World is going to end someday and I want to see most of it before we all go down. Read more Madrid, Spain
  • Day 2

    I have a dream

    October 28, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Right across from the Coca Cola museum, seeing kids throw a football in the middle of a beautiful park, you'll see the Center for Civil and Human Rights. It looks small in comparison with the aquarium or the World of Coca Cola, but never judge a book by its cover.
    If I was to sum up that place in one word it would be: Damn...
    In my life I think I've had some contrasts. I grew up with money, then we lost it but never struggled. Then I headed to Spain where I became an illegal citizen before swearing to honor the king and suddenly I was Spanish.
    I'm Mexican living in a country of white Europeans that clearly know that I'm not from there. You get used to it but you never do.
    In this museum you could clearly see the contraste between being white and being black in the USA, a contrast we all think we "understand" but don't care to read more about it.
    The exhibit is set up in a way that all the strong content and words are easily digestible. It's a gut wrenching experience where you can put on some headphones and be insulted for 2 minutes so you can feel what it was like to silent protest. This happened less than 60 years ago!
    People suffered beatings and death just to make sure that everyone had equal justice, insane things like having a coffee anywhere, being able to get married outside your race.
    Uncanny, it really was.
    And yeah, the other day they invaded the Capitol and Spain isn't getting any better. But seeing what an entire nation was able to do kind of gave me hope.
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  • Day 2

    Siempre Coca Cola

    October 28, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Atlanta is the house of Coca Cola. Yes, I know it's something tourists do, but guess what? I'm a tourist!
    Who doesn't have a great moment with a Coca Cola?
    If you're a Mexican kid from the mid 80s, you probably do.
    "Una Coca" is part of life in Mexico. You have one with your tacos (entire glass bottle), or tied in a knot in a plastic bag with a straw.
    You drink one after getting drunk between your 9th or 10th beer, because you think that will help before going to bed. You drink another one the day after, hoping it helps with the hangover.
    But yes, it's a tourist trap, but that mean you can't enjoy it.
    And you have to at least be a little intrigued about how the story of this drink started, after all, maybe more than half the planet has at least had one Coke in their lifetime. Even if it's that awful plum coke from China they had in the tasting room.
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  • Day 1

    Miami airport

    October 27, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    How many times have I been in this airport? God knows..
    I'm not bragging, I'm just thinking that this was the first international airport I set foot on, and not even that, I was maybe 2 or 3 the first time I came here with my Dad.
    Now that he's gone, these facts of my life have a special meaning, you know?
    I remember playing on those dirty blue rugs with my newly bought Ninja Turtles or knowing that Miami airport meant that I was days away from Orlando and Mickey Mouse.
    Time and life have been good to me and I've seen so many more airports, and I hope to get to know many more.
    But there's always a first time, and even though this time I'm not hanging out with Donald Duck or looking to buy another Donatello, I still wish you were here, Dad.
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  • Day 1

    Here we go again

    October 27, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Adventures have to start somewhere.
    Barajas is usually the place that takes me where I want to go.
    Haven't been to the States since Chicago in 2019, it's been a while.
    Now we're heading South.

    South, that place where here in Spain they say I'm from.. South for me means tango, Argentinian heat in a crazy December.
    South means Brazil and that strange year when I discovered Açai and Coixinhas.

    And if I want to be precise, maybe I am a Southerner, Cancún after all is in the south of Mexico.

    But today, we fly South. And if / when we land, I'll be back in the States, one of my favorite places in the world.

    I really needed this trip, hope it's a good one!
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  • Day 3

    Last day in Carloforte

    August 11, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    One of the best things about swimming in the ocean is that you sleep like a log that night, even if the mattress sucks.
    One of the worst things about getting old is that you never get enough sleep, now I always wake up wanting to sleep at least 2 more hours.

    We had to leave the room by 10, and as I said goodbye to the hotel owner, an old lady with huge teeth, she said to me: You know, you don’t look Spanish, you look Mexican. Whatever that means, what does a Mexican look like?

    To her surprise, I am Mexican, she smiled. I have to show you something, come look at my bathroom, and in less than 2 minutes we were inside her bathroom while she pointed to all the things she brought from my country when she visited the Yucatan peninsula and Chiapas.

    I smiled diplomatically trying my best to flash her a very authentic Mexican smile before leaving the BNB to have breakfast.
    It’s tough to find a parking spot at the Carloforte pier but not impossible, if you’re patient. We always parked on the same spot, and this last time, a policeman was in front of us as we left the car. I told Dani that she should ask him if it was OK to park here, his answer? It’s not but it’s the summer and it doesn’t matter because people do whatever they want to in summer. Win!
    We walked around Carloforte, finally seeing the town with sunlight, it was nice. I come from a beach town then city called Cancun, so, I know what it’s like to grow up in a tourist destination.
    But Carloforte has its own flow, even though you can totally see who’s from there and who isn’t. Maybe it’s because the tourists were mostly Italian, but you could see the locals hanging out where the tourists were, and that was weird and comforting at the same time.
    While I was having coffee, I told Dani that I wanted to eat cascà before I left.
    Since Carloforte once was a part of Tunisia, there is a lot of Northern African influence in its food. Basically, cascà is like couscous, they even sound alike, but one has meat and the other one doesn't.
    Yesterday I asked Giuseppe, the boat captain, where was the best place to eat it and he suggested a small restaurant called A Guaccia, but first we needed to know at what time we were gonna leave the island.
    We bought our ferry tickets; Dani even took a picture of the boat schedule and we headed for some food after waiting at the caffe we were at for 90 minutes.

    The cascá was amazing, simple food makes me happy, chlorophyll infusions with lemon scent are great but give me street food anytime. We were ready to go now that I had a full stomach only to find out that the boat was even more ready than we were, it was gone.
    We have to wait 90 minutes for the next boat, Dani exclaimed with both surprise and anguish. Couldn't blame her because it was HOT, and this time we didn't have a boat to defy the sun. So, we came up with a plan B, drive around the island until it was time to leave.
    The drive was quite nice, and we ended up passing some nice spots, nothing wrong with driving with the aircon on.
    Had another coffee on the boat and soon we were up and running again. The plan was to go to a mine in Porto Flavia and then go back to Cagliari. The road to get there is full of curves that force you to drive carefully, but the views are outstanding.
    This is really a beautiful island, and you realize it with your feet touching the sand or on a dangerous curve soaking up the views before focusing again on not killing yourself in one of those narrow lanes.
    The mine visit also had killer views as well as horrible mannequins holding weird tools. The tour guide loved my shirt and had a Let it Go tattoo, so, she’s cool in my book.

    To be honest, all mine tours are the same, they take you through a badly lit tunnel, tell you all the minerals they dug from there, tell you who had the idea to open the mine, when it closed and if there were any creepy accidents they let you know and suddenly everyone pays attention again. She hit all those topics.

    In case you were wondering, only one human died in this mine, 1959, she even knew the name.

    After the mine we drove back to Cagliari, the mini break was over, but I am sure as hell happy I asked for this time off work.
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  • Day 2

    Day at the sea

    August 10, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    When you wake up knowing that you'll spend the entire day at sea, you have to wake up smiling, right?
    We had a quick breakfast and walked all the way to the fishermen's port for a boat ride around the island on a boat.
    A boat that made you think of Jaws immediately, ready to go as soon as we stepped inside the vessel.
    The crew was made up of 2 men, captain Giuseppe and driver Luca. Both looked exactly how you imagine them, sea men.
    They are always tanned, give shirt answers, and always stare at the sea while they talk to you.
    Grew up in Cancun, I should know.
    The boat was just what I needed.
    The sound of the boat hitting the water, the engine plowing through the waves, it was a mix between the sounds of my childhood and a present that reminds me of how far away I'm from all of this, from water, I keep forgetting this.
    Rock formations, snorkeling, tiny stingrays and even an even tinier octopus, all part of a gorgeous day that I'll remember forever.
    If you think those are enough reasons to consider this day a success, you forget that we're in Italy.
    Oh, the lunch, the lunch was amazing.
    Carloforte is known for its tuna, but if you didn't know this you could easily discover it, since it's pretty much everywhere. We even had tuna heart!
    Overall the routine of swimming, drying under the sun and jumping in the water again without any sand interaction is a gift, this is the way to do a beach day, sweet water hose included.
    Sun tanned and tired, the day ended with a good shower and a downtown stroll.
    We went back in time in a pizza restaurant called Pizzeria da Gisa, had a Fainé made with chickpea flour, delicious.
    And guess what? I picked up my signed illustration by Molinastra! Now I can frame it and hang it above my Dad's autographed baseball.
    Tomorrow we head back, will probably chill since more beaches after an entire day swimming is not that appealing.
    But, just what I needed, a great start for this summer's Italian getaway.
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  • Day 1

    Corso Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour

    August 9, 2022 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    You can't drink water from the faucet here. Had a quick shower in Alba BNB and off to dinner.
    Trying to get a reservation this late was tough but we managed to find an opening in one of the 2 places a friend of Giorgia, Dani's sister, recommended.
    Before sitting down for dinner we went to the supermarket to buy some water and cookies in case we had to get up earlier than expected. I volunteered to go back to the car and leave our groceries there when I suddenly saw the moon over the port.
    I smiled, what can I say? In the end, ports are a part of my life, water, boats, the Caribbean lives inside of me.
    Couldn't help thinking about my dad, mixing "what ifs" in my head, something that happens quite often after 1 of the 2 humans responsible for you being on this Earth passes away.
    On the way back we walked some more, and what do you know? The posters we saw earlier on the boat were right there for sale!
    I got so excited I promised to go back but in the meantime we had some dinner.
    The food was great because #Italy, had some white wine called Vento di Mare and some amazing pasta.
    On the way back we went back to the artist's stall when I heard Dani said: I love the illustration of this old man, it's Hemingway said the artist's partner. I almost cried, my father's favorite book, a full circle moment!
    I asked her for the artist's signature and she promised me that tomorrow she would have it ready for me.
    Overall, it was a really cool day, stomach full, happy to be out of Madrid with Dani in Dani's island 🏝️.
    Life is good, here's to you, dad.
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  • Day 1

    Carloforte

    August 9, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Madrid summer's are tough. Even though I love the city where I live, the intense heat and empty streets constantly remind you that everyone is somewhere else, but you.
    Fortunately, I always leave for Sardinia before going insane in the Spanish capital.
    This time though, I decided to use some vacation days to move around the island.
    I find it funny to think about islands inside islands, even though they are next to each other, I know.
    We took a ferry with car included from Portovesme.
    All ferrys smell the same like air conditioning and plastic.
    In the ferry I had a coffee ( Italian size) and wandered around the boat, discovered some amazing posters nad just stared at the sea. Looking at the sea directly connects you with Columbus or Magellan, that vastness makes you think, plain and simple.
    We arrived with the car and went to the hotel, I don't have to work tomorrow and I'm in Italy with Dani, 2 amazing reasons to be happy.
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