Mexico North America

South of the Border: Luche Libres in Mexico City

I ended up with a four day long weekend and I was determined to go somewhere, but none of the near-to-Vancouver destinations appealed, so I looked for cheap flights to destinations that I could manage in a not-quite four day trip. And here I am en route to Mexico City.

I booked my ticket with about a week’s lead time so I didn’t do my usual months of study and preparation. I feel underprepared, but it’s kind of exciting. I realized, as I hurriedly scanned my newly purchased Lonely Płanet that I don’t actually know very much about Mexico. Just pop-culture stuff: Chupacabra. The Three Amigos. Frida Khalo & Diego Rivera. The Tijuana Brass. A handful of writers…not much about the history or politics, aside from the fact that there were Aztecs and Mayans, but I don’t know much about them. I went to Tijuana with my mother and sister when I was 11 and that was awesome. It was the first different place I went. I remember donkeys, little girls selling chicklets, and the market where I was first introduced to the concept of bargaining – the price isn’t really the price? Young mind blown. I bought a skinny leather necktie. (It was the ’80s.) And I’ve never been back. Until now.

You won’t find me at a beach or resort, but Mexico City looked like it would satisfy my travel needs. A big city with lots to explore, culture, history, inexpensive everything, and maybe a little dangerous? Great. (Actually, I think the rumours of danger are overblown, a least in comparison to other cities I’ve been, but who knows? As I write this preamble, I am still on the plane from Vancouver.)

[several hours later]

I arrived at my hostel, the Casa San Ildefonso, in the centre historico, by metro. The metro system here is great. It’s not fancy, but it’s comprehensive, fast, and cheap – a ride anywhere is 5 pesos, or about 30 cents. The thing i like best about it is that each station has its own logo. Apparently, when it was built the literacy rate was low so they gave the stations names and pictures. From the airport to my hostel this was my route in pictures: kangaroo, squirrel, water twins, water pipe, aloe, church tower, pyramid, skyscraper, shoulders man, handsome man, church, decapitated Chaplin, eagle.

I walked across the Zocalo square, flanked by impressive buildings and easily found my lodgings. Simple, pleasant, and very cheap.

I went for a walk and found the Los Vegetarianos restaurant where i finally tried mole sauce. Weird and gross at first, but then I decided I loved it.

I got in at about 5:00 and part of me just wanted to hang out, but Friday night was my only chance to take in a uniquely Mexican event: lucha libres. (Mexican wrestling) I hopped the metro to the Arena Mexico. The area was a bit rough looking, but felt totally safe. The streets were lined with food vendors, cooking up savoury snacks, and vendors selling wrestling masks. Divey bars spilled cervesa holding patrons and live rock music onto the street. I wished i had gotten there earlier to explore, but i had a show to see.

I bought a ticket, mid range, for about $13 cad and entered a big stadium filled with people and noise and roving snack and beer sellers. The show was…crazy. Lights and smoke machines. Scantily clad, curvy girls danced to rock music as each wrestler was announced to cheers. The costumes were elaborate. Wings, capes, silver boots, spandex pants with stars and skulls, and teeny speedos.

The idea is this, there are good guys (Technicós) and bad guys (Rudos) and they fight one-on-one or in groups. It is all choreographed but is quite impressive. They are like gymnasts or acrobats. The crowd goes crazy cheering and booing and yelling rude chants. Kind of like a bizarre pantomime.

I stayed for about and hour and a half, but left before it was over. I got the idea and it was quite late. I took the metro back. It was packed. It took me three tries to get on and we were crammed in. It wasn’t bad though; I was easily the tallest person in my end of the car and people were polite. They do have cars for women and children which are less full (and smell better).

Back in my ‘hood, I went for a walk around midnight (still feeling safe) and had a cigar. It was a great first day, even if it was only about 8 hours.

North America USA Zimbabwe-Zambia 2023

In Heaven at the TWA Flight Centre

I booked a trip to Zimbabwe. Not just Zimbabwe also Zambia and Botswana, but that’s not really the point. The point is I flew to Harare, Zimbabwe. A long flight: Vancouver to New York; New York to Nairobi; Nairobi to Harare. It was nearly two days of travel and none of the layovers were long enough where I could leave the airport and go visit the cities, so I had braced myself for gruelling days of travel. My layover in New York was only about six hours so I looked for things to do within the airport, apart from the lounges. And that’s where I discovered the TWA terminal at JFK airport.

The TWA terminal, AKA the TWA Flight Center, AKA the Trans World Flight Center was built between 1959-1962 to be the terminal for Trans World Airlines. It was designed by architect and designer Eero Saarinen in the 1950s. By the time it was completed, it was virtually obsolete. Traffic had increased to JFK so much that the terminal wasn’t really functional anymore. But the terminal was preserved and in 2019 a hotel was opened in it. The terminal itself is otherwise preserved just as it was, in all of its glory.

I didn’t know what to expect. I just read that there was a hotel and a cafe or restaurant in this 1950s sixties designed airport terminal. And that was enough for me. I took the elevator up to the appropriate floor and when the door opened I think I actually gasped audibly staring ahead of you is this long tunnel with white round walls and bright red carpeting that leads you into the terminal immediately you look like you’re in some sort of 1960s vision of the future. It’s incredible.

*entering the past’s version of the future*

The terminal’s design is neo futurism. Minimal and clean. Everything is white or red. All the chairs are the gracefully simple Saarinen tulip chairs. Everything has round edges. It’s cool. It is both futuristic and retro at the same time. It’s the encapsulation of everything that the height of glamorous air travel represented.

I was in heaven. The decor was impeccable and they were playing the best music: Frank Sinatra and the like. I wandered around and took in the decor and took a few photos of displays they had of random, period-appropriate things like a hair salon and a twister room. There was a display of all the uniforms of TWA stewardesses over the years (fascinating). And there was both a cafe and restaurant. I settled into the restaurant and had a cup of black coffee and a slice of avocado toast. The only thing missing was an ashtray.

There is also a TWA shop in the terminal where you can buy TWA branded merchandise. Mercifully the store was closed when I was there at my early hour, which is good, because gazing through the window, I wanted basically everything inside. Just outside the store is a free photo booth where you can take fun photos and have them printed. Did I do it? Of course I did.

*don’t judge my appearance. I hadn’t slept or showered in over 24 hours*

I do have a predilection for this era of time: the design, the clothing, the music, the unrepentant smoking…so it was guaranteed that I was going to enjoy the TWA Flight Centre; However, even if you don’t love these things, it’s worth a visit. There is a lot of space with seating, views outside, and little nooks tucked away where one could sit and have a nap or just while away some time in between flights, even without spending any money. It is maybe my favourite airport feature I’ve experienced.

It was an excellent way to kill some time during my layover. I find myself now wanting to have another layover there just so that I can visit the terminal again. Next time, I might stay at the hotel, or if it’s in the evening, I would visit the bar. Oh, didn’t I mention? There is a 1958 Lockheed Constellation airplane parked outside that you access through another tunnel and the plane has been turned into a cocktail bar – The Connie Cocktail Lounge. It looks incredible. Next time: martinis. This time, it was a morning visit and on to Harare, Zimbabwe.

Central America / Caribbean Guatemala North America

The Ruins at Tikal

I had gone to Guatemala for a week or so of work and was flying home on a Sunday, which meant I had one Saturday to do with as I pleased. There was no way I was leaving Guatemala without seeing the Mayan complex of Tikal. Guatemala has a wealth of beautiful sights to choose from and I knew I was only going to see Antigua and Tikal. The photos of Tikal have always looked so mystical: tall pyramids rising out of the jungle. I love that stuff (who doesn’t?) whether it is Machu Pichu or Abu Simbel, or Tikal, there is the allure of a lost civilization leaving exquisite remnants and just a bit of a feeling like you are Indiana Jones. It’s irresistible.

So I was determined to make it work.

I don’t recommend going from Antigua or even Guatemala City to Tikal for the day. It is a long day and while I was happy with the time I spent at Tikal, it meant not getting to spend any time in the delightful looking town of Flores, which is the gateway to Tikal. But it IS possible to do it as a day trip if you have transportation at both ends of the flight to Tikal and don’t mind starting at about 2:30am. The logistics of handling the transportation on my own seemed daunting, so I just booked a day tour, which I felt was the best option.

I was picked up and driven to Guatemala City where we gathered the others, maybe 8 of us in total. We flew in a small twin propellor plane for about an hour to Flores where we were picked up by our guide and driven to the Tikal national park.

Tikal was built between about 200 and 900 AD by the Mayans (although the site of Tikal was settled about 1000 years prior) but it was not discovered, covered by jungle, until the 1840s. It seems impossible that it could go unnoticed for so long, but even now, some of the temples are still covered by vegetation and it was only when our guide pointed them out that we knew they were there. They just looked like green hills.

It was great, walking through the trees, monkeys overhead, and then seeing a pyramid peak peeking out above the trees, or entering a clearing with one just sitting there. It was lovely. And we got to climb up many of them, which I always like, even if sometimes that seems like a better idea going up than coming down.

I don’t feel like I learned a lot on this tour about the civilization itself, but I was very happy to have a guide take us around and the people on the tour were all nice and good company. That said, no one in the group had seen the very enjoyable horror movie “The Ruins”, which was so clearly on point; it was disappointing.

(“The Ruins” is good travel horror movie where a bunch of young backpackers visit a pyramid in the middle of the jungle in Central America, only to find that the vines covering the pyramid are sentient and sacrificing the humans that invade the pyramid. I mean, come on, it’s the same thing. They may as well be selling DVDs of it at the Tikal gift shop. [There is no Tikal gift shop.]) I feel like often obvious horror movie references go unappreciated in places around the world. Like the Paris catacombs and “As Above So Below”, or the Amazon and “Cannibal Holocaust”, or the Australian outback and “Wolf Creek”, or any hostel in Eastern Europe and…”Hostel”. I could go on, but won’t.) It’s almost like other adults don’t spend all their free time at home watching trash.

Horror movie digression aside, Tikal did not disappoint. It was incredible. I would say that it was a little less impressive than Machu Pichu or Abu Simbel. Better than Teohuacan. Maybe similar in enjoyment to Borobodour. But there is not requirement to rank these places. This isn’t that kind of blog. All these places are wonderful and worth seeing.

Tikal was great. I’m glad I went. It was the perfect way to end my time in Guatemala.

Central America / Caribbean Guatemala North America

Smoking Cigars in Antigua

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog with any regularity knows that i love smoking cigars. Pretty much daily whether at home or away. It’s just one of my favourite things. This means that when i travel anywhere, part of my travel planning is researching where I can smoke and if there are cigar lounges and stores. Antigua, Guatemala is an unusual place in this regard.

Guatemala is in the part of the world where tobacco is grown and cigars are rolled, but, unlike many of its neighbours, Guatemala doesn’t really have a cigar industry. Perhaps connected to that, smoking (at least in Antigua) is mostly not allowed. Smoking is not allowed indoors and not in any outdoor courtyard. (Harumph)

Antigua has all of these charming cafes and restaurants, but, due to the style of the buildings, the outdoor areas are all courtyards (super lovely ones), which means they are smoke free. It was a bit disappointing, however, i could smoke on the patio of my air bnb and no one complained when i smoked on benches in parks, – but there were even better options.

If you like cigars and are in Antigua, your home away from home will be Antigua Cigars. It is this perfect cigar store/lounge in the historic centre of Antigua. It has a small humidor with a limited selection of Cubans and a selection of excellent non-Cubans, including their great house brand and a wide array of Plasencia cigars, which I enjoyed.

Attached to the store is a small and inviting lounge with just the right decor and music and, best of all, great people. (I swear to god, they aren’t paying me; i was just so happy there.) The owners are lovely people, a husband and wife, from Canada, and they have lived in Antigua for years. Full of great stories and hospitality. The other clientele at the lounge were mostly expats/immigrants and every single one of them were delightful company. I went there maybe 4 or 5 times in my 8 days there and felt like I had friends.

*My arm is complete again, at Antigua Cigars*

The owners at Antigua Cigars also let me in on two places that allowed smoking: one is the rooftop patio of an Irish pub called The Snug. It has a casual and fun vibe and excellent views of the volcanos and no one had an issue with my cigars.

The other place is called something like Primavera and it is a restaurant maybe two blocks from Antigua Cigars. It has a romantic courtyard with a fire and fairy lights and cozy nooks. It also had excellent food. I went twice and ate and drank more than i needed so i could keep enjoying the ambiance, which also included live music.

There is another cigar store/lounge: Cigar Boutique and Lounge Antigua. It is just half a block down from the yellow arch towards the end of the street. It has a very well stocked humidor of Cuban cigars and a nice room of leather chairs. It didn’t seem to have a crown of regulars, but was a nice place to smoke. I’m not totally sure about the quality of the cigars though. I bought four there; two were excellent, and two smoked so badly i would have bet they were counterfeit (but maybe they were just duds), and on my second visit, i found a box in the humidor that had cigars riddled with beetle holes. So i don’t think i would buy a lot of cigars there, but i would still visit and buy a cigar and use then space.

*At the Cigar Boutique and Lounge near the Yellow Arch. That Bolivar was excellent.*

I also spied a lot of egregious counterfeit Cohibas at the local crafts market. Don’t be fooled.

I smoked an obscene amount of cigars in Antigua, even if it was not as open as i might have liked. And i brought back a couple bundles of the house brand cigars from Antigua Cigars, which I am still enjoying. But the best thing, as is often the case with cigar smoking, was not the cigars themselves, but the connections made while doing it.

Wandering North

South of the Border: Luche Libres in Mexico City

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