Visit to Cuba

Fresh veggies and fruit in Playa

I thought I would write about a recent trip I took to Havana. I went with a couple of Korean businessmen who are based in San Salvador and the two teenaged sons of one of them.

Their trip was to look at some opportunities in the textile industry and also some commercial retail operations. I was able to get them a decent price at the Hotel Nacional which is always the best place to stay on your first visit to Havana.

Cuban showgirls!

Caught a show at the Parisienne which is like a mini indoor version of the Tropicana but with more white dancers. 

The show at the Parisienne

As you can see, the stage is right on top of the audience so you certainly get a good view of the show. Drinks aren’t too bad there but always ask the price first of anything you order and try to avoid the food – there are much better places.

Like Chansonnier where I ended up going back to a few times. They have done some more remodelling so it is even more hip and trendy looking. Hector is letting us smoke in the vestibule now and when I asked him to put on some music, he had some great chill lounge tunes for us. I also got to meet the Italian chef who came out to say Hi. We asked him to make us his best dishes and he sent out great eggplant and octopus starters and then a sweet potato ravioli that was fantastic. Not huge portions but very tasty.

Dining at the Chansonnier

I ended up going back with some friends including Shana and Jose who used to work for PWC in Cuba about a dozen years ago and are now based out of Amsterdam. Shana hasn’t changed at all and Jose lost about 80 lbs and they both look fantastic. They brought their kids as well and they were super well behaved in the restaurant.

Built solely for tourists in Old Havana, but still great food and service.

Also went to this place in Old Havana which I think was in the Feria de la Artesenia building. I would normally avoid places like this like the plague but one of my Cuban associates suggested it and knew a lot of people who worked there. Food was delicious, service was great, and the singer was amazing. I asked for my three favourite songs “Cuarto de Tula”, “Como Fue”, and “Oye Como Va” and they did a shockingly good job. I sometimes forget how incredibly talented Cubans are.

Celio Perez Martinez belting them out.

 We also walked through Old Havana which the guys from El Salvador liked because it was such a huge area and it was all safe to walk through. In El Salvador, it seems like the only safe street to walk through at night is Paseo del Carmen – although you are seeing more and more people out at night in other neighbourhoods.

Can I have my camera back?

At one point, we were all at the Capitolio and we had to get back to the other side. Since there were 7 of us, we needed two cabs. I asked some guys with the old cars how much and they said $12 for each cab. I pointed out that there was a Panataxi van parked across the street that we could get to drive us for $5. So they said $20 for two old cars and I said no and they came back with $12 for both and we struck a deal. The visitors wanted to take some pictures so the guy who brokered the deal took my camera to take some pictures. This is me trying to get my camera back!

Very large canvas, asking $140

We then went to the big artisans market in the port area where I made everyone buy something. I looked at dozens of great paintings but decided just to buy one small one and some photo prints. 

Berta's first piece since having her baby

Oh, we also went to visit Jurgen where we all bought paintings albeit at a much higher price. Here is some of what we got. Jurgen’s wife had her baby and she is back painting.

Three of the paintings we bought from Jurgen.

I met up with Shana and Jose when our mutual friend, Ana Rosa the flamenco dancer, told me that she was in town. I got a lift from them in my old Nissan Sentra – my first car in Cuba which I donated to the dance company (the process only took 8 months! I needed to get the signatures of two Vice-Ministers, one in Foreign Investment and the other in Culture). A 1988 B-12 model, made in Japan, sold in Canada and still running! A bit smelly inside as they replaced the fuel injector with a carburetor. They couldn’t afford a good VW one so they bolted on an old Lada one so quite a strong gasoline smell inside.

25 years old and still going strong! Ana Rosa and Miguel posing in front of the mighty B-12.

Walking through Old Havana, we came through the Plaza de San Francisco and was amazed to see that my old office, the first place I worked in Cuba, had been converted into a luxury boutique hotel. This place used to be a dump! Lots of water and power outages, an unsafe rickety elevator that encouraged everyone to use the stairs, pretty dark and dirty. Now it is a couple of hundred dollars a night.

Lobby and reception desk in my old office building.

Hanoi took me to his favourite hole in the wall restaurant. A tiny tapas place in Old Havana called El Chanchuello. When I heard tapas, I figured small portions so I ordered 3 for us to share ... which we barely finished as the Cuban chef had a different notion of what a tapas was. Tiny place, two floors, great food with the plates being $4 or $5 each, rock music. 

Delicious Cuban tapas and it's all organic!

Oddly, there were a lot of tourists there since it was a bit out of the way and they could afford to spend a lot more. But I suppose it was high season so Old Havana was fulling of turistas. The table to my right had guys from Brazil and Australia and a woman from Japan. To my left was a German couple who had ordered their food before we sat down and then watched as we were served first (Hanoi knows the owner). We finished our huge dinner and they still had not received their food and they were getting angrier and angrier and got quite rude with the waiter. They finally slammed down their beers with a loud “scheisse” and stormed out.

Great vibe at Chanchuello

I can sympathize. One day, I had an hour free before my next meeting so I ran down to Barrio Chino where I knew I could get at least a caja on the spot. But I went to Tian Tan and asked the waitress and then the chef if they could get the food out to me in 20 minutes so that I could eat and then drive back to Vedado. They said yes ... and we waited ... 20 minutes ... 30 minutes ... 40 minutes and we finally got the food. I called in and found out that my meeting was cancelled so I was able to eat a relaxed meal.

The band at the bar.

Walking through Old Havana and I was out of cigars so we checked out some bodegas and found some 1 peso cigars. For 4 cents, you can get a decent cigar in Havana. Hanoi wanted to hear some music so we went to the Centro Cultural Asturania. I really like the third floor resturant, la Terraza, for their braised and grilled leg of lamb and the great guitar playing dudes. I never knew about the downstairs bar but what a coincidence that the place had some paintings by Jurgen and the late great Lorenzo was the interior designer. Elaborate cocktails for a few dollars each and we met the band and their manager outside in the lobby where we were sitting smoking cigars. It was an all girl band, all graduates of el ISA, with four mulattas on the instruments and a blanca lead singer. Very nice jazzy stuff and my friend fell for the tall skinny keyboardist so I suspect he will be dating her when I get back to Cuba in a few weeks. Great bar, great vibe, great music.

Also managed to get to the Asador del Rey where we had a whole roasted suckling pig. Oh, we went to El Palenque which used to have the best service in Havana. I was telling someone about the service and told them to time how long it took to get a coffee. I ordered it from a passing waiter and it was in front of me in 40 seconds! Unfortunately, the old manager got old and the people got lazy and the service became terrible. My friend got into a fight with the kid who takes orders at the big bbq pit so he refused to take his orders. Then he found out that I was friends with him and didn’t want to take my order! But there is a new younger manager there and the service is getting back to the past levels. They have a few private dining rooms that are amazing – linens, good china, lots of wine glasses, very good a/c, and a private washroom. I still have to ask for the bbq pork to be hot and cooked.

Another great trip to Cuba.

The new year in El Salvador

This is almost like the blog that doesn’t exist! Anyways, back in sunny San Salvador after almost a month in Canada over the holidays. Ah, nothing beats a consumer society in the first world when you want to talk about Christmas holiday excess. Lots of parties, dinners out, great sushi (thanks Sushimoto for all the freebies and the birthday desert and present for my son Elliot).

Elliot and Diana enjoying the food and bev at Sushimoto

But this is a blog about  El Salvador! Well, the place is still here. The city is fine and pretty calm. The new Romero highway from Autopista Sur Bulevar de Proceres is fantastic. I jump on right past the Presidential Office and I can drive 80 mph on a brand new concrete highway all the way to Los Chorros highway which snakes down the hill towards Santa Ana and Sonsonate. Unfortunately, Los Chorros is under construction for a several more months and is down to one lane so the 15 minutes you save on Romero is easily eaten up. Going up the hill? Horrible as you can only drive as fast as the slowest car – usually a 30 year old pick up with a top up hill speed of 20 mph.

Golfers are buzzing about the Dye designed El Encanto golf club that may open up 6 holes for use in a few months. They have apparently sold 100 of the 600 lots with 50 going to golfers. They are still trying to get people to spend $25,000 to become equity members but no one thinks it is worth it. They have a presentation at Campestre to the richest golfers in the country and no one thought it would be worth more than $10,000 for a membership. Rather an interesting conundrum for them when there are only about 250 regular golfers spread out at three existing golf courses. They are going to have to cannibalize the other clubs to make any money to cover their expenses. A comparable golf course, designed by the Dye group, in Antigua Guatemala cost $80M to build and was getting only 10 rounds a day!

As a knowledgeable businessman friend of mine said, it is not easy making money in El Salvador.

At my course, I am paying $75 a month (when I am here) and has 9 holes in very good shape – except that 7 holes have OB making it very frustrating at times. I spoke to one of the manager who said that they would waive the initiation fee and charge $60 a month if your prepay 6 months. Can you imagine that? $60 for unlimited golf for one month.  The poor golfers down from Canada staying at the adjacent resort are paying $57 a round plus $20 for the cart. And unlike the other two clubs, caddies are not mandatory (although it is a nice policy to keep these caddies employed).

Awesome bar at the Bennigan's at the Torre Futuro. Best view of the city.

I have joined a group of old guys who get together twice a week for beers and cigars. One time is at the Torre Futuro site where that pathetically non-Irish American chain Bennigan’s grabbed a primo spot with an incredible view of the city. What kind of Irish pub doesn’t serve Guinness? But the food isn’t bad (actually, the tempura shrimp are pretty good) and it is cheap. Around the corner is the new Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. Haven’t had the chance to eat there (i.e. an expensable meal) but hope to soon. They stole the three great old waiters from Paradise where there has been a notable drop in quality. I spoke to an employee there and they said that they are doing 50 covers a day. Seems high but then again, that is a very low number for a place like that. Hope they have the deep pockets to gut out a year and I wouldn’t mind if they lowered their prices. You can get a plenty good steak at Pampa Argentinas or Hacienda Real for a lot less. Or go to the churrascaria at the Intercontinental for unlimited sushi, shrimps, seviche, carpacchio, and several kinds of grilled meat.

Working out at the Zone Fitness gym. Well located for me just down the road and the people are nice but they don’t have one cardio machine that isn’t broken or has a problem. Far contrast from the Y in Owen Sound where I was visiting and their new $40M complex with probably 50 brand new machines all working perfectly.

Back again writing after a few months. Updates, the Chorros highway was closed this past weekend to put the finishing touches and should be open next Sunday! Quite excited as I am getting really tired of driving around the back way of the volcano, or the twisting single lane of the coastal highway, or sitting in a huge slow chain of cars to get out to the golf course and a friend’s beach house.

Have also been to Ruth’s Chris and have a mixed impression. Turns out that the owner is also the owner of Paradise/Tony Roma’s and is part of the Pyramid Group that owns all the Pizza Huts, Wendy’s and KFC’s. I think he wanted to have a high-end place in his stable of restaurants so brought in the Ruth’s Chris franchise. Good thing he has deep pockets because it is going to be a challenge to make money there. The restaurant is beautiful and has several dining areas and must seat about 250 people. Furnishings and fixtures are all high end. Staff is great and they pulled the best waiters out of Paradise (which caused a terrible drop in the quality of service at that place). The only problem? There were only about 14 people eating in the restaurant during the dinner service!

The maitre’ d was our old favourite server and he made sure we got everything we needed. Our waiter seemed a bit inexperienced and had some problems getting the food and drinks served properly but he was trying. The food itself was pretty good but I was expecting something more. I ordered the biggest rib-eye on the menu and ... it was just okay. Mind you, I have never been a big fan of RC’s signature melted butter on the steak (I prefer the jus at Morton’s). But spending double of any other steak in the country, I expected something better. Also, Dan had the big filet and the lobster tails ... the latter were so tiny that each was consumed in two bites. What a waste of melted garlic butter! The manager came out and explained that they were having problems with their suppliers so that is why they put two on the plate. I have seen bigger shrimps in this country.

So all in all, the place is very lux but very overpriced for the market. Even the valet parking is ridiculous at $15 when the place gives you 3 hours of free parking and then charges $1 an hour. I should mention that the prices are the same as in North America or maybe even cheaper but when you have a dinner for over $100 for two people without wine, it seems excessive in a country where that will feed a family of four for two weeks.

I should really get to the subject of beer. I have been lamenting the lack of good draft beer in this country. Hanging out with the old retired guys here, I have learned the joy of drinking the local draft. When served very cold and cheap, Pilsener is a fine beer. My instructors have been a Brit who loves his bitter and a German from Munchen who, in his prime, could drink 10 large steins of beer. Now competing against  them are two micro-breweries.

Drunk guys at the beach! But they were very cool.

http://www.brewrevolution.com/

One is started by the San Francisco couple who opened up a small place in Tunco and serve 3 fine beers. Actually, they are excellent, tasty and creative ... but very expensive. They have three flavours and I tried each one a few times. 

New beer at Brasilea

At Brasilea, I think it is $5 a bottle which makes it the most expensive beer, more than any European import. I spoke with Andy the owner down in Tunco and he said that the taxes are huge and that is why he has to price it that way. He has a Belgian style wheat beer flavoured with maracuay (a local fruit) and pineapple. Very nice fruity flavour and a change from the orange flavour often found in wheat beers. He has an IPA with a local panela fruit and a very tasty black ale with coffee. They each have their own personality and I couldn’t say which I liked the most but probaby the black ale since darker beers are hard to get here. That reminds me that the giant Constancia brewery here used to brew Guinness as one of their three main beers! Some friends of mine went down to Tunco for the day and we had a great seafood lunch on the platform overlooking the beach. 

Lindsey and Egle showing off their giant seafood lunches at Tunco.

Then we went for a stroll to look at some of the boutique hotels and stopped by Brew Revolution for some beers. Met some funny guys from town along with their very inebriated cousin from Mexico. Had a long conversation with them capped by a salsa dancing exhibition by the Mexican cousin and my friend visiting from Toronto. All this fuelled by many beers and the hot sun.

Lindsey and her new friend showing off their salsa moves.

Competing against him is this Salvadoran guy who I met through his wife who runs the Expat Facebook group here. He is brewing two beers and has called it El Cadejo. Fatima said that was a great name for the beer and I Googled the name and found out that it is a regional legend about a large dog-like animal, a white one that protects travellers and a black one who tries to kill them. There is also a belief that the good Cadejo protects drunks! Naturally the beer comes in a light and a dark.

http://www.cervezacadejo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=8

The pale beer is called WAPA which means Wheat American Pale Ale and seems to be a take off of “guapa” or cute in Spanish. Funny name since it doesn’t look or taste like an Ale but it is very tasty and has a nice hoppy finish. The darker is a red ale made from 4 German malts and 3 British and American hops which results in a very full and almost bitter beer. The Wapa seems more popular at bars but again, the price is a bit high. Republik has a pint for $4.00 and Bennigan’s for around $5.00. At the latter, you can get a 12 oz glass for $1.50. The last time I went to Paradise, they were offering two 20 oz mugs of Pilsener for $3.00.

I am not sure how successful these guys are going to be at this price point. Salvadorans love beer and love good beer but I am not sure if they are going to pay more 2 to 3 times the price of the local beers. It is quite sad as I know that the unit cost of materials for a pint of good beer is about 25 cents but this country has very high taxes and very high electricity costs so it is hard to produce cheaply.

Okay, going to post this before I get busy with something else.

Next blog posting will be about my trip to Bogota.

Summer of 2012

Welcome back to perhaps the worst blog on El Salvador ... since very little seems to be about this country. I have been traveling a bit and Malta was nice. 

Chris and Tracey enjoying the deck at the Blacksheep in Wakefield Quebec

Then to Toronto where Fatima joined me and we did Ottawa to visit Tracey and Chris, Owen Sound, and the Kawarthas to the cottage.

Had another Zakuski. Note the pickled Russian garlic!

YS holding court at Sushimoto. Did we eat two sushi boats?

With Chris and Janet at Congee Queen

 For me, nothing beats summer in Canada. Probably because the winters are so long and horrible that everyone and everything comes alive in the spring and summer. Lots of shopping, lots of dinners at Sushi Moto, lunches at Congee Queen, and lots of visitin.

No way can you fit that whole thing in your mouth Tracey.

Made it up to Jeff and Kath’s cottage a few times for some really hot and sunny days. 

Jenny and Noel in the canoe.

Back on dry land.

Lots of time in the lake and lots of time cooking and eating. Noelski who is working and studying in Ecuador came up with his lovely girlfriend Jenny. Lots of cigars on the deck.

Usain Bolt winning the 100 m gold in London. Watched over a combo iPad cell hub thingee.

Foodies start their young ... young. Lily mixing a salad she helped make.

Then back to San Salvador and off quickly to Havana for business. As usual, Matt and Jana were kind enough to host Fatima and myself. We did the usual but the usual is actually quite a lot of fun. 

My table setting at Atelier

At Atelier with the Havana gang.

We had a big dinner party at Atelier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXdzVzpqVko&feature=plcp. Then went to hip lounge bar on 1ra around 42 in Miramar called Melen. The great thing about these hip bars is, you can go in and have like 20 drinks and the tab will be $50. Then the lads tried to execute the rest of the very poorly planned “boys night out” by heading to the den of inequity that is Don Cangrejo, a former seafood restaurant turned into a giant outdoor rave-like nightclub.

In Barrio Chino with Hetor, Delia, Jacqueline, Jose and some random CD vendor.

We also made it to Tien Tan for some excellent Chinese food. It was very very slow so the chef was outside smoking so I had a chat with him and asked him to send out 8 dishes of his choice. Got some really nice ones like lamb with cumin and great breaded shrimps. Also made it to Carboncita on 3ra and 38 a few times for the excellent pizza (although he was out of prosciutto and good salami) but the grilled octopus was great as was the porchetta (although it was hard ordering it from the ladies as I kept saying porchetta instead of porketta). 

Having lunch with Chukin at Dona Eutimia.

Made it to Habana Vieja for a meeting and then called Matt of Cuba Absolutely for a last minute recommendation and he told us to go to Dona Eutimia off of the Plaza de Cathedral which we barely found as I heard it with Matt’s English accent off a bad cell connection so I kept asking for Dona Udania. Anyways, I have known about that paladar for maybe a decade but never bothered going in figuring it was a tourist trap with crappy food. Wrong! It had great Cuban food in a beautifully and tastefully decorated little dining room at the front of big old airy house.

Crab, lobster and octopus served in crispy boniato cups with cold Cristals.

Went to a very interesting lunch meeting of a group of young Cuban entrepreneurs. They meet once a week at one guy’s place who is busily converting his house to a paladar including a huge multi burner range, stainless steel counters and a gas burning paella pan 4’ in diameter. You have to hand it to Cubans – this guy hired a designer who put together a 100 page book of designs for all the rooms, furniture and fixtures. He found out that I was a foodie so sat in the kitchen with him and some of the other early birds to talk food and watch him cook. He made a great garbanzo lobster dish with curry flavours, a crab salad, a cole slaw (in Cuba, cabbage is lettuce), and a delicious lobster salad with enough garlic to surprise this garlic eating Korean. He came up with an idea of making boniato (white sweet potato) cups, freezing and then deep frying them to make a serving platform. Delicious. I hope his paladar is open when I go back. I plan to bring him some nice food ingredients like good wasabi, paresan cheese, and truffle oil.

Jose and Claudio getting ready to eat 10 tacos each.

Also did a taco and domino night at Delia’s, went to visit Hanoi at the Hotel Raquel, went to visit an artist and a gallery. Ended up buying three paintings from Jurgen this time but his agent was off in Barcelona so her assistant was in charge of the visits and then the paperwork which got really screwed up the next day. I was supposed to have the paintings delivered to Matt’s place at 2:00 pm, an hour before my departure for the airport, with the export seals and papers. Instead, I get a call from Jurgen at 1:00 saying that they couldn’t get the paperwork done and asked if I could come pick him up. I told him that I had no car and no time and he had to take care of it. Now he is an excellent painter but his agent is supposed to handle the paperwork. He ended up getting his Dad (nice guy) to drive him, carrying the paintings in a 1.9m tube, on the back of a motorcycle to the airport where he waited for me. Had to speak to two different customs offices before I found Gustavo at Taca who was willing to go through the immigration area to the customs/patrimony people to see if they could come out to pre-authorize the paintings before I took the risk of walking through and running into problems. 

Drinking beers with Jurgen at the airport, waiting for something to happen.

So the right woman was found but she was at a different terminal so we had some beers while waiting for her. She shows up and luckily she knows the artist so she says no problems and I pay the balance of the monies to Jurgen and take this giant tube through. Happily they didn’t make me pull it out onto the floor and I helped the woman talk with some German girls who were carrying paintings without a seal (they were told they didn’t need them – wrong. Always a good idea to get the seal put onto the painting at the market which will save you time and money). I think I paid $21 for the three paintings and Gustavo let me board with this giant tube instead of paying the $100 or whatever for oversized baggage.

The painting we bought "Amelia" (I call it Fat Uma)

We are only keeping one and two are for a friend in Toronto who has very large empty walls. I had one of them framed out (just blocked onto wood) and it barely fit into the back of my Honda Pilot which I thought would fit anything. It was so tight that the frame had to be twisted to get in. Now it is on the wall of my dining room and it looks great and gives the room a nice pop-arty feeling. I’d like to help out Jurgen by selling some more of his work so let me know if you are interested. You can see more examples at and he works off of photographs and I think he will take commissions http://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit/a.10152114618245114.904197.875965113/

Trip was great even though there was dengue everywhere. Three friends of mine got it (all survived after a few weeks of pain and discomfort) and it was all over the city. We were very careful about not getting bit and left without a problem. On the upside, the avocados are great this year.

Avocado salesman in Habana Vieja

Okay, back in San Salvador and it is the tail end of the rainy season. It has been very light and I hope it continues like this for the rest of the year. We were almost out of it last year when that weird storm hit and we had a week of continuous rain which took out 57 bridges. There are Japanese engineers here who are rebuilding a bunch of them and they are doing a good job although the job is far from being finished – come on, 57 bridges is a lot. No one seems to be able to understand them but no one is disagreeing with their engineering decisions.

The golf course at Veraneras survived the season beautifully. In past years, they have had a foot of rain sitting on top of the greens for weeks making it impossible to play and impossible to groom. This year, not one day of closure and when I played in the past few weeks, not even any mud on the ground. I have also heard that the new Dye designed course, El Encanto, is going to open 9 holes in February. We are all excited about that. Heard that Dye wasn’t going to make it as hard as El Reunion in Guatemala which is crazy hilly and hard. Also heard that they were going to make the fees more affordable to the middle class (like me!) by dropping initiation from $25K to $10K.

One reason why I had to come back at this time was because I was at the end of my 90 day provisional temporary residency card. If I spent 90 days abroad, I would have to reapply which would mean that I would lose credit for the previous 4 years and you need 5 years total to apply for permanent residency. So I get back before the deadline and have my lawyer call them to see if my regular temporary residency card is ready and she is told to check back in a month but they may be up to two months behind due to a large number of applications being submitted in May. So just like Canada, they are way behind! Movin’ on up to developed country levels.

Things are pretty quiet and peaceful here. The city is dressing up the Zona Rosa with a median barrier with surprising large palm trees (how did they get those in there?) and lights. Amazingly not interfering with traffic – unlike the 6 month plan to resurface the highway down the hill at Los Chorros. You can get details at http://www.mop.gob.sv the Public Works Ministry website that is stressing transparency of governance which is a great step to reducing corruption and encouraging accountability. Oh, they almost have the other highway bypassing Santa Tecla completed to hook up with Blvd Jerusalem and then into the city. Salvadorans are amazingly quick and good road builders and I think we continue to have the best roads in Central America.

Hmm, traffic was also crazy bad last week when we had two demonstrations on the same day and they had to close the road in front of the presidential palace and the highway going past Gran Via. I was driving out to the airport highway and it took half an hour to clear the zone. Amazingly, I saw some cops trying to direct traffic but they didn’t really seem to know how to do it. Traffic jams like this produce incredibly selfish acts of gridlock. Like cars filling intersections blocking cars and not being to clear the intersection for two cycles of the lights. All this because people are trying to make left hand turns through the traffic further along and no one letting them in. On the positive side, having traffic jams like this makes the regular rush hour look not so bad.

Paseo del Carmen continues to flourish with lots of people and live music. Fatima’s friend opened up a place called La Brújula  which means “compass” in Spanish. She studied in NYC hence all the Brooklyn stuff around. They have an okay taster combo plate of Arabic food but their pizzas are quite good. Get the spinach mushroom pizza but ask for an extra thin crust and baked longer to get it crispy.

Have also eaten at the Faisca do Brasil Churrascarria at the Intercontinetal, Pabelion Coreano in Merliot, and Paradise which has a menu and chef for excellent appetizers that is cheaper and much better than the packaged crap at Chilli’s and Bennigans. They have good sliders and wings and excellent onion rings and popcorn shrimp. Their full on gourmet menu is also good with lots of steaks (I think they grow and age their own beef), lobsters and some old school classics like wedge salads.

Oh, one weird thing I heard is about some other former bloggers in El Salvador. There was a Korean American ex-punk rocker from Jersey who opened a cafe on the beach. I may or may not have sent her a message saying she shouldn’t put too much private stuff on her blog as that would give potential bad guys information to extort her – like we know your kid’s name and where they go to school.  Her blog just stopped one day and I wondered what had happened to her. Then another blogger opened a business nearby there and was commenting about the gangs and extortion demands being made of small businesses. Then very surprisingly, someone commented and said that the area had some prominent business people and if they didn’t think the new business was good for the community, they would have someone call and make a fake extortion play. Faced with violence, a lot of small businesses would prefer to close and move elsewhere. Now if this is true, this portends very badly for the future of this country. Extortion by gangs are really hurting the safety and commerce of this country and if wealthy business owners are using the same tools to fight competition, this country will never be able to turn itself around. I hope that I am wrong or these people stop this behaviour!

Hmm, no photos of San Salvador. Will try to take some to post. See you back here soon, I hope.

Week one in Malta.

My view of St. Julian's Bay

Quick week in San Salvador. Rainy season is starting of course and managed to get a few rounds of golf in. The golf course was even emptier than normal but still in pretty good shape except for the five billion gazillion mosquitoes. I put a thick spray of Off on but the mosquitoes bit through that. Read on-line that Off wears off after about 3 hours so next time, have to do another application.

Little Spinola Bay from my terrace.

Went to Faisco do Brasil at the Intercontinental. The usual great food and great service. Ate too much but hard not to with all the seviche, carpaccio (fish and beef), okay sushi and course after course of meat. We brought a jar of horseradish to go with the picanha and it was delicious. Also made it to the Korean restaurant and the food was great.

Then up to Toronto for a week to take care of some business before fl ying over to Malta. Booked again with Luftansa for their fast stopovers and there was a seat sale on so flew business class. The last trip was brutal as I had an economy aisle seat and was seated beside someone with an unfortunate BO problem. This time, much nicer. The Maple Leaf Lounge had self serve Guinness on tap and I was barely able to restrict myself to two pints. Flight was operated by Air Canada and the seats were the herringbone pods with the lie-flat beds and they were kind of funky but not bad. Weird to accelerate at takeoff sitting at an angle. Food and drink were fine – decent champagne, shrimps and scallops, salmon, nice red wine, cheese plate and port. Then was able to get 4 hours of sleep and that was very nice.

Then landed in Munich where I had to pull my bags as apparently , Luftansa code shares with both Air Canada and Air Malta but those two carriers have not learned how to play nicely. Luckily the recheck-in in Munich was through Luftansa so the let my three bags on without asking for my first born (lucky for  

Living room number one with the open concept kitchen

Landing in Malta, wow, hot. 40 degrees? I was worried for a bit until someone told me that there was a heat wave here and that kind of temperature is not normal. A friend drove me to the realtor’s and we headed over to the apartment.  Wow, big place. Three bedrooms, three baths, two living rooms and four terraces. Washer/dryer, dish washer, parking, and a fantastic view. Even my underground garage has an amazing view.

Living room number two with the dining room.

I overlook little Spinola Bay which is full of pleasure boats and small fishing vessels. The bay is circled by the coastal road and around 30 bars and restaurants.  Some great steak houses, seafood places, sushi and Asian fusion, a great fish and chips shop called Gove’s Place, and Dublners, an Irish pub with Kilkenny and Guinness on tap ... heaven!

  

St. Julian's at sunset.

Mike from Mike and Jess in Malta http://www.mike-jess.com/ dropped by for a beer and he gave me a lot of useful advice on moving and setting up in Malta. Then went to the Dubliner for some chow and had the bangers and mash. Enjoying all things Bri-ish here.

Then off on the much vaunted Malta bus service to Valleta. EUR2.60 for the day and the buses are large with tinted windows and good AC. Dropped off at the main station and walked over to a nice park beside some really old building to a wine festival to meet Jess and her Mum and little Sis. Great place and great festival, nice live music and lots of Maltese wine – some good, some less than good. Had about 6 to 8 glasses and, on the plus side, managed to get home on the bus without getting lost. Not that hard I guess when the bus follows the coastal road and you live on the coast.

Quiet Saturday for me with lots of time to catch up on some work. Then headed to Arkadia Food Store at the base of the Tower about 5 minutes from the apartment. Very happy to find decently priced  fresh vegetables and really cheap wines. Found a Valpolicella Superiore for EUR 10 and noticed that all this great European shit is actually really cheap in Europe. Like pasta, tomato sauce, salumi, olives, and anchovies. I think that I am going to like Malta.

Paseo del Carmen and Evelyne's House of Shame

The Showbill

Discovered a new amazing nightspot in San Salvador. Having lived in Havana for more than a decade, I was spoiled with its amazing nightlife full of bars, cafes, restaurant lounges, live bands, jazz clubs, techno discos, ballet, flamenco and the list goes on and on.


San Salvador, on the other hand, has a nice bohemian club called La Ventana that you drive to, park very nearby and walk briskly to. Then you go back to car watching your surroundings and drive home. 


Or you go to the Zona Rosa where you kind of can walk from one place to another but the offerings aren't that great. El Rinconcito is full of bars and a karaoke and a disco but it is a bit dodgy. Other bars like 4 and the Red Lion are opened and then closed soon after due to declining crowds and some horrible service (I was once asked to pay a $10 clean-up charge when one of my guests was accused of throwing up in the washroom - and it wasn't even him but some underaged drinker that they illegally served). Republik is a poor facsimile of an Irish pub (no Guinness on tap, just the one national beer!?), Brasilea is okay if you have no other place to go to, and the fancy nightclub (Code?) was empty but the doorman told me that it was members only and I couldn't even look inside.


Then a group of nightclubs was opened in the nearby Mulitplaza Mall. With hundreds of parking spots and lots of security, it soon became popular and numerous bars and clubs were opened. Envy is the most exclusive and is a big, shiny Miami style nightclub.  I was denied entry for being a foreigner - the club caters to the children of the very wealthy who like to feel like the most important people in the club, something harder to do with foreigners dropping lots of money or having tall or blond people around. There are lots of other discos, some nice restaurant/lounges like Mai Thai, and lots of bars with music. But come on, it's a mall! You park, take the elevator or escalator up a few flights, then you walk around to see what the scene is surrounded by hundreds of kids.


And if you want to talk a safe walk around at night, you can go to the Gran Via mall that has a big courtyard promenade, somewhat reminiscent of the Gran Via in Madrid (minus the drug dealers and Cuban hookers) but you are in a mall again. Sure there is a nice fountain and some activities for the kids (mini golf, mini train, and the shortest zip line in the world) and sometimes some live music but you are still in a mall, walking from one retail area to another.

Early and quiet on Paseo del Carmen

So yesterday, when Fatima and her friend said that there was a French dance company doing a parade in Santa Tecla and that we could watch from a bar/restaurant, I jumped at the chance. We headed over around 6:30 pm which was the perfect time to hit heavy traffic and get stuck behind the many buses spewing so much smoke I had problems seeing the road. We finally pulled off the main street and we found a parking lot where a woman assured me that she would watch my car until midnight. So we walked a few blocks to the venue and I had my pocket knife ready in case someone tried to steal my man bag (which maybe stupidly contained my BB, an iPod, a camera and a tablet) and we came up to Paseo del Carmen. It was still very early in the evening but most of the street had been blocked off from traffic and tables and sofas and lounges had been put out onto the street by the numerous bars and restaurants that line this relatively small and quiet street. We walked along for 3 blocks and I was amazed at how many bars and cool restaurants there were. Also lots of cops and one very friendly one on a bicycle who gave us information and stopped traffic at one intersection for us to cross.


We wanted to see the parade so we ended up walking to the big cultural centre (Palacio tecleño?) and got a table at the nearby La Rioja bar for some wine and tapas. Eunice went to confirm that the parade would come by the bar and was told that the parade had been cancelled and the show would only occur inside the cultural centre. So we told the waiter sorry but to cancel our order and we would be back. 

Fatima enjoying the show

Then into the centre to see the show by the French company La Zouze and the Salvadoran National Dance Company and some invited guests. Wow, what a great performance art, cabaret, circus, interactive in-your-face, rock and roll extravaganza. I think the show was called the "Evelyne House of Shame" and was a mock bordello with everyone wearing trim and tight underwear, long stockings and heels (including the men and one guy who must have been 6' 10" with the heels). My favourite character sported a very tall Marie Antoinette wig and a mustache.

I think this French dude was the director of the company. I was tempted to punch him in the face because of the T-shirt ... and it was the kind of show where punching the director would have blended in quite well!

Nice venue with the interior space surrounded by columns and a great sound system with live heavy-duty guitar. They had a bar and cafe set up so we could drink wine and beer and people were smoking ciggies (civilized!). We were famished so ordered a delicious Mediterranean Panini sandwich and munched through the show.

Ooh look, the famous Patricia, one of El Salvador's finest Thespians.

Not sure if there was a plot but lots of random drama and groups running around and then the rock music started with the strobe lights. The crowd was very mixed but mostly artsy and bohemian. Saw lots of actors (including the famous Patricia) and of course, every dancer in the country. Also skater boyz, and funky girls - very reminiscent of the freakies of Havana.

Yes, it was surreal.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the parade had probably been cancelled because the night before, there was public nudity and masterbation on the streets and that probably freaked out the authorities. So instead, they had it inside and said you had to be 18 and over to get in although I must have seen about 30 kids in there so obviously that wasn't being enforced.

Beginning of the show with my favourite Marie Antoinette character.


We were really enjoying the show but after about 90 minutes, we were getting tired, thirsty and hungry and we knew that the show was going to degenerate (or elevate) to the point where lots of people would be taking off their clothes (including audience members) so we left early and went back to La Rioja. No smoking inside so we took a sidewalk table and ordered a very nice wine and lots of tapas. I lit up a big Hoyo de Monterey doble corona and took about 2 hours to smoke it. Hundreds of people along the street, families with strollers and kids with skateboards, lots of couples and young people. I have never seen this at night in San Salvador and it was fantastic. Paseo del Carmen was closed to traffic but full of pedestrians, some beautiful colonial houses, the Iglesia el Carmen, street vendors, nicely decorated bars and restaurants, and lots of live music. At our place, we had a kid with a walkman hooked up to a big powered speaker who played a decent saxophone - went from cheezy easy listening to quite decent lounge bossa nova.

So Fatima and Eunice were saying hi to the loads of people they knew walking by and eventually Mariemm (who had performed in the show) and Jesse came by and they joined us for more food and drink.

The girls had desert and I had a couple of espressos with a small Monte Cristo Especial and then we walked the length of the street to go back to our car. About 11:30 pm and almost every table and every lounge (there were sofas and some low tables and cushions set up in the middle of the street) was occupied. There is also another mini "plaza" where they often have live music.

Eunice and Fatima with their dessert at La Rioja

Cross the street at the end of the Paseo and back to our car - loads of people and traffic and some cafes on that street so still felt safe and back to the parking lot where the young woman was still there watching the cars! So I gave her another dollar for a tip.


I am so pleased to have found Paseo del Carmen - oh, should mention that it is in Santa Tecla. Take the Alameda Manuel Enrique Araujo (who was this guy and why is the street name so long?) road past the malls until it turns into the Carretera Panamericana past Bulevar Merliot, past that giant bike shop, past the big long bus platform, and turn right on 7 Avenida Sur. Two blocks down is 1Calle Oriente (or Paseo El Carmen or del Carmen) on the left and the parking is another block down on the right. You can park on the street as well to get closer but we didn't since it was still rush hour when we got there. Hmm, plus might be a good idea to have someone watching your car to avoid a break in or a pry off.


The place is open all week but the street is pedestrian only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Eunice said that there is a food festival on the weekends as well.


So if you live in San Salvador, I highly recommend you go check out this scene. And if you come down to visit, make me take you there.