menu that we could eat as ovo-lacto vegetarians. Meat-eating fans of Cajun and Creole food would probably enjoy it even more.
I was delighted to discover that they had pecan pie listed as a dessert on the menu, but I was disappointed to find that it was more like a Mexican pay de nuez than a southern US style pecan pie. Instead of having a layer of glazed pecans over that delicious sugary, gooey filling, it was more or less all crushed up nuts in a crust. Not awful, but not at all what I was expecting (and craving).
Harry's of Querétaro
It's in the same building as the Gran Hotel, and seems to be the most happening night spot in the Centro Histórico. We went back later at night, around midnight, to have a nightcap and celebrate our last night in town, but there wasn't a free table in the whole place.
Yet before all that, still in the afternoon, we walked over to try and hang out for a while in the Alameda Hidalgo, a huge park with lots of trees and grassy areas. We had driven by it last night, and it looked beautiful. Yet when we got there, we found it closed. There were maintenance people inside, but all the gates were locked up tight.
Alameda Hidalgo, Querétaro
Again, there were no signs anywhere telling visitors why the park was closed, or when it would be open.
Alameda Hidalgo, Querétaro
We suspected that, since they had maintenance crews inside doing things like watering areas of the grass and sweeping the walkways, they do open it up at some point.
Alameda Hidalgo, Querétaro
Yet since we had limited time in town, we didn't stick around to find out. We took photos through the fence and then decided to get our shoes shined. We asked the shoeshine guy what the deal was with the Alameda being closed and he explained something about how it actually is open at certain times, but he was old and a bit mumbly, so we didn't fully understand his answer. We think it's open on most days but only after a certain time. If visiting Querétaro, and if you want to visit the Alameda, be sure to inquire as to when it is open, or you may be very disappointed when you show up and can't get in.
Alameda Hidalgo, Querétaro
We hoofed it back to the center and walked up Anador Libertad, a very pretty street that is now a pedestrian walkway, to reach the Plaza de Armas.
Anador Libertad, Querétaro
Shawn went about taking photos of the plaza while I got off my feet in a seat off to the side of the plaza.
Plaza de Armas, Querétaro
We had coffee at Gloria Jean's Coffees, where the staff was exceptionally friendly.
Plaza de Armas, Querétaro
As we were leaving, Shawn spotted a restaurant next to the coffee place that said, 'COCINA HINDÚ' - an Indian restaurant! That's our favorite national/regional food, so we were thrilled to find such a place. They were obviously not open, as they had all their tables and chairs stacked outside, and were doing some remodeling inside. Shawn went in and asked if they would be open for dinner, and a man told him, yes, at 8 pm.
Plaza de Armas, Querétaro
We were excited and immediately decided to return for an Indian feast that night for our final dinner in Querétaro.
Plaza de Armas, Querétaro
As we left the plaza, we were surrounded by a bunch of school kids who wanted to interview us in English for a school project. They had some 20 questions about genetically-modified foods. It was incredibly hard stuff for non-native speakers, but they did a pretty good job.
We walked back to our hotel and relaxed for a while in the air conditioning. Eventually we showered (again), shaved (again), ironed our clothes and went out for our Indian delights. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the restaurant, the furniture that had been piled up outside was piled up inside. We entered and a bunch of people were all sitting around talking. We asked if they were open, and they said that they were opening on Friday. I was a bit miffed. I said that someone there had earlier told Shawn that they would be open at 8 pm for dinner, and the woman that seemed to be an owner apologized to us. We were really bummed because we were really looking forward to Indian food. It's very hard to find it here in Mexico.
It was nice however, to actually get an apology for being misinformed by someone on their staff. That usually doesn't happen. Normally you get a shrug and a laugh, and nothing more. Because people think it's better to tell you what you want to hear rather than to tell you something that will disappoint you, people lie to you all the time here, and nobody thinks there is anything wrong with that.
While we didn't get the chance to eat at the place because we're leaving Thursday afternoon to return to Guadalajara, I submit to you the information on the place in case you are going to Querétaro and would like to try it out. The place is called "bhaji" and is located at Pasteur Sur #8, in the Plaza de Armas. Their phone number is (442) 224-2814.
We ended up taking a chance on an Italian place called Trastevere (16 de Septiembre #28; 212-1472) and were positively surprised. Instead of the exact same boring three or four vegetarian dishes that they offer at seemingly all the Italian restaurants in Mexico, this place had interesting dishes that we have never seen anywhere else in the country. We had a cheese fondue with artichokes and grilled tomatoes that was out of this world, followed by a spinach and cheese ravioli in pecan white sauce for Shawn and a spinach lasagne for me. The service was excellent and the atmosphere quite nice: an open courtyard adorned with several interesting paintings. After our Indian disappointment, it was an absolutely delightful end to the evening.
Tomorrow we head back to Guadalajara, but we have had a great time here in Querétaro. I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in a good mixture of the historic charm and modern 'conveniences.'
I just wish they would get a little better about their signage telling visitors details like where the entrances are and when places are open so one doesn't end up wasting a lot of time.
Posted by crispy at 11:31 PM | Comments (2)
April 29, 2008
Victoria Soda
Victoria Soda, from San Juan del Río
I am delighted to have discovered yet another Mexican-made soda that has somehow thus far survived the Coke®/Pepsi® holocaust that has killed off nearly all the independent soft drink manufacturers of Mexico: Victoria!
It is manufactured about 32 miles southeast of Santiago de Querétaro in San Juan del Río, Querétaro, the second largest city in the state. It is also imported to the United States by The Victoria Beverage Company, Inc., Conroe, Texas.
I saw it at the Oxxo, and selected the unusual red currant flavor over the more typical lime, apple, sangria, and orange. At first, I thought it was a little funny tasting, but the more I drink, the more I like it. It seems a little weak on flavor, but it's certainly not weak on sweet.
I was unaware of the Spanish word for red currant, which appears to be grosella.
Refresco Victoria, de San Juan del Río
Black currant is grosella negra.
Posted by crispy at 09:32 PM | Comments (3)
Querétaro: Part Two
Shawn reads The News at the Museo de Arte, Querétaro
Today we woke up early to make use of the continental breakfast at the hotel. It was, as I suspected, nothing to write home about. In fact, it was not anything worth writing about in the blog, apart from the fact that it forced us to get up early, and that let us get a pretty early start on the day.
Before noon, we got the the Museo de Arte de Querétaro, which normally charges MXN $30 per person for admission, but it is free every Tuesday. We paid the additional MXN $15 to be permitted to take photos in the courtyard.
Porticos, Museo de Arte, Querétaro
They currently have an exhibit of work by contemporary Mexican painter, Carlos García de la Nuez there, and we both really enjoyed it. He uses mixed media to cover huge (10' x 10'?) canvases, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of those works.
I can show you some of the details of the architecture though.
Inside the Museo de Arte, Querétaro
All the faces of lining the courtyard are different; they do not repeat.
Inside the Museo de Arte, Querétaro
However, they all terminate at the bottom in this single-leg and foot ornamentation.
Inside the Museo de Arte, Querétaro
We then moved on to the Museo Regional de Querétaro. The admission there is normally MXN $30, but it was free today because it was Tuesday. Again, we paid the few pesos extra to be allowed to take photographs inside the museum.
Hallway, Museo Regional de Querétaro
I wanted to go there because they supposedly have the table on which the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed. Unfortunately, we were not able to find it anywhere in the museum, and it looked like a huge section had been closed off. We did find the desk where the orders to execute Emperor Maximilian were signed.
Poor Max Was Bound to Die
Tonight, we are hoping to go out to either Bangkok Mex Thai, or Chino Lung Xing (Blvd. Bernardo Quintana 110). The former only has photographs of the food items online, no real menu. If it turns out they do not offer any vegetarian food, we will try to get to Lung Xing, because we've read online that they have vegetable dishes with tofu. I'm not holding my breath in either case.
Posted by crispy at 02:38 PM | Comments (2)
April 28, 2008
Querétaro: Part One
Chris and Shawn at the Hotel Quinta Santiago, Querétaro
The ride from Guadalajara on the bus was pleasant enough. We both slept off and on for most of it. The films were Rush Hour 3 and Monsters, Inc. The former was subtitled yet still unwatchable, while the latter was dubbed, much to my annoyance, for previously mentioned reasons.
Our cab from the bus station to the Hotel Quinta Santiago cost us MXN $37 (about USD $3.54) and took about 20 minutes. We were delighted to find that the hotel room was huge and quite comfortable. We took a few moments to figure out where we wanted to go with the help of a handy free map they had in the lobby, and then we struck out to get lunch and a feel for the area.
Shawn Surveillance, Querétaro
In mere summaries and snapshots, I fear that one Mexican colonial town comes across as identical to all the others. It is hard to convey the subtle differences that exist between each of them with a hastily put together collection of photos with brief notations. Querétaro seems to me like a composite of Morelia and Guanajuato. Like Morelia, the public areas around the center are spacious, yet like Guanajuato, they seem somehow more gussied up for tourist consumption.
There are the requisite plazas, with beautifully manicured trees and walkways.
Jardín Guerrero, Querétaro
Yet just a few blocks off of these, one quickly comes to the Mexican equivalent of row houses along old cobblestone streets.
Street Scene, Querétaro
Doors range from the simple to the ornate, but there is always an artistic touch.
Door, Querétaro
I especially liked this one...
Door, Querétaro
...because of the stone birds above the doorway.
Detail of Door, Querétaro
There are the statues, like this one dedicated to Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, aka La Corregidora, a conspirator in the Mexican struggle for independence against Spain.
Monument to La Corregidora, Querétaro
She is elevated on a tall pedestal, flanked by eagles resting on cannons that are draped in what look to be flags.
While looking upon this monument, Shawn made the observation that there are so many women throughout history that played crucial roles in freeing their societies, only to have their gender given the shaft by the male-dominated governments that they helped to establish.
Monument to La Corregidora, Querétaro
One occasionally runs across something that just seems odd. I sometimes find out after-the-fact that these things seem funny because I don't understand what is actually being said or I do not know some secondary meaning for a term. This tends to give Mexican readers of my blog no end of fun in ribbing me.
In this case, I understand the word la moraleja to mean "the moral," as in "the moral of the story is..."
La Moraleja Parking, Querétaro
Maybe one of my Mexican readers can set me straight as to why this isn't as odd as it would seem to someone not in the know.
Many times, the things I remember about a specific city are images that are not intended to be artistic, but they achieve a certain accidental beauty that stays with me even after I've forgotten which statues of whom are in which parks in whatever cities. These are things that never seem to come across properly in blog entries or flickr albums.
A Mona Lisa for our times, Querétaro
This is a wall that was originally painted a certain shade of yellow, but has subsequently acquired a patchwork of other shades as graffiti and cracks were painted over through the years.
Yellow Mural, Querétaro
Running the length of half the block, this wall is an unintentional mural of chromatic minimalism and abstract expressionism, akin to that of Josef Albers...
Yellow Mural, Querétaro
...or Mark Rothko.
Yellow Mural, Querétaro
Sometimes it is just a face in a crowd that strikes me, and the moment is horribly poignant because I know, unlike all the tourist attractions that I can visit time and time again on return trips to any given city, I will probably never have the chance to see it again.
Cutie, Querétaro
Sure, the haircut, the shoes, or (as in this case) the pants might make me laugh a bit.
Cutie, Querétaro
Yet I cherish these snapshots among all those of the monuments, buildings and landscapes that I take in our travels across the country, because the people are the most beautiful part of Mexico.
Posted by crispy at 10:54 PM | Comments (2)
April 27, 2008
Querétaro: Prologue
Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro
Shawn and I have decided to take a trip next week to visit the nearby city of Santiago de Querétaro, in the state of Querétaro.
Founded in 1531, the city, usually referred to simply by "Querétaro," is the state capital. In Mexican history, it is famous for being the place where Emperor Maximillian was executed and for being the capital of the country during the Mexican American War, when the United States invaded the republic and took Mexico City in the Battle of Chapultepec. More recently, it is renowned for being one of the cleanest cities in Mexico, and in 2007 was ranked as the second-best place to do business in Mexico, according to América Economía magazine. In all of Latin America, they ranked it fifth, just ahead of Miami at #6.
We always want our first stay in an old Mexican town to be in or near the historic center. Since we do not have a car, it is easiest to stay within walking distance to the sites and museums. On the other hand, it's the hot season here in central Mexico, so a place with air conditioning is preferable. Often the hotels in the centro are historic landmarks and cannot be modified, so many do not (and cannot) have air conditioning. Luckily in Querétaro, there are a few options that satisfy both criteria.
The first place we considered was La Casa de la Marquesa, a stunning property that is ranked #1 on Trip Advisor.
The main problem with La Casa de la Marquesa is the price. The property has cheaper suites (USD $108 per night – USD $127 with tax), but these are reported to be in a second building that serves as sort of an annex to the main hotel. I have read reviews that say the charm of the second building is lacking, as is the service in that section of the hotel. Besides, a big part of staying in La Casa de la Marquesa is the historic appeal, and only the main structure is part of the legend: a Spanish marquis supposedly fell in love with a beautiful nun who could not return his love, yet as a last gift, she asked him build an aqueduct to provide water for the city and the most beautiful house in the city. Why exactly a nun would be concerned about having a beautiful house built for her that she couldn't live in doesn't make any sense to me, but that's how the legend goes.
To be in the main building, one must book the higher priced rooms, a Royal Suite (USD $180 per night – USD $211.50 with tax) or and Imperial Suite (USD $245 per night – USD $288.00 with tax).
It should be noted that these prices are at odds with the published rates on the web site, and have been obtained by doing an actual search for a room through the reservations interface.
That was considerably more than we wanted to spend, even though the hotel does look beautiful and luxurious. Yet in a city where one can find accommodation for under USD $100 per night easily, it should be possible to find something in-between that offers some of the modern conveniences we wanted as well as a good location.
We then considered two other hotels, Hotel Quinta Santiago and the Mesón Santa Rosa, ranked at #2 and #5 in popularity on Trip Advisor. While their web sites offer some information about the amenities, we had to have Charles call to nail them down on the availability of the services we wanted and the room rates.
Both are in the historic center, and both have air conditioning in the rooms, but it turns out that the Mesón Santa Rosa only offers air conditioning in some of the rooms, and one has to specifically request that when making a reservation. I tend to be wary of such special requests being noted on the hotel reservation, and I am afraid of arriving at the hotel only to find that they do not have a room with the thing I particularly asked for.
That alone made me a bit hesitant to go book a room at the Mesón Santa Rosa, but their accommodations look a bit nicer, and all the rooms have bathtubs, a feature that Shawn looks for when we stay in a hotel. On the other hand, the Hotel Quinta Santiago has not only air conditioning in all the rooms, but it also has Internet access in the rooms, which is something that I look for when we stay in a hotel. The Mesón Santa Rosa has wireless Internet access only in the restaurant and bar. The Hotel Quinta Santiago offers a continental breakfast, included in the room rate, whereas the Mesón Santa Rosa does not. Both were about the same cost for their standard rooms – MXN $1,258 (about USD $120) at the Hotel Quinta Santiago and MXN $1,292 (about USD $124) - so it came down to the features of each.
In the end, the in-room Internet access, guaranteed air-conditioning and continental breakfast included won out over having a bathtub. Of course, when we arrive, we may find the Internet access in the room to be slow, the air-conditioning to be barely functional, and it's a given that the continental breakfast will be nothing to write home about.
To get there, we booked tickets on ETN, our favorite bus line. It is, after all, "la línea más cómoda." Instead of having four seats per row (two on each side of the aisle), they have only three, and they are wider and cushier than most regular seats. They give you a little bag with a ham and cheese sandwich and a Coca-Cola® brand soda of your choice when you board the bus, and they usually have movies during the trip that do not make you want to gouge your eyes out. The cost of the tickets was MXN $366 per person, each way, or about USD $35. The drive will take about four and a half hours.
Once there, we hope to visit the Museo del Arte (Ignacio Allende, #14), and the Cerro de las Campañas, the site of Maximilian's execution. It is now a national park, complete with a monument to Benito Juárez, a museum dedicated to the siege of Querétaro, and a chapel, built posthumously by Maximilian's family.
We will surely check out a few other things of historic and cultural interest, but we still have to do a bit of research yet.
Our Lonely Planet guide to Mexico reports that there are two vegetarian restaurants in town: Restaurante Ibis Natura (Juárez 47 Norte) and Restaurante Vegetariano Natura (Andador Vergara 7). We'll have to see if they are still open when we get there.
One can view a map of the Centro Histórico and all the main tourist attractions online. as well as the municipal web site and a site providing tourist information in English.
Posted by crispy at 05:30 PM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2008
No More DEN-GDL on Frontier
I was daydreaming about a return visit to Denver, to visit some friends, revisit some dearly-missed old haunts and best of all, take in some much-needed Ellyn Rucker.
In the hopes that that a shockingly low fare might be available that would make me an idiot to not do it, I looked up random round-trip dates online at a site that draws results from several different sources. The lowest fare was through American Airlines, but after a terrible experience we had with American Airlines returning from the United States last May, I avoid them at all costs. Besides, it required a stop in Dallas, and I knew that Frontier had a nonstop between Guadalajara and Denver.
"Was" is the operative word here. The site I use includes Frontier, but none of their flights were in the results. I went to their site and did a search, looked at their route map, and finally wrote in to their customer service asking if they had discontinued that flight.
Their response arrived this morning:
John, Good to hear from you. We’re happy to help. Frontier Airlines has discontinued service to Guadalajara . This decision was due to high fuel prices and lack of consumer demands. I will pass your comments to the appropriate manager to take into consideration when reviewing our schedules. Thank you for visiting Frontier Airlines.com. Natacha Hager Customer Relations Specialist Frontier Airlines
I hate airlines.
Posted by crispy at 02:41 PM | Comments (2)
January 26, 2008
Turndown Service
Results of Turndown Service, Sheraton María Ísabel
Not all hotels do it, and among those that do, there is no consistent set of things that comprise it. Often it involves leaving a chocolate or some other little token on the turned-down linens. Also common is changing out towels that the guest might have used during the day. On occasion, I've had a hotel staff member just ask if everything is working properly, if we need anything restocked in the minibar, or if there is anything else we might want before bed.
If you have never heard of turndown service before, it's not a big surprise. Not all hotels do it. In fact, not very many seem to nowadays. Shawn had never heard of it until he went to Thailand seven years ago. Nowadays we only tend to get it when we stay at Starwood properties, and even then, it's ridiculously inconsistent.
For example, in our recent stay in Mexico City, at the Sheraton María Ísabel, we got turndown service on our second night there, but not the first. Even then, it wasn't much of a service. They didn't even turn down the linens. They moved the remote control for the tv and the guide listing which channels were which to the bed, and left us a solitary foil-wrapped chocolate. This is what confuses me: they know that there are two of us in the room, so why leave us just one chocolate? Starwood hotels are not exactly what one would call economy lodging. Can't they afford one chocolate per guest, not just one per room?
Solitary Chocolate, Sheraton María Ísabel
To me, it seems like if you are going to bother with turndown service, you ought to do it right. Why go through the trouble just to do something lame like leave a chocolate that people have to fight over. At least leave a knife so the two guests can cut it into halves. If I were running a hotel, I'd offer much more interesting turndown service. Maybe like the carts they have in prisons and hospitals, I'd go around with DVDs or books people could enjoy before turning in for the night. Heck, since it's my fantasy, I'll even throw in the option to have a story read to you if you want. You could also provide a short massage for those that were so inclined. Of course, if it was a big hotel, you'd have to have a fleet of massage therapists, and even then, you'd probably want to schedule each person's at a specific time.
I have also read that some places leave an aperetif on the nightstand in their turndown service. I don't tend to like apertifs, so I'd probably offer a fifth of bourbon and, since I'd have to be living and working where folks were not so uptight about drugs, a couple of valium or vicodin, delivered by a geisha that would also give you a good-night haiku.
So if you could design your own ideal turndown service, what would it include?
Posted by crispy at 09:45 PM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2008
Mexico City By Night: Part Two
Twilight view from 10th floor of Sheraton María Ísabel, Mexico City
We switched hotels today and got a new view.
Twilight view of the Angel of Independence from 10th floor of Sheraton María Ísabel, Mexico City
Posted by crispy at 06:19 PM | Comments (1)
Mexico City By Night
Sunset view from 16th floor of the Sheraton Centro Histórico, Mexico City
Shawn and I went to PapaBeto Jazz Bistro last night, where we saw the Juan Alzate Cuarteto. They said the cover was MXN $80, but we ordered food, and it seemed that we were not charged this. Their one vegetarian entree was spaghetti with a tomato sauce with tons of mushrooms, so despite the fact that I despise mushrooms, that's what I got. After picking them out and donating them to Shawn, it turned out to be pretty tasty.
Yet it is obvious that you don't go there for the food. The space is pretty small, the color scheme hideous (maroon, pink, grey and green), and I've seen better bars on airplanes. Still, given the fact that it's the only place yet I've been to see jazz in this country where they don't use an electronic something (synthesizer in place of piano, a drum machine instead of a drummer), I was thrilled to kick back, throw down a few Jack Daniels (at around MXN $70 each), and enjoy the show.
Sunset view from 16th floor of the Sheraton Centro Histórico, Mexico City
I was pretty impressed with the piano player, Nicolas Santella. He was both cute and talented.
Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so I did not get any photos of him. That also kept me from snapping shots of the smorgasbord of hooker ladies lining the street we took getting back to the hotel. There was no effort being made at all to look discreet. They were clad in such stuff as white leather miniskirts, tube tops and huge cha cha heels. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
I must sign off for now, as we need to check out of the Sheraton Centro Histórico and move over to the Sheraton María Ísabel, the grand dame on the Paseo de la Reforma, which our taxi driver told us yesterday was the first five-star hotel in Mexico City. Maybe that's true.
Posted by crispy at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2008
Panama: Parting Thoughts
Now that we are back safe and sound in Guadalajara, I have time to post a few random thoughts about Panama that are too small or not funny enough to merit individual entries.
It should be noted that we did not venture beyond Panama City except when we went to Colón, the port city on the Atlantic side that is the destination of the Panama City Railway. I might post an entry about Colón, because it is probably the most dangerous city that I've ever been in, and it might prove helpful for those planning to take the train to know about it. We highly recommend the train trip, but the several hours that one must pass in Colón if one takes it (unless it's part of a tour package) might be enough to recommend against it. Note that it takes a lot for me to recommend not taking a train whenever possible. Colón is that bad.
Yet that experience aside, our time in Panama was limited to the captial, and there is a lot of beautiful country to visit outside the city. We prefer the amenities that cities provide, so we tend to stick to urban centers when we travel. Panama City did not disappoint. It is vibrant and exciting, rich with history and a very promising future. Shawn and I both expect it to become one of the world's premier destination cities within the next decade, and it is impossible to ignore the growing pains they are currently having along the way. They have gone from a city whose main reason to exist was to support the canal and the people servicing the canal to a city where people flock to enjoy the gambling, food, beaches, nightlife, retirement opportunities. They have not been able to grow fast enough to meet the demand, but it is not for a lack of trying.
According to our driver Roger, the Ministry of Tourism in Panama has been trying to educate service personnel on how to deal properly with foreign tourists. Unfortunately, employers do not want to allow the employees the time off to attend such training, nor do they want to pay for it, even though the Ministry of Tourism pays for half. Unfortunately, it shows in the level of service one receives at the restaurants and hotels there. Most of our complaints are about a phenomenon that we started to refer to as: This is what you want. This is what you get. You ask for one thing and you get what the service provider decides to give you.
Among our complaints about Panama are some of the following. The majority are about restaurant service.
Restaurants are often out of or do not really offer items they have on their menus, and servers do not seem to know about it.
Shawn and I had several experiences in restaurants in Panama where we would order something on menu only to be told a considerable while later that they did not have it. I believe that sometimes they had run out, but at other times, I think they just never stocked those items. As vegetarians, we order things that people never order otherwise in these meat-centric countries. It is amazing how frequently the things kitchens happen to have "just run out of" are the vegetarian items.
In one case, Shawn ordered a falafel sandwich from the menu. When it arrived, some 25 minutes later, it was a chicken sandwich. He called the waitress over to tell her, and she confirmed that he had ordered falafel. He opened it up to show her that it was chicken, and she just stared at him. We told her that we were vegetarians and could not eat pollo, and she silently picked it up and took it back to the kitchen. She returned a couple of minutes later explaining that there was no falafel; she offered no apology and no offer of anything else.
Servers that suck.
On another occasion, Shawn and I ordered the ravioli at a restaurant. The waiter came out after a while and told us that they did not have ravioli. At least he told us this before bringing us whatever the cook decided to serve us instead. He asked us if we would prefer to get spaghetti or fettucini in the sauce we had selected. Shawn asked for spaghetti and I asked for fettucini. When the food arrived, we both had spaghetti.
I would like to say here that we did have notable exceptions to this complaint, with excellent servers at Manolo's Cafe, the Four Points hotel restaurant and S'cena. However, Panama has a reputation for really bad service, and our experience generally supported that finding.
In general, Panamanians are not very friendly.
This was inconsistent, and we met a few people that were exceptionally friendly, nice and helpful. Yet on the whole, the people there do not seem very friendly. They are not mean nor rude. They just are not very friendly. It is hard to win a smile from Panamanians.
Almost any time that we would say thanks (or in most cases, "gracias"), people would not acknowledge it. Often when they did, it was with an "Okay." It seems the more educado of the people there would say the equivalent of "it is nothing," or "it is my pleasure," so I do not think that it is a cultural thing where the concept of "you're welcome" doesn't exist.
It's not cheap.
Again, there are some things that you can get pretty cheaply in Panama, but on the whole, it's not a bargain. Well, compared to traveling in Europe, it's a steal, but there are a lot of things that are as expensive in Panama as they are in the United States.
Our hotels that we stayed in ranged from USD $90 to $155 (including taxes) per night, and none of them were five-star establishments. Cushier places like the Bristol Hotel run about $300 per night. The Marriott is USD $280. Dinner out at Habibi's cost us USD $60 for two.
Shawn, as he is wont to do, looked into real estate listings to see how much propery costs in Panama. He saw many condos listed for USD $500,000, and he saw homes ranging from USD $250,000 to $750,000. Another source claims that new housing costs have doubled in the past two years, but apparently if you buy a used place, it is cheaper.
It is really hot, humid and rainy.
We went for the coolest time of year, and even so, it was constantly above 80° F (26° C) with 70% humidity. We were also there for the driest time of year, yet it rained 7 out of the 9 days we were there. I was not as bummed out about the heat as Shawn, although I was not crazy about the humidity, and the rainy aspect was a little inconvenient when we wanted to get out and about.
Despite all that, we loved our time in Panama, and hope to go back again sometime soon. Hopefully after they get a decent service ethic, but even if not, we would go back for the following.
The city is beautiful.
Panama City skyline, from Casco Viejo
It has some places that are less beautiful than others, but the skyline is magnificent and getting better all the time. Everywhere you go it's nice and verdant, with lots of beautiful, old, spreading trees and lush grass. It's right on the ocean and nestled up against mountains. Certain parts of it have architecture that looks like the Vieux Carre in New Orleans. There is no shortage of scenic beauty in Panama City, and we hear it's even better if you venture outside the city.
It is hopping.
After being in the relative snoozearium that is the second-largest city in Mexico for two years, it was THRILLING to be in a city that parties all night long. Sure, Guadalajara has clubs where you can dance to dreadfully repetitive techno or the same moldy Reggaetón hits you've been hearing everywhere for the past three years until 5 in the morning, but in Panama City, you have that plus bars and British pubs that are open late, late, late, clubs that play rock music, several chains of 24-hour restaurants and a handful of completely independent ones and casinos that never close.
It's racially diverse and the various ethnic groups are well-integrated.
Mexico seems really tolerant to us after coming from the United States, but a lot of times, I have to wonder if that is because they do not have a lot of racial diversity. That isn't to say that there has not been a lot of mixing in Mexico's past, because there has been. It's just that you do not see a lot of ethnic diversity here nowadays, at least not in Guadalajara.
In Panama City, you do. According to recent estimates, some 70% of the inhabitants are mixed Amerindian and white or mixed white and black while 14% are West Indian. Some 10% are white ('European'), and 6% are Amerindian. There is also a Chinese community of about 100,000. That might not be a big plus to a lot of people, but it is to me because I find diversity (ethnic or otherwise) to make a place more interesting.
The food is diverse.
This has a lot to do with the previous item, but the culinary side of travel is such a big thing for me that I think it deserves its own specific item. We had Italian, Chinese, Indian, Lebanese and Mexican food while we were there, and had we more time, we could have enjoyed several other national cuisines.
Of note, Panamanian food is very heavy on meat. For this reason, we didn't have anything that was specifically Panamanian, but those that eat meat would probaby dig it.
Everything is within walking distance.
Given that it is awfully hot and humid, one can get really sweaty walking around. Yet it does seem that one can walk easily from any one place to any other in town. That's not really true, but compared to the scale of some cities we've been to, it is a walkable city. One night we dined out at a great Italian place (Napoli), walked over to El Pavo Real for a few drinks, then meandered back to our hotel, stopping in a casino to lose ten bucks in a slot machine along the way. Traffic can be very bad in Panama City, and the buses are crazy. Therefore, being able to walk around to a lot of different things for an evening's entertainment is quite handy.
They have a great selection of booze.
Living in Mexico and being involved in NAFTA, you'd think that we'd be able to get the vast array of alcohol that people can access in the United States, but unfortunately, that just is not true. I have only seen Bushmill's Irish Whiskey once in this country, and that was in a hotel bar in Mexico City. In Panama, the selection is very good. It is a little slanted towards European bottles; they do not, for example, have a great variety of bourbon, but you can get some very decent gin or Scotch.
We had a very good time in Panama. I would recommend a visit there to nearly everyone I know, but I might add the caveat that it would be better to wait a few years first. They have a ways to go before they have refined their service ethic to properly deal with tourists. Even so, if you were to go tomorrow, you would be sure to find a lot to love about Panama.
Posted by crispy at 04:20 AM | Comments (2)
January 13, 2008
Aerolineas Argentinas Continues to Suck Rocks
Readers might remember our horror stories about Aerolineas Argentinas, wherein what we came to joke about being an imaginary airline cancelled our flight to Bogota two days in a row, and passengers nearly rioted at the ticket counter in Mexico City.
It seems they have finally pushed folks over the edge.
Posted by crispy at 12:45 AM | Comments (2)
January 01, 2008
Assault on Batteries
Starting the 1st of January, the Department of Transportation has decreed that airline passengers in the United States will no longer be able to take lithium batteries in their checked baggage unless they are installed in the devices that use them. Passengers will only be permitted to carry up to two loose batteries, stored in plastic bags, in their carry-on luggage.
This regulation is being enacted to reduce the risk of lithium battery fires, following a 2004 report published by the Office of Aviation Research that found plastic coatings on lithium batteries can deteriorate rapidly in a fire and allow adjacent batteries to fuse, increasing the intensity of the fire. The report also stated that the fire control systems in cargo holds are not capable of stopping lithium ion battery fires.
Security expert Bruce Schneier explains on his blog that these rules should only prevent audio-video professionals from taking any batteries on-board flights, because of the type of batteries that are limited by the new regulations. According to the DOT, "almost all consumer-type lithium metal batteries are below 2 grams of lithium metal."
Yet the restrictions limiting the number of batteries that can be taken even in carry-on luggage will impact a broader range of passengers. Even if security officials are well-versed in the nuances of the new regulations and do not erroneously confiscate batteries that do not violate the limits set forth in the law, travelers that need to carry extra batteries because they are flying to distant places or facing long layovers will be seriously handicapped by these new regulations. People who are traveling to countries where the voltage is incompatible with charging devices previously have been able to get around that problem by taking several pre-charged batteries. As of the first of the year, this will no longer be permitted.
For those readers in the United States that will quickly dismiss the idea that these new regulations will do no more than mildly inconvenience a small number of AV professionals, I wish to relate two experiences that Shawn and I had flying from Mexico that illustrate how inconsistently and arbitrarily these vague guidelines can be applied. You see, the battery paranoia has been brewing worldwide for a while now.
Before our acquisition of Larry's camera, which is much more efficient in its battery usage, the camera we used on trips was a nearly 10-year-old digital Kodak camera that consumed AA batteries like you would not believe. If we were out for an day of sightseeing, it was not uncommon for us to have to swap out the four batteries it uses three times during the afternoon, maybe four if the excursion continued into the night and required use of the flash. For this reason, we usually traveled with around 20 rechargeable nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries in our luggage. We (used to) carry some in the camera case, others in a carry-on bag, and the majority in a checked bag.
It should be noted that security checks in Mexico are a lot more polite and a lot less intrusive than in the United States, with the people inspecting the bags doing it in plain view of the owner and explaining what they are about to do before doing it. Sometimes they even ask your permission, although I suspect they do not expect anyone to deny them permission to do what they plan on doing. When you are used to the standard, courteous treatment normally offered at Mexican airport secutiry, it is shocking to suddenly be treated like a criminal suspect. All of a sudden, you feel like you are going through security in the United States.
A few months ago, Shawn and I were returning to Guadalajara from one of our brief vacations in Mexico City. We were stopped at security in the Toluca airport and asked if they could examine our bags. They seemed to take issue with a clear plastic bag of AA nickel metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries that we had in our carry-on for use with the old energy-guzzler.
They asked us why we needed so many batteries and I explained it to them as best I could in my mediocre Spanish. They told us that we would be allowed only the ones in devices and another four, because, "batteries can explode from the pressure changes resulting in changing altitude." I did not argue that they would be in the pressurized cabin area; if they did not already understand that, my explaining it would make little difference.
I asked why this was the first we'd heard of this restriction, since we had not been hassled about the same bag of batteries on our flight from Guadalajara to Toluca. The guard answered with the following, and even after living in Mexico for two years, I am still having a hard time getting over this one: every airport in Mexico has its own distinct set of regulations for what they will allow through security checkpoints.
I stopped myself before commenting that this seemed ridiculously inconsistent, because inconsistency is universal in Mexico. Instead, I asked how a person was supposed to keep track of the different regulations for the republic's some 130 civil airports. I was informed that supposedly every airport has an office where one can get a listing of disallowed items for all of the country's airports.
I was still skeptical about this regulation, having never heard of batteries being a problem before. I gently suggested my suspicion that someone in security needed some AA batteries, and I asked for proof that they would be destroyed and not just given away to someone for their own personal use. I was told that I could return to the airport and file a form to receive such documentation at a later date. Of course!
(By the way, every time I tell a person that lives in Mexico this story, they respond at this point with the exact same thing: "No, they weren't destroyed. Someone needed some AA batteries, and they took yours home.")
Since they would not let us pass with all our batteries, Shawn removed five from the bag of about twelve, and played dumb, like he didn't understand that he was supposed to have only four remaining. That seemed to satisfy them. They let us board the plane with the remaining seven. The letter of the law is not that important in Mexico, and at least this time, that worked in our favor.
A couple of weeks ago, we flew out of Guadalajara to Panama City. Our experience of losing about USD $20 worth of batteries in Toluca led us to pack all our NiMH AA batteries in one of our suitcases.
At the Guadalajara International Airport, they do not x-ray bags, they check them by hand before you check-in. The attendant checking the bags pulled out our bag of 20+ batteries and asked if we really needed all of them. I said yes, as I was not about to throw away another USD $60 in rechargeable batteries. She called over a supervisor who explained that we could not have all those batteries in one place. Luckily, upon our asking, they said it would be okay if we divided the batteries between us. Apparently, in contrast to the regulations in the Toluca airport, it is not okay to carry batteries, or at least not so many all in one place, in checked luggage either, at least not when flying out of the Guadalajara airport.
I suspect that this is based on wild tales of lithium batteries spontaneously bursting into flame, but it might merely be a misinterpretation of the 2004 Office of Aviation Research report. In any case, it does not seem that air safety administrations and security personnel around the world are not being educated as to the difference between various types of batteries, like alkaline, nickel metal hydride, and lithium ion.
It doesn't seem like I am the only one to encounter this problem, as another world traveler notes in his blog.
Posted by crispy at 09:02 AM | Comments (2)
December 26, 2007
The Worst Taxi Drivers in the World
Okay, I admit. I have not been around the world, so I might be wrong. Yet in my experience, Panamanian (or perhaps I should say Panama City's) taxi drivers are the worst.
They are not bad at driving by any means. They tend to go respectable speeds - not terrifyingly fast, nor annoyingly slow - and their cars are usually in adequate condition. They do not execute maneuvers that you would expect to see in a NASCAR race, nor in a Hollywood movie, nor in a Hollywood movie about NASCAR like our hometown drivers sometimes do. We have definitely had more white-knuckled moments in Guadalajara than we have had here.
No, the cab drivers in Panama City are bad because they seem reluctant to have customers. In other places we have been, when we are standing on a corner or walking along the street, taxi drivers will slow down as they pass and ask, "Taxi?" At other times, maybe if they do not see us, we will flag them down to get them to take us from one place to another. At worst, they suggest a price that is ridiculous and we reject their offer. It is a rare occurrence when one cannot negotiate a deal of some kind to get you where you need to go.
In Panama City, such is not the case. Cab drivers do not seem very interested in getting you where you want to go, regardless of the fact that you will pay them to do it.
One of the first few days that were were in town, we had gone over to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, and we were trying to get over to El Pavo Real, an English pub that was like a 5 minute drive away by cab. We had to wait a long time, as most of the passing taxis already had passengers. Yet eventually, we got a cab to stop. Shawn told the driver that we wanted to go to El Pavo Real. He shook his head and drove off. This left us flabbergasted. We did not have any idea why he did not want the fare, but he obviously did not.
We tried again, only to have the same reaction from the driver. The place to which we were going was not in a bad neighborhood, and it is not in a dangerous area. It is not that the cab drivers did not know the location. That was our first hypothesis to disprove, so Shawn got out a detailed map of Panama City and had it ready to show to the second driver. Yet that did not seem to make a difference. He also dismissed us and zoomed off.
The same thing happened a third time, then a fourth. The fourth driver explained that we wanted to go in the other direction, so he would have to turn around in order to take us. Then he drove off. True, it was in the other direction, but it was not on that same road. It was not like he would have to make a U-turn on a busy road to get us there. He could have turned right, gone a few blocks, then turned right again.
On the fifth try, we got a cab to take us, but instead of telling him that we wanted to go to El Pavo Real, we told him that we wanted to go to a large, well-known hotel and casino that was right across the street from where we were staying, the Wyndham Grand Veneto. This was only about four or five blocks from the English pub, but after the hassle of trying to get a cab, we were not interested in anything but going back to our hotel.
The next evening, we tried to take a cab to a Thai restaurant that we had read about in a guide book. We were worried that maybe it was no longer around, so we explained to the taxi driver that we are vegetarians and asked if he had heard of the place. We thought maybe, if he had heard of it, would know if they had vegetarian dishes and if it was any good. He had not heard of it, and when he could not find it, he stopped to ask a guy working as a valet for a nearby restaurant about it. The valet indicated that indeed it had been where we thought it should be, and then he told us it was no longer there. He suggested Madame Chang's, a Chinese restaurant nearby, and we thought that sounded okay. We asked the cab driver to take us there, and he said he would, but he had to go down the street, then turn around to come back on the street where Madame Chang's was located.
He started to do this, then he ended up stopping in front of some other restaurant and asking if we wanted to eat there. We told him that we were really in the mood for Asian food, because we felt we would have a better chance of being able to get vegetarian food, so we would preer Madame Chang's. He pulled back onto the street, turned a few corners, and then, at a place called "Crepes and Waffles," he pulled into their parking lot. He asked the valet there, "Do they have vegetarian food here?" The valet there confirmed that they did: crepes and waffles. He then turned around to us and asked if we wanted to eat there. We politely tried to tell him that we understood that we could eat there, but that we really were in the mood for something else, like, oh, Madame Chang's that we'd indicated that we wanted to go to multiple times. His response was, "This place has food!"
We paid him and got out of the car, deciding that it was not worth the hassle of arguing with him about it any longer. The valet began to guide us to the stairs for Crepes and Waffles, yet he seemed to understand completely what I meant when I thanked him and explained that we wanted something a bit more exotic. We finally encountered a great place called Habibi's which serves great Leganese food, but the experience left us really cold on Panamanian taxi drivers. Why he even asked what we wanted, since he was going to take us to some random place of his choosing anyway, did not make sense.
Whe had a similar problem trying to get to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, wherein the taxi driver pulled up and stopped in front of the Museo de Antropología, telling us we had arrived at our destination. Shawn pointed out that it was not the right museum, that the one we wanted to go to was on a different street and had a large park across from it. The only thing across the street from the museum where we were then parked was a row of tall office buildings. It was clearly the wrong museum. It took some coaxing and demonstrating that we were not going to pay until he took us to the proper museum before he drove the three or so blocks more to the proper location.
Of course, not all taxi drivers in Panama are this way, and we were happy to find an exception one night while we were out walking about and trying to find a specific bar. More like the cab drivers we were used to from other places, this guy came up to us and asked if we wanted a ride. We told him we were not going far - less than 10 blocks - and he offered to take both of us in his air-conditioned van for two dollars. (In Panama, even at night, the idea of being able to pay a couple of dollars to go even a short distance in air-conditioned comfort is very attractive.) He was pleasant, obviously knew the city, and took us exactly where we wanted to go, not just where he wanted to take us.
He gave us his card and a couple of days later, when we wanted someone to drive us around the city to do the few remaining things on our list, here and there about town, we called him. He not only drove us around, but he gave us some great information on the city. When Shawn wanted to take some photos of a government building exterior, he excused himself for a bit, and when he came back, explained that he had arranged with the rector an invitation to come inside to take photos. After I fell in a hole while shooting photos, scraping my knee and muddying my pants, he stopped and bought alcohol to clean my wound and a rag to help me clean up my pants.
It was nice to find such a gem, after dealing with what seemed to us to be the worst taxi drivers in the world.
If you need a driver in Panama, we highly recommend him. His name is Roger O. Caparroso, and his cell phone number is +507 6634-2482. He has an email address too, but I do not want to publish it here for fear that he will end up getting lots of spam and scam emails. If you are interested, drop me a line in the comments below and I'll send you his address. Oh, and he speaks both Spanish and English.
Posted by crispy at 12:15 AM | Comments (3)
December 22, 2007
¿Qué pasa, ese?
Ese laundry detergent, product of Panama
I wanted to rinse out some of my sweaty clothes in our hotel room sink, so I went to the mini super to buy some laundry detergent. When I got there and saw this box, I had to buy it.
Posted by crispy at 05:11 PM | Comments (2)
December 20, 2007
Panama: On the Ground
View from the Torres de Alba, Panama City
We arrived in Panama last night, after a relatively pleasant flight on Copa Airlines.
Our one observation about Copa, having now flown on them three times, is that one should arrive at the airport about three hours before the departure of the flight, because checking in to a Copa flight seems to take a little over an hour. Their check-in desks are always understaffed, the employees tend to waste a lot of chatting amongst themselves, and when they are servicing clients, they're very slow.
The flight was pleasant enough though, and they did remember to serve us a vegetarian meal, consisting of a little dish of honeydew melon and an alfalfa sprout and tomato sandwich. Because, you know, vegetarian = rabbit.
We took a cab from the airport to our hotel, the Torres de Alba for USD $28.00. The cab driver told us that this would be the price without tip, and he knows that Americans always tip. The listing of the price in United States dollars in this and subsequent Panama entries is not for reader convenience; they not only have a currency pegged to the dollar, like many other countries. They actually use United States dollars as their national currency. As for values below a dollar, they seem to have their own coins, but they also use U.S. coins too.
View from the Torres de Alba, Panama City
The Torres de Alba thankfully has industrial-strength air conditioning, because it's hot, hot, hot here in Panama. It's not even 10 am yet, and it "feels like" 30.5°C (87°F) outside. It is located right next to the enormous Veneto Hotel and Casino, and about a block down the street from a 24-hour restaurant, and even the restaurants that close do so no earlier than 11 pm.
The Torres de Alba also has kitchens in all the rooms. The one in ours is easily four times the size of my kitchen in Guadalajara. Unfortunately, we will probably not be making many meals here in the hotel before we check-out tomorrow.
Kitchen, Torres de Alba
This city is exhillarating. It is hot, crowded, bustling and falling over itself with new growth. Whereas Buenos Aires seems much more like an older, European metropolis, Panama seems fresh and positively Pan-American. Shawn says it reminds him a lot of Miami. The joke here goes that Panama City is like Miami, except people here speak English.
Yeah, a lot of people here do speak some English, but don't be fooled. They prefer to speak Spanish, but it is surprisingly a very Caribbean form of Spanish, where the letter "S" before a consonant apparently costs extra. Our cab driver told us that there are a lot of English speakers here because they have a large number of immigrants from the English-speaking Caribbean islands. Given the sound of their Spanish, I'd guess they hae a large number of Cubans and Dominicans here too.
I've been here about twelve hours and I already love Panama. It even has one of my favorite things about Colombia...
Colombiana soda
...Colombiana soda.
Posted by crispy at 07:30 AM | Comments (1)
November 30, 2007
Christmas in Panama
Shawn and I have booked our tickets for spending some of his Christmas break in Panama City.
We'll be there during the coolest time of year, when the average high temperature drops down to a brisk 86° F. It will be a nice change after freezing our behinds off in Buenos Aires in July.
Seven out of the ten tallest buildings in Latin America are found there, and they have a very diverse populace. We're particularly excited that this means they have a lot of Indian restaurants, which means that we should have little problem finding tasty vegetarian food there.
We leave on 19 December and will be flying on Copa Airlines.
Posted by crispy at 02:38 PM | Comments (3)
October 20, 2007
I went on a date with a real clown last night.
I was looking through a newspaper while in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Hoy. I turned the page and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what I thought were personal ads for something like Clown Seeking Clown:
Clown Classifieds, San Luis Hoy [larger image]
It was one of the most surreal things I'd ever seen. But, I figured, clowns need love too.
On closer investigation, I saw that they were just clowns for hire, advertising their services...
...as clowns.
I hope.
Posted by crispy at 12:18 PM | Comments (3)
October 13, 2007
San Luis Potosí: Part Two
In the last entry, I mentioned that we did not come to San Luis Potosí for any particular attraction. It's a good thing we did not come to do a museum tour of the city, based on our experience yesterday.
Shawn likes to see the renowned sights when he visits a place. San Luis Potosí does not have many, but in our guide books, they did list several museums. Since the day before, we had merely walked around and looked at the city from its sidewalks, our Friday agenda included a stop at a museum. Since the Museo de Cultura Potosina was near the point where the taxi dropped us off downtown, we decided it would be the one we would visit. That would give us a chance to say we'd actually done something during our trip to San Luis Potosí.
We found it easily enough, as it was marked by a stone plaque on the wall of the building as well as a metal street sign with a big "M" out in front that they use here to mark museum locations (very similar to the ones in the United States with an "H" that direct one to a hospital). Yet we could not figure out how to get inside. We were contemplating whether or not the entrance was on another side of the building when a man came over and told us that the museum was no longer open.
Okay, it happens. We went to lunch at the Tokio Café, where oddly enough, they serve only Mexican food; after that, walked over to another museum, the Museo Mariano Jiménez, named for a local artist and featuring his works as well as some other exhibits about the history of the revolution in the area. We found it easily enough too, as it also had a big "M" sign in front. Yet it too was closed.
We walked back towards the center of town, and on the way saw one of the bilingual plaques the city has put up, and it directed us to the Museo de Artes Populares de San Luis Potosí. Given the placement of the sign in the plaza, it was unclear which of the buildings around it actually was the museum. Shawn went up and asked a guy standing in the doorway of one of the buildings which one it was. He didn't know, and he came over to look at the sign talking about it. After reading it, he told us that it must have been the one with the doorway in which he had been leaning, but that building had been converted into offices, and was no longer a museum.
We asked him what was up with San Luis Potosí and their getting rid of all their museums. He told us that they were not very popular, so they have mostly been converted to office space. He did point us toward one museum that he knew to still be open a few blocks away, the Museo Regional Potosino. We went there and spent about 20 minutes walking through the three rooms that remained open with exhibits. The other half of the building was closed off for construction.
We saw enough masks to last us a lifetime when we went to Zacatecas, so luckily we didn't have to deal with the heartbreak of not being able to go to San Luis Potosí's Museo Nacional de la Máscara, which we already knew was closed. Supposedly, it's only closed for renovation, but now I'm starting to wonder if that means renovation into office space.
Sometimes Mexico is really lame that way. You hear or read about some cool attraction in guide books or even tourism web sites promoting a city. Then when you get there and go to see it, it is all boarded up or perhaps even the building is gone. You ask many people around the site what happened, and it often takes a while before you find someone that remembers the place and knows that it closed down a long time ago. Still, nobody has bothered to take down the signs pointing to it or marking it, edit the list