Hi guys,
a really fast update directly from Hawaii!
Yesterday morning Marina gave me a lift to Los Angeles Airport, and then, after almost 3 weeks in California, I started again my world trip, destination Hawaii!
The weather conditions didn't seem to be good from LA, all the previsions said rain and cloud will be for all the week....instead, when I'm arrived (3pm, after a 5 hours flight!) the weather was amazing: 30 degree and sunny, just some clouds but not too many...
After one hour I was in the hostel, an amazing place, great people, much fun, good position! I've met soon some roommate really cool: Bratish, a malesyan guy with Indian origin, a couple from New Zeland, Giulia, an english girl, and later, another 2 London's girls, Amala and Zevina!
Just to look around, I've decided to run a little bit around Waikiki, so I went out for jogging with Bratish!
Then I remind that I was starving, so I start looking around for a cheap place where to eat hawaiian food but unfortunately at the end I've eat a burget!! :-(
Anyway, staying here is amazing, I really like "O'ahu", a lot of interesting things to do, maybe 5 days are not enough, we will see....
Yesterday night I've tried some amazing cocktail made with fresh fruits, then another tipical drink (made with roots of a particular tree) with some "drug-effect", but I've just tried, I haven't drink too much...so at midnight I just went to sleep (at the end for me it was 3am since I was coming from LA!)
This morning I've visit a waterfall, cool place, really nice, and now I think I'm going to relax a little bit on the beach!
What to say about Hawaii? This place has a 50-50 mixage of Asian-American, nice places to visit and explore (waterfall, surfers beaches, swimming with fishes in some areas, local dancers and musicians, Pearl Harlbor, etc...)
I'm just sad that I cannot visit the others island (ex. Maui) since they're quite far from here and the only connection is by flight, thus expensive! :-(
I'll try to write more, let's stay in touch and check any updates!
see ya
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Goodbye California...
Last week was more interesting since Marina was much more free so we have had the chance to visit a couple of places together and have fun!
During the week we played a lot tennis, good to start again some sport), we went together to the Universal City Walk again (but this time by night, much more funny), we visit Malibu beach and then spent the evening at Santa Monica!
Also, we went to Redeo drive, the most famous street in LA (all the major fashion companies are there, a sort of 5th avenue of new York!), then look around Beverly Hills (such amazing houses...), and finally I've took again some photos at Hollywood sign! :-)
Anyway, an overall of my California experience is definitively positive, in particular I appreciate the cheap transportation (perhaps it work quite well), the nice beaches of Santa Monica and all the south till San Diego. Also, I like the mix between spanish and english speakers (just like Miami), and of course all the bounce of producer around LA, everyday making some movies everywhere!
Don't forget also that California is the capitol about Technology...you can't understand my happyness seeing Apple products everywhere.... :-)
In particular, I reccomend to visit San Diego, which has change my opinion about California, until that moment quite negative....yes, there are also some bad aspects: first of all, I think the people here doesn't really now the words "fun and party"...everybody seems to be too much focused on their job...and if you think that you cannot drink until you're 21, and that your degree ends up at 23 years-old, you don't have too much time left to really enjoy the life!!!
Maybe I've got this opinion just because I've spent all the time with my friends and I haven't had the opportunity to meet different "Kind of" people....
Also, people here are used to eat all the time in restaurants/bars, they never cook home (I'm still shocked about jackie's house, since she never bought pot and pans before my arrive....): prices are around 12-20 dollars for meal, which is too much for my budget, even if I was living and working there (anyway, the supermarket are fucking expensive....) non si cucina mai, si usa uscire per mangiare fuori (10-15$) and also, that's a personal opinion, the food is areally shit!
The second restaurant where I've been I've had poison food and stomach problem all day, ingredients are sweets (even for tomato can), too much mix of strange ingredients, much better my lovely country where there are for sure less stuff but good stuff!!!! :-)
Another bad point against California is the fact that cities here are too spread, thus without a car there is not too much to do....
In general,it's common opinion that people expect more from Los Angeles and California in general, maybe just because all the movies show us the best of this country but they never show the truth! maybe I haven't seen the real LA but I think this city is a real "inculatura"!!!
Bye bye...
During the week we played a lot tennis, good to start again some sport), we went together to the Universal City Walk again (but this time by night, much more funny), we visit Malibu beach and then spent the evening at Santa Monica!
Also, we went to Redeo drive, the most famous street in LA (all the major fashion companies are there, a sort of 5th avenue of new York!), then look around Beverly Hills (such amazing houses...), and finally I've took again some photos at Hollywood sign! :-)
Anyway, an overall of my California experience is definitively positive, in particular I appreciate the cheap transportation (perhaps it work quite well), the nice beaches of Santa Monica and all the south till San Diego. Also, I like the mix between spanish and english speakers (just like Miami), and of course all the bounce of producer around LA, everyday making some movies everywhere!
Don't forget also that California is the capitol about Technology...you can't understand my happyness seeing Apple products everywhere.... :-)
In particular, I reccomend to visit San Diego, which has change my opinion about California, until that moment quite negative....yes, there are also some bad aspects: first of all, I think the people here doesn't really now the words "fun and party"...everybody seems to be too much focused on their job...and if you think that you cannot drink until you're 21, and that your degree ends up at 23 years-old, you don't have too much time left to really enjoy the life!!!
Maybe I've got this opinion just because I've spent all the time with my friends and I haven't had the opportunity to meet different "Kind of" people....
Also, people here are used to eat all the time in restaurants/bars, they never cook home (I'm still shocked about jackie's house, since she never bought pot and pans before my arrive....): prices are around 12-20 dollars for meal, which is too much for my budget, even if I was living and working there (anyway, the supermarket are fucking expensive....) non si cucina mai, si usa uscire per mangiare fuori (10-15$) and also, that's a personal opinion, the food is areally shit!
The second restaurant where I've been I've had poison food and stomach problem all day, ingredients are sweets (even for tomato can), too much mix of strange ingredients, much better my lovely country where there are for sure less stuff but good stuff!!!! :-)
Another bad point against California is the fact that cities here are too spread, thus without a car there is not too much to do....
In general,it's common opinion that people expect more from Los Angeles and California in general, maybe just because all the movies show us the best of this country but they never show the truth! maybe I haven't seen the real LA but I think this city is a real "inculatura"!!!
Bye bye...
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
San Diego!
After almost 2 weeks spent in Los Angeles I believed California was a really crap, I mean, nothing interesting to do and see, boring, not exciting except for few things…now, I think I have this impression of LA only because the way how I’m exploring the city is quite strange, maybe for somebody else this city is great and amazing….
Anyway, last weekend me and Marina planned to visit San Diego, 2 hours south of LA, pretty close to the Mexican border (that unfortunately I haven’t visited!); before arriving we stopped at UCI (University of California, Irvine) where I’ve spent 2 hours talking with Prof. Tsudik for having a Ph. D. over there (and actually this interview was positive, I think there are good chance to spend my next 3 years at Irvine!).
Anyway, after that we arrived to San Diego: this city is much more better than LA, I really like it, it’s completely different from any other cities that I’ve visited before! It’s still an LA style, with all the spread houses and different areas connected by main streets but, the city also has nice places with a sort of European style, a thus really cool and interesting to visit…just like “La jolla”, the first place we visited!
In one day we saw all the city (it’s not so big!): Pacific beach, Mission Beach (between those two beaches there is a cool street just on the beach where everybody go for walking or for ride bikes, rollerblade…..you know, the classic Californian movie, that’s why I like ti!), Ocean beack (where all the surfers are), Downtown (great for Saturday night!), etc…
Also, San Diego finally brings me out again during the night time, since in all those previous weeks I haven’t been out too much…
At the end of those couple of days in San Diego, I can say that this city is just like Miami, the only difference is that is situated on the West coast! Thus, just like Miami, I really liked it, good place where to live!
Finally, the last day we stopped in a small town between San Diego and LA, called Dana Point, famous local attraction, where there was an amazing beach, one of the best ever seen, and this time I finally “met” the Pacific sea!!!! Yes, I’ve tried to swim but it was impossible since there were such big waves that all the time push me out the sea! But it was great, I’ve never seen such high waves, really scaring when you’re at just 1 meter away and that you know that a second later you will be completely covered by it, also with a strong power that push you on the sea ground…really good experience! Unfortunately, the day after I was sick again!!!
Now I’m back again in Pasadena, spending this last week before leaving to Hawaii (27th June) and then Australia! Plans are to visit Malibu on the weekend, Bel Aire in the next few days and, of course, support the Italian team on Thursday against Cesk Republic!
Andrea
x x x x x x x x
P.s: Now it became a normal routine: I've changed again my itinerary, this time drammatically since my last destination to London will be on 7th august instead of 6th September (I've reduced my world trip, too much money that I don't have and things to do when I'm back to italy!)
Anyway, last weekend me and Marina planned to visit San Diego, 2 hours south of LA, pretty close to the Mexican border (that unfortunately I haven’t visited!); before arriving we stopped at UCI (University of California, Irvine) where I’ve spent 2 hours talking with Prof. Tsudik for having a Ph. D. over there (and actually this interview was positive, I think there are good chance to spend my next 3 years at Irvine!).
Anyway, after that we arrived to San Diego: this city is much more better than LA, I really like it, it’s completely different from any other cities that I’ve visited before! It’s still an LA style, with all the spread houses and different areas connected by main streets but, the city also has nice places with a sort of European style, a thus really cool and interesting to visit…just like “La jolla”, the first place we visited!
In one day we saw all the city (it’s not so big!): Pacific beach, Mission Beach (between those two beaches there is a cool street just on the beach where everybody go for walking or for ride bikes, rollerblade…..you know, the classic Californian movie, that’s why I like ti!), Ocean beack (where all the surfers are), Downtown (great for Saturday night!), etc…
Also, San Diego finally brings me out again during the night time, since in all those previous weeks I haven’t been out too much…
At the end of those couple of days in San Diego, I can say that this city is just like Miami, the only difference is that is situated on the West coast! Thus, just like Miami, I really liked it, good place where to live!
Finally, the last day we stopped in a small town between San Diego and LA, called Dana Point, famous local attraction, where there was an amazing beach, one of the best ever seen, and this time I finally “met” the Pacific sea!!!! Yes, I’ve tried to swim but it was impossible since there were such big waves that all the time push me out the sea! But it was great, I’ve never seen such high waves, really scaring when you’re at just 1 meter away and that you know that a second later you will be completely covered by it, also with a strong power that push you on the sea ground…really good experience! Unfortunately, the day after I was sick again!!!
Now I’m back again in Pasadena, spending this last week before leaving to Hawaii (27th June) and then Australia! Plans are to visit Malibu on the weekend, Bel Aire in the next few days and, of course, support the Italian team on Thursday against Cesk Republic!
Andrea
x x x x x x x x
P.s: Now it became a normal routine: I've changed again my itinerary, this time drammatically since my last destination to London will be on 7th august instead of 6th September (I've reduced my world trip, too much money that I don't have and things to do when I'm back to italy!)
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
A fast Update!
Dear friends,
Time to write for the blog is always hard to find….what to say about California??! Well, an overall of the “country” is not so positive: I don’t like at all Los Angeles, nothing interesting to do and see except if you have a lot of money to spend (not my case!)…luckily, the country side and other cities are much more interesting and nicer to see! I still remember my first night in LA, it was really cool but at the same time quite expensive (but luckily Jackie knew some friends to enter for free)….in particular, it was weird to see policeman arresting people that for me where just walking on the street: I think only that night I’ve seen 5-6 persons arrested….it was just like a movie (but it wasn’t!!!).
Anyway, after the first week in Downtown I moved all my stuff in Marina’s house, in Pasadena, north Los Angeles Here the life is more relaxing and I’m enjoying the time spending with Marina and her friends! I don’t know why but in this period I’m always sick (cool, fiver, ecc…) but when I was fine I have explored Hollywood, Santa Monica (amazing!), Melrose blv, UCLA, ecc…. nice places to visit once but, with the exception of Santa Monica, I don’t think someone want to come back there again! Perhaps I’m still waiting to swim in the Pacific sea since my healthy condition weren’t good enough yet!
Also, my friends are generally busy during the day thus I’m forced to visit the city by myself, shit!!! But now things are getting better since Marina is much more free during the day time, allowing me to spend more time with her (playing tennis, doing things in the city, visiting places…)
Most of the time is spent my watching first the World Cup games (Italy is still first on our group, go Italy!!) and it’s funny to see all the time how different situation come up: the first game I was watching the match completely alone in Marina’s mother house (she doesn’t like soccer, of course!), then I’ve watched another game (Brasilian team) in a pub in Hollywood and here I’ve met some really strange people….then I’ve watched the second Italian game in San Diego (half game, I’ll explain you why later...)
And of course, if you’re in Los Angeles, is not hard to find a street or an area where people are making a movie! Wherever you go you always see videocamera and big truck containing all the needed stuff for make a movie, something amazing compared with other cities (only New York City has something like that)…last day I was walking of Melrose blv and without notice anything strange I was in the middle of a scene…then somebody kick me out!
Some interesting news about computing that I want to let you know are those two service, myspace.com and the craiglist! The first one is a such popular service that everybody has an account (and now me included!), I think in Italy will arrive pretty soon as well….anyway, it’s nothing special, it’s just a desktop manager where to keep in touch with your friends, write e-mails, blogs, comments, ecc…
The other service, craiglist, was already discovered in New Jersey thanks to Susan: this website basically substitute eBay here in Los Angeles, plus it has good services like advertise jobs, dating stuff, etc… it exist for each major citi in U.S., check on google if your city has one!
Also, there is Skype that I hope everybody know: after have spent many dollars buying international phone card, I’ve decided to buy a Skypeout traffic, which allow me to contact my European friends using the PC (also, I can call for free in all US and Canada!!!), and this my choise was such a good thing, it’s so cheap and it work fine!
Ok, let me go, I’ll write something about San Diego later…
Andrea
Time to write for the blog is always hard to find….what to say about California??! Well, an overall of the “country” is not so positive: I don’t like at all Los Angeles, nothing interesting to do and see except if you have a lot of money to spend (not my case!)…luckily, the country side and other cities are much more interesting and nicer to see! I still remember my first night in LA, it was really cool but at the same time quite expensive (but luckily Jackie knew some friends to enter for free)….in particular, it was weird to see policeman arresting people that for me where just walking on the street: I think only that night I’ve seen 5-6 persons arrested….it was just like a movie (but it wasn’t!!!).
Anyway, after the first week in Downtown I moved all my stuff in Marina’s house, in Pasadena, north Los Angeles Here the life is more relaxing and I’m enjoying the time spending with Marina and her friends! I don’t know why but in this period I’m always sick (cool, fiver, ecc…) but when I was fine I have explored Hollywood, Santa Monica (amazing!), Melrose blv, UCLA, ecc…. nice places to visit once but, with the exception of Santa Monica, I don’t think someone want to come back there again! Perhaps I’m still waiting to swim in the Pacific sea since my healthy condition weren’t good enough yet!
Also, my friends are generally busy during the day thus I’m forced to visit the city by myself, shit!!! But now things are getting better since Marina is much more free during the day time, allowing me to spend more time with her (playing tennis, doing things in the city, visiting places…)
Most of the time is spent my watching first the World Cup games (Italy is still first on our group, go Italy!!) and it’s funny to see all the time how different situation come up: the first game I was watching the match completely alone in Marina’s mother house (she doesn’t like soccer, of course!), then I’ve watched another game (Brasilian team) in a pub in Hollywood and here I’ve met some really strange people….then I’ve watched the second Italian game in San Diego (half game, I’ll explain you why later...)
And of course, if you’re in Los Angeles, is not hard to find a street or an area where people are making a movie! Wherever you go you always see videocamera and big truck containing all the needed stuff for make a movie, something amazing compared with other cities (only New York City has something like that)…last day I was walking of Melrose blv and without notice anything strange I was in the middle of a scene…then somebody kick me out!
Some interesting news about computing that I want to let you know are those two service, myspace.com and the craiglist! The first one is a such popular service that everybody has an account (and now me included!), I think in Italy will arrive pretty soon as well….anyway, it’s nothing special, it’s just a desktop manager where to keep in touch with your friends, write e-mails, blogs, comments, ecc…
The other service, craiglist, was already discovered in New Jersey thanks to Susan: this website basically substitute eBay here in Los Angeles, plus it has good services like advertise jobs, dating stuff, etc… it exist for each major citi in U.S., check on google if your city has one!
Also, there is Skype that I hope everybody know: after have spent many dollars buying international phone card, I’ve decided to buy a Skypeout traffic, which allow me to contact my European friends using the PC (also, I can call for free in all US and Canada!!!), and this my choise was such a good thing, it’s so cheap and it work fine!
Ok, let me go, I’ll write something about San Diego later…
Andrea
Friday, June 09, 2006
First days in Los Angeles
Dear friends,
after the splendid experience in Puerto Rico the next destination was Los Angeles, California. The first day I've found a nice wheatear, of course not so hot as Puerto Rico, just the perfect temperature for a spring season!
At the airport I've seen again Jackie, after two years from the last time we met in Rome: she came with her friend Jon Carl (that, for Italian people, his name is just Giancarlo, same pronunciation!), and then we went all together in sunset st., just for eat something (me and Jon Carl were starving).
Then we moved to my new temporarily house, Jackie’s house, really nice apartment in Downtown: I really enjoy the fact to have free gym, swimming pool and sauna any time I want…and in fact I’ve already used the sauna twice, but I’m still waiting for the pool, since the wheatear is not realy good yet (after the first sunny day all the other days were cloudy). Anyway, Downtown is a good place where to stay since is well connected with all the other main destinations and perhaps it has nice and interesting places to visit. Thus, my first days in LA were spent looking around Downtown: Financial District (nothing special), Jewelry district (good if you want to buy some gold…not for me), Fashion District (incredible place, everything here is sold in sholesale, you can really find good offers, it’s just like a big local market), Toy District (for children), Little Tokyo (I was expecting more from it) and Chinatown (just the same as any other Chinatown in the world!). I really enjoyed the main street in Downtown, Broadway, next to my apartment, since it’s quite busy and 80% of the people are Mexican or Latin in general, thus the main spoken language is Spanish, good for me since after Puerto Rico I really improved this language (perhaps I’m still in contact with Alexandra, and almost every day we spoke on MSN with webcam and microphone…in Spanish of course!!!). In those first days I’ve spend many times in front the PC, since I haven’t use it for all the puertorican period and thus now I was on late answering to the people and doing the daily stuff!
The first night in LA was Saturday, thus even if the night before I couldn’t sleep, it was normal going out and visit Hollywood! Jackie first bring me in a pub where there were local rock band on stage, then she called another friend which allow us to enter to an MTV after hour, really really good as my first night in California!!!
I’m still waiting for really big party, but that one was good to start seeing the LA night life and to start having an idea about the people… maybe I will change idea in the next weeks but I think people here are really weird, different of course from the east coast, it’s a completely different system, I still need to get on it to really understand the people....we will see…
The day after my arrive I’ve also seen again Marina, my main California’s contact, a Russian girl met three years ago in Providence, Rhode Island! It was nice to have spent a dinner all together again, just like a couple of years ago when her and Jackie came in Rome for visit me!
Last night we went in a pub next to the apartment, just for a beer, and I was surprised to see how the bodyguard check if you’re 21 years old or not: they just swap your ID card into a machine which display your age (and maybe many other information…bye bye privacy!), a really innovative system...and of course he couldn’t swap my Italian driving license!!!
Now I’m ready to explore other areas of LA, starting from the famous beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu’, for then visiting Hollywood and Beverly Hills (this time during the day, and not drunk as the first night, when I’ve spent hours reading all the VIP names written on the stars stamped on sunset street…..I didn’t know one, all unknown name for me except for Frank Sinatra!!), Pasadena and who know whatever else!! Also, next weekend we planned to visit San Diego (and thus I really hope to visit the Mexican border as well), then Las Vegas (just 2-3 hours driving from LA!).
I will let you know…
Take care
Andrea
P.s: let's see some photos...
after the splendid experience in Puerto Rico the next destination was Los Angeles, California. The first day I've found a nice wheatear, of course not so hot as Puerto Rico, just the perfect temperature for a spring season!
At the airport I've seen again Jackie, after two years from the last time we met in Rome: she came with her friend Jon Carl (that, for Italian people, his name is just Giancarlo, same pronunciation!), and then we went all together in sunset st., just for eat something (me and Jon Carl were starving).
Then we moved to my new temporarily house, Jackie’s house, really nice apartment in Downtown: I really enjoy the fact to have free gym, swimming pool and sauna any time I want…and in fact I’ve already used the sauna twice, but I’m still waiting for the pool, since the wheatear is not realy good yet (after the first sunny day all the other days were cloudy). Anyway, Downtown is a good place where to stay since is well connected with all the other main destinations and perhaps it has nice and interesting places to visit. Thus, my first days in LA were spent looking around Downtown: Financial District (nothing special), Jewelry district (good if you want to buy some gold…not for me), Fashion District (incredible place, everything here is sold in sholesale, you can really find good offers, it’s just like a big local market), Toy District (for children), Little Tokyo (I was expecting more from it) and Chinatown (just the same as any other Chinatown in the world!). I really enjoyed the main street in Downtown, Broadway, next to my apartment, since it’s quite busy and 80% of the people are Mexican or Latin in general, thus the main spoken language is Spanish, good for me since after Puerto Rico I really improved this language (perhaps I’m still in contact with Alexandra, and almost every day we spoke on MSN with webcam and microphone…in Spanish of course!!!). In those first days I’ve spend many times in front the PC, since I haven’t use it for all the puertorican period and thus now I was on late answering to the people and doing the daily stuff!
The first night in LA was Saturday, thus even if the night before I couldn’t sleep, it was normal going out and visit Hollywood! Jackie first bring me in a pub where there were local rock band on stage, then she called another friend which allow us to enter to an MTV after hour, really really good as my first night in California!!!
I’m still waiting for really big party, but that one was good to start seeing the LA night life and to start having an idea about the people… maybe I will change idea in the next weeks but I think people here are really weird, different of course from the east coast, it’s a completely different system, I still need to get on it to really understand the people....we will see…
The day after my arrive I’ve also seen again Marina, my main California’s contact, a Russian girl met three years ago in Providence, Rhode Island! It was nice to have spent a dinner all together again, just like a couple of years ago when her and Jackie came in Rome for visit me!
Last night we went in a pub next to the apartment, just for a beer, and I was surprised to see how the bodyguard check if you’re 21 years old or not: they just swap your ID card into a machine which display your age (and maybe many other information…bye bye privacy!), a really innovative system...and of course he couldn’t swap my Italian driving license!!!
Now I’m ready to explore other areas of LA, starting from the famous beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu’, for then visiting Hollywood and Beverly Hills (this time during the day, and not drunk as the first night, when I’ve spent hours reading all the VIP names written on the stars stamped on sunset street…..I didn’t know one, all unknown name for me except for Frank Sinatra!!), Pasadena and who know whatever else!! Also, next weekend we planned to visit San Diego (and thus I really hope to visit the Mexican border as well), then Las Vegas (just 2-3 hours driving from LA!).
I will let you know…
Take care
Andrea
P.s: let's see some photos...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Monday, June 05, 2006
[ITA] Resoconto di Puerto Rico per i miei amici salseri…
Ho deciso di fare un riassunto di quanto scritto in inglese in questo blog a riguardo di San Juan per meglio raccontarvi le varie serate salsere passate!
Non so da dove cominciare, speriamo di riuscire a cogliere I concetti principali e non dimenticare niente….PUERTO RICO FA PAURA, indubbiamente bella da visitare (spiagge, vita locale nei mercatini, posti quail la giugla/Rincon per I surfisti o Culebra, la isola incontaminata, in cui non sono stato solo per via di non aver avuto una macchina), ottima dal punto di vista della vita notturna e, of course, per ballare salsa!
In realta’ durante le prime serate non mi ero fatto un’ottima impressione di porto rico: in particolare, entrambe le ragazze portoricheñe con cui sono stato non ballavano salsa, il che mi dava molto da pensare….la conclusione e’ che qui la gente balla per divertirsi e perche’ sente la musica dentro, e non come da noi che si sta arrivando a dei livelli in cui se una persona non balla bene deve sentirsi male e cercare di migliorare…qui a nessuno gliene frega niente, il concetto principale e’ ballare, non importa come! Dopo aver parlato anche con altri salseri, infatti, mi hanno confermato che qui si balla ma che la gente davvero brava si trova altrove, tipo New York o Europa….ne e’ una conferma che qui la salsa si sente sempre durante il giorno, il qualsiasi posto vai senti canzoni salsere (e questo mi rendeva pazzo, eccitato, stavo sempre con il sorriso, per poco che non mi mettevo a ballare per strada….quando invece per la gente di qui e’ una cosa normalissima!
Comunque va molto anche il merengue ed un po’ meno la baciata, invece la vera regina della notte e’ rappresentata dal reggaeton: la maggior parte della gioventu’ infatti ama questo nuovo genere musicale, mi dispiace ammetterlo ma oramai tutta la gente e’ indirizzata per questo nuovo genere, ero dispiaciuto vedere che tutte le piu’ grandi fighe portoricane erano in locali reggaeton, mentre nei locali di salsa c’era una qualita’ inferiore, c’erano sempre belle ragazze ma erano molto di meno (la fascia 30-45 anni era da padrona, con conseguenza che anche le dame erano piu’ “passate” di moda…)
Passiamo a descrivere comunque come si balla: nonostante le prime serate sono rimasto deluso (la prima serata al El San Juan ho ballato tutto il tempo con la tizia conosciuta sull’aereo, la quale sapeva si la base ma nulla di piu’, la seconda sera al Bar Rumbas, famoso per la salsa in Old San Juan, ma che pero’ anche qui per essere un sabato sera non ho trovato nessuna che sapeva davvero ballare…..ad un certo punto mi ero proprio scoraggiato, pensavo che io ero l’unico che sapesse ballare salsa ad un certo livello (che poi io faccio ridere in confronto a molti di voi…).
Cmq la situazione e’ migliorata alla grande nella seconda parte della permanenza portoricheña, in primis poiche’ ho scoperto questo localino, Nuyorican Café’, che dedicava il mercoledi’ sera alla salsa, e li per la prima volta ho visto qualche brava ballerina, tutte innamorate fra l’altro di me, poiche’ ero in grado di farle “girare” come volevano…sono rimaste impresse, una mi veniva a cercare per ballare, mi diceva “Tu eres el major”, e ballavano molto bene! Questa serata, mercoledi’, e’ stata la migliore, mi sono proprio divertito e ballato alla grande, mettendo in pratica tutte le figure che sapevo (oramai poche, non ballavo da tanto ed ora non ricordo molto).
Altra osservazione: la distinzione tra salsa cubana, portoricana, new york style, ecc. mi sa tanto di enorme cazzata! O meglio: da noi ha un significato ben preciso e tutti lo sanno, ma se vieni qua si mettono a ridere, poiche’ nessuno sa nulla di questa distinzione (e tra l’altro, molti ballavano stile cubano, si, qui a Porto rico!)…ripeto, qui si balla piu’ per la voglia di ballare e non perche’ si debba seguire una tendenza e/o uno stile….ovviamente questo mi porta a dire che preferisco mille volte stare qui che non in italia, dove nasce una guerra se una sera si va a ballare al Circolo Vizioso anziche’ al Magic….
Andiamo avanti: dopo aver ricevuto info dal forum del Salsa Jazz, ho mostrato I nomi dei locali ad Alexandra e lei ovviamente li conosceva ma mi ha ditto che il Nuevo Rico sta passando di moda, e che invece lo SHOT era buono buono..ed infatti mi sono fatto portare li giovedi’ sera! Il posto e’ bella ma quello che mi piace di piu’ qui a porto rico e’ che ovunque ci sono le orchestre, con il bel risultato che la musica e’ sempre diversa e divertente, ogni volta con qualche novita’…e cosi’ non ci si stufa mai!! In particolare, qui non si usa fare casque nel finale proprio perche’ e’ la band ache bene o male decide quando fermarsi, non si conosce la canzone come termina, ed ancora, per rimarcare ancora il fatto che qui si balla davvero per divertimento, tra una canzone ed un’altra passano sempe un paio di minuti, per far riposare la banda penso, ma soprattutto per permettere alla gente di parlare e di conoscersi, e non stare invece li a pensare che bisogna subito trovare un’altra dama per ballare….non so voi come la pensate, ma secondo me in italia e’ un po’ piu’ stressante ballare….ora aspetto I vostri commenti (su questo blog e non sul forum,please!)
Una cosa che davvero mi ha fatto piacere pero’, e’ stato il fatto di vedere come la gente balla (mi riferisco a queste ultime serate dove davvero c’erano bravi salseri e dove il livello era molto piu’ alto): in particolare, riuscivo a sentire la sensazione che tutte le figure che giornalmente Marcello e Vale ci insegnano sono davvero nate qui! Infatti, non riuscivo a credere che ballando qui, lontano sal Salsajazz group, riuscivo a fare delle figure imparate al corso che altrove era impossibile fare! Come Vale mi confermo’ una volta infatti, molte delle figure che apprendiamo al corso richiedono che la dama sappia un po’ cosa fare e dove mettere le mani, altrimenti e’ un bordello, indipendemente dalla bravura del cavaliere! Infatti, se si va a ballare in posti non frequentati da salseri del SalsaJazz risulta piu’ duro ballare….qui invece sembrava di stare a CASA, tutte le figure erano tipiche, tutte sapevano quello che dovevano fare…e come lo facevano!! Certi erano davvero bravi, ma e’ ovvio che di bravi salseri se ne trova dappertutto, anche in Italia! Quello che voglio rimarcare e’ che qui si balla proprio come al Magic, stesso stile (anche se non si segue questa famosa linea immaginaria dello stile portoricano), stesse o simili figure!
Durante la mia permanenza ho anche cercato di trovare questo benedetto DJ Anthony ma e’ stata un’impresa ardua, troppo generico il nome e troppo vasta la popolazione di Puerto rico per conoscerlo (o forse semplicemente lui non e’ poi cosi’ popolare, essendo alla fin fine solo un DJ e non un istruttore).
Comunque vi ringrazio per le pronte informazioni che mi avete dato, alla fine sono state utili! Sono stra-contendo di aver comprato due tipi diversi di clave, ovviamente made in PR!
Di locali, per concludere, vi consiglio ovviamente questo Shot ed il Nuyorican Café’, ma ovviamente c’e’ ne solo altri ottimi come il Pool Palace (il problema e’che molti dei locali vanno a serate, non si balla salsa tutte le sere…ed e’ forse per questo motivo che Br Rumbas, molto popolare, non mi e’ piaciuto, avro’ scelto la serata sbagliata!)
Di tutte le serate salsere, la migliore e’ stata senza dubbio la prima al Nuyorican Café’ (tra l’altro un posto piccolo, un buco), perche’ li davvero mi sono scatenato, mentre le alter serate non avevo la compagnia adatta per ballare come volevo io (ed inoltre anche le scarpe scelte non erano adatte). Comunque altri posti che ho capito che erano buoni ma dove non sono potuto andare per ovvi limiti di tempo, sono La placida (ottimo il venerdi’) ed il Shannon’s bar.
In generale posso dirvi che Puerto Rico e’ bella perche’ e’ alquanto economica, se si va nei mercatini si trova tutto a poco prezzo, ma anche nei ristoranti non costa poi cosi’ tanto (c’e’ un posto chiamato La Bombonera davvero niente male, ad Old San Juan….ed infine, c’e’ da dire che l’italiano qui e’ stra-ben visto, tutti rimanevano contenti quando sapevano la mia provenienza, abbiamo una buona fama (ed io ovviamente ho provveduto a mantenerla alta se non a migliorarla!!!)
Se venite qui e volete risparmiare, andate dove sono stato io, sembra un po’ brutto ma poi alla fine va bene per quello che il solo scopo di dormire! Cazzo, si paga solo 25 dollari a notte (se proprio volete un posticino migliore, vicino dove stavo io c’e’ un’altro che ho scoperto gli ultimi giorni, il fortaleza guest house, che costa 40$. E comunque scordatevi di trovare questi hostels su internet, se provate a fare una semplice ricerca troverete solo hotel da 100$ minimo!!! Dunque, armatevi di spagnolo e chiamate Señor Castro:
Guest house - Viejo san juan (Old San Juan)
Tanca st. , 205
Box 9020947 - Puerto rico 00902
(Vicente "Quique" Castro, 787-722-5436)
Quando arrivate non dimenticatevi di provare la “Medalla”, la birra locale, e Don Q, il miglior Rhum di Puerto Rico (nonostante qui ci sia anche la distilleria del Bacardi!). Tutte le informazioni sull’isola si possono trovare sul magazine “Que pasa” (si trova un po’ dappertutto, ottimo per sapere dove andare). Se infine avete la macchina, cercate di andare per me nei seguenti posti (e mandatemi le foto!):
- Isla culebra, a quanto pare una isola dove non vi e’ costruito niente, se si vuole dormire li occorre stare in campeggio! Deve essere sicuramente favolosa, io putroppo non l’ho visitata perche’ il tragetto da Old San Juan non funziona d’estata (cioe’ in bassa stagione), e quindi per raggiungerla In macchina si impiegava 3 ore!
- -Yuncla de Rio Grande, dove si vede la vera natura incontaminata di Puerto rico, ci sta una bella cascata (ripeto, non ci sono stato ma me l’hanno raccontato..in spagnolo!) e si puo’ farsi il bagno e tuffarsi!
- Rincon e’ il posto adatto per chi si sente surfista…tra l’altro questa cittadina e’ l’unica che offre un hostello a 25 dollari facilmente scovabile su internet (vedi hostelworld.com)
Attendo risposte, commenti piu’ che altro!
Ciao ciao ed a presto
Andrea
Non so da dove cominciare, speriamo di riuscire a cogliere I concetti principali e non dimenticare niente….PUERTO RICO FA PAURA, indubbiamente bella da visitare (spiagge, vita locale nei mercatini, posti quail la giugla/Rincon per I surfisti o Culebra, la isola incontaminata, in cui non sono stato solo per via di non aver avuto una macchina), ottima dal punto di vista della vita notturna e, of course, per ballare salsa!
In realta’ durante le prime serate non mi ero fatto un’ottima impressione di porto rico: in particolare, entrambe le ragazze portoricheñe con cui sono stato non ballavano salsa, il che mi dava molto da pensare….la conclusione e’ che qui la gente balla per divertirsi e perche’ sente la musica dentro, e non come da noi che si sta arrivando a dei livelli in cui se una persona non balla bene deve sentirsi male e cercare di migliorare…qui a nessuno gliene frega niente, il concetto principale e’ ballare, non importa come! Dopo aver parlato anche con altri salseri, infatti, mi hanno confermato che qui si balla ma che la gente davvero brava si trova altrove, tipo New York o Europa….ne e’ una conferma che qui la salsa si sente sempre durante il giorno, il qualsiasi posto vai senti canzoni salsere (e questo mi rendeva pazzo, eccitato, stavo sempre con il sorriso, per poco che non mi mettevo a ballare per strada….quando invece per la gente di qui e’ una cosa normalissima!
Comunque va molto anche il merengue ed un po’ meno la baciata, invece la vera regina della notte e’ rappresentata dal reggaeton: la maggior parte della gioventu’ infatti ama questo nuovo genere musicale, mi dispiace ammetterlo ma oramai tutta la gente e’ indirizzata per questo nuovo genere, ero dispiaciuto vedere che tutte le piu’ grandi fighe portoricane erano in locali reggaeton, mentre nei locali di salsa c’era una qualita’ inferiore, c’erano sempre belle ragazze ma erano molto di meno (la fascia 30-45 anni era da padrona, con conseguenza che anche le dame erano piu’ “passate” di moda…)
Passiamo a descrivere comunque come si balla: nonostante le prime serate sono rimasto deluso (la prima serata al El San Juan ho ballato tutto il tempo con la tizia conosciuta sull’aereo, la quale sapeva si la base ma nulla di piu’, la seconda sera al Bar Rumbas, famoso per la salsa in Old San Juan, ma che pero’ anche qui per essere un sabato sera non ho trovato nessuna che sapeva davvero ballare…..ad un certo punto mi ero proprio scoraggiato, pensavo che io ero l’unico che sapesse ballare salsa ad un certo livello (che poi io faccio ridere in confronto a molti di voi…).
Cmq la situazione e’ migliorata alla grande nella seconda parte della permanenza portoricheña, in primis poiche’ ho scoperto questo localino, Nuyorican Café’, che dedicava il mercoledi’ sera alla salsa, e li per la prima volta ho visto qualche brava ballerina, tutte innamorate fra l’altro di me, poiche’ ero in grado di farle “girare” come volevano…sono rimaste impresse, una mi veniva a cercare per ballare, mi diceva “Tu eres el major”, e ballavano molto bene! Questa serata, mercoledi’, e’ stata la migliore, mi sono proprio divertito e ballato alla grande, mettendo in pratica tutte le figure che sapevo (oramai poche, non ballavo da tanto ed ora non ricordo molto).
Altra osservazione: la distinzione tra salsa cubana, portoricana, new york style, ecc. mi sa tanto di enorme cazzata! O meglio: da noi ha un significato ben preciso e tutti lo sanno, ma se vieni qua si mettono a ridere, poiche’ nessuno sa nulla di questa distinzione (e tra l’altro, molti ballavano stile cubano, si, qui a Porto rico!)…ripeto, qui si balla piu’ per la voglia di ballare e non perche’ si debba seguire una tendenza e/o uno stile….ovviamente questo mi porta a dire che preferisco mille volte stare qui che non in italia, dove nasce una guerra se una sera si va a ballare al Circolo Vizioso anziche’ al Magic….
Andiamo avanti: dopo aver ricevuto info dal forum del Salsa Jazz, ho mostrato I nomi dei locali ad Alexandra e lei ovviamente li conosceva ma mi ha ditto che il Nuevo Rico sta passando di moda, e che invece lo SHOT era buono buono..ed infatti mi sono fatto portare li giovedi’ sera! Il posto e’ bella ma quello che mi piace di piu’ qui a porto rico e’ che ovunque ci sono le orchestre, con il bel risultato che la musica e’ sempre diversa e divertente, ogni volta con qualche novita’…e cosi’ non ci si stufa mai!! In particolare, qui non si usa fare casque nel finale proprio perche’ e’ la band ache bene o male decide quando fermarsi, non si conosce la canzone come termina, ed ancora, per rimarcare ancora il fatto che qui si balla davvero per divertimento, tra una canzone ed un’altra passano sempe un paio di minuti, per far riposare la banda penso, ma soprattutto per permettere alla gente di parlare e di conoscersi, e non stare invece li a pensare che bisogna subito trovare un’altra dama per ballare….non so voi come la pensate, ma secondo me in italia e’ un po’ piu’ stressante ballare….ora aspetto I vostri commenti (su questo blog e non sul forum,please!)
Una cosa che davvero mi ha fatto piacere pero’, e’ stato il fatto di vedere come la gente balla (mi riferisco a queste ultime serate dove davvero c’erano bravi salseri e dove il livello era molto piu’ alto): in particolare, riuscivo a sentire la sensazione che tutte le figure che giornalmente Marcello e Vale ci insegnano sono davvero nate qui! Infatti, non riuscivo a credere che ballando qui, lontano sal Salsajazz group, riuscivo a fare delle figure imparate al corso che altrove era impossibile fare! Come Vale mi confermo’ una volta infatti, molte delle figure che apprendiamo al corso richiedono che la dama sappia un po’ cosa fare e dove mettere le mani, altrimenti e’ un bordello, indipendemente dalla bravura del cavaliere! Infatti, se si va a ballare in posti non frequentati da salseri del SalsaJazz risulta piu’ duro ballare….qui invece sembrava di stare a CASA, tutte le figure erano tipiche, tutte sapevano quello che dovevano fare…e come lo facevano!! Certi erano davvero bravi, ma e’ ovvio che di bravi salseri se ne trova dappertutto, anche in Italia! Quello che voglio rimarcare e’ che qui si balla proprio come al Magic, stesso stile (anche se non si segue questa famosa linea immaginaria dello stile portoricano), stesse o simili figure!
Durante la mia permanenza ho anche cercato di trovare questo benedetto DJ Anthony ma e’ stata un’impresa ardua, troppo generico il nome e troppo vasta la popolazione di Puerto rico per conoscerlo (o forse semplicemente lui non e’ poi cosi’ popolare, essendo alla fin fine solo un DJ e non un istruttore).
Comunque vi ringrazio per le pronte informazioni che mi avete dato, alla fine sono state utili! Sono stra-contendo di aver comprato due tipi diversi di clave, ovviamente made in PR!
Di locali, per concludere, vi consiglio ovviamente questo Shot ed il Nuyorican Café’, ma ovviamente c’e’ ne solo altri ottimi come il Pool Palace (il problema e’che molti dei locali vanno a serate, non si balla salsa tutte le sere…ed e’ forse per questo motivo che Br Rumbas, molto popolare, non mi e’ piaciuto, avro’ scelto la serata sbagliata!)
Di tutte le serate salsere, la migliore e’ stata senza dubbio la prima al Nuyorican Café’ (tra l’altro un posto piccolo, un buco), perche’ li davvero mi sono scatenato, mentre le alter serate non avevo la compagnia adatta per ballare come volevo io (ed inoltre anche le scarpe scelte non erano adatte). Comunque altri posti che ho capito che erano buoni ma dove non sono potuto andare per ovvi limiti di tempo, sono La placida (ottimo il venerdi’) ed il Shannon’s bar.
In generale posso dirvi che Puerto Rico e’ bella perche’ e’ alquanto economica, se si va nei mercatini si trova tutto a poco prezzo, ma anche nei ristoranti non costa poi cosi’ tanto (c’e’ un posto chiamato La Bombonera davvero niente male, ad Old San Juan….ed infine, c’e’ da dire che l’italiano qui e’ stra-ben visto, tutti rimanevano contenti quando sapevano la mia provenienza, abbiamo una buona fama (ed io ovviamente ho provveduto a mantenerla alta se non a migliorarla!!!)
Se venite qui e volete risparmiare, andate dove sono stato io, sembra un po’ brutto ma poi alla fine va bene per quello che il solo scopo di dormire! Cazzo, si paga solo 25 dollari a notte (se proprio volete un posticino migliore, vicino dove stavo io c’e’ un’altro che ho scoperto gli ultimi giorni, il fortaleza guest house, che costa 40$. E comunque scordatevi di trovare questi hostels su internet, se provate a fare una semplice ricerca troverete solo hotel da 100$ minimo!!! Dunque, armatevi di spagnolo e chiamate Señor Castro:
Guest house - Viejo san juan (Old San Juan)
Tanca st. , 205
Box 9020947 - Puerto rico 00902
(Vicente "Quique" Castro, 787-722-5436)
Quando arrivate non dimenticatevi di provare la “Medalla”, la birra locale, e Don Q, il miglior Rhum di Puerto Rico (nonostante qui ci sia anche la distilleria del Bacardi!). Tutte le informazioni sull’isola si possono trovare sul magazine “Que pasa” (si trova un po’ dappertutto, ottimo per sapere dove andare). Se infine avete la macchina, cercate di andare per me nei seguenti posti (e mandatemi le foto!):
- Isla culebra, a quanto pare una isola dove non vi e’ costruito niente, se si vuole dormire li occorre stare in campeggio! Deve essere sicuramente favolosa, io putroppo non l’ho visitata perche’ il tragetto da Old San Juan non funziona d’estata (cioe’ in bassa stagione), e quindi per raggiungerla In macchina si impiegava 3 ore!
- -Yuncla de Rio Grande, dove si vede la vera natura incontaminata di Puerto rico, ci sta una bella cascata (ripeto, non ci sono stato ma me l’hanno raccontato..in spagnolo!) e si puo’ farsi il bagno e tuffarsi!
- Rincon e’ il posto adatto per chi si sente surfista…tra l’altro questa cittadina e’ l’unica che offre un hostello a 25 dollari facilmente scovabile su internet (vedi hostelworld.com)
Attendo risposte, commenti piu’ che altro!
Ciao ciao ed a presto
Andrea
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Hi guys,
It passed too much from the last time I’ve updated this blog but unfortunately San Juan doesn’t offert really cheap Internet Café’, thus I’ve waited to arrive here in LA for talk you about Puerto Rico!
26th May – After an easy previous night passed watching a comic movie at Sandy’s house, I woke up quite relaxed and we went to the airport (but before I went to say goodbye and thanks for everything to Dino): for just 5 minutes, I’ve lost the flight: I’ve arrived almost 2 hours before to departure but the was such a long queue that when I’ve arrived in front the check in it was only 40 fucking minutes before the departure!!! And the lady in front of me didn’t allow me to check-in since they close the gate 45 minutes before to leave (I believed it was 30minutes…)….anyway, I’ve spent another couple of hours in Miami’s airport (I’ve made of course some others change to my itinerary, just for sport!), then I’ve taken the flight for San Juan at 1.20pm! On the flight I’ve met a nice puertorican girl, Aliza, and she were so gently that when we arrived to San Juan she gave a lift to Old San Juan! At the end, we spend all day together: we first went out for eat something, then she left me at the hostel and pick me up a couple of hours later for going out…my first night in Puerto Rico, waoouu!! I’ve told her my preferences about latin music and thus she bring ma at “El San Juan”, an amazing hotel with casino and 2 clubs!! One of them was enough for dance salsa, then we decided to swin to the atlantic (it was 1am…)….let’s don’t talk about my clothes the next day!
Anyway, that hotel isn’t easy to forget, really good swimming pool, next to the beach, nothing compared to my hostel: maybe the only one in San Juan (it’s pratically impossible to find an hostel in San Juan, the most of them are hotel starting from 100 dollars!), this shit of place was really dirty and old, not a really good place to recommend BUT, the nice thing was that for only 25 dollars (later became 20…) you can have a single room, with a king size bed, fridge in the room and other facilities…..at the end, I enjoyed the time passed there so if you’re interested I’ll give you all the details now:
Guest house - Viejo san juan (Old San Juan)
Tanca st. , 205
Box 9020947 - Puerto rico 00902
(Vicente "Quique" Castro, 787-722-5436)
Note that the only way to make a reservation is calling Señor Castro and take a reservation talking only in Spanish!!!
I really liked Puerto Rico since nobody speak English, you can live 24h speaking Spanish (and that is what I’ve tried to do, since I’ve take Spanish courses for 2 months!).
27th May – Saturday: To be Saturday, I really was expecting to have another such crazy and nice night! During the day I’ve visit all Old San Juan (basically where is the hostel), really cool city since it appear as an old Spanish town, with all the builings and architectures made 500 years ago (maybe my hostel was included!). The night I was alone, since my friend Aliza went to visit her parents in Fajardo, thus my strategy was: get drunk at home, really drunk, then walking around for San Juan looking for nice “puertoricheñe”…and that was what I did: in the afternoon I’ve bought the famous local beer “Medalla”, then I went home, drinking as much as possible! At 10pm I went out, and the first strange place I’ve seen I entered and orderd a medalla! Outside there were two nice girls, so I’ve waited the right moment to introduce myself and start speaking Spanish, the only recognized language (and Puerto Rico is considered an U.S. state….)
Anyway, this night changed all my permanence in the Island since Alexandra and Judithmar were so nice with me that basically they take care of me for all the rest of the time, that night and more: they showed me the busiest street in Old San Juan, where all the pubs are, then they recommended me Bar Rumbas for dance salsa...they weren’t interested to they left me their contact and I went by myself dancing salsa!
After those two nights my opinion about salsa in Puerto rico wasn’t really good, since both the night I’ve only not skilled people, none of them was as good as me for dance salsa…shit, I was in Puerto Rico, not in England, where a fuck are the amazing dancers??
28th May – The day before I’ve asked for information about the public transport in Puerto Rico, considered so bad that all the people here have their own car, everybody talk bad about the AMA (the name of the public transportation company) and also, the service is limited in San Juan, thus, without a car I couldn’t visit all the island but I was forced to remain to the biggest city….the truth is that exist another public transportation, called “carros publicos”, but they really look much more worst than the AMA and fortunately I haven’t used them!
Anyway, I’ve take the bus and I went to Ocean park beach, for my first day “a la playa”! The beaches are of course nice, but still they lack in organization for sports activities…later I understood that all the people go to Rincon, another small city on the west of the island, where there are big big waves for surfing! Anyway, it was nice to see this other aspect of San Juan, then I went home and met again Alexandra for the night! Sunday wasn’t really cool, we just play pool (everybody here play pool), and that was weird for me since the day after was the Memorial Day and nobody work (it’s an national holiday)…
29th May – Old San Juan was too small for me, the first day was enough for visit it, thus I’ve taken again the bus and this time I went to the famous local market, Rio Piedras, and later Plaza Las Americas, where I’ve seen for the first time the really puertorican style life (nothing compared with the touristic place where I went before!). In particular, I really enjoyed the food and have some shopping, things here are of course really really cheap!
The night I’ve watched Miami win game 4 against Detroit, now they’re 3-1 (but later they won the series, now they’re on the NBA final!). Then I’ve asked where to dance salsa (of course!) but for Monday night I really was asking too much, nothing was up, but it was a positive night anyway since I’ve seen another amazing club, Nuyorican café’, where to dance salsa (not for that night!)
30th May (Tuesday) – I’ve been to the bank earlier with the owner of the hostel for extend my permanence, then I’ve been to Isla verde, another amazing side of San Juan, famous for the beaches and night life….here I’ve met some actress (there was making a new series of CSI Miami…yes, in Puerto Rico!): the beach here looks equals to Miami (and I’ve been in both the places, I can confirm!) and thus they came here for make some scene, much less money to spend,no?
In the afternoon I finally met Alexandra again (I was waiting her since the morning, later I’ve understood that this retard was normal for her, I get piss off many times the days later waiting for her….), with her friends and then they bring me to eat tipical Puetorican food (I don’t remember the name of what I’ve eated but I didn’t really enyojed….but in general the cousine here is really good!).
Finally, I’ve had the opportunity to have a meet with Alexandra alone (instead to be surrounded by all her friends), and this was great for me since I was much more involved in speaking Spanish and interacting with her: of course, I bring her to the Nuyorican Café’, the place discovered the night before, and even if there wasn’t salsa music, I really enjoyed the jazz band. Also, during the break, the dj put on salsa thus I’ve danced anyway….TEACHING TO A PUERTORICAN GIRL HOW TO DANCE SALSA!!! The world is crazy sometimes…..
31th May – The “puertoricheña” was conquered! In fact, we met again the next day and we spend all day (and night…) together: we met in the late afternoon in San juan, went together to rio piedras market again, then to an Open Bar place (drink all the rhum as you like for only 11.50$ - tips included!), where of course we got drunk! I really happy for the day passed since I’ve found the original CLAVE of Puerto rico, now I can play as well all the salsa song I want!!
Anyway, after the pub Judithmar give us a lift to the hostel and here the most crazy night of all the period spent in Puerto Rico started: I leave Alexandra sleeping and completely drunk in the hostel, I went out for a couple of minutes looking for an open pharmacy but then I realized that the only way to have what I was looking for was to enter in a club and ask to the people….thus, what a better idea than going again to Nuyorican Café’? I knew that night there was the salsa night, with a teacher for beginners the first hours and then open night for dance…..the result was that instead of spend there one minute, I’ve spend much more time, dancing a couple of salsa songs….and this time the dancers were really cool, oooohh, finally I’ve found the right night for dance salsa!!! But shit, Alexandra was sleeping into my room, so I could’t stay longer, I’ve took what I needed and I came back really happy and satisfied about the nice salsa break….when I came back, I’ve found Alexandra up, really really angry: basically, she got up after I left and, still drunk, she didin’t understood why she were there, sleeping in that shit of place, alone! Thus, she went out but, the security of the hostel is brilliant, since even for exit the main door you need a key (I don’t wanna think what happen in case of fire!!!)….Anyway, I saw her quite angry but after a long discussion I convinced her about my right explanation and then she came back again with me.
1st and 2nd June: Those last days weren’t really interesting during the day since I went sleep too late both the time and the day after I’ve woke up too late! This lose me the opportunity to visit the Jungle and other nice place in Puerto Rico (since Alexandra has a car, now it was possible to visit those places, but the late time didin’t permit us to drive with the traffic of Puerto Rico!). Thus, except than speaking and improving my Spanish all day, nothing special happened! The nights were of course more interesting, the first one spent at SHOT, a nice and famous salsa club, the second and last night in Puerto rico in a raggaeton place: I don’t really like the music but it was nice to nice a real puertorican night life….of course even here my friends got drunk and, as normal now, my last day in Puerto Rico was spent driving a car in order to bring back home Alexandra’s friends (just like in Miami when I drived Dino’s car!)..It was funny since after 11pm Puerto Rico became Naples: nobody take care of the law and in particular everybody cross the traffic light even with the red light! Perhaps I’ve also met, always in the same way as in Miami, the local police, since at the beginning of the night (thus not drunk) Alexandra was driving in a direct opposition of a one-way street….
We went home so late that I couldn’t have the time for a nap, just something else and then go to the airport, say goodbye to my temporary girlfriend and leave for Los Angeles!!!
An overall of Puerto Rico: absolutely to visit (and even me, I need to come back!), great for those who like speak Spanish, but don’t forget to rent a car, without there is not too much things to visit!
See ya
x x x x x x x
It passed too much from the last time I’ve updated this blog but unfortunately San Juan doesn’t offert really cheap Internet Café’, thus I’ve waited to arrive here in LA for talk you about Puerto Rico!
26th May – After an easy previous night passed watching a comic movie at Sandy’s house, I woke up quite relaxed and we went to the airport (but before I went to say goodbye and thanks for everything to Dino): for just 5 minutes, I’ve lost the flight: I’ve arrived almost 2 hours before to departure but the was such a long queue that when I’ve arrived in front the check in it was only 40 fucking minutes before the departure!!! And the lady in front of me didn’t allow me to check-in since they close the gate 45 minutes before to leave (I believed it was 30minutes…)….anyway, I’ve spent another couple of hours in Miami’s airport (I’ve made of course some others change to my itinerary, just for sport!), then I’ve taken the flight for San Juan at 1.20pm! On the flight I’ve met a nice puertorican girl, Aliza, and she were so gently that when we arrived to San Juan she gave a lift to Old San Juan! At the end, we spend all day together: we first went out for eat something, then she left me at the hostel and pick me up a couple of hours later for going out…my first night in Puerto Rico, waoouu!! I’ve told her my preferences about latin music and thus she bring ma at “El San Juan”, an amazing hotel with casino and 2 clubs!! One of them was enough for dance salsa, then we decided to swin to the atlantic (it was 1am…)….let’s don’t talk about my clothes the next day!
Anyway, that hotel isn’t easy to forget, really good swimming pool, next to the beach, nothing compared to my hostel: maybe the only one in San Juan (it’s pratically impossible to find an hostel in San Juan, the most of them are hotel starting from 100 dollars!), this shit of place was really dirty and old, not a really good place to recommend BUT, the nice thing was that for only 25 dollars (later became 20…) you can have a single room, with a king size bed, fridge in the room and other facilities…..at the end, I enjoyed the time passed there so if you’re interested I’ll give you all the details now:
Guest house - Viejo san juan (Old San Juan)
Tanca st. , 205
Box 9020947 - Puerto rico 00902
(Vicente "Quique" Castro, 787-722-5436)
Note that the only way to make a reservation is calling Señor Castro and take a reservation talking only in Spanish!!!
I really liked Puerto Rico since nobody speak English, you can live 24h speaking Spanish (and that is what I’ve tried to do, since I’ve take Spanish courses for 2 months!).
27th May – Saturday: To be Saturday, I really was expecting to have another such crazy and nice night! During the day I’ve visit all Old San Juan (basically where is the hostel), really cool city since it appear as an old Spanish town, with all the builings and architectures made 500 years ago (maybe my hostel was included!). The night I was alone, since my friend Aliza went to visit her parents in Fajardo, thus my strategy was: get drunk at home, really drunk, then walking around for San Juan looking for nice “puertoricheñe”…and that was what I did: in the afternoon I’ve bought the famous local beer “Medalla”, then I went home, drinking as much as possible! At 10pm I went out, and the first strange place I’ve seen I entered and orderd a medalla! Outside there were two nice girls, so I’ve waited the right moment to introduce myself and start speaking Spanish, the only recognized language (and Puerto Rico is considered an U.S. state….)
Anyway, this night changed all my permanence in the Island since Alexandra and Judithmar were so nice with me that basically they take care of me for all the rest of the time, that night and more: they showed me the busiest street in Old San Juan, where all the pubs are, then they recommended me Bar Rumbas for dance salsa...they weren’t interested to they left me their contact and I went by myself dancing salsa!
After those two nights my opinion about salsa in Puerto rico wasn’t really good, since both the night I’ve only not skilled people, none of them was as good as me for dance salsa…shit, I was in Puerto Rico, not in England, where a fuck are the amazing dancers??
28th May – The day before I’ve asked for information about the public transport in Puerto Rico, considered so bad that all the people here have their own car, everybody talk bad about the AMA (the name of the public transportation company) and also, the service is limited in San Juan, thus, without a car I couldn’t visit all the island but I was forced to remain to the biggest city….the truth is that exist another public transportation, called “carros publicos”, but they really look much more worst than the AMA and fortunately I haven’t used them!
Anyway, I’ve take the bus and I went to Ocean park beach, for my first day “a la playa”! The beaches are of course nice, but still they lack in organization for sports activities…later I understood that all the people go to Rincon, another small city on the west of the island, where there are big big waves for surfing! Anyway, it was nice to see this other aspect of San Juan, then I went home and met again Alexandra for the night! Sunday wasn’t really cool, we just play pool (everybody here play pool), and that was weird for me since the day after was the Memorial Day and nobody work (it’s an national holiday)…
29th May – Old San Juan was too small for me, the first day was enough for visit it, thus I’ve taken again the bus and this time I went to the famous local market, Rio Piedras, and later Plaza Las Americas, where I’ve seen for the first time the really puertorican style life (nothing compared with the touristic place where I went before!). In particular, I really enjoyed the food and have some shopping, things here are of course really really cheap!
The night I’ve watched Miami win game 4 against Detroit, now they’re 3-1 (but later they won the series, now they’re on the NBA final!). Then I’ve asked where to dance salsa (of course!) but for Monday night I really was asking too much, nothing was up, but it was a positive night anyway since I’ve seen another amazing club, Nuyorican café’, where to dance salsa (not for that night!)
30th May (Tuesday) – I’ve been to the bank earlier with the owner of the hostel for extend my permanence, then I’ve been to Isla verde, another amazing side of San Juan, famous for the beaches and night life….here I’ve met some actress (there was making a new series of CSI Miami…yes, in Puerto Rico!): the beach here looks equals to Miami (and I’ve been in both the places, I can confirm!) and thus they came here for make some scene, much less money to spend,no?
In the afternoon I finally met Alexandra again (I was waiting her since the morning, later I’ve understood that this retard was normal for her, I get piss off many times the days later waiting for her….), with her friends and then they bring me to eat tipical Puetorican food (I don’t remember the name of what I’ve eated but I didn’t really enyojed….but in general the cousine here is really good!).
Finally, I’ve had the opportunity to have a meet with Alexandra alone (instead to be surrounded by all her friends), and this was great for me since I was much more involved in speaking Spanish and interacting with her: of course, I bring her to the Nuyorican Café’, the place discovered the night before, and even if there wasn’t salsa music, I really enjoyed the jazz band. Also, during the break, the dj put on salsa thus I’ve danced anyway….TEACHING TO A PUERTORICAN GIRL HOW TO DANCE SALSA!!! The world is crazy sometimes…..
31th May – The “puertoricheña” was conquered! In fact, we met again the next day and we spend all day (and night…) together: we met in the late afternoon in San juan, went together to rio piedras market again, then to an Open Bar place (drink all the rhum as you like for only 11.50$ - tips included!), where of course we got drunk! I really happy for the day passed since I’ve found the original CLAVE of Puerto rico, now I can play as well all the salsa song I want!!
Anyway, after the pub Judithmar give us a lift to the hostel and here the most crazy night of all the period spent in Puerto Rico started: I leave Alexandra sleeping and completely drunk in the hostel, I went out for a couple of minutes looking for an open pharmacy but then I realized that the only way to have what I was looking for was to enter in a club and ask to the people….thus, what a better idea than going again to Nuyorican Café’? I knew that night there was the salsa night, with a teacher for beginners the first hours and then open night for dance…..the result was that instead of spend there one minute, I’ve spend much more time, dancing a couple of salsa songs….and this time the dancers were really cool, oooohh, finally I’ve found the right night for dance salsa!!! But shit, Alexandra was sleeping into my room, so I could’t stay longer, I’ve took what I needed and I came back really happy and satisfied about the nice salsa break….when I came back, I’ve found Alexandra up, really really angry: basically, she got up after I left and, still drunk, she didin’t understood why she were there, sleeping in that shit of place, alone! Thus, she went out but, the security of the hostel is brilliant, since even for exit the main door you need a key (I don’t wanna think what happen in case of fire!!!)….Anyway, I saw her quite angry but after a long discussion I convinced her about my right explanation and then she came back again with me.
1st and 2nd June: Those last days weren’t really interesting during the day since I went sleep too late both the time and the day after I’ve woke up too late! This lose me the opportunity to visit the Jungle and other nice place in Puerto Rico (since Alexandra has a car, now it was possible to visit those places, but the late time didin’t permit us to drive with the traffic of Puerto Rico!). Thus, except than speaking and improving my Spanish all day, nothing special happened! The nights were of course more interesting, the first one spent at SHOT, a nice and famous salsa club, the second and last night in Puerto rico in a raggaeton place: I don’t really like the music but it was nice to nice a real puertorican night life….of course even here my friends got drunk and, as normal now, my last day in Puerto Rico was spent driving a car in order to bring back home Alexandra’s friends (just like in Miami when I drived Dino’s car!)..It was funny since after 11pm Puerto Rico became Naples: nobody take care of the law and in particular everybody cross the traffic light even with the red light! Perhaps I’ve also met, always in the same way as in Miami, the local police, since at the beginning of the night (thus not drunk) Alexandra was driving in a direct opposition of a one-way street….
We went home so late that I couldn’t have the time for a nap, just something else and then go to the airport, say goodbye to my temporary girlfriend and leave for Los Angeles!!!
An overall of Puerto Rico: absolutely to visit (and even me, I need to come back!), great for those who like speak Spanish, but don’t forget to rent a car, without there is not too much things to visit!
See ya
x x x x x x x
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