On the road: The wild life

Last night in San Diego and Christmas Eve approaching, Rex suggested we do the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park at night. Mind you, I had already been at the perfectly nice zoo at Balboa Park on a previous trip (pandas!) so who knew there was another zoo a few miles away? Plus there was a 'Festival of Lights' going on in honor of the holidays so on to the park it was...

San Diego has been unusually cold and rainy during my two-week stay and since the wild animal park is inland it was certainly a bit chilly. So it might have been Southern California but the cold spell certainly went with the holiday spirit.

We got there in time to take a night safari where we were warned about the wilderness surrounding us, but the most dangerous thing that happened was the safari bus almost toppling off the road when the driver took a curve a bit too fast. Other than that, the tour started off on a down note when we learned this is one of only ten rhinos of this breed and that they might very well be extinct within the next fifty years - and this one, at least, is too old to mate.

It was dark so I couldn't capture many other images but it seemed we were disturbing a lot of them from nappy time, including this giraffe. Still, our guide kept making sure we knew that the park is a happening place, with gazelles, okapis, giraffes and zebras boinking all day long and producing hundreds of offspring (ok, he didn't use the word 'boinking', he said 'mating').

All in all, a very nice outing for my last night in San Diego, although I was disappointed the balloon ride was closed at night.

Not the best picture, but here's Rex (right) and I (left) after the tour. Rex blogged the wildlife outing here. He has way more pictures of pretty Christmas lights than I do.

On the road: Manuel is missing

I hope someone finds him! (Best Buy store, San Diego, California)

Previously on "On the Road: San Diego":

• Light up the night (Dec. 20, 2008)
• Plant life (Dec. 19, 2008)
• The nightlife (Dec. 16, 2008)
• Not in San Fran (Dec. 13, 2008)

On the road: Plant life

Cactii flora, Balboa Park: San Diego, California: December 2008

On the road: The nightlife

San Diego is supposed to have perfect weather, except when it doesn't and it certainly was raining cats and dogs yesterday which meant a night at the movies ("Slumdog Millionaire" if you must know).

But late night movies are not all the San Diego nightlife has to offer. There's Pecs on University Avenue, a local bearish gay bar, in which I stumbled into former National Gay and Lesbian Task Force ED Matt Foreman (ok, I didn't stumble upon him, let's say we were taken there). At Pecs, I was regaled with bud lights and was witness to some bearish cruising (sorry, no pics). Weird, it was only once I got there that I realized that I had never visited a gay bar in San Diego during my past visits which shows you how much I hang out at gay bars anywhere, including New York.

You could do worse than heading a little bit outside the San Diego city limits and head over to the casinos at some local indian reservations. Just make sure you take a specific amount of money and leave the bank cards and credit cards at home. If we had stayed longer, I am sure I'd be a slumdog millionaire by now as well. As it was, I won fortunes and lost fortunes but came up almost even plus or minus $30 bucks. The giggles came when I noticed the place was called "Viejas" which in Colombia is what the horny kids call women when they are boasting about their conquests (the literal translation is 'old women' although I'm pretty sure those who chose the name were unaware of what the word means in Spanish).

A more intimate nightlife venture would be to schedule a night to play card games with friends. Except this was a 'card-game-slash-board-game' I had never heard of called Joker which originated in Missouri. I almost got the point of it. Perhaps one more time at the table will make me a Joker expert. The good thing? It's not a betting game so no money lost. Or at least I don't think it was a betting game.

Last night, after the storm had passed and before the flick, we headed to the Ocean Beach burger joint Hodad's. Yum. From the OB dictionary: ho·dad [hö'dád] A person who does not surf, but who spends time at surfing beaches pretending to be a surfer. That's me!

TRNQILO said one of the old license plates hung on the wall and it was. Apparently San Diegoans (San Dieguites? San Diegans?) treat rain storms just like big snow storms up north: Nobody dares to go out! They might slip on a puddle! So the place was eerily TRNQILO or peaceful. That's not natural for Hodad's. The place has always been packed when I've been there before.

Then it was a hop and a skip across the street to get some ice cream. Rex got a cup and spoon...

...I got a sugar cone. Then, half-way through the cookies'n'cream, it hit me: I could have done with only one scoop! The choco-caramel swirl could have waited for another day!!

...hold that thought...

Previously:

• On the road: Not in San Francisco (Dec. 13, 2008)

On the road: Not in San Fran

So, over on Facebook rumors surfaced earlier in the week that I was in San Francisco. Well, not quite right but close enough. Some of the sights seen so far...We'll see what the days ahead bring.

Colombia Dispatch: Last one for now

Today´s Miami Herald has an article on recent gay rights advances in Colombia ("Colombia is moving forward on gay rights"). It talks about the recent efforts to grant rights to same-sex couples in the nation, about the first LGBT Center in Colombia (in the Chapinero neighborhood of Bogota - I might visit before this trip is done) and about the LGBT rights advocacy organization Colombia Diversa for which I have acted as an informal advisor from time to time. Thought you might want to read.

Anyway, this is probably the last of my hiatus break postings until I get back to the States in mid-August so I thought I´d share a photo of yours truly relaxin´(and channelin´"Ray of Light") as well as some stunning (if I may say so) shots of the Medellin skyline. Yes, even makes the smog look beautiful, doesn´t it?

Colombia Dispatch: The Botero Square

In 2000, well-known artist and sculpturist Fernando Botero, a Medellin native, donated 114 of his paintings and 23 of his sculptures to the Museum of Antioquia in Medellin. Some of the sculptures now adorn what is called The Botero Square which is heavily trafficked and just outside the museum.

Most recently, Botero made a splash with a series of paintings inspired by the revuslion he felt at the abuses by the US military in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (some can be seen here and here). Personally, at least artistically, the series seemed to me mediocre at best and almost exploitative. But, hey! That´s just me.

Then again, if you´ve seen one Botero and you´ve pretty much seen all Boteros. To be fair, earlier works do jump at you with their playfulness and colorful depiction of Colombian life. For what is worth, I do like the hand and horse statues below.

PS - Below you can also see a crowd watching the antics of a hefty man who asked four spectators to volunteer and stand on his stomach as he laid down on broken glass; he later pulled out nails out of his nose. Yay!.

Colombia Dispatch: Streets of Medellin

Downtown medellin...
Built to resemble a threading needle, the Coltejer building has been the emblematic building structure of Medellin since it´s construction back in the late 1960´s (much like the Empire State Building is emblematic of the Big Apple). After all, Medellin has long been famous for its pioneering and still leading textile industry. At 140 meters and 35 floors, it remains the tallest building in the city. It did look taller to me when I was a kid (or before I became a worldy man of adventure).
Here´s a look at downtown Medellin from the grounds of the Medellin branch of the National University. Yup, that´s the Coltejer in the background.
There´s some uglyness to this particular urban structure but for some reason it has always fascinated me. Build a building on top of a steep hill, access to public transportation is on ground level. Solution? Build an elevator tower on the outside that gives easy access to the bottom of the hill. Very practical.
Yes, there are Citibanks in Medellin...
One of my favorite movie theatres as a kid, El Cid, long ago ceased to show wholesome family fare. Yesterday´s movie: "Suzanne, the pervert waitress," only U$2.50!
This requires some explaining: Tarrao is a particular slang word used in Medellin to describe someone who is hot. It can be used as a noun as in "Damn, what a tarrao" or as a term of enderment as in "You´re my tarraito." But it denotes, mostly, that you come from a poor neighborhood (where gonorrhea is sometimes also used as a term of endearment as in "How are you, gonorrhea!"). So I had to laugh when I saw this billboard right in the middle of the city advertising tarrao underwear (funny thing - the imagery on their website shows the Boston skyline instead of Medellin´s).
Although there are fewer young men in Medellin sporting anime cartoon spiky hairdos than in Bogota, pink power seems to have taken over women all over the country regardless of age. Pink IS the fashion color of the season, or - to be more exact, fucsia, which happens to be the name of this pink shop.
Second, perhaps, to Caracas, Venezuela, Medellin women are known for their curves, their slavery to fashion, a high rate of bulimia and anorexia and sky-rocketing rates of plastic surgery, even among adolescents. Not for nothing do they call Medellin the fashion capital of the world (the city is still buzzing about the 1st ever appearence by designer Carolina Herrera at the recent ColombiaModa fashion show).

The women of Medellin are extremely fashion conscious, no matter what age, weight, economic class or looks. The preferred look is tight jeans, bare midriffs, high heels, long hair, big breasts and some pink. It probaby would look sluttish anywhere else in the world but Medellin. Above, grandaughter and grandma at the meat rack in a supermarket waiting for a ticket. Loved the stylish grandma wearing that tight, tight, tiiight red full-body jumpsuit.