Thanksgiving in New York

The great thing about hitting New York City is how many businesses offer free wifi. So it's about time I actually did a mobile blog. Currently, I'm having dinner in Hell's Kitchen - a couple of blocks off Broadway. I am killing a couple of hours before my show "Kinky Boots" opens (this musical has been scored by Cyndi Lauper!). They never seem to have many cheap tickets to this award winning show - consequently, I have forked out the big bucks - I hope it's worth it...

So one of the few reasons why I will revisit a city is that the pressure is off to see all the famous sites. It becomes easier to just soak up the atmosphere a bit more; live like a local rather than a tourist. And being here for thanksgiving certainly added to that. I had every intention of watching the Macy's parade - except I thought it was in the afternoon (finishes by noon) and as I have had hassles with the safe in my room (what are the odds that the day after getting my phone replaced, my laptop and money gets locked in the room safe? I felt like part of a nefarious gang as we drilled into the safe to break into it!), I didn't get away until nearly noon on that day. 

So I was rather glad that the queues were so horrendous at the Natural History Museum the previous day, that I instead found myself wandering around in the bitter cold watching the Macy's balloons being inflated. 

I was way too excited about this - like a kid!

They are certainly huge - and I'm sorry I didn't get to see them fly (other than on TV) - albeit lower than usual this year because of the high winds that were part of the storm front that contributed to the icy weather conditions and delayed so many people getting to their families this thanksgiving. 

So, determined to still do something a bit American, I stocked up on turkey sandwich and pumpkin pie and decided to make my way to one of the most quintessentially New York scenes for a thanksgiving day picnic - the Brooklyn Bridge Park. 

It was absolutely freezing - you couldn't leave your gloves off for more than a few seconds - and with the arctic wind I reckon it was around 2-3 degrees. But such a crisp blue sky as a result. 

And the bridge positively sparkled in the weak winter sunshine. 

But it was so cold that the local Starbucks had trouble getting people to leave - between the hot drinks, clean toilet, and free wifi, what could entice you to go out into the cold again? But leave I did, and as I wandered around the area called Dumbo I happened upon this amazing view of the Manhattan Bridge, which is next to the Brooklyn Bridge. 

Note the Empire State Building positioned in the centre arch?!  Perfect! Altogether a cold but enjoyable day. And the food was so much that I ate the second half of it for dinner that night.  

Now that's what I call talkin' turkey! More Manhattan escapades in the next post. Until then, Aveline. xxx

An afternoon in Mexico City

I wasn't long in this city - but it left a good impression.

Firstly, I noticed how crowded it was. After central and south America, there were just so many people on the streets of Mexico City, for blocks and blocks, just crowds of people walking from point A to point B (it has a population that nearly rivals all of Australia). And along the way there were several of these buskers - not sure what it was about, but they always wore the same uniform... raising money for returned servicemen perhaps? Retired bus drivers, even?

I saw my first outside the cathedral on the main Plaza - certainly one of the largest of all the plazas laid out on the Spanish colonial plan, although the cathedral was being used, so there wasn't much to see inside, and what I saw seemed rather poor in comparison to some of the South American ones that were dripping in gold and silver.

And I discovered that Mexico City is the city of museums - they have hundreds all within walking distance. Of course, in the traditional manner they all close on a Monday. I was there on Monday! So I made the most of the cooler weather (sunny and 25) and just wandered around the town admiring the buildings. The Museo de Bellas Artes was quite beautiful from the outside, and has a park next to it (good for sitting down and getting my breath back - the smog was quite bad!).

But Mexico City doesn't just have colonial buildings. There are all types of architecture (and a museum of architecture - closed on Monday, of course), and plenty of public statutory too. I liked this spider. It had an egg sack too!

I was taken with the many palaces, now operating as regular retail or hospitality venues, but this one, covered in blue tiles, was particularly pretty, I thought.

Clearly this is the city for buying gold. Every other shop is a Jewelers selling gold (and to a lesser extent silver), although it was fun to discover that there are other "regions" of retail a little further out from the Zocalo. For example, I somehow wandered into the stationery section - printing wedding invitations, etc. Tens of shops and carts on a plaza all competing for your business! And then there was the second hand book section - big dusty barns of well-thumbed paperbacks like you just don't see anymore in Australia.

My favourite stores to pass though, were the perfumeries. They have lots of empty bottles and they make up perfume to your specification (a bit like the one I went to in Havana, which had been there since 1791!). I thought this display particularly colourful.

I found a Mexican version of a diner - filled with locals - for dinner. I had tamales (finally) which were excellent, and probably enough (big entree serve), but made an attempt at eating the main meal that was recommended by the staff, as well as drinking horchata (think of rice pudding in liquid form!). It was so cheap, I didn't feel too bad at sampling everything and leaving much food behind. After the blandness of Cuban food, it was nice to have something a bit tasty again.

I didn't really have a chance to see much of the city, but I feel like I got the flavour of it, and would certainly plan to return and explore it properly. The hotel was excellent (even if the power went off and I had to leave down 6 flights of stairs in the dark!) with this view from my window of the sunset.

And despite getting only four hours of sleep before leaving by taxi at 4.45am the next morning, I was amazed at the 15 minute run to the airport when there is no traffic in this city! 

Although it was very stressful, I did have an amazing run through the airport and customs in the USA - probably aided by the fact that the plane sat an hour on the tarmac in Mexico City (I only had 2 hours between connections at Dallas Fort Worth), so I got an express pass to get through immigration and customs. It took 10 minutes by train to get to the other terminal for my onward flight - but I did the whole thing in 35 minutes and walked straight onto my second flight! Sadly, American Airlines don't provide food - so it was nearly 9pm before I ate anything again in NYC. :-( And then it was fried chicken and chips - with a promise I would eat better for the rest of the time in NYC - however, it's hard to find food here that isn't huge and fried. Last night I wanted a cookie with my coffee - just something sweet, thinking that a biscuit would be perfect. This cookie was the size of a bread and butter plate!!! I still have it in my room - I think it will last me the week! ;-)

Until the next post on another dynamic city. Have a nice day! Aveline. xxx

Hasta Cuba Siempre! Part 2: On the (bumpy) road...

The better part of my week in Cuba was spent touring about half of the island (in reality only three other towns). First off, let me say the roads are awful! Even the national highway is riddled with potholes, and we had a weaving driver (playing with the steering wheel) so the bus would sway from side to side as well as up and down, plus the sudden stops for speed bumps, not to mention all the horse and carts (yes, still a major form of transport in Cuba)! Many of us were quite carsick, especially the longest day where we were 7 hours in the bus.

Our first stop was a botanical garden in Soroa on the way to Viñales.

It was quite beautiful, on a small hill, and had many orchids.

At Viñales, we stayed in a homestay. The town is riddled with these privately run homes - essentially renting out spare bedrooms. Our lovely hosts Lydia and José Alberto's two children had grown up and left home (and had their own families) so they now rented out these two rooms. I stayed in one, and my lovely house companions staying in the other room were the two Bente's from Norway (yes, they had the same first name!). We had a lovely evening sitting on the rocking chairs on the porch and drinking their Jägermeister liquor and smoking our cuban cigars!

Lydia cooked up a magnificent feast for our dinner, as well as a splendid breakfast. It seemed we were having multiple showers a day, but that was partly the long walk in the valley to the tobacco farm (where we bought above mentioned cigars), as well as the salsa dancing lesson. That was fun, and I was a little pleased when the dance teacher whispered in my ear that I was the best learner in the group!

We went on a tour in the afternoon to some of the local sights, including a large mural painted on the side of a mountain, a cave with a river where they took us along it in a small boat,

and a lookout over the valley where Viñales is located. It has limestone mountains around it which is reminsicent of parts of China and Vietnam.

Our next stop was Trinidad - which is located near the coast and is a colonial town originally built on the wealth of slavery and sugarcane plantations (now all gone).

It had treacherous cobblestones to walk on, but gorgeous buildings. I took many photos, but will only show this famous view - a miracle to not have bus loads of German tourists in the shot!!!

Our group leader was great in explaining some very Cuban practices to us - like how the ration book and grocery stores work (this is one). In return for letting us take over their shop for a few minutes, we offer pens to them - yes, pens. They are really appreciative of biros!

But the amazing thing about Trinidad was that the daily business hasn't changed in centuries. You are woken up by the clip clop of horses and the cries of men selling their wares. There are not many places left in the world where this still happens.

On our way between Trinidad and Cienfuegos we stopped at Santa Clara - famous for the battle that Che Guevara lead against Batista's army and the decisive one in the rebels winning. There is a memorial there with his remains. I enjoyed the museum and would have liked more time there, but ever onwards...

... to Cienfuegos, a town founded by the French escaping Haiti's revolution. It has very grand buildings, as well as a lovely boulevard that everyone strolls along to the seafront while eating icecreams.

Our hotel was at the end of the peninsula with great views of the Moorish Palace that was abandoned by the family that owned it after the revolution. It has been kept in the same state for over 50 years, and looks like a little Alhambra inside.

We were only one night in Cienfuegos before returning to Havana - but there was a lovely sunset (and indeed lovely weather the whole week) that finished off our travels.

Well, that was a bit of a whirlwind tour, but I really need to get to bed, as I have a 5am taxi pickup to travel to NYC tomorrow. I predict another long day of waiting in airports tomorrow... but then a week in NYC which will be a welcome change. 

Cheers for now, Aveline. xxx

Hasta Cuba Siempre! Part 1: Havana

I was foolishly thinking I would only do one post for Cuba... but having browsed my photos and remembered so many amazing sights, I think it will stretch to two. So let me first introduce La Habana (Havana) where I started and ended my week...

It is an amazing mix of new/renovated/touristy and rundown, genuine, teaming with life sections all rubbing hot and sweaty shoulders with each other. 

And for all of it, you can't help but feel you have somehow been transported back in time fifty years to a place where values beyond money - and yet the desperate need for money - seem to easily exist side by side as well.

My tour had us stay at the Hotel Nacional - pretty grand, huh?

It is, of course, most famous for having hosted all the American mob bosses for their congress in the 1950s (under the guise of hearing Frank Sinatra sing). The rooms are stately and full of old furniture - including two rocking chairs - which are everywhere in Cuba, as no house is without one!

The old city is enchanting, although much of it is being renovated, which I suppose is a good sign - that tourism is providing an injection of funds in some form (not great for photos, though!).

And everywhere there is mention of Hemingway! He did live here for many decades. On my last night in Havana, I had some daiquiris (which he is credited at being involved in inventing) at the Floridita bar (pink building below); excellent lounge band, just for a change from all the salsa!

I was amazed at how many people actually live in the old town, and as I was wandering around on a Sunday afternoon, all the kids were playing in the streets, there was washing hanging out to dry, and old wrinkled ladies sitting on steps smoking cigars (I really wanted to photograph this, but it felt too awkward and intrusive).

Most things in Cuba are still state-run; or as one of our guides said - they pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work! Terrible service - if you're lucky... but in the last two years there are now more privately run restaurants, usually by families, which are well worth supporting if you can spot them from the official ones. And tourism is where the money is. The average Cuban earns $20 a month - so if you are good and well tipped, then you would make that, and more, easily.

For example,  the "tourist taxis" - the beautiful cars (usually convertibles) from the 1950s that have been fixed up and painted brightly, are $30 per hour.

What really surprised me was that these cars (not looking so glamourous) really are used widely by many families (they cram them full of people, and always hang their elbows out the window!). There are also so many of the little boxy Lada cars (from Russia) on the road too. More recently, and particularly for the Yutong "Transtour" buses, there are newer Chinese cars and coaches. 

So much is changing, and will change more over the next decade. I noticed quite a few young people wearing designer jeans and with smart phones (all acquired on the black market, naturally) - not that locals have Internet access (foreigners need to present their passports to buy time online). They can also now go overseas (not that many would have the money to do this) - although I stood behind several in Cancun airport who were returning with purchases of flat screen TVs and air conditioners!

But if you had to pick the true passion of these people (baseball aside - they really are into the game!) it would have to be music. Just about everybody plays or sings, and the quality of the buskers is amazing. For a small donation, they are always willing to pose, and are ready with a wink for any passing lady.

The men are indeed quite gallant and charming - and persistent for the hawkers - but I certainly didn't feel like women's equality was far advanced (also stuck in the 50's?). There are few women seen in public roles, and many whose lives comprise of cleaning, cooking, and looking after children.

But I digress from my tour of Havana... here is a renovated brewery where I stopped for a half-pint of quite decent beer for $2. The drinks are great in Cuba - and I had far too many Mojitos, as they are so cheap. The food however (as I was warned) is rather plain. There is nothing wrong with it - mostly chicken and pork and some seafood - but after Mexico and Guatemala, it lacks any interesting spice or sauces. There were not many vegetables either, except for one amazing dinner we had on a farm, which was all vegetables in season.

 I really enjoyed our visit to this 1791 perfume museum/shop. I bought a small bottle of perfume, but the cork and wax seal I'm afraid wasn't meant for modern day air travel. It has leaked in my toilet bag a little, so I am now using it and wondering how I will possibly get it on my next journey without an aromatic flood. Handbag, perhaps?

Well, to finish La Habana,  I must include this last shot (my favourite) taken as the taxi whisked me from the old town back to my hotel. It is the Malecón - the famous road and seawall that often features when there are storms. On this night, it was beautiful though with many people out enjoying the sunset.

There was so much to see and do in this beautiful, vibrant town, and the couple of half days at either end of the trip meant that I have a very good excuse to come back and do all the things that I should have done!

But it was good to see other parts of Cuba too. In the next post, I will share Viñales, Trinidad, and Cienfuegos with you - all so very different from Havana, and from each other.

Until then - Aveline. xxx

Chicken Pizza (Chichen Itza)

Hello again everyone!

I have quite a bit of catching up to do here... Yucatan tales, then a week in Cuba, now Mexico City... although looking at the weather forecast for the East Coast of the USA, I may find myself with ample time in Dallas Fort Worth airport if my flight doesn't get in and out before the storm front hits!

So... backtracking a week to my last few days in Mexico, at Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan Peninsula. This is the only time in this holiday that I have a hire car (mostly preferring to travel by train when I can). And if I was worried about driving on the other side of the road, I must say that after sitting behind the minivan drivers for over a month, this proxy driving course made it feel quite natural when I finally got behind the wheel.

Ah - the wheels.

Yes, I had pre-booked and paid for a small automatic car. Although I drive a manual in Australia, I wanted to not focus on the car, but on the traffic and navigation (seeing I was doing it all by myself!). When I arrived at Hertz, I waited over an hour before they finally admitted there were no automatics available, but I could have a manual in the same class. I held out, explaining the risk in driving on the other side of the road if I had to also focus on changing gears, etc... (cue impending Academy Award - I was clearly convincing) so they gave me the only automatic car on the lot - a Jeep Patriot!

The reason it has no licence plates is that it was brand new! (But this meant I was stopped by every police road block - I had a licence on the back window to travel without plates, although I think they just wanted to check out a new car, and have a chat as they were bored...) The Jeep had only 15km on the clock, and it still had its new car smell. It was massive, and I did whinge to Hertz a bit about now having to pay more petrol to drive such a tank around, not to mention parking it (Academy winning, remember)! But after the first day of driving it, there was no way I was giving it up - 4WD is the only way to go in torrential tropical rain (we'll get to that later).

Because, of course it didn't stop raining! I had what I thought would be my first Mayan ruin in sunshine when I drove down to Tulum - a small but neat and lovely ruin by the beach.

With its own population of Iguanas lazing around on the rocks and beautifully mown green lawns.

After getting all hot and sweaty walking around in my bathers, I had a great time swimming at the little beach here (without sandflies!). 

Although I'm afraid one wave did best me - I had my baseball cap on as I didn't want to get my hair wet - and after jumping and riding over many waves, this wave was so high and came out of nowhere, knocking the hat off my head and drenching my hair! I was lucky to find the cap before it sunk, and then had it all soggy and dripping for the rest of the day (as you can gather, I still had fun!).  ;-)

But I should have known with Mayan ruins and me - just as I got out of the water and dried myself off, I was admiring such a lovely rainbow on the horizon when the skies opened up and I got a free freshwater shower! Yes, this made four out of four Mayan ruins seen in the rain...

So - what would happen to my big excursion planned to the famed (and my sixth modern wonder of the world that I have now seen) Chichen Itza? I won't keep you in suspense...

It rained. Heavily. Torrentially. 

And it was cold rain to boot! The only advantage? All the tourists ran for cover under the trees, and I got this unusually empty photo of the main pyramid temple.

But first let me tell you about the journey there. It was a long drive - I took the tollway, having been told it would cost around $15 (turned out to be $30!) and in truth, it was a bit spooky being nearly the only car on the  (expensive) road for hundreds of kilometres. But it was a very easy drive, so you pay for what you get, I suppose.

I did get scammed though. At the tollbooth when I took a toilet break, there was a Tourist Information booth with maps of the Chichen Itza site. I spoke to the gentlemen there and purchased my ticket to the site, pre-paid for parking and got a free planetarium show thrown in. It seemed like a good saving. I later realised that it wasn't the official tourist info booth, but one for the hotel next to the site! (They tried to sell me a buffet lunch, but I didn't want to spend time in a restaurant, so declined.) I'm sure the entry and parking would have been about the same in the official area, and although the show was quite good (and in a small but real planetarium!) it delayed me getting home.

They also "on-sold" me hiring an English guide. I don't know what I was thinking, as after four other sites, he didn't tell me anything I didn't already know... and the two hour tour was barely 90 minutes - most spent standing under trees in the rain. And so expensive for what it was (and he didn't have change, so had to accept a little less from me ($1) - I claimed it was a discount for the rain and shorter tour! He wasn't happy...). Oh well, live and learn!

But the Chichen Itza site is massive, very interesting, and so well managed compared to the others I've seen.

You can no longer climb the large pyramid, probably the most famous building of the site (just as well, given the injuries as people fell down them - not to mention the damage to these fragile monuments), but I think I liked the 1000 pillars more and its temple.

And the observatory - as astronomy was the main focus of this site (hence the planetarium show which outlines this Mayan history and fascination with the stars - Venus in particular for this site, which the below building is purpose-built to observe).

The ball court is also spectacular, and has these amazing carvings around it of the players.

But the site it quite old and has different styles of architecture, including these older mausoleums, which I thought were not only well made to last so long, but also reminiscent of Angkor Wat's ruins too...

The only down side to this adventure was the drive home. I left at around 4.30pm, and took the public ($30 cheaper!) road through Valladolid and Tulum. Unfortunately the skies opened and I was faced with the scariest driving experience of my life! Pitch black country roads, no markings on the road, jungle and ditches on either side, and rain that was so heavy I couldn't see the bonnet of my own car - even with the wipers on full speed and the lights on high-beam. 

All I could see were the lights of the occasional truck coming towards me and no idea if I was still driving on the road, especially when I hit large puddles from this sudden flood and it made that shushing noise as the water hit the underside of the car. I was convinced a few times I had driven off the road and into a river! The road normally had a limit of 100km - I was doing 35km with my hazard lights on. Nobody else was going faster, either... I would have pulled over, but - ditch and jungle, remember? It was quite an adrenaline ride, and one I would not care to experience again. But after 30 minutes of this terror, the rain finally eased up - well, it became normally torrential, rather than the waterfall I experienced, and I made it home safely.

Okay - enough tales for now. I plan on spending a leisurely day wandering the Zocalo of Mexico City. Am taking it easy, and enjoying catching up online, so do leave a comment (if you can) and I will be around later to respond, and tell you about the wonderful, sexy, vibrant place that is Cuba...

Until then - hasta luego! Aveline. xxx