I must admit the steak was good, but I still feel ripped off.
OK, just got the bill. They don't seem to have charged me for the chips, I don't know why. At 129 the steak is pricey compared to yesterday's much larger one at 99, but it's not quite as bad as I was thinking.
(Oh, I never did get any change from my 100 at Papa Bill's last night. Robbing gits.)
18:40. Down at some cafe round about where I was last night.
Feeling the day was a bit wasted, didn't get up til 2 and didn't leave hotel til 3:30. Tho I think it was the lack of sleep the other day rather than because I was out too late.
Wandered down PdlR and had a look at some of the statues, including the one of Cuahtemoc I had read about in "Survivors in Mexico". It was quite cool to see it in the flesh though it was a lot smaller than I imagined.
Was going to go to some nearby museum I spotted on the map (I picked some up at the local tourist information place) but couldn't find it. At least I saw a bit more of the city.
Bought a copy of The Economist at Sanborn's, they had one, maybe I missed it yesterday.
Zuhamy has mentioned a couple of places round here she used to go to so I may try them later. I need to do more tourist stuff tomorrow though. I do want to see some of Rivera's murals.
I am meeting Z's friend Claudia and her (Claudia's) sister on Saturday night, which should be cool.
Spitting a bit right now.
19:50. Must admit I am feeling a bit down. Maybe The Economist is depressing me. Probably not though. I mean, while I see no long term prospects, I am sure I will manage to get some tedious job on my return to the UK.
Oh, this cafe place is called Konditori. It's absolutely unexceptional but OK. I am here as it seems slightly too early to try either of the bars Z recommended and for whatever reason I didn't want to go home first. (I guess in part because I'd struggle to drag myself back out.)
20:15. Joy. I just knocked my beer over and the glass smashed against the adjacent wall. Embarrassing. At least I am not drunk. I didn't actually knock it over, the table had a severe rock on it which I had already noticed and I jogged it with my foot causing the spill. Oh well. Just hope they don't levy some insane charge for the glass.
Apart from that I am still a bit jittery and worried. I think having 'wasted' today is playing on my mind, and I am not looking forward to my return to the day-to-day shit back in the UK. Oh well. Sufficient unto the day has to be the attitude if I can manage it.
Oh, I managed to slice my finger as well. Just hope I can avoid getting blood stains on anything before it stops. And doubtless it will hurt a bit after, as shallow cuts tend to.
21:10. A busker just turned up outside and is playing "Wish You Were Here". :-)
I think I will pay up and see if I can find one of the bars Z mentioned.
21:50. Ho hum. Walked past last night's bar en route, it is called something like 'Chelestia' (not right, it was 10 mins ago and my memory has fucked it over).
Despite checking both Z's mentioned bars out quickly on the web earlier and them appearing to exist, neither panned out.
Frida, which she only mentioned by name and vague location, was according to some web site at Hamburgo 28. I trekked down to that rather deserted end of Hamburgo and failed to spot any plausible places, even shut ones.
Rock Stock at 260 PdlR (she even remembered the number, but I think I checked, and 260 is indeed on corner with Niza as she said) seems to be a colourful building which could be a bar but has no sign (I sort of located it this afternoon) but when I just went there it was not open. So it may no longer exist (but I think I checked on the web) or it may still be too early. I may pop past there on the way back or have a more detailed web search tomorrow.
It's one thing that bars might have closed in (I guess) the last 20 years, but annoying that I can find these places on the web yet they apparently don't exist. I did only have a quick look on the web though.
I could swear one of them (probably Frida) had a facebook page, FFS.
The resident guitarist at the random bar I came to failing those is now playing "Wish You Were Here" too. I wonder if it's the same guy (this is near the last bar, despite my roundabour route) and he was just doing a bit of speculative busking before coming to his formal engagement for the night.
He sings "swimming ON a fish bowl" as the busker did. Maybe that's an easy mistake for a non-native speaker, but I do start to suspect it is the same guy. Insofar as I remember his appearance it's plausible.
22:10. FFS. Just noticed an ad on the table (this is Cafe Bar Genova FWIW) advertising live music Thu, Fri & Sat with a MXN15 cover. Wish I hadn't given the busker MXN10 of my own free will earlier now.
While it's not much and I do despise paying on the door in the UK and often not being allowed the right of re-entry, at the same time I hate the hole and corner nature of these surcharges over here (speaking generally, not particularly about Mexico).
22:30. The music has stopped and though I'm sure it's just me, the atmosphere seems rather grim.
A couple are talking in Spanish just behind me and I can actually understand snippets of what the bloke is saying. This is rare. I do wonder if I am oddly more comfortable with the Mexican accent. It seems unlikely though.
Yeah, this seems a bit grim. Music starting up again now. There are maybe 10-20 people here. I could in principle wander but given the apparently huge quantity of strip bar type places here I am reluctant. I guess I'll stick this out, maybe give Rock Stock another try later (it's not much out of my way) and then if I feel like it try somewhere near the hotel, ideally not Papa Bill's, although even being Thursday night I am not optimistic there'll be much other activity.
Man, just hearing the tiny audience applaud is almost enough to induce wrist slashing.
The music, while largely incomprehensible, is of a slightly depressingly maudlin ballad type. Some other time I might enjoy it but, man, right now it ain't what I need. I'm not weeping in my beer but I'm not feeling on top of the world.
Maybe now the immediate fear has worn off simply not being mugged is no longer sufficient to give me enjoyment. :-) I guess Saturday should be a lively night, there may still be prospects for tonight and I shall have to see what I can do tomorrow. A bit more of the sweet brown liquor may tip me in the right direction, though I know it's notoriously unpredictable.
And I guess other places in Mexico may be better if only because they'll be smaller and safer (at least to the extent of permitting casual taxi use) and I can spread myself around a bit more comfortably.
Consulting my dictionary in response to a song, I discover 'fiasco' is Spanish for 'failure'.
23:05. Music continues and none of the small clientele is leaving but the waiters seem to be clearing some tables and are collecting the notices on the tables advertising live music. Don't know if they are closing or not. I guess I should go within an hour anyway if I am to check out Rock Stock and maybe get a last one or two in (if only at Papa Bill's - at least after that tiny steak earlier I will have more appetite for the involuntary snack). Unless I dig up web evidence Rock Stock or somewhere similar is open tomorrow night or somewhere else promising exists round here, I need to risk drinking elsewhere tomorrow night.
While closing times are clearly superior, if not by much, I can't help thinking in a gloomy way this at least shows other big (hell, bigger) cities can be at least as depressingly dull as London.
Waiters folding table cloths like nobody's business. I may not even try for another, I have quite a bit left, (live music still on though) if Rock Stock is open tonight it damn well ought to be by now (tho I do remember the weird 1am opening of the nightclub in Colonia del Sacramento) and if it's not then being at Papa Bill's is probably less depressing than this.
I obviously might stumble across somewhere cool en route but with so many strip bars I am less likely than usual to take a chance on a random cool-looking bar. Not that I was particularly tempted by anywhere near here last night after leaving Ch-whatsit.
23:15. An elderly couple just sat down at a tablecloth-less table then decided to leave. I don't know if someone indicated 'no service' by a gesture or they just couldn't stomach the atmosphere. I could believe either.
Just got the bill without asking for it. Lovely.
Feel compelled to rush this beer. Hope I don't suddenly start feeling drunk.
Music continues as the waiters stack chairs. Hell, closing time here is positively UK. Wouldn't mind if I knew somewhere decent I could go.
23:30. At some bar up the street with a moderate crowd and a less wrist-slitting atmosphere. I asked the waitress and they close in an hour or an hour and a half. I may have one or two here then check out Rock Stock. I doubt it's open or even exists (tho that damn web evidence nags) but I would like to try. I hope walking down PdlR at that time of night is safe. I doubt Papa Bill's will be an option tonight but if I have one or two more here I won't care that much and it can only help (if not much) towards getting up early tomorrow. It's not happening, but getting up at 9am would give me an almost amazing amount of time. (Maybe that's why it doesn't happen. That much time to fill can be scary or awkward if you don't have obvious places to go.)
Having my first Bohemia since god knows when. No glass but beggars can't be choosers.
The street is far from dead, incidentally. I rather envied some cheery looking passersby while sat in the covered outside area at the last bar.
There is a statue of Diana the hunter in the street just here. One of the roundabouts on PdlR has one too (which I photgraphed earlier). I wonder if there is some weird attraction about Diana, despite no obvious Mexican connection, or if it's just coincidence. I can't speak for the PdlR one, it being elevated and my perusal limited, but the one here is pretty fit. :-)
I appreciate legal issues may complicate matters, but I find it odd I could drink til 5am in a small town like Chanaral, Chile, yet here I seem to struggle to find anywhere open late. I am sure I just don't know the right places to go. FFS, even London has options til 3 if you're that desperate and prepared to suffer the wankiness of a club. And I suppose at least I am having a beer at a normal bar at this time of night, though it's not so late that modern London can't compete.
I am sure there's a healthy anti-fun contigent here just as in the UK.
I can't help feeling of all the countries I've visited, Chile (despite apparently being pretty un-corrupt) was the most relaxed. I guess Bolivia was pretty good too, although my opinion will be skewed by the circumstances I was in. Argentina probably had its points but I wouldn't say it seemed that relaxed.
00:00. Just ordered another Bohemia. The waitress asked if I wanted dark or light. I didn't know, or had forgotten, there were two varieties. The first waitress didn't ask when I ordered a Bohemia so I wonder if there's some wierd communication issue here. But I just got a Bohemia, so maybe not.
Am reading some Angela Brazil novel now (hey, it's cheap escapism, very readable and no nasty jolts, she's no PG Wodehouse but who is?) and it occurs to me it is very weird I am meeting Z's friend on Saturday. Cool, but weird. I mean, just because A and B get on and B and C get on, it's not certain (though not totally implausible) that A and C get on. Friendship isn't transitive. :-) But I guess it's not much different to meeting a friend of a friend down the pub, although in that case the mutual friend is at least present. I've met friends of friends down the pub and varied from almost instant liking to vague dislike. :-) (To be fair, the more negative cases were more 'acquaintances of friends' than 'friends of friends'.) I am sure it will be cool and it would be nice to a) actually meet someone and b) be down somewhere less awkward-seeming than the Zona Rosa bars.
00:20. Feeling a bit drunk. If I can get one more here I think I won't go out of my way to check Rock Stock tonight. I am not optimistic it still exists and I would rather just have a good web search tomorrow. It may be one of those weekend only places. The web should contain the answer, if I can only find it. I would love to have a decent place to go to round here tomorrow night so I certainly have motivation.
02:40. Jesus wept. I am down a strip club. Albeit a pretty classy and fucking enormous one. I feel pretty sober but I have double vision at a distance. It is freaky as hell watching perfect twins perform their strip routines in perfect synchronisation. (I know they *aren't* as I keep closing one eye to check.) I don't feel that drunk, despite that, but fuck. Will blog about how I am down here later if I get out OK. It's probably cool but my cynicism is growing.
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