Archive for March, 2005
so for years I’ve prepared my coffee the old fashion way, using a french press. Peet’s coffee no less. in mexico. yeah, i learned that really bad, expensive habit from my mother, former head of marketing for none other then Peet’s. How do I get it here? I sneak it in my suitcase. Last time I went to LA, I came back with like 8 bags of beans. Yeah, it’s like that. But I’m digressing. Marcia introduced me to the espresso pot. the non-technical stove-top thing that makes espresso the old fashion way. I’m hooked. I can’t go back to my first love, the venerable, slightly breakable but beautifully elegant french press. The problem is it’s just too much water. We’re staying at my parents’ apartment here in Vallarta and today I woke up and thought about the nearest place I could go to get a real cappucino. My totally off-the-wall espresso junkie uncle, Timpson Seggerman, would be proud.
So we’re in Vallarta for the next two days, scouting out small hotels and large houses for our next project. We want to create an ultra high end boutique hotel in the downtown Vallarta area. We saw some great places today along with some great views. here are two photos whose views I liked the most. We saw an amazing sprawling hacienda style house that would easily accommodate 15 rooms, the owners are a famous Vallarta family that owns a local Macy’s-style store. Maybe one day you can come and stay at our Hacienda.
So twice yearly my friend, Molly Fischer, organizes a spay and neuter clinic here in Bucerias. It’s usually a 5 day affair and they get around 150 animals spayed/neutered. This is a big deal since Mexico has a large wild cat and dog population and most families don’t have the kind of money to get their dogs and cats snipped.
Last week was the big week and Marcia & I volunteered on Thursday. Marcia is not a big cat/dog/blood person and so she helped in the recovery room and I got stuck washing and sterilizing the surgical tools. I wasn’t sure I’d dig dealing with that sorta thing, but I jumped right in and did the job like a trooper. I had the help of a little 12 year old girl who had more competency then most of the adults working at the clinic. If you ever wanna see the postcard picture perfect reason why old people are insane, go to a volunteer spay clinic. Holy crap. Even the kids were catching on. (note to self: please take “do-over” pill at 50. it’s not worth it).
Besides the crazy old people driving everyone bananas, it was a successful affair. It was really interesting seeing the animals in surgery, up close. I had never really seen surgery except maybe on Nip/Tuck and Marcia says that TV doesn’t count as real life experiences. I did my time, went home and drank a cerveza or three.
Here is a selection of colorful photos taken in my garden.
This is a collection of photos from the area where I live, Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico. the beauty and simplicity of a 2nd world (if not 3rd world) country climbing into the 21st century. This set will most likely grow as I add photos to my archive.
Living on the outskirts of the modern world, down here in Nayarit, I gave up cool things like Tivo, Netflix and book/record stores. So every now and then, when I travel back to LA, I load up on the good things like surfing videos. On my latest trip to LA, I brought back Thomas Campbell’s Sprout and The Malloy Brothers’ A Broke Down Melody. I loved both films and related strongly to the aesthetics of both. Sprout’s longboard heaven mixed with street-art interludes and Melody’s saturated slo-moe’d soft-edged sun-burnt glow. perfect for an early to bed, no surf day, down here in low tech paradise.
one of these days I’d love to get a 16mm film camera.
So we’re in the middle of drought of sorts. there hasn’t been any decent waves here in Vallarta in 5 days. none. well, maybe a few nice little windy mushy foot high suckers but no real swell. Not to be one who let’s small things like a lack of swell get in the way, I still paddle my ass out there on a daily basis if nothing else to catch the one or two waves i can and get my meditation on and communicate with mother ocean.
So this one goes out to mother ocean. can you please change your north current to the south and send a nice southern hemisphere pattern swell my way. nothing big, just like 4 or 5 feet will do. i’d even take 6 or 7 if you can hack it. muchisima gracias.
incidentally, i hear that there is a surf contest at Ticla this weekend. I wonder how the surf was down there. if it weren’t Semana Santa, I’d have made the trek just to catch some decent waves but things are too crazy around here with Mexico’s version of spring break, for the entire country, going on right now.
This sign is posted in and around both Frenchtown and Stockton, New Jersey. When I was a kid, I would visit my grandparents in Frenchtown and on the drive to their house, my family would joke that the sign read “School-Free Drug Zone” since that’s the type of humor we all have.
the most amazing little galeria of indiginoues mexican art. and the most amazing sign. i’d steal it, but I respect the store owners too much.
Olinala is a small gallery of arte indigena (indigenous art) located in the old town in Puerto Vallarta, just off the main road leading to the Mismaloya Highway. amazing art from all over Mexico. this truly is the one place to stop in Vallarta to get something really nice and of long lasting value. Hidden among the gringo trinket shops, Oinala, really is a jewel in the rough.
go find it.
I was taking pictures of a concrete mixing truck that was parked at a light, when a this guy asked me to take his picture. He was an interesting old guy, a street vendor selling banana chips and chocolate bars. He coulda been the brother of Ibrahim Ferrer. All the age on his face, the character in the wrinkles. He was a handsome man and a face with a million stories.
i obliged, took the photo and showed him the screen after it was taken. i never asked his name. darn.
Sunday, Mar 20th, 2005
Categories: surfing
Today, I got up at the break-a-dawn, 7:15 in the am. to trudge out to Punta Burro for some hot morning surfing action. There is a small swell coming in over the next few days so I thought I’d catch a morning session while the water is still glassey calm and the wind hasn’t had a chance to kick up yet (during the spring months the wind really starts pumping at like 1pm and lasts til sunset).
Alas, there wasn’t a single wave on my drive out to Burros. There are several indicators that I look for, on my drive, to let me know what to expect. As I got to Playa Las Destiladeras which is essentially the last home stretch before the road takes a curve inland, I pulled over to get a look down the coast. at this point, if it doesn’t look like it’s breaking at the end of Destiladeras, there’s really no point in making the trek into Burros. And today, el mar was flatter then a pancake. nice for snorkeling. bad for surfing. So I turned around, headed home and jumped back into bed with my incredibly awesome smelling lady friend.
In the spirit of waiting patiently for mother nature to push her next swell my way, here’s 2 photos from my last surfing session before my trip to New York:
These next two weeks usually mark the beginning of “Semana Santa”. This year the holy week starts tomorrow and runs through the end of next week. I’ve never experienced this time of year, but from what I’ve heard all of mexico takes this time off, and comes to the beach. inundating small coastal towns like ours. The gringo snow birds flee town for the summer before the week starts and our gardener, Noe, takes two weeks off and drags a small stand down to the beach to sell coco frios and he makes loot. no joke. Marcia says we should plan on hibernating, since most of the restaurants, bars and taco stands will be full-up with guadalajarans who give the gringo spring-breakers a run for their money in “who can be most annoying” contest.
I’m looking forward to experiencing the week. i’m sure it will be fun. Marcia and I are sitting here trying to figure out what to do or sell during the week. I think we should sell bottled water and cokes or something, on the beach. stuff that people won’t necessarily wanna run up to the corner store, when they’re on the beach. Marcia thinks that people will have their own stuff, since most families travel with enough food to feed an army. but i think there will be a ton of partying kids who no doubt pack inadequately and travel light. too light.
We’ll seeeee…
So Marcia is in Guadalajara until tomorrow night and the cats are at the parents’ house. and i was too lazy to go pick them up. and I’m here in our apartment, alone. I can’t wait to see my baby. i’ve missed her these past 5 days. too much.
I can’t wait til she’s back in my arms.
Wednesday, Mar 16th, 2005
Categories: surfing
As the cold water hit my mouth, I was startled by it’s saltiness. I can’t believe I actually forgot the taste of saltwater or more accurately, just how salty and (slightly fishy) the saltwater is, here.
It was a welcomed relief to slip into the water this evening, to catch a couple of waves. after having been in freezing-ass NYC for the past few days, the water seemed the slightest bit warm. that was until i had been out there for an hour or so and my body acclimated to the freezing water and my hands eventually became numb.
But…
It’s still wonderful to hit the waves again after a little time away. just floating out there waiting for the next set, meditating, almost thinking of nothing. the waves of my mind simmering down after a long weekend filled with family drama, good and bad.
It’s good to be back home.
Tuesday, Mar 15th, 2005
Categories: travels
So much going on, so little time to write funny stupid little things to say here.
Marcia’s mom came into town wednesday and we got to spend some time together before I left for NYC/New Jersey on Friday for the funeral of my grandfather, Benjamin Kirkland.
Marcia’s mom is amazing and I’ll write more about meeting her, a little later.
It was wonderful to spend some time with my entire family, at our “ancestral” home in Frenchtown, New Jersey. and I have tons of pictures to show. Now I am in Brooklyn, staying with my uncle Tim and aunt Charlotte.
All is well. and more coming soon.
Tucked away on Lazaro Cardenas, near the foot bridge in Bucerias, is our favorite little vegetarian restaurant, Roots. Roots has insanely good food and is almost too good for our town of street tacos and low-end gringo food. Andrew, the chef and co-owner, worked for a 5 star vegan chef in Toronto before making his way down to Bucerias to enrich our lives with the best fresh vegetables and quasi-gourmet health food. Roots opened a few weeks after I moved here and can be compared to finding oil in the desert, since things like fresh vegetables other then tomatoes, onions and chiles are next to impossible to find. Since it’s opening, Marcia (who is a strict veggie) and I have been frequent attendants.
Today, Marcia and I went for breakfast. a first. we had heard about Roots’ legendary breakfasts but up until today we had only gone for dinner and occasionally lunch. Needless to say, the breakfast was off. the. hook. i’d capitalize it but you get the point. We shared 2 plates: an omelette with mushrooms, basil, spinach and oaxaca cheese and French Toast. Both dishes were insanely good and so big that I wasn’t quite sure how i’d fit it all in. The French Toast came with cantaloupe, an insane pineapple compote and homemade vanilla-cinnamon syrup. and the omelette came with peasant potatoes, salad, star fruit, cantaloupe, bread and homemade apricot jam. whoa!
I remarked to Marcia, that usually we go out to breakfast and it always seems a waste because we could be cooking the food ourselves for a fraction of the price, but with Roots, there is no way we could cook something that good. Each dish had so many little goodies that the whole dish added up to one amazing breakfast experience. I can’t remember the last time I had a breakfast that good.
It was insane! and at easily half the price of a sunday breakfast in LA. Go to Roots. that is an order. thank you, Andrew.
This is Camerino, our “jefe de construccion”. Camerino is a vaquero in every way possible. When he’s not laying concrete, you can find Camerino up in the mountains above Vallarta on his family’s ranch. My father actually saw Camerino butcher a steer for a wedding and feed 40 people with it, for 2 days straight.
Camerino has a heart of gold and an innate grasp of what a gringo is trying to communicate with their crusty pigeon spanish. In my non-stop assault of ‘ums’, and ‘ahs’, Camerino can swiftly translate even the most intricate directions. I guess we’re a team of sorts, the skinny white gringo kid and the vaquero.
Camerino has taught me mexican street spanish, so that I can start to behave like a “real’ mexican. Now, instead of honking the horn, I lean out the window and yell ”Muevate pinche cabron“ with my arm extended out, when someone is in my way. and I can cuss with the best of them.
Camerino’s truck is the white one with the ”CV“ on the back bumper like a cow branding. Don’t mess with him, I once saw his wallet, it actually says ”Bad Muthafucker“ on it*.
This is a cute little make-shift one room house, near my friends’ house. every time i visit Miguel and Raul, i see this house, suspended on stilts above a small stream, dry during the winter and running during the summer. This is my ideal dream house. simply beautiful.
Marcia and I had dinner, last week, with my good friend Miguel. This is a shot of him, while we were at some little coffee and dessert joint in Salva Romantica in Vallarta.
Miguel was discussing why he doesn’t want to meet any girls: they will side-track him from trying to take over the world. and they would most certainly not like his current quasi-hermit computer nerd lifestyle.
Marcia thinks Miguel is a very funny and endearing guy. It’s really a good thing when your main squeeze really digs your friends.
Marcia poked and prodded Miguel’s anti-girlfriend/hook-up stance and threatened to find a nice girl for him in guadalajara.
I tried to stay out of the conversation as much as possible.
Ok, I am now writing from my apartment with my spankin’ new internet connection. I feel human again. I haven’t surfed the internet this much in months. If you are in Bucerias and would like a little free internet, if you can find the street where I live, my wireless network is called “free_the_internet” and has no password. I live near the Notary.
You’re welcome.
I’ve been testing my connection to see if I am getting my full 236 kbps that is in my contract. and even though the speed meter that is built into my 2wire modem/wireless/router/firewall thing says that I am getting the full 256 kbps, I seriously doubt it. When I check 2wire’s speed meter from their site, it never goes above 148 kbps and I have network monitoring software that gives me a “Peak Throughput” that hasn’t gone above 127 kbps either and in fact, since the last time I restarted the connection (about an hour ago), the Peak Throughput is at 29 kbps. This might seem like gibberish to you, but to put it in human terms, it means it takes me 20 minutes to watch a large movie trailer at Apple.com. In LA on a 256kbps connection, I could watch the very same trailer almost at the same time it was downloading (assuming i gave it 30 seconds or so to cache a little bit first). Hmm, Miguel tells me to shut up and be happy that I even have broadband, maybe i should just be happy with it…
.. nah! that’s stupid. i want my full bandwidth. gimme my full bandwidth.
