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Archive for the ‘life philosophy’ Category

the stormy seas of independence…

By pure random chance, I happened to be in Croatia a few days before the Scots voted on independence.  You cannot, of course, time your vacation to Croatia to coincide with such an interesting time to be in a Balkan state.  There is no question the Balkans are a fascinating place – historically, culturally and geographically.  A visit is really rewarding.

It’s rare for me to see a random post on facebook that I really feel is worth sharing but I am going to link to this one as it is a witty representation of much I have observed of world politics.  Not all countries are represented and there is no Croatia imagery.  But the Canadian quote sums us up rather succinctly.  I am a huge fan of history and know far more about the facts and dynamics of my own country than most politicians, less alone most voters.

http://www.tickld.com/x/capitalism-explained-this-is-so-accurate-it-hurts

I understand the seduction of independence, flag waving and nation states.  But we would all be better served in the 21st century to be getting together and trying not to let the planet turn into Mad Max…

elaphite islands

elaphite islands

Anyway, to the travel experience!  One of the most unique aspects of Croatia is the abundance of islands to explore.  Many are tiny.  Some are not even inhabited.  It is a playground of fantasy for sailors.  I like boats but my sailing qualifications more or less end at a pretty good ability to tie knots thanks to my early years as a Brownie 😉

So, I thought I would sign up with Amico for a cruise of the Elaphite Islands.  It started pretty slow as apparently the ship is filled by numerous travel agencies so you start to wonder if you are going to leave the harbour…

http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/croatia/dubrovnik-around/elaphite-islands/

They do ply you with homemade brandy before lunch… perhaps so you won’t realize nothing is happening? 😉  But eventually the trip gets underway and you bounce over the waves and reflect on the clear blue skies.

And – hopefully for you – that will continue for the remainder of the day.  Our cruise was a little different… at first the rain was benign and easy to ignore but it wasn’t long before the skies opened up and people had water running down their faces.  Being from a city where rain is a daily possibility, I was prepared.  I just put on my fleece and positioned myself under my travel umbrella.  Girl scouts are prepared 🙂

I was impressed by some young guy trying to frantically unfurl the canvas coverings that were meant to protect the ship in bad weather.  I think that should have been the job of the crew but customer service is still being developed in eastern Europe 😉

Apparently the gods did not totally hate us and we had a brief interval of sunshine when we reached our first island, Lopud.  The beach was deserted, the outdoor bar opposite the dock was closed and the monastery was under renovation so it’s obvious that, like most people from lovely climates, the Croatians are kind of wimps 🙂

I decided I would be adventurous and follow the signs to the mysterious art installation up the hill.  It was a great choice.  I saw a lot of the island, especially the flora, and the art installation offered a disrupting perspective that is what art is supposed to do!

It was called “Black Horizon”.  The customer service was eastern European style so had no idea what I was doing… but it looked like you went behind the curtain… it was totally black.  It was a former communist country so wasn’t sure about safety standards so crawled around the edge of the room so that I didn’t break my ankle or plunge into an unseen pit.  After a few minutes, the room did not seem absolutely pitch black and I could see a tiny strip of white light where there was a tiny break in the wall – the horizon!

experiencing art

experiencing art

I’m not sure the artist’s intentions but it was a really interesting visual and emotional experience, especially for someone living in a very safe western country where being thrust unexpectedly into a blackened room is unlikely to be an everyday event.

By the time I got back to the boat for lunch, the rain clouds were threatening again.  But it ended up being serendipity.  No one wanted to chance eating lunch on the roof of the boat so we took turns squeezing into the tables on the main deck, which resulted in random and unexpected pairings.  Most of my lunch time was spent with the guy who had battened down the hatches in the boat and his best friend.

It was pretty obvious as soon as they spoke that they were from Scotland.  Ryan’s dad was a fisherman so that was why he knew what to do on a boat when rain came calling (he is Scottish :)).  His friend Peter was more the suave ladies’ man.  Ryan was especially patriotic and very keen on the independence vote.  He had also worked in Norway so we became friends with a Norwegian guy since I had been to Norway only a couple of months ago.

My new friends convinced me I should just hang out at a pub with them for the next two islands.  On a sunnier day, I would likely recommend a different strategy.  But there is also something amazing about travel when you find a couple of people who can create the catalyst to turn an everyday event into a memory for the nursing home.

rocking the waves!

rocking the waves!

Making friends with Ryan and Peter totally changed the day.  It had been pleasant enough but a little boring as a solo traveller.  But we spent the trip back to Dubrovnik on the upper deck on really choppy seas.  The rain had stopped but the weather was angry.  What most people didn’t realize is that it’s better to be on the upper deck when the waves are high.

Ryan kept running the free (questionable and homemade) wine to the upper deck.  Peter had portable speakers so kept the tunes running.  A few people tried to dance but the waves made that more act of comedy than act of seduction.  But I ended up being part of an international impromptu party on a rocking (literally!) boat on the Adriatic Sea.

When we finally exited on our groggy sea legs, Ryan announced it had been one of the best days of his life.  I would have to concur 🙂

 

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life philosophy, travel stories

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finding real VIPs…

One of the most exciting aspects of attending SXSW is that it attracts an interesting, eclectic crowd.  Of course, not all interesting people are created equal – and I am a connoisseur 🙂  I’ve started to think of them as “my tribe”.

Almost all of my friendships were an act of serendipity – and generally include a good narrative.  Meeting V was no different 🙂

I felt like a voyeur at SXSW.  Most people come with an agenda, especially for the interactive conference.  But I was just there to soak up the atmosphere and celebrate my birthday so every day was a random walk.  I looked for catalysts or recommendations to inspire the day’s plan.

The easiest day to plan was when my new friend Quin was pitching his business idea in the Startup Village at the Hilton.  I wanted to make sure I had a seat for his presentation so sat through 8 pitches from young entrepreneurs.  Fascinating – and they are so impressive!

I had an entertaining time with the angel investor sitting beside me and got a better idea what professional investors are looking for.  You can check out Quin and his revolutionary new footwear technology at the plantiga website:

http://www.plantiga.com/#about

He was busy being courted by venture capitalists and meeting basketball players so I didn’t get to hang out with him in Austin but going to watch him was how I met V and had one of the most memorable evenings of my life.

It might never have happened had it not been pouring rain at the end of the seminars.  We decided to hide inside and have a drink hoping for the rain to stop.  The rain never stopped but, without it, V and I might have just gone our separate ways and the fascinating conversation would never have happened.

It’s not often you meet someone who totally gets it when you describe the Ngorongoro Crater as “the Disney version of the Serengeti”.  Someone who encourages you to be an intellectual snob.

SXSW is a haven for snobs like me.  I grew up in a trailer park so I’m never snobby about things you can’t control about your past.  But I am a bit snobby about how you live your future.  Whether you try.  Whether you have the confidence to learn things and develop your own opinions.

I am snobby about whether you are a VIP – but likely not the way you might suspect.  V doesn’t even know yet but he was the inspiration for my repurposing of that term.  It came about because we went to an event that night that we thought was a comedy performance by Seth Myers, but instead was Seth showing up and standing behind a velvet rope with the other VIPs while the proletariat stood on the other side of the rope and took photos with Seth when he came close to the Berlin Wall divide.

Seth seemed like a nice guy and I doubt most people there thought much about it but V and I wondered just what separated the people on either side of the rope… and which side likely had the more interesting people…

I am fascinated by the concept of celebrity, especially in these days when it seems almost anyone can get 15 minutes of fame, especially if you are willing to let cameras invade your privacy or act like a moron.

I’m certainly interested in meeting people whose accomplishments I admire.  I recently came across the reply to a fan letter I wrote to Robertson Davies as a teenager.  His reply was fascinating and insightful (it will get into the blog at some point).  I would be thrilled to meet Jon Stewart because he is so damn smart and really tries to engage people and get them to care about important things.  He is one of my heroes.

But most of my heroes are not famous.  I have zero interest in meeting most of the people the world currently seems to consider VIPs… which gets us to the redefinition V has inspired.  I AM interested in VIPs… the difference is that my VIPs are VERY INTERESTING PEOPLE.  I would encourage you to seek them out.  They are the one that may not rock – but they WILL rock your world.  Thanks, V 🙂

 

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life philosophy, social commentary, travel stories

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wear prada and drink veuve ;)

I am watching an extraordinary man (my crush Stephen Colbert 😉 while writing about an extraordinary evening with another extraordinary man talking about a third extraordinary man.  Do I feel extraordinarily privileged?  You betcha 😉

I wrote about my friend Sean last year.  Ideally I would love to never have to write about death but I am at that age where it is no longer possible.  And one needs to figure out how to deal…

family guy :)

family guy 🙂

It’s the first anniversary of my friend Sean’s death.  It’s a tough day.  Life offers few magic bullet solutions and death is one of the most elusive and slipperiest quandaries we have to figure out how to cope with and work through.

I am one of those super analytical, make a plan, and get it done kind of people so death has stumped me.  You can’t analyze it, you can’t blame anyone and there is no five point or five year plan to set up and work your way through.

Time helps… and heals.  Mostly you have to figure out what works for you.  For me, it’s about celebrating and talking about the person you no longer have an opportunity to hug in the flesh.

I always look for something unique that resonates for me at least as being part of the person’s identity so it becomes a tribute to his life and personality.  So, tonight it was C restaurant with his best friend drinking Veuve Cliquot champagne in Prada shoes and celebrating his life and toasting his memory.

As I wrote last year, Sean changed my life and my perspective on life in such a profound way that it is impossible to imagine my life without his youthful influence.  His life was so extraordinary it almost sounds like something you made up.  But it was real.  He led a celebrity lifestyle without being written about in the tabloids.

He conquered Toronto, then New York and finally London.  But he was a guy from Niagara Falls so he brought all his friends with ordinary lives along for the journey.  He was incredibly generous and he blew your mind and expanded your horizons and shared all his new experiences and insights.

He was so ordinary and so extraordinary all at the same time that it took many years before I ever even began to appreciate the extraordinary impact he had had on my life.

Like everyone who knew him, I wish there had been more time, more experiences, more hugs.  But all we can do is remember the great times.  Toting his son around in a baby basket in Vancouver while I learned how you cook sweetbreads… attending one of his daughter’s wonderful birthday parties in London… going on a jaunt to France for dinner in a Michelin star restaurant…

There were so many incredible experiences… so many great times… so much fun.

It’s the important thing to remember when all you have is the memories.  Tonight was extraordinary and I know Sean was there sipping the Veuve with us.  And commiserating with Phil, our server, who had lost a friend on the anniversary of his death.

Life and death are both mysterious, crazy adventures.  What really matters is that we share them with people who matter to us.  Who challenge us.  Who inspire us.  Phil was drinking Guinness in honour of his friend.  We were drinking Veuve.  A toast to Sean – and all the extraordinary impact he had on my life.

 

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life philosophy

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apparently kevin bacon has nothing on me ;)

Interestingly, Kevin Bacon WAS at SXSW talking about the six degrees of kevin bacon.  The community with which I try to connect is much broader and more global than this game would allow.  But that’s what makes the random connections that have popped up in my life requiring only a couple degrees of separation all the more astonishing.

I don’t think I will ever top that the random girl I met in the summer of 1983 because she was my next door neighbour in the University of Calgary dorm that was housing us during our summer jobs was best friends with a girl whose name I have now forgotten.  Her name wasn’t important.  The fascinating point is that Candace (I think that’s right 🙂 was dating a guy who lived in Bermuda who was my cousin’s best friend in small town Manitoba.  I had met the Bermuda guy because he was a Chartered Accountant and I was looking for career advice.  He was my first mentor and invited me to come to Bermuda when I graduated and had four months to wait before my first real job began.

I’ve never even met Candace but when Jean told me about her long distance boyfriend in Bermuda, I said, “I know him.  I stayed at his house!”  Candace then went on to date one of my other friends making my connections to this woman I have never met even more bizarre…

But right now we are at SXSW… I am hoping to write all the posts about my incredible SXSW experience before it’s time to get on a plane to another destination…

As already noted, I found the interactive and film overwhelming but that was nothing compared to the music.  Seven or eight pages of showcases (6 bands per showcase) in small print every night!  And the same concept in the afternoon.  I really wished I had some bands to support but I was there to make discoveries…

So I took a haphazard approach of supporting countries that I liked… in most cases, it worked pretty well, but when I wandered into the Aussie BBQ I got a little more action than I expected.  Obviously, I don’t attend a lot of heavy metal shows.  I arrived just as they were setting up and THAT was entertaining.  You could see there was a lot of bluster and weird, unattractive clothing and hairstyles.  These guys seemed to be really into showing off their beer guts via naked torsos… I guess it’s a look…

It all seemed tame enough until the show started.  The lead singer started by throwing water on the scant audience.  Then he was throwing water bottles.  Plastic so pretty harmless but generally I am not a fan of audience participation 🙂  When he started jumping off the stage into the crowd, I snuck away from the stage and finished my beer at a safe distance from the band.

Hey, not all experiments work!  But sometimes miracles come from experiments, even the ones that might appear to fail at first glance.

Since the Aussies had frightened me – and tried to destroy my hearing – I decided I would run to Canada House.  Surely, Canadians would not be so aggressive 🙂

I arrived just in time for “Toronto Turns It Up”.  It was a revelation.  All the bands were good – and completely different.  You should check them all out!  What was the most cool though is that I was texting with the son of one of my best friends (the famous Yvonne who helped name this blog :).  He is a musician and has been to SXSW so we were trading stories and I told him about this great hip hop act I had seen – and he has produced him!  The world is so much smaller than we think 🙂

Here are links to everyone, including Shea and Abstract Artform.

http://abstractartform.com/

http://cargocollective.com/moreorles/

http://arkells.ca/

http://www.arianagillis.com/

http://julytalk.bandcamp.com/

 

I also met some guy from Calgary named Greg who had dragged some colleagues from Houston to hang out at Canada House and support July Talk.  You really should see July Talk live.  You don’t normally put someone who sounds like Kate Bush and someone who sounds like Tom Waits together but it works 🙂  And she really works the crowd.  I am sure there were boys walking on air out of that show…  especially the ones with lipstick kisses on their cheeks…

What does this teach us?  Do lots of stuff.  Talk to many strangers.  Take chances… but run when the scary dude with the tattoos jumps off the stage 😉

 

Category:

artsy stuff, life philosophy, travel stories

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silver is hardly a participant’s ribbon :)

Perhaps I will eventually record all my 2013 travel stories… the 2014 stories will be beginning soon so we’ll have to see which year produces better stories… my insane let’s see if I can still work 7 days a week and survive a 100 hour work week period is finally drawing to a close for a few months so hoping to add some stories to the blog…  my survival mechanism to the relentless work schedule for the past couple of weeks though has been to listen – and occasionally pop my head up for the replay – to CBC Winter Olympics coverage…. Conveniently it has been on in an almost 24/7 schedule that matches my work hours 😉

The last Winter Olympics was in my hometown.  It was a mad festival where we shook our image as being no-fun and danced in the streets, waved paper Canadian flags as we cheered on athletes in public squares and sometimes spontaneously sang the national anthem in crowded restaurants.

It was a time of magic and watching the incredible Crosby goal in the public park across from my apartment with thousands of other patriots will always be one of those incredible life moments that you will never forget.  Fourteen gold medals!  The most ever won in a Winter Olympics.  And, for Canadians, of course the important gold medal – Olympic hockey.  Apparently the entire nation shut down biting their nails – there was a stat that almost no one went to the bathroom across Canada while the game was on…

And now we have another shot at it.  I will be staying up until 4am.  If we’re lucky, it will be less nail biting… maybe we can have a game like the Finns… the women already gave us enough drama this Olympics 🙂

It’s different this time.  The city is a lot quieter and everyone isn’t talking about the latest Canadian performance.  No incredible cultural events to check out.

At first I was worried I might not care.  But I witnessed practically every Canadian medal live on TV in 2010 so this time I know many of the athletes and have some favourites I had to watch.

There were new heroes – and repeat performances that left you breathless.  But we didn’t win as many gold medal as in 2010 so it seemed more Canadian.  A little less chest thumping – but the athletes did us proud and, while people weren’t dancing down Granville Street, I am sure there was dancing and cheering in pubs and living rooms.

This is my third obsessive watching of the Olympic games and I think watching a lot changes one’s perspective.  It’s wonderful when a Canadian wins a gold medal but I was equally jazzed by watching Tessa and Scott win silver.  And Denny Morrison’s silver medals?  Probably more heartwarming than any of the golds.

I have been working at an Olympian level while I mostly listen to the games in the background so it has likely given me additional perspective.  My heart always goes out to the 4th or 5th performance.  The pomp and circumstance is much lesser – but you are one of the top five people in your given sport.  How astonishing is that?

It’s hard not to get caught up in the competitive nature of the country medal count, often conveniently listed by gold or by total count depending on which version will make your country seem more impressive.  But what always makes me teary during the Olympics is the back story, the personal achievements, the hardships overcome.

When I started watching this year, I was worried that all the crass commercialism that has crept into the Olympic circus might turn me off and I would switch the channel.  But, somehow, the athletes manage to shine through the advertising and the sponsorships and make you care about the values sport can teach us – perseverance, dedication, mastery, hard work, good sportsmanship, team spirit.

I am a dreamer, a geek, an intellectual… definitely NOT an ATHLETE.  But I respect what they do and am inspired by them to take the values they bring to sport to my everyday life.  The colour of the medal is not the important thing.  Not even winning a medal.  The important thing is to hone your life skills to the point that a gold medal is a possibility – even if you aren’t an Olympic athlete and no one is going to give you a gold medal.  If you live your life as though your actions could earn you an Olympic gold medal, you will feel as though you have stepped on the podium and heard your national anthem played as the crowd cheered.  It’s not about the medal… it’s about living to the height of your potential…

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life philosophy, social commentary

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the things you learn in bars ;)

I am not quite sure how the travels of the past few months are going to find their way into this space… I have resolved to travel less in 2014 so can use the travels of 2013 to fill the lull periods 😉  I am on a plane to Bangkok enroute to Angkor Wat not long from now so it’s going to be more of a “find waldo” travelogue rather than a conventional one…

Right now we are going to one of the most mysterious places on the planet… Slovenia is like Botswana.  One of those places that isn’t a world power where things mostly work so it never makes headlines and no one knows where it is.

I knew it was eastern Europe but even I wasn’t 100% sure where to put in on the map when I met a couple of people in a bar in Amsterdam raving about Slovenia.  At that point I was on my way to Cairo so it just got put on the list…

Since I already knew Amsterdam and Paris quite well, I needed a third destination, something new and exciting.  The original plan was to get to Montenegro.  But I discovered, while the Balkans are definitely a tourist destination these days, the infrastructure is still a bit sparse, especially in September.

But one of the ways to get there is to fly through Ljubljana.  The capital of Slovenia!  There was a direct flight from Paris.  So I decided to abandon Montenegro and just stay in Ljubljana.  One of the best decisions of my life 🙂

That was about as far as the planning went.  Randomly flinging myself at the world is not at all how I used to travel but it allows for some small adventures…

I was pleased to see the taxi driver spoke English and seemed to know where my hotel was.  It was a sumptuous car, which I had entered after being swiftly whisked through the shiny, modern airport.  Once we left the airport, we drove through the forest!  Corn fields.  We eventually approached some Soviet style housing projects but there were mountains poking through in the distance.  It felt like Hansel and Gretel were ambling next to the highway.  I was seduced.

lost in the old town :)

lost in the old town 🙂

And then I woke up from my fever dream.  The taxi driver announced that my hotel was in a pedestrian only zone so he couldn’t drive me to it.  But it was only a five minute walk and he would give me directions.

Oops!  Perhaps a little more research would have been a good idea 🙂  I did know it was safe.  They were part of the EU and I didn’t need a visa.  They used the euro.  But I had no idea how to get to the hotel!

But it was in the old town, which is stunning!  The driver gallantly gave me some directions but they were sketchy.  The three bridges are famous here I have discovered so it sounds normal to say cross the three bridges – instead of cross that bridge in front of you, turn right, go two blocks and turn left.

But someone was yelling at the crowd on the square and the music started and it looked like the Russian pop festival in Latvia I’d seen on television.  It was a perfect blue sky day and the old town in Ljubljana looks like Venice or Amsterdam so I stopped to take some photos before attempting to find my hotel.

prettier than prague?

prettier than prague?

In the end, I had to ask for directions.  But everyone speaks English.  And walking the old town is delightful.  And once you get to the hotel, it will all be worth it.

DO go to Slovenia.  There will be more details in future posts… but it’s a teeny, tiny country so you can base yourself in Ljubljana and see it all on day trips.  It’s like Prague before all the tourists found it with a dash of the seductive power of Amsterdam.  One of the most amazing places you will ever see.

the amazing vander urbani resort!

the amazing vander urbani resort!

Go before people figure out where it is!  And stay at the Vander Urbani Resort.  More stories to come – it became so much more than a place to sleep.  But it IS a brilliant place to sleep.  Huge rooms.  Great design.  Delicious food.  Gracious staff.  The only hotel experiences to rival it were staying with my mom at Claridges and the amazing tents and camps AndBeyond has in Tanzania (also highly recommended :))

the view from the roof

the view from the roof

http://vanderhotel.com/eng

I am a jaded traveller who has been to 46 countries but Slovenia blew me away.  It was so refreshing to see I could still be impressed with the world at large.   You really should talk to random strangers in bars 😉

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life philosophy, travel stories

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getting off the compound ;)

Even though I’ve been back for a while I am reliving the sadness that it’s almost the end of the trip as I write this.  (Luckily I will soon be on the third continent of this year’s five continent travel extravaganza 🙂

Arriving in a foreign place is always such an adrenaline rush but departing is difficult so I try to do something significant and memorable to mark the final travel day.  I doubt I will ever top blowing kisses in the pitch dark stillness of the Serengeti with a Masai warrior but I try 😉

Since Lima is not risk-free I paid the dollars to have the hotel organize a driver for me when I returned from Cusco.  Yet another charming Peruvian man 🙂  Julio was widowed and we talked about his job, the challenges of raising a teenage son alone and – of course – dancing 😉   A lovely introduction back to Lima – and this time I was confident I WAS headed to the hotel!

I had booked the Miraflores Park, which is also run by Orient Express.  I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about the hotel or the neighborhood – and from my computer screen in Canada, Lima seemed very foreign.

the shiny mall carved into the cliffs

the shiny mall carved into the cliffs

But now that I was arriving for the second time I wished I’d booked something local.  It felt like I was trapped in a glamorous tourist compound.  The hotel is right next to Larcomar – not exactly the Peru of intricately woven blankets and alpaca scarves in every colour of the rainbow.

Luckily I had walked all over Miraflores on my first visit so I grabbed a map and hit the streets to find some locals and get a sense for the real Lima.

My first mission was to go back to my old neighbourhood.  There was a shop full of mouth-watering cakes near my first Lima hotel but on my initial visit I had arrived there at breakfast so was a good girl and had some delicious French toast with fresh tropical bananas instead of cake.  But who says you can’t have cake for breakfast?  It was worth the walk across town!  If you also have a weakness for cake, check out La Mora Pasteleria & Cafe.

http://www.lamorapasteleria.com/

Fortified – and needing to walk off the calories – I began an aimless wander in a new direction from the kilometres I logged on my first visit.  That’s how I discovered Avenue de la Paz.  Definitely recommend it to get a snapshot of Lima – and modern Peru.

I didn’t get to spend enough time in the country to really develop an understanding of 21st century Peru.  But wandering away from the other tourists and talking to locals every chance I got did provide fascinating glimpses.  As the young girls in Colombia told me boldly, “we’re emerging!” 🙂

cool architecture on ave de la paz

cool architecture on ave de la paz

I haven’t been to Ecuador yet but it does seem that the Andes are embracing the era of the internet and the smartphone and creating opportunities for a new generation with aspirations of a more inclusive and prosperous South America.

I live in a world of shiny things where people lead easy lives yet find ways to complain about their privileged lives without much perspective on the reality of daily life for most of the world’s population.  There are a lot more people living on a couple dollars a day at best than stressing whether their bonus will be grand enough to maintain their millionaire lifestyle.

Don’t go to Lima for the weather!  It was grey and drizzly for the vast majority of the time I spent there.

view from the hotel

view from the hotel

But great food will lift your spirits!  I wish I’d been able to explore more but did have a couple more outstanding meals before it was time for departure.

The first night I played it safe and ate in the hotel.  The restaurant is called Mesa 18.  It is an intriguing mix of world class Japanese food and luxe Peruvian cuisine.  It feels a little bipolar but I had one dish of each and both were sublime!

http://www.mesa18restaurant.com/web/mesa18/index.jsp

For my final night, though, I wanted something truly memorable.  I had spent some time at the previous hotel scrolling through restaurant options on the computer in the lobby.  I found one that didn’t seem too far from the Miraflores Park – and boasted the kind of menu I would gravitate to in Vancouver.  Rafael.

http://www.rafaelosterling.com/

I always like to know where I am going after dark in a foreign city – so I did a daylight recognisance trip to identify just how many blocks the restaurant was from the hotel – and the best route to get there – easy to remember, full of people, emblazoned with working streetlights…

Once it got to Latin dining time, I headed out.  I arrived to a lively scene for a Monday night.  Since I haven’t learned to speak Spanish yet, communication was limited.  But I soaked up the atmosphere – and the delicious inventive nouvelle Peruvian cuisine.

When I was looking for the links for this post, I discovered that I AM really good at finding restaurants in foreign locales… according to the Telegraph, I found 2 of the 5 best restaurants in Lima – without reading the article 😉  but you might want to…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ultratravel/9593866/Restaurants-in-Lima-Peru-five-of-the-best.html

My final Pisco Sour for a while.  A walk home to the hotel through the streets of Lima teeming with people living “la vida dulce”.

I was back on the compound.  But I knew I wasn’t the kind of girl who belonged there.  I was “that girl” – the crazy redhead roaming around Peru without a tour group and, as a result, being seduced by a new country and its people.  I will be back…   and you should go 😉

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eating & drinking - well, life philosophy, travel stories

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