Wandering North

USA

Where to Smoke Cigars in Detroit

Detroit was a good cigar town. You can’t smoke everywhere, but patios seem to be fine and there are several cigar lounges.

In the downtown core there were four good spots.

La Casa Cigars and Lounge. This place had a well-stocked, walk-in humidor on one side and a bar/cigar lounge on the other. The humidor had the best selection of Foundation cigars I had seen (amongst many other brands) and the prices were very good. The bar side was casual with a pub-like feel. TVs and high-topped tables and bar seating, along with a few sofas. A good place to go and watch the game. What game? Any game. We went there twice and both times it was busy with a crowd, friendly, and a bit loud. A comfortable neighbourhood kind of place. It is also quite close to the baseball stadium, so it made for a good pre and post-game cigar spot.

The London Chop House aka LCH Cigar Lounge. I wrote about this place in my other Detroit post. It is a proper, old fashioned steak joint with all of the manly décor you would expect. It is dark, and fancy, yet cozy, with live jazz and a steakhouse-y menu. Iceberg wedge salads, garlic mashed potatoes, and various cuts of meat. Great cocktails and service. You cannot smoke in the restaurant, but upstairs is a bar with a small walk-in humidor and that bar is cigar friendly. You could go and visit only the lounge, but I think skipping the restaurant would be a mistake. It is just the perfect atmosphere, and I say this as a vegetarian. There was literally nothing on the menu that I could eat apart from asparagus and salad, and I still recommend it for the ambience, music, and service. (And the cigars, obviously.)

Uralli Cigar Bar. This is place is inside the Detroit Club – a private members’ club. The kind of place where there is a dress code and men go after a long day at the office to drink and avoid going home to their families. While you need to be a member to go to the Club, membership is not required for the cigar bar. The Club looks quite exclusive and I worried I would be stopped at the door, but I wasn’t and I was able to go to the second floor to Uralli Cigar Bar. It is a bit of a weird room. The whole building is old, but somehow this room feel less old; maybe like it was renovated (more1980s than 1880s). That said, I had a great time. It was very quiet when I arrived about 10:30pm). Just two people at the bar: a couple from Detroit. They were very friendly and they and the bartender and I chatted for over an hour as I enjoyed a cigar and a cocktail. They did have a small selection of cigars for sale, but I didn’t check them out as I had my own and, after a few cocktails already that evening, my attention to detail was waning. I would have happily stayed for another round, but it was late and I was pushing the limit into being tipsy.

Did it My Way Detroit Cigar and Wine Bar. The newest cigar lounge in Detroit at the time we went, this place is slick. It is fancy in a VIP, urban way with an illuminated bar, stylish lounge furniture, and cool art. Importantly, it has a big walk-in humidor for shopping as well private humidor lockers for cigar storage. We went there twice. The cocktails were great, the music was good, and the bartenders were friendly. The first time we went it was earlier in the day and it was quieter and chill; the second time it was evening and the place was hopping. Both were great experiences.

I found online many other places to smoke in and around Detroit (I regrettably did not get to Byrd’s Cigar Lounge), but only visited these four, all of which were walking distance to each other. Smoking outside in Detroit elicited no negative comments or nasty glances. It was a non-issue. At each of the smoking lounges, not only was there a varied cross section of patrons, but there were even people who did not smoke cigars enjoying the space. It dd not feel snobbish. It was so refreshing to be able to enjoy a cigar without being hidden away or segregated. Sometimes it feels like places like this are disappearing in North America, but Detroit made me and my cigars feel welcome.

Canada

Toronto Layover: A Mediocre Experience

I had a layover in Toronto on my way back from Detroit. I was excited because, despite living in Canada fir most of my life, I had never been to Toronto. It would not be a long layover, but enough to get a little taste.

I took the train from the airport into the downtown core, which is the financial district. The train ride was easy and pleasant and stepping out into the city, my first impression was positive. It looked like a real city. Not like Vancouver. It looked big and tall and important. I craned my neck to look at the buildings and as careful to keep out of the way of people who seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere.

Since I didn’t have a lot of time, I had decided to walk to this area called The Distillery Historic District, which is kind of an old former distillery, repurposed into shops, art galleries, and restaurants. Lots of bricks and bits of art. It was decent. I went to a nice café and looked around.

On the way there I had planned to visit the St. Lawrence Market, an old food market, but it was closed that day.

I stopped by Berczy Park where there was a curious fountain; two tiers high it was ringed with statues of different dogs, and at least one cat. The fountain wasn’t on, but I liked the whimsy of it.

I wandered around the downtown core more and found it underwhelming. Once that initial view was gone, so was my first impression. The city just felt sort of ordinary and without character or interest for me. I am completely aware that I saw only one or two areas and that there is probably a lot of good and interesting stuff in Toronto. I am certain that it has a lot more going on than Vancouver. I just didn’t like Toronto as a layover city. Easy to visit, but not interesting to me.

But I didn’t care that Toronto was not exciting, because my next destination would be Yemen.

USA

Detroit: A Surprising Weekend in Motor City

Why Detroit?

After my trip to Belize, I wanted to get a Nexus card. For people who don’t live in Canada or the United States, a Nexus card is something that gets approved by the Canadian and American governments that allows you to cross the border by going into express lanes on the freeway and in the airport and without answering a bunch of questions because they’ve already vetted you as a not a security risk. I thought it would be handy to have because sometimes I’m transiting through airports in the United States and I have gotten ensnared in long immigration queues and almost missed my flights. The problem was that you must get an interview done and I had been trying for close to a year to get an interview at the closest place to where I live in Vancouver, but the interview slots were always full. Apparently, this is a common problem. When I looked for alternative interview spots, one place that always had available times was Detroit. I had been a bit curious about Detroit, so I thought this was a good opportunity to do a weekend trip somewhere new and accomplish something practical at the same time. And that’s how I ended up going to Detroit in April 2025.

Initially I thought I would just go for one night do the interview and come back the next day, but I wanted to be able to bring cigars back into Canada, which requires staying out of the country for at least 48 hours, so it became a two-night weekend trip. Of course, I was going to go solo as I basically always do and is my preference.

Not Solo Travel

But then things changed. One of my cigar buddies from my cigar club (we will call him ‘Mariner’ for the purpose of this post) mentioned that the weekend I was going was the season opener for the Detroit Tigers (a baseball team) and he has a dream of visiting every professional baseball stadium in America and he had not been to the one in Detroit. So, he said, maybe he would go the same weekend as me and we could go to the game together. And this is how I got hoodwinked into going to Detroit for a weekend with a cigar buddy. #notsolotravel.

I agreed to it though; it’s not like he ambushed me, but I was a little bit nervous. What if it spoiled the whole weekend? It didn’t. It was certainly a different experience, and I don’t think I would trade in my solo trips for buddy trips very often, but it was a good time. I think traveling with someone easygoing is probably the key and Mariner is good company and easy going.

We landed in Detroit separately. I arrived first and took a taxi directly to the interview station, which is in no man’s land between the United States and Canada. They did the interview in five minutes and sadly did not ask me to recount my travels to far-flung and dangerous locales, and I took the taxi back to my hotel to begin my short holiday. I was a little bit nervous about applying for the Nexus card because I thought, surely, they will never give it to me after I’ve been to so many countries that the United States warns against, but a few months later I received approval for the card.

Where I stayed in Detroit

I had selected the Siren Hotel. I looked at all the hotels in downtown Detroit and most of them were way too expensive, especially considering the Canadian / U.S. dollar exchange. I wanted to stay somewhere central and there were a couple that were less expensive but did not look very appealing. I picked The Siren because it was just barely in my budget and it was oozing historical charm. It was designed by architect Robert Finn in 1926 as the headquarters for the Wurlitzer organ company, and then it was recently almost torn down but was saved and turned into this hotel. They’ve embraced the historical design of the building, and it is picturesque at every corner. The rooms are a little more basic but still cozy. I absolutely loved it; I think it might have been a step down for Mariner, but he could have stayed somewhere else.

Art and Protest

The first thing I decided to do, because I didn’t think that Mariner would have any interest in it, was I went to the Detroit Institute of the Arts.

I walked there and paid a small fee. The museum is fantastic. Like, it’s New York or London fantastic. It has historical paintings and portraits as well as 20th century works of art that are significant. It’s probably most famous for having the Diego Rivera paintings called The Detroit Industry Murals (1932–1933), which are impressive depictions of early 20^th Century industry, but I liked the most some of the very modern works of art by black artists. It was just excellent and exceeded any expectations that I had.

*one wall of the* *Detroit Industry Murals (1932–1933)*

When I left the building, outside there was a massive protest against Donald Trump. I was in the USA and happy to see that people were exercising their civil liberties. I had been a little bit nervous about going to the States at this point because I had heard so many terrible things about the border and because relations between Canada and the United States had taken a surprising downward turn, but I will say that everyone I interacted with on that weekend, including the border officers, were incredibly friendly. In fact, many people that I talked to, when they found out I was from Canada, actually thanked me for coming down and apologized for their president. Certainly, they didn’t have to do that, but it was nice to feel so welcome.

Leaving the art gallery, I decided to take public transit back to my hotel. There was a streetcar that was headed in that direction. I sat at the stop and chatted with a couple of older ladies that had just left the protest. And on board, the two ladies and everyone seemed to be chatting with everyone else. Say which will about the US, but I find the people to be extremely friendly. The incredible thing about the streetcar was that it was free. In fact, all public transportation in Detroit is free. If I want to take the bus for two blocks in Vancouver it cost me over $3. This was great. Downtown Detroit also has a monorail (Monorail!) which I rode at one point just for the views of the city and, again, it’s free so why not?

Cathedrals of Industry and Finance

Back at the hotel, I met up with Mariner, and we went out for tacos and strolled around. We had two major objectives, apart from my Nexus interview, on this trip; one was to visit all of the cigar stores and lounges and the other was to go to the baseball game. More on the baseball game later. But we also wanted to check out Detroit, so we walked around the downtown core to take in the vibe and the architecture. It was Saturday, so maybe it was quieter than it would be during a weekday, but the city felt almost deserted. It was a little bit unsettling. Where were all the people? I had heard that Detroit was unsafe and there was no part of it that felt unsafe to me, but it did feel strange that it was so quiet. Maybe it is partly due to people driving their cars and not walking very much so it leads to quieter sidewalks? I never did get the answer, but I didn’t love the vibes of downtown Detroit; that said, there are a lot of beautiful things to look at in downtown Detroit; some interesting sculptures and some murals, but what it really shines for are the buildings.

Detroit was one of the major cities in the United States in about the 1920s as it was the centre of automobile manufacturing, giving it the nickname ‘Motor City’ and it became extremely wealthy. This is obvious as you walk around because there are many tall and beautiful buildings all built in around that period. The terrific thing is their lobbies seem to be open all the time so you can just walk in and appreciate the architecture, which we did. Some of them are truly extraordinary, incorporating with elaborate church-like arches, painted ceilings, and glittering mosaics. Really inspiring stuff. The best downtown one was definitely the Guardian (500 Griswold Street), built in 1928-1929 it has an art deco style with Aztec Designs. It is amazing.

We hit up a cigar lounge, again more on that in the next post, and went to the baseball game.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I am not a sports person. I enjoy a bit of boxing and American football at my cigar club because it is on a lot, but I don’t follow any sports and I think it’s all a bit silly, but I am always up for new experiences, so I agreed to go to the baseball game. Mariner is a baseball fanatic. Like a savant. He knows every statistic, every player, every mote of history and trivia. He was excited to be at the game, but maybe not as excited as I was once I walked into the arena and saw how much of a spectacle it was. All around the stadium there were festivities. Buskers playing music. Vendors selling disgusting foods. People dressed up in jerseys and costumes. Inside, there were even games and best of all, a Ferris wheel where each of the little compartments was shaped like a baseball. Of course, I insisted that we ride on it and we were the only adults on board without any children to accompany us. It was excellent. But then came the time to watch the actual baseball. I have watched baseball on TV and it is extremely boring. Watching baseball at the stadium though was pretty good. It was a sunny day, and we had excellent seats and it wasn’t loud and obnoxious like a hockey game. Everybody was chill and no one tried to high-five me. I liked reading about the players on the big screen and analyzing the walkout songs that they played for each hitter. Did I really pay attention to the game? No, not really, but I had popcorn and I was enjoying being there. I don’t remember who they were playing and I don’t remember who won. We left after the 8th inning. I’m not entirely sure why, but Mariner just said he had seen enough so we left and we went for more cigars and dinner.

*Comerica Park-Home of the Detroit Tigers*

We went for dinner at the London Chop House. We picked it because it was a fancy steakhouse, and Mariner likes fancy steaks, but also because it is one of those classic old school steak houses where everything is rich brown woods and leathers with dim lighting and live jazz. It was actually a person I met at a cigar lounge in San Pedro Belize who recommended this cigar spot in Detroit. Anyway, it was a perfect place. The average age of the band members must have been about 75 and they were terrific. It was just the right atmosphere. I had salad and a martini. We then went upstairs to enjoy cigars in the lounge, which lacked a bit in atmosphere, but a leather sofa, a cigar, and a cocktail was enough to bring me happiness.

After that it was late and Mariner tapped out and went back to the hotel to sleep. I carried onto the third cigar lounge of the trip.

(More on these and the other cigar lounges we visited in this post: Where to Smoke Cigars in Detroit.)

Street Walking in Nostalgic Detroit

The good thing about traveling with Mariner was that he was not keen to get up and do anything right away in the morning, while I was. So I left him to read the newspaper and sleep in and eat eggs or whatever people do, and I went off exploring. I walked countless blocks in a different direction with the goal of seeing a particular building that I was interested in seeing and a mural that I had heard about that had both Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop and Tom Selleck from Magnum PI painted on it, as well as RoboCop.

While Detroit might be famous for its baseball team or its car manufacturing history or its tradition of gun violence, to me Detroit will forever be the city that Axel Foley was from in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. My favourite comedy of all time. That opening scene in Beverly Hills Cop where it shows the people of Detroit as Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On” plays is burned in my brain forever, and as I walked around on that morning I listened to that song on my headphones and the city really came alive. Especially as I walked around the more economically depressed areas. Why not create my own soundtrack for movies for cities that I’m visiting? You can’t do that when you’re walking around with someone else. I found the mural and took some pictures of it. I know that RoboCop was set in Detroit and I’ve seen it but I’m not a big RoboCop person but I was excited to see Axel Foley and also Tom Selleck dressed as Magnum Pi, another of my favourite TV shows. Tom Selleck is a native of Detroit which is why he wore a Detroit Tiger baseball cap in the show.

Anyone who’s reading this and is under the age of 40 probably has no idea what I’m talking about and that’s fine. This part isn’t for you.

In that area were other impressive murals and appealing old houses.

I walked over to the Fisher Building and admired its stunning lobbies. There’s a theatre there as well, which I couldn’t get into, but I bet it’s stunning. I went for coffee at a charming little spot called Café Sous Terre and then I caught an Uber over to a different neighbourhood to visit a couple of businesses.

I kept reading about how Shinola was this famous Detroit store and that it was a must see kind of thing and so I decided to go to that store and I guess it is historic and everything they make in there is from Detroit and all the leather goods and watches seem nice but it really was of no interest to me; however, next door was Third Man Records. A record shop owned by Jack White of the White Stripes who is also from Detroit. It’s super cool and I thought it was worth the visit, unfortunately on the weekends the record manufacturing part of it wasn’t in operation but you could see it through a window. If you go at the right times during the week, you could take a little tour and watch them making records. I would have loved to have seen that. But in the record shop itself it was neat there was lots of music memorabilia and vinyl for sale and books and it just had a really cool vibe. Sometimes they have concerts. I left there and meandered my way back to the hotel to meet up with Mariner.

After that, we went for a cigar at a lounge and just sort of ambled about the city. Had a tasty dinner at Standby, where I had a cocktail made with roasted leeks (interesting but not amazing), followed by more cigars and then sleep.

The next morning, we flew home separately via Toronto.

It was a delightful trip to Detroit. I think if you are in North America and want an unusual city break weekend, it is a good choice, but if you are into cigars I would definitely recommend it.

I go into more detail about the cigar lounges in this post.

And I write about my brief layover visit to Toronto in this post.

Belize

24 hours in Belize City

I left the island paradise of San Pedro not the way I arrived, on a tiny plane, but by ferry. I wanted to have both experiences: one flying above the technicolor blue waters and the other skimming on top of them. I preferred the plane, but the ferry was cheap (about $30 US) and convenient.

I boarded at the San Pedro Ferry Express terminal on San Pedro Island. I bought my ticket online ahead of time for the 7am departure and picked it up in person. I queued up with the other travellers. The boat was close to sold out and the seating was first come first serve and if you end up in the back of the queue you might end up on the upper deck or on the sides, in which case you would be in the sun the entire time. Not fancying melanoma, I got a seat in the middle. (It looks like there might be different types of boats, but the one I was on had two levels and was open on the sides and on top.) It isn’t particularly comfortable; just a hard seat to sit in for the 90 minute journey. The sea air was nice, but there wasn’t much to see and it was loud. The plane was more fun, but I was very happy to arrive at the ferry terminal in downtown Belize City. No need of taxis or buses, I was able to walk to my accommodations.

But first a breakfast by the water.

I walked to my hotel, the charming One South Place Hotel. It is in an old house just steps from the water, and I had a room on the top floor with a private patio and view of the sunrise. I would only be there for one night, but it was a nice place to spend time.

*My accommodations and me on the street out front*

I had only about 24 hours, so I had to make the most of it. I started walking. Reading about Belize City there really were not any major attractions I wanted to see. There weren’t even any minor ones. But the day started out promising. I walked through my neighbourhood back to the downtown centre. It was sunny and I was in a good mood. On the way I was delighted by the large sea-worn houses with accents and showing the ravages of time. The streets were pretty. Flowering bushes. Cats and dogs.

The closer I got to the centre of the city, the buildings became a little grander and there were statues of people that I was unfamiliar with. It also got busier. Belize City feels a bit like a poor city. There is no fancy or modern downtown core. The whole place feels a little bit rough, but lively during the day. I walked past people playing checkers and groups of people buying food from street vendors and sitting in parks passing the time. I visited a cute little bookstore slash café (Bricks & Books), how could I resist that? Even if Belize City was not postcard pretty, it was colourful.

Belize City, with a population of just under 65,000 people, is the biggest city in the country. It was founded in the 1600s by the British. I assume there were already people living there. Although Belize City is the largest city in the country, it is not the capital. That honour goes to a small city called Belmopan, more in the centre of Belize and with only about 20,000 residents. Apparently it was some planned community from the 1970s. Being the biggest municipality, Belize City should Have a little more going on than it seemed to. It was, in my opinion, a bit sleepy. Maybe it’s because I was there on the weekend, but it felt very quiet.

I made my way over to the Museum of Belize, which was the only attraction that I had planned to go to. If you’re in Belize City and passing time, the museum is worth a visit – but just barely. It’s small and not particularly interesting. It did not have too much on display and I was a bit disappointed, but still there are some nice and interesting things to look at and it was good to be out of the heat for a short time.

I walked around the neighbourhoods more. The thing that I did like about Belize City was all of the dilapidated buildings. You could see that a lot of them were quite lovely at one point in time. For example, one had balcony railings with swans carved into them and others had delicate wooden trim around the rooftops like gingerbread houses, but they were all in pretty poor repair, some of them maybe even abandoned. They still had a certain beauty. I also liked all the various colourful end differently designed breeze-blocks that added interest to even basic buildings. Essential in a climate like this.

After several hours of mostly aimless wandering, I really had nothing else that I wanted to do, except that Carlos at the Havana Cigars store in San Pedro had told me about a good place to enjoy a cigar on a patio, and so that is where I went next. The Cork Street Whisky Bar might be my new favourite place, at least in Belize City. It was in what I can only assume was once a mansion just across the street from the sea, set on a green yard with a big patio. The inside was beautiful like an old library or a men’s club; all outfitted in leather and mahogany. But I had my sights set on the patio, which was sheltered from the sun and off the ground and had lots of comfortable seating options. I settled into a wicker chair and had two cocktails and two cigars and watched the waves crash in. Very relaxing.

I went back to my hotel room for a bit and then decided that I was starving and I wanted to get something to eat. I was a little bit nervous because I had heard nothing but bad things about the safety situation in Belize City. It felt fine during the day, but night was a different question and I wasn’t exactly right in the centre. I decided to go out but just to stick to the main streets; and it did seem fine although the streets were quite empty. I walked a little ways until I found a restaurant that was open and I had a completely uninspiring vegetarian burrito sitting by the canal where they wouldn’t let me smoke a cigar because they said people would complain, notwithstanding that everyone else was smoking cigarettes.

I walked back to my room, passing some particularly interesting murals along the way.

*Murals, the last one with a voodoo theme?*

The next morning, I had a little bit of time before I had to head to the airport, and so I went out for a nice breakfast and a walk.

Belize City is barely worth a visit. I hate to say that. I hate to be mean but, it was not that interesting. Spending a day and a night there was perfect; any longer and I would have struggled to find things to do. I am glad that I visited it as I think it would have been a shame if all I saw of Belize was San Pedro. I wouldn’t object to going back to Belize and seeing some of its jungles or Mayan ruins, but it is not high on my list; San Pedro however will continue to live in my memory fondly.

And so ended my workation to Belize.

My next trip would be just a couple of weeks later and will keep me closer to home. A cigar weekend in Detroit.

Belize

Island Life in San Pedro, Belize

One of the perks of my job, in addition to my vacation time, is that every year for the past three years I get to take a week and work remotely. I can travel anywhere, but I stay in North America to remain in similar time zones for work availability. So far, I’ve done these ‘workations’ in Antigua, Guatemala and Estelí, Nicaragua. This year, I decided to try something a bit more tropical and go to San Pedro, Belize. I had never been to Belize, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Last Night I dreamt of San Pedro

Belize is, of course, the tiny country clinging to the east side of Guatemala and just below the tip of Mexico, on the Caribbean Sea. Its mainland has jungles and Mayan ruins, but what I wanted to visit was one of its many islands: San Pedro. Why did I pick San Pedro? One reason was just that I wanted to try a tropical island vacation, which I don’t think I’ve ever done (Cuba doesn’t count); but I specifically picked San Pedro because I saw that it had several cigar stores and because it is the island that Madonna sang about in her song La Isla Bonita. Honestly, the Madonna thing was really the reason that I chose it, but the cigar stores made it definitive. I was a huge Madonna fan as a kid and I’m sure I sang “Last night I dreamt of San Pedro” a million times, so why not visit the island itself?

Getting There

I flew to Belize City and then caught a tiny little plane on an airline called Tropic Air to fly the 15-minute flight to San Pedro. There are two options for getting from Belize City to San Pedro: one is the short flight and the other is a ferry. I decided to take the flight there and the ferry back because I wanted to have both experiences. (I wrote about the ferry trip in my post about Belize City.) The plane was super cool. It was tiny and it flew over shockingly turquoise waters and tiny little islands. It was amazing. And the airport, if you can call it an airport, is right in downtown San Pedro and it was about a two-minute walk from where I was staying.

Where I stayed: A Trailer by the Sea

Accommodations for workations are a little bit different than what I would book if I was on holiday. Since I am going to be in the place for about a week or more, I need to make sure that I have a suitable space for working and strong Wi-Fi. It has to be comfortable enough and I need a place where I can enjoy a cigar. I couldn’t afford a resort and the central hotels looked lacklustre, but I found this terrific little Airbnb. It was a bit weird. It was a trailer that had a little bit of an extra space added onto it (to add width to the kitchen and put in doors that open onto a wooden patio. It sat on the beach in downtown San Pedro and was painted blue and it looks very cute. It also might look a little trailer trash to some people, but I spent my early years in a trailer, so I was right at home. Really, the whole thing was bigger than my apartment and I thought what would be better than waking up in the morning and having my coffee on my own private patio looking at the beach or spending the evening in a hammock with a cigar.

*i know, it is not fancy, but very cozy*

It was an awesome place to stay. I loved it. I had all my needs met. I even had a trio of cats that came to keep me company on the patio each morning. The only downside was that there was a boat that was parked on the beach in front of the Airbnb and there was a homeless man that was living in the boat. For the most part, it wasn’t a problem; I didn’t see him or he was just doing things around the boat. To be clear it wasn’t his boat; he was just squatting in it. I am sure he was harmless, but I felt a little bit creeped out at night staying in the trailer with its big glass patio doors that didn’t have a curtain, meaning that anyone could just walk by and peer in, but I never felt unsafe. I live in a high-rise so ground level accommodations always feel a little weird to me. But, hey, this is island life; there are no highrises.

How I Spent Time

I was in San Pedro for exactly a week. I arrived on the weekend, so I had time to explore before I started working. San Pedro is small. During my time there I walked the length of the island a few times. But for the most part I stuck to the centre where most of the businesses were. You’re never more than a blocks from the beach in San Pedro.

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I don’t like the beach, but I can’t deny that it was beautiful to look at. Fortunately, the downtown area of San Pedro has a string of restaurants and cafes all of which have beach-side seating. So I got to enjoy a lot of coffees, cocktails, and cigars looking out at the waves and the swaying palm trees.

San Pedro was a great destination for my workation because, while it was very beautiful, there’s not much to do. In a day and a half, I felt like I had explored the island and seen what I wanted to see, so when Monday came and it was time for me to settle into work I didn’t feel distracted things that I wanted to enjoy. The island is mostly beaches and resorts and beach bars and beach restaurants and shops selling hammocks and flip flops and souvenirs. Away from the very touristy areas it was interesting to see the neighbourhoods where people lived and the little food kiosks they shopped at and some local cafes and bars. A lot of the houses were still brightly coloured and adorable.

It is all completely pleasant. One of the neat things about the island is that there are no cars. Except for a few delivery vehicles, everyone gets around by golf carts. And there are a lot of golf carts. Tourists rent them and they seem to drive them everywhere, even if it would be faster for them to walk. The streets are positively clogged with them and if I was driving, I think it would be very annoying, but as a pedestrian I wasn’t bothered by it. It was just charming and quaint.

Speaking of tourists, while I had visions of myself going to some of these popular beach bars and enjoying my evening cigar, that idea went away quickly once I visited a couple of these spots. The tourists that were at these locations were probably nice people but not people that I really wanted to hang around with. A lot of conservative politics and alcohol. A little too loud and just not my crowd; so after that, I picked quieter spots where I could simply listen to the waves or enjoy a book or a podcast with my cigar.

So, I walked and I took in the views of turquoise waters and palm trees, white sands and colourful buildings and little glimpses into the lives of people that made this island their home. Many of which were immigrants or expats from other countries.

One thing that was a little bit of a drawback for having San Pedro as my location destination, as opposed to when I went to Guatemala and Nicaragua, was that San Pedro was expensive. My Airbnb was a very good deal, but going out for food and drinks was pricey. Everything was priced similarly to how it would be priced at home in Canada except it was priced in American dollars so for me that meant that everything was about 40% more expensive. It wasn’t prohibitive, but it certainly wasn’t a bargain. What was shockingly expensive was groceries. On the first weekend I went to a local supermarket and bought some supplies for the week. Coffee, yogurt, fruits, that sort of thing, and I couldn’t believe how much it was. I think I found a can of chickpeas that was about $7.00 US and a package of four yellow peppers that was $14.00 US. I guess this is part of the problem of island life.

Once my work week kicked into gear. I started each day with a walk somewhere nearby to grab a coffee and get a bit of exercise and then I worked until about 5:00 PM and then went out for dinner and a cigar. There were lots of appealing restaurants to choose from in San Pedro and most of them had at least one vegetarian dish – usually a delicious coconut curry. Most nights I had a virgin piña colada or some other tropical drink sans alcohol. Sitting on a patio with a cigar and listening to some music was very relaxing.

Smoking Cigars in San Pedro

As I said, one of the reasons that I chose San Pedro was because it had cigar stores. There were three, two of which had proper lounges and one that had a little patio for smoking. Smoking on patios and Belize was not a problem, but it’s still nice to go to a lounge to visit with other cigar smokers. On my first day I went to all three lounges.

One was called Saul’s Cigar & Coffee House. They had some of their own cigars and some other brands that they sold including some Cubans although the Cubans were, in my estimation, fake. I bought some of the cigars they rolled themselves to try and sat on their narrow front patio and watch the traffic roll by. Their cigars were OK but a bit expensive, although the staff was very nice and it was a pleasant place to sit.

There was also the newly opened La Casa del Habano Belize which was gleaming and pristine. It was a beautiful store with a well-stocked humidor selling all Cuban cigars. In wonderful condition and with OK prices compared to Canada. I went there twice and both times I got a cigar and sat in the air-conditioned environment in a leather chair enjoying an espresso and chatting with the women that work there. They were very nice, but they weren’t cigar smokers and were still learning about cigars. I just chatted with the staff or did a bit of work on my computer. It wasn’t my favorite place to go but I can’t deny that it was a nice place for a cigar.

My favourite place, and the place that I went nearly every day that I was in San Pedro is a cigar store called Havana Cigars. It is owned by a fellow who lives in San Pedro and has for many years, but he is originally from Havana. Nearly every time I went in there were other people, locals and tourists, stopping in to buy or smoke cigars. It had just the right atmosphere. I felt like I was a local almost from the first time that I went in and everyone went in was up for chatting. He was a great host and I enjoyed chatting with him. Particularly I got the scoop on local politics in San Pedro and we talked about the situation in Cuba. I won’t recount the stories that he told me, but he told me some incredible tales about his life in Havana and how he left on a small boat bound for Miami. I’d never really heard anyone tell me their story of fleeing Cuba and it was fascinating and emotional. It’s his story to tell, but I feel lucky for having heard it.

i think a third of my camera roll was cigar pictures.
And, yes, i did travel to Belize with an ashtray from my law firm. That’s normal, right? (Bottom right)

Looking Back

San Pedro was great. I would recommend it to pretty much anyone who wanted that sort of a beachy, chill trip. In addition to the cigar smoking and staring at the waves experience that I had, there are beaches to visit and stingrays and to swim with and other similar activities. I had planned to take a short flight over the Blue Hole (one of the main activities) but it was exorbitantly expensive and so I scrapped that idea. If I had not been in San Pedro working I think it would have been perfect for me as a two-day trip because I would have been bored after that; but it was wonderful to be there on this slower pace where I could keep busy with work and in my off hours I could just enjoy the island vibes. It was a special experience.

Onwards

After my week in San Pedro, I still had about two days before I had to be back at work (one of which would be taken up with flying, so I decided to spend a day and a night visiting Belize city before returning home. More on that in the next post (here).

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Paraguay

Asunción: Second Time’s the Charm

This was my second time to try to visit Paraguay. The first time was a failure. I wrote about it in a previous post. I was trying to fly from Brazil, and they would not let me board because I didn’t have the paper copy of my yellow fever certificate. Lesson learned. This time, flying from Uruguay, I made sure I had my yellow fever card in hand. Of course, no one asked me to see it. Anyway, I felt quite a sense of satisfaction to actually be on the plane headed to this country that had previously eluded me.

There is not a lot said about Paraguay as a tourist destination. It is a little under the radar and a little less appealing than its neighbours. Decades of war, corruption, and instability haven’t helped. And there are not a lot of big-ticket sites to see in Paraguay. Sure, you can cross the border from Iguazu Falls and technically enter the country, but beyond that, there are not a lot of very famous or appealing sites to visit. No problem, I wasn’t going for famous; I was just going to check out the capital: Asunción.

I landed and took a taxi from the airport to the city. No visas at all required and no hassles presented themselves. I arrived very early in the morning, but my hotel let me check in. I was staying at the Asunción Palace Hotel. A nice and moderately priced hotel in the city centre that I picked for its location and the fact that each room seemed to have its own balcony. It was nice but not fancy. My favourite thing was that when I left the key with the front desk every time I went out and came to pick it back up, they wouldn’t give it to me until I correctly said my room number in Spanish. I appreciated the push as I was being quite lazy with my language efforts.

I immediately set out to explore. Asunción Is not a particularly beautiful city. It has some beautiful things in it, and it has some pockets that are interesting, but the city centre itself is not the best. I enjoyed visiting it, but it had certain shortcomings. The main problem was that it was blisteringly hot when I was there. It was at least 40°C and most of the streets seemed to lack any tree cover. It was so hot that at one point I felt like I was going blind. Aside from that though, there are a lot of once beautiful buildings that have fallen into ruin. My favourite, but it meant that there were a lot of empty streets and not a lot going on in certain areas. Also, in a majority of the areas downtown the streets were quite broken and in poor repair with lots of garbage. It just didn’t feel like a super functional city. But then out of nowhere, I would be confronted with an incredibly well maintained and stunningly beautiful building. Surprising. There was beauty to be found but you had to look for it. There weren’t rows of interesting or cute little shops or cafes, and the market, when I went, was mostly empty, but there with some decent street art and the all the people I encountered seemed very friendly.

And this is where it should be said again that Paraguay has had a bit of a rough go. It got its independence from Spain in 1811 but following that it had a series of dictatorships and military rule, followed by a war in the 1800s that left more than half of its population dead. In the 20th century, the instability continued. The first 54 years of the 20^th century saw Paraguay have more than 30 presidents, most of whom were removed through coups or violence. In 1954 they got a new leader, Alfredo Stroessner, who lasted until 1989, however he was a dictator, apparently good for the economy, but bad for human rights. Violent oppression, torture, et cetera. After he was overthrown in 1989, things moved in a more democratic, though conservative direction. So, Paraguay had a lot going on for a long time and tourism wasn’t really the focus.

Notwithstanding that I was kind of underwhelmed by the centre of Asunción, there were some delightful things. I found at least one good cafe that was pleasant and had vegetarian things for me to eat.

At night, there were lots of little bars and restaurants that appeared seemingly out of nowhere on more quiet side streets and I found them all quite appealing. Of course, the question arose: was it even safe to be walking around Asunción at night? All the information that I had suggested that it wasn’t really that safe to be walking around late at night, but I wasn’t going to stay in my hotel. So on that first night, which just so happened to be Valentine’s Day, I went for a walk and tried to stick to the slightly busier streets, but on an otherwise desolate side street I came across a cute little bar and restaurant that was all decorated for Valentine’s Day and had good music and I decided to have a cigar and a bite to eat there. They were not happy about giving me a table given that I was there by myself, but I was not to be deterred. My sense is that it’s not really that dangerous to walk around the centre at night if you stick to the streets where businesses are open, but I would probably avoid the streets where it’s dark and everything is closed. I guess this is a situation is of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

Another thing I liked about downtown Paraguay was an area called Loma San Geronimo. It was a little neighbourhood just a short walk from the centre of the city and is notable for its colourful buildings and public art. It seemed to be primarily residential, but tucked in here and there was the odd little restaurant, perhaps operating out of someone’s house, a church, and possibly a few other little small businesses, though none of them were open when I was there. It was delightful. The buildings were all painted bright colours and there were narrow walkways with tiled stairs and plenty of murals. Cobblestone streets and flowering bushes made it even prettier. Aside from one police officer and one guy on a motorcycle, I didn’t see anyone as I was walking through the neighbourhood, which was a little bit strange but all the better for taking selfies. The walk there was a bit odd as it led me down many streets with derelict buildings and dilapidated storefronts, but it was well worth it.

I didn’t stay only in the centre of Asunción; there were a few things that I wanted to see that were in different areas. One of those things was a chair museum. I don’t know why there’s a chair museum or why it would be interesting, but I wanted to go to it. Unfortunately, when I got there it was closed.

I also wanted to visit the Museo del Barrio. It is a museum with Paraguayan and South American artifacts as well as contemporary art. From the outside, it looks like it is going to be very small, but inside it had a multi-layered almost catacomb feel and I was surprised by how much it contained. It is a really good museum. The items they had were so unique and interesting and a lot of the art was legitimately creepy, which I really enjoyed. There was no admission fee (or I accidentally walked in without paying anything) and very few other visitors when I was there. It was a bit of an Uber or bus ride from the centre, but once in that neighbourhood there were more modern malls, hotels, and restaurants and I ended up on a rooftop of a hotel having lunch and a cigar.

Of course, I was very curious to check out the local cigar scene in Asunción. As best as I could tell, there was only one cigar lounge, which was a La Casa Del Habano in the fanciest neighbourhood of town, called Villa Morra. I decided to walk there but got halfway and realized it was much farther than I thought and so I called an Uber. Yes, there were lots of buses, but I didn’t feel like at that point like waiting around in the heat for one. I just wanted air conditioning and speedy transportation.

It’s hard to believe the Villa Mora is even in the same city as central Asunción. It feels like South Florida or Los Angeles. It’s very fancy and everything is new and well-manicured and there is a lot of security. It’s not particularly appealing, especially as a pedestrian, but if you want to sit down and have a fancy meal or a cigar this is the place to go. Upon arriving, I was surprised because there is no La Casa Del Habano anymore; it is now simply called “Cigar Shop.” I went there on both of my days in Asunción. They had a decent selection of cigars, mostly non-Cuban and reasonable prices and then they had a couple of lounge areas; one for regular people like me and then one for VIPs in the back. It was busy both times I went in. It had excellent air conditioning cold water and strong coffee. I was quite content. The first time I went everybody in there was speaking Spanish and I sat there trying to understand their conversations with my limited knowledge of the language. The next time I went in I ended up chatting with an American guy who lives there. He was astonished that I had come there voluntarily. He told me his story, which was that he was from Los Angeles but met a girl from Paraguay and fell in love, so he came down to spend time with her and then the pandemic hit and he couldn’t leave. And then she got pregnant and they got married and now he lives there. He hates it. I mean he loves his family, but he really hates living there and leaves as much as he can. His disdain for the city was amusing to me. There was also a group of American guys that were there going on a fishing expedition, and I talked with them a bit as well. So, I wasn’t the only tourist in the city. As usual, cigar lounges saving the day and giving me a bit of respite and camaraderie.

I left Asunción after two and a half days and was satisfied with the time that I spent there. I have no doubt that if I spent more time I would have explored deeper and found more interesting and hidden places, but I was happy to carry on. It was time to return home via a long flight through Sao Paulo and Montreal to Vancouver. Every time I go to South America I am astonished by how far away it is.

And so ended my trip to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Asunción. My next trip would keep me a little closer to home. 10 days in Belize.

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

The Quiet Charm of Montevideo

I had arrived in Montevideo by boat from Buenos Aires. I covered that journey in the previous post. From the boat I walked just a few minutes and found myself in the heart of the city. Montevideo was a place that I was visiting because it was there, not so much because I had a particular interest in visiting it. Montevideo is one of those places that one probably doesn’t know very much about and isn’t likely to end up unless you’re either collecting countries or just fancy a boat ride from Buenos Aires. I’ve always had good luck with trips to places that I didn’t have a burning desire to visit. Maybe it’s because I entered those places with low expectations. How can I possibly be disappointed when there is nothing in particular that I want to accomplish? Montevideo was one of those places. I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed two perfectly pleasant days there.

Like its capital, Uruguay is a place that I didn’t know a whole lot about, aside from the fact that it was the first country in the world to legalize cannabis. (I’m not a cannabis user but I did spend years working on cannabis legalization files as lawyer in Canada and so this is just one of the facts that seeped into my consciousness.) Aside from that, Uruguay is pretty progressive. It was one of the first countries in the world to legalize homosexuality, it has one of the most stable democratic governments in South America, it relies completely on renewable energy and has institutionalized secularism, which in South America is kind of a big deal. It is also the second smallest country in South America so it’s easily overlooked.

So what does the capital city if such am unusually progressive country look like? It is pleasant and chill. It doesn’t feel like a rich city, but it’s quite pretty. Lots of well-maintained colonial buildings and some newer buildings as well. Big squares with statues and palm trees, small pedestrian streets, and parks with cafés and markets. The whole place has kind of a relaxed vibe that I enjoyed.

It is also fairly touristy, as cruise ships dock there as they are making their way down the East Coast of South America. There were certain streets that during the day were simply flooded with cruise ship visitors, but they all seemed to disappear at night.

As far as attractions, Montevideo didn’t have much that I was interested in, so I simply wandered the city. There were lots of pleasant murals and I visited the National Museum of Visual Arts. I made the decision to walk to the art gallery from the centre of the city, which turned out to be a little bit far, but it was nice to walk through both the commercial districts and residential ones before arriving in a park. And if I hadn’t walked, I wouldn’t have seen this spectacular mural of four film directors: Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, and Lucrecia Martel.

The art gallery itself was pretty nice, but they were doing work on the floors so I could was only able to visit a very small part of it. Fortunately, there was a nice café outside where I took refuge from the heat. I wanted to avoid the walk back I took the bus which turned out to be relatively simple provided you have the cash to pay for it.

I was staying at the Hotel Palacio, which wasn’t anything special except that the price was right and it was centrally located. It was a nice hotel with friendly staff but it didn’t have any particular charm.

As a lover of hanging out in charming cafés, I was delighted to find that Montevideo has (at least) two wonderful historical ones. Café Brasilero is the oldest café in Montevideo, having been open since 1877 and has a history of being popular with artists and intellectuals, like all the best cafés. There is also La Farmacia Café was a former pharmacy from 1980 in a historical art nouveau building. It is so charming, maintaining a lot of its historic features and pharmacological items. Also, they take their coffee seriously and it is excellent.

Probably the one thing that I was most excited to visit in Montevideo was the museum dedicated to the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Probably well known to most, this plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. On board were 45 people including twelve members of the Uruguay and rugby team and their friends and families. Many people died on impact but not all. Some survived the crash but succumbed to their injuries not long after. The rest of the survivors remained in the snowy Andes waiting for help or trying to find it for over two months. Famously, they succumbed to cannibalism of the dead bodies of some of the passengers before being rescued – They were not found per se, rather, they went looking for help and found help. The museum is a small one that tells the story of the crash the aftermath and their survival and includes artifacts from the event. Nothing is said of the cannibalism in the museum. It’s not meant to be sensationalistic. I, being a bit of a ghoul, wanted to hear about the cannibalism, but I didn’t really care that it wasn’t included because the museum was so inspiring. One of the stories they told in the museum was that the survivors had a radio that worked for a while and at some point, they heard on the radio that efforts to rescue them had been called off. At that point, one of the survivors said to his son that it was great news because now they got to rescue themselves. That’s a kind of positivity that I aspire to. And they did rescue themselves. That’s too long talking about a museum, but it is really worth going into.

Apart from the museum and the gallery and cafés and generally walking around the city. I didn’t do much in my two days in Montevideo. I enjoyed a few cigars. (there were no cigar stores or lounges in Montevideo. Previously there had been a La Casa del Habano and I found it but it was boarded up and closed.) I drank coffee and chatted with anyone who would talk to me.

I marveled it the ubiquity of yerba mate in Montevideo. It’s like the national drink or something. It is a tea that I had never had before going to Montevideo and having already gone there I can tell you it’s still a tea that I haven’t tried. I couldn’t find it for sale in any of the cafés that I went to. It seems that it’s something that people largely make it home for themselves and then drink throughout the day. And they don’t just drink it throughout the day; they transport it with them in specially designed bags. Everywhere I saw men and women walking around with these leather bags specifically designed to hold both a thermos of the tea and a specific little gourd with a metal straw that they drink it out of. I saw people in the city selling these bags and devices, but nowhere did I find anyone selling the drink itself. I probably could have tried harder. I have a feeling that it is not something that I would have enjoyed but I am still curious to try it.

Just as I had met up with someone from Vancouver when I was in Buenos Aires, I also met up with someone from Vancouver while I was in Montevideo. A casual friend from a travel group that I belong to in Vancouver happened to be in the city at the same time as I. He was doing a driving trip down the length of Argentina to the bottom to scatter the ashes of a friend who had died. We met up for dinner and drinks. It was a terrific evening of swapping travel stories and also a bit of a moving one, hearing about his deceased friend, and their history together, and the tale of a trip that they never completed. It was a good reminder of the importance of friendship and the fact that all of this will end, which for me means it better make the most of it. Between that and the visit to the plan crash museum, Montevideo left me inspired and full of self-reflection. Not bad for a country I didn’t know much about.

In the spirit of making the most of things, the next morning, after my two days in Montevideo, which was exactly the right amount of time, I caught a flight to a new city in a new-to me country: Asunción, Paraguay.

Argentina Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

From Buenos Aires to Montevideo

From Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was heading to Montevideo, Uruguay. Flying was an option, but I decided to go by ferry. The two capital cities are separated by a large estuary called the Río de la Plata. Flights are only about 50 minutes but factoring in the hassle of going to and from airports against the relative pleasure of riding a boat, it was an easy decision.

There are lots of ferry options between the two cities, many of them were slow ferries, stopping along the way, taking up to 7 hours. The express ferry takes 2.5 hours and is direct. That was the one that I decided to take, operated by Buquebus. I booked in advance, which based on the crowds on the ferry, I think was a good idea.

I booked the earliest ferry I could find online (departing at 7:15am and arriving 9:45am), and on the morning of my departure I walked from my hostel in Buenos Aires to the ferry terminal. Part of the reason I had picked the hostel I did was because it was walking distance to the ferry terminal. I arrived early and there was a large crowd waiting to pick up their tickets. Even though I had booked online and had no luggage to check, I still had to pick up a paper ticket. The ferry terminal is new and modern and has a cafe and Wi-Fi, so it wasn’t a bad place to pass the time.

I picked up my ticket and boarded the ferry.

There are four classes of ticket for walk on passengers and they range from about $80 to $150 US. Normally I would get the cheapest, but in this case, I decided to get the first-class ticket. In hindsight that was a good decision. I think at the time it was the only class that offered free Wi-Fi, which was part of the reason that I selected it. It allows priority check in and boarding, but it also meant that I got to exit the boat first which was a huge time saver or given how busy the ship was and how slow it appeared people were disembarking. I had access to a lounge with free drinks and snacks prior to departure.

On board, there the first-class seating was comfortable and on the top of the ship. It had kind of a weird 60s décor, but the seats were very comfortable and there was free Wi-Fi and charging ports and some complimentary beverages. Most importantly it was very calm. The other cabins when I walked through them as I was leaving were absolutely packed and full of lots of noisy families and they just didn’t seem as appealing. I found the journey incredibly tranquil.

The business class seating looked pretty nice too, but they didn’t offer the free Wi-Fi.

As they had checked my passport when I was boarding the ship, when I exited, I just walked into Montevideo and was steps away from the city centre. There was none of the hassle of airports and taxis. It was maybe 1 of the easiest non-European border crossings I’ve ever had.

And just like that, I was in a new country and ready to explore Montevideo, Uruguay.

Argentina Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025

What’s New, Buenos Aires?

The first international trip of 2025 (not counting my trip to Miami the month prior). Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had decided it was time to return to South America, or rather world events decided it was time for me to return to South America. I had another trip booked entirely but due to some political violence and flight cancellations I decided to change my plans and fly to Buenos Aires. More specifically I decided to fly to Buenos Aires and then also visit Montevideo and Asuncion at the same time. But my trip would start in Argentina.

Buenos Aires is a city that I’ve heard nothing but good things about and yet, somehow, I managed to not feel particularly excited about going. I had no doubt that it would be nice, but I just wasn’t enthusiastic. And maybe that reflected itself on my experience of the trip, because while I had a very good time in Buenos Aires I didn’t love it.

And here is where I am going to describe all the great things in Buenos Aires that I enjoyed, while still not loving it.

Arrival and Blunders

I spent three days in Buenos Aires, which for me was enough time in the city. I booked myself a little hostel (V&S Hostel Boutique), which was more like a shared Airbnb and was walking distance to many things that I wanted to see. It was nice and welcoming after such a long flight.

The trip got off to a bit of a weird start when on my first morning I walked out of my room barefoot in my pyjamas to make a cup of coffee in the shared kitchen and didn’t realize that my door was self-locking. I locked myself out of my room. There is no reception and I didn’t see any other guests. I didn’t even have my cell phone with me, so while I had coffee, I had no other way to contact anyone. Fortunately, I knew that the woman was coming to collect my money in about two hours, so I just had to bide my time and wait for her to come rescue me, though I hoped that someone would notice me on the security cameras doing weird things like dancing or doing bicep curls with the end table and send someone more immediately. Lesson learned, never leave your room without your key and cell phone in hand.

Setting Out

Dressed and organized, I set out exploring the city. Buenos Aires is beautiful. It has beautiful buildings and lovely tree-lined streets. There are oodles of bookstores and cute little vintage shops and wonderful cafes. If you like meat and wine, which I don’t really, there is an endless array of restaurants to seduce you. It feels like a city that I could happily live in, but as I visited it, while I was enjoying myself, I wasn’t falling in love with it. And, yet, I enjoyed many things.

There is an extraordinary bookstore in an old theatre: El Ateneo Grand Splendid, which was opened in about 1919 as a theatre and turned into a bookstore (with a café) in the 2000s. It was dubbed the most beautiful bookstore in the world by National Geographic. In my mind it was doing battle with the incredible bookstore that I had just seen a couple months earlier in Bucharest. They’re both equally grand and I have not decided who the victor is, but it’s certainly worth visiting both of them.

Smoking Cigars in Buenos Aires

I was also delighted by the cigar culture in Buenos Aires. There are so many cigar lounges, including two La Casa del Habano stores/lounges where I enjoyed talking with the staff. I visited the Oak Bar at the Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt. It struck the right balance between fancy and cozy, and I sat there with a cigar, a cocktail, and a book and it was perfect. Right by the Oak Bar was a little cigar store/lounge called Prado y Neptuno that was full of local guys and had a friendly vibe. The prices were OK and the lounges were great, but even better than the lounges was the fact that every patio that I sat at had no issue with me smoking, and most of them brought me a proper a cigar ashtray. No one gave me a dirty look and there were other people smoking cigars, so I felt like I was in good company. How civilized.

Art

I also visited some art galleries and museums: the MACBA – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, and the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), each of which was excellent.

Death and Showtunes

I went to La Recoleta Cemetery, which was high on my list of places to visit because that is where Eva Peron is buried, but also it is just a beautiful cemetery with very ornate and imposing markers and mausoleums. Tourists pay a fee to get in but it is worth it. I opted not to take a tour and just wander on my own. I always love walking cemeteries. It was interesting seeing Eva Peron’s family crypt. It’s not that I am a scholar in Argentinian history, but I am a musical theatre fan and I have seen the musical Evita more than 25 times. I don’t even really like the musical Evita all that much but I had a special friend in the cast so saw it see it repeatedly, so I have this sort of superficial interest in Eva Peron. And so not only did I go to see her grave site, but I walked the streets of Buenos Aires listening to the cast recording Evita on repeat and I found that to be exhilarating. Even at times on desolate streets singing along to “High Flying Adored” or, obviously, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”.

I also really enjoyed the public transportation, which when the distances were too long to walk, the subway was convenient, as was Uber. Generally, though, it was a good city for walking, the one downside being that it was just blisteringly hot when I was there. On the day that I went to the cemetery it was 38°C and without any tree cover it was rather unpleasant.

La Boca

I took the bus down to La Boca; the area of Buenos Aires where there are all of the colourful buildings. You’ll see them a lot in social media posts about the city. La Boca is filled with colourful buildings and street art and cute restaurants and it is very photogenic, however it is also extremely touristy and has some kind of soccer/football connection so there are lots of stores selling football memorabilia and people taking pictures with these very tacky mannequins dressed in sports jerseys. I really hated that part of it, but overall, I liked exploring the neighbourhood. I wandered around and I sat and I had an incredibly expensive and bland vegetarian burger and watch the people mill about. It’s definitely worth it to go to the neighbourhood to look around, but it is touristy and tacky, and I wish it wasn’t.

A Friend from Home

Maybe the best thing that happened to me in Buenos Aires was that coincidentally a friend and actress from Vancouver was there filming a commercial. Our days overlapped by one and so we met up and went out for dinner and drinks. She had been there for a couple of weeks at that point and really knew her way around and found a restaurant with delicious vegan pasta dishes. That was really fun. I enjoyed having someone to chat with for an evening and it was neat seeing someone from home in a completely different environment. I think I especially appreciated it given that the entire time that I was staying my accommodations I didn’t see another living soul except when they collected my money, so I was maybe desiring a bit of human contact. But it was great.

Final Thoughts

I know it sounds a bit contradictory to say that I had a great time in Buenos Aires but also that I was underwhelmed, but that’s kind of how I felt. I have nothing bad to say about Buenos Aires and I enjoyed everything that I did but nothing about it excited me. It would be weird, I think, if I loved everywhere I visited. Perhaps not every trip has to be exciting; maybe some can just be interesting or pleasant.

I am very glad to have finally visited Buenos Aires. Clearly, I need to visit somewhere in southern Argentina or even outside of the city, but this was not the trip for that. The morning after my final day in Buenos Aires I was taking a ferry to Uruguay.

USA

Back under the Palms: Miami Revisited

It was January 2025, and I had the urge to go away. It had only been a couple of weeks since my Christmas trip to Cyprus but I suppose I felt like I needed something exciting to kick off the new year. A friend had been to Miami a few months prior and was sharing with me what a wonderful trip it was, and so I decided I would go for the weekend.

Miami, and particularly Miami Beach, and even more particularly South Beach, is not unfamiliar to me. I visited there countless times and I lived there for a year, back when a certain presidential election had the world focused on South Beach and its hanging chads and just before 9/11 when travel between the two countries was a little easier. I’m not going to retell what brought me to Miami in the first place all those many years ago, or why I stayed, or what I got up to there, but there are a lot of good stories.

I loved Miami. There are a lot of reasons to not like Miami and a lot of those reasons resonated with me when I lived there, but I really think it’s a very special place and I have very fond memories from there.

As much as I love it, I hadn’t been back in many years. Not since 2007 (that’s when i started this blog and there is an early Miami Beach post here). My sister moved to Los Angeles, and the boy that I loved moved back to New York and almost everyone else that I knew there then moved away or died, and I just hadn’t been back in many years.

Time to change all that.

I flew to Miami and landed midday and took an Uber to South Beach. As soon as I got there the smell was overwhelming. That way where you smell something and you are instantly transported to a time or place. The way that when I smell decaying apples in orchards in the autumn it smells like my youth, or for some reason Giorgio Red perfume in the autumn smells like London, but there’s a smell that South Beach has, created by the heat and the humidity and unidentified sources that I’ve never smelled anywhere else. I was so happy to be back.

I didn’t really have a plan. I just wanted to wander around my old neighbourhoods and see how they changed and just see what things were like, and of course I wanted to check out the cigar scene. I did both of those things. What I didn’t do was I didn’t go to the Wynwood Arts District or to the new Institute of Contemporary Art there, neither of which were things when I lived in Miami. I wanted to go, but I simply ran out of time. I’m already certain that I’ll have to go back again before too long.

South Beach

I feel like a lot of people might roll their eyes at South Beach as a place to visit. I certainly did before I ever went there. And it is a place of vapid beach-goers and party people, criminals, wannabes, retirees and the people that prey on them. But I love it. And to be clear, I don’t like the beach at all, and I don’t enjoy parties. I don’t really fall into any of the other categories either, but there’s just something very special to me about South Beach. Maybe it’s because it’s the first place that I ever experienced a subtropical climate or saw that many palm trees. But I still think it’s kind of magical. The weather is always perfect, and it’s such a great place for walking and bike riding. And then there’s the architecture. This perfectly preserved Art Deco architecture that is so sweet and charming; little apartment buildings two-three stories tall, in pastel hues with Art Deco lines and little insignia of seahorses and flamingos built into the doorways. Like little pastel cakes. I never get tired of it.

And because the weather is perfect and because there are all these charming postcard-perfect hotels and restaurants, almost every eatery has a patio. And sitting on that patio and ordering, admittedly massively overpriced coffee, and watching people go by while smoking a cigar is maybe one of my favourite diversions. Because of the beach-goers and the party people and the wannabes and the plastic surgery addicts, little dogs, weirdos, muscle-heads, gold-diggers, misfits, and people from all over the world in Miami for a fresh start (or running from something), South Beach is just top-notch people watching. And yes, the patios are cigar friendly.

And then there is that Cuban influence, in the food, the music, the cigars, and the friendliness; it feels special. It doesn’t even feel like you’re in America half the time. I’m not even a fan of Cuban food or Cuban coffee but I love hearing the music and smoking the cigars and generally being around Cuban culture.

It’s underrated, but Miami has a pretty good arts scene. I think a lot of artists from New York migrated down there or go back and forth, or maybe it’s the multicultural aspect of it, or the annual Art Basel art fair, but there are some good art galleries and museums down there. Back when I lived in Miami I was much more dialed into that scene, but it’s worth it to seek out some good art galleries down there. And I don’t mean the awful paintings depicting Ocean Drive or tropical fruits, I mean the people that are doing the kind of art that puzzles the viewer or causes them to say I can’t believe they get paid for that. I visited The Bass, a small but satisfying art museum showing interesting contemporary art. Since it’s small and in South Beach, I walked down there and enjoyed the visit.

So much of what I wanted to do in South Beach was just walking around to places that I knew. I was delighted that so much of it looked exactly the same. Ocean Drive was unchanged. The residential streets generally looked the same. All the heritage buildings remained intact and the roads looked the same. It could have been 2000 all over again.

Even some of the main commercial streets looked familiar. Many of the businesses had changed, but not all of them. My favourite little pizza place Pizza Rustica was still in business. A couple of classic dive bars like Mac’s Club Deuce were still operating, and most of the hotels were the same. I saw ads for strip clubs that I visited back in the day and was pleased to see that some of them were still in business. All of this filled me with intense comfort and nostalgia as I walked around and was flooded with memories.

But not everything was the same in South Beach.

There were fewer cigar places. Maybe just two proper lounges, both of which were new from when I lived there, but there was neither the number of cigar lounges or stores that there was in my day.

The only thing that really bothered me, was seeing what had happened to Lincoln Road. Lincoln Road is a mostly pedestrian thoroughfare in South Beach that, when I lived there, was my favourite place in South Beach. It was lined with cute little local shops and restaurants and cafes, a cigar store, a bookstore, a theatre – all delightful and charming. The street was lined with palm trees and had quirky little fountains and seating areas down the middle bit. When I first moved to Miami Beach, I lived with my sister a block off Lincoln Road and it was where I started and finished every day, enjoying a cigar and the New York Times drinking coffee or having a bite to eat. It was peak people watching and after I had been there for a while it was always the place where I would run into people that I knew.

Lincoln Road has fallen on hard times. The road is still there and the trees and the quirky fountains, but with one exception, all of the old businesses have gone. Most of the storefronts are empty and boarded up and the ones that are open are just boring mall stores selling sneakers or capsule coffee or bath bombs. It’s lost all its local charm. Even the restaurants and cafes are different. The Van Dyke Café, which was my absolute favourite place for my morning coffee, is now a big brand sneaker store. Very sad. The only exception was a little Italian restaurant called Spris, that I used to go to sometimes for pizza. It’s still there and looks exactly the same (right down to the flowers on the tables) and, yes, I went there for a pizza. But it was sad to see what’s happened to the rest of the street. (There is a Miami New Times article here about the closing of the Van Dyke and the changes to Lincoln Road.)

On a positive note, however, when I was there the Sunday flea market was still operating. On Sunday morning people from all over South Florida would come to Lincoln Road and put out their wares for sale. This is a quality flea market. I would say the vendors are largely split between middle-aged gay men and older Jewish women displaced from New York. Both delightful to talk to and everyone has quality things for sale. An Art Deco tea set? A full length fur coat? Mid century modern furniture? They’ve got everything. It’s the perfect way to start a Sunday in South Beach.

Another thing that had changed was Española Road. Another pedestrian street in South Beach, but this one very short and narrow. I remember that back in the day it had a couple of little cafés on it and was quite charming. A true hidden gem. Well, hidden no more, Española was shoulder to shoulder with people and lined with packed restaurants. That was fine, but what I was excited about is that there’s now a bustling cigar store / lounge / restaurant there: Española Cigar Bar & Lounge. A little pricey, but a wonderful place to have a cigar and cocktail. I went there twice in two days.

I rode a bicycle down the paths along the length of the beach and felt the sea air, just as I did in the past. Heavenly.

So overall, I was amazed at how much South Beach was exactly what I remembered. Just a couple of small changes and still one of my favourite places on earth.

Miami & Calle Ocho

Leaving Miami Beach, however, things were very different. Downtown Miami, when I lived there, was a place to be avoided. It was a place where you would change from the bus to the train if you were heading to some other part of South Florida, and you wanted to do it as quickly as possible at night because it never felt safe. Well those sketchy neighbourhoods are now replaced by massive high rise apartment buildings and high-end financial district companies. It is completely unrecognizable. This time there were two reasons for me to visit downtown Miami; one was to change from one bus to another as I visited Calle Ocho, and two, there is a very classy cigar lounge in that district (Empire Social Lounge (Brickell Location), as one would expect in a financial district, and I went there and had a cigar and a martini. But what a change; seriously, it’s just a completely different place.

Calle Ocho, or Little Havana, was certainly there when I lived in Miami and I went there to visit some cigar factories, my first cigar factories, and buy cheap cigars, but it wasn’t really a place to visit otherwise. Well it has leaned into its Cuban culture and now attracts busloads of tourists there to browse around, but it seems no less authentic. If anything, it’s better. For countless blocks down 8^th Street in Little Havana there is business after business selling cigars. Some are just cigar stores selling a collection of non-Cuban (New World) cigars, but many of them have their own brands and rollers and it was incredible to be able to go into all these little shops and sample their house brands before moving on to the next. All along the way were little restaurants serving Cuban food and playing Cuban music, and with cigar ashtrays on the tables out front. I was in heaven. Honestly it felt a bit like I was in Cuba. The domino park is still there where old Cuban men get together and play dominoes, gossip, and enjoy the odd cigar. Some things never change.

I had an incredible weekend in Miami revisiting familiar places and discovering new ones. Although some things have changed, I was happy to see that it is still, in most respects, the place I remember. And I still love it.

I’ll be back.

But my next trip would take me much farther south, to Argentina.