Hello digital world!
It has been sometime since I wrote for this blog last. Life is moving so fast, so unpredictable and there is little time for me to stand and think a little bit. Stand and look back and plan better for the future. Intensive work patterns here in Martinique makes it even harder to devote good time for myself. I have been through some really gloomy times the last few months but I now get better indeed, stronger and happier and I realise how precious that gift called life is.
This post is a retrospective look to a small break I did here in the region. I visited Florida for the well known Miami's Winter Music Conference WMC2013. This is a week long electronic music event held every March since the mid 1980's in Miami Beach. Many dance music insiders, artists, record labels, promoters, producers, djs, technology representatives, are attending that week. And of course plenty of party goers from all over the world, especially from the Americas. So, along with my London friends who flew in from there, we went and we had some fabulous few days strolling around Miami and dancing to the nicest electronic tunes on earth nowadays. Here are some photos and text to convey your couch surf.
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| Over the Bahamas |
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| Miami from above |
To move around as it should we hired a convertible Mustang. Only to realise few days after that only tourists drive those cars. The locals have Lambos and Ferraris and big vans. For us it was good enough, and the price of petrol here is cheap as chips. No wonder why all these US 'expeditions' taking place in the middle east, in the name of peace(!). USA will always bring images we all have seen on the cinema and TV and Miami did this to me also. Think about the police cars; will bring to my mind numerous American movies I have watched in the past. That is why a popular, US touristic marketing moto back in London, that was all over the place few years ago, was reading: 'You've seen the films, now visit the settings'. Accurate to the point.
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| Ole Ole get to the cabriolet :) |
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| Florida, the sunshine state |
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| Heading downtown |
The guys with Maria were there few days already when I arrived. Two more friends from NYC were joining us too for the remaining days. So a nice group of people, good friends, nice weather, good mood, good musics and events was a guarantee of good quality time while discovering this part of the world. They kindly picked me from the airport and went for my first round downtown and to Miami beach. I was dazzled by the size of things, roads, cars, buildings etc. So American. I think excess is in their bloods and they like everything big. Someone must taught them that size is not a matter of greatness..
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| Miami vice |
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| Ocean drive, south beach Miami |
The beach is a long white strip of sand overlooking the Atlantic. Not the easiest swim but they were many, mostly young, people in the ocean waters. An atmosphere of fun and play was evident everywhere. There are many hotels and clubs by the beach. In fact everything is happening by the coast or the Ocean drive along the beach. Bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops, expensive cars. We wanted to see life by Miami beach so we booked to go to a party at hotel Delano. The dj line up was good, the event organiser, and we've been told the crowds too. Outside the hotel, couple of Lamborghinis plus some plastic blond girls were welcoming the people entering.
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| Famous Miami beach |
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| and its birds.. |
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| Entrance to Delano |
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| Daytime party |
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| Party goers |
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| After-party burger eating |
We have been to some other interesting events including the famous Get Lost Miami which we heard is a guarantee success every year. Also an open air day event, we spent hours of dancing and meeting crazy people from all over. It seemed to me that in Miami Spanish is the first language and not English. Everywhere you go they speak Spanish. Even in the airport when you are checking in to go, they talked to me in Spanish rather than English! I even saw an advertisement for a sales job indicating that in order to apply you must know English!
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| CrossTown Rebels_Get Lost Miami '13 |
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| CrossTown Rebels_Get Lost Miami '13 |
Wynwood is an art district in north downtown Miami. There are more than 70 galleries, museums and art collections. Wynwood is also home to Wynwood Walls, an outdoor mural permanent exhibit featuring some of the world's most renowned street artists. Additionally, there are hundreds of other street art and graffiti around the district making it one of the biggest street art districts in the world. We've been to an event taking place inside a gallery! We were dancing between pieces of art and some weird installations. Really unique experience. That night ended up in an English-like pub (a last minute change of the event venue) where we all felt somehow familiar. :) The crowds were cool and the live appearances too. There I met the lead guy from Thievery Corporation, Rob Garza. He was explaining me why the Thieveries are so in love with Greece and their Greek fans. They did their first ever gig outside the US in 1996 in Greece and as he told me it was legendary. As most of their gigs in the country. We love Thievery!
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| Wynwood district by night |
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| Wynwood district by night |
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| Wynwood district by night |
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| Wynwood district by night |
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| DJ Osunlade on da decks |
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| Electric Pickle crowds |
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| Passing the message (courtesy by Rg) |
After the hangovers and some souvenir shopping I left Miami behind with the best memories. It is indeed a place to go and cheer (if not say cheeeese) between some of the best clubs and electronic events in the world. I am not posting info about artists and musics played here. It is going to be a long list of worthies, I will just say that it was a nice celebration of listening to good electronic music. Only few places on earth can be compared with Miami's house music scene and I was happy I got a taste of it. While living my own American dream for a bit. It was nice, despite the fact I am not so keen with all American things. It was a nice break that included a little surprise at the end...
My flight back was going through Puerto Rico, a major US hub towards the Caribbean and Latin America. My friends were also flying through Puerto Rico but they had a plan to stay few days and discover. My flight from Miami left late so we missed the one per day connection to Fort-de-France. A day after I went to take the plane and after 30 minutes on air the plane had to return back to San Juan because of a fault. A small American Eagle plane did few crazy things up in the air and seriously everyone, including me, thought it was our last flight of our lives! Thanks God, the pilot took us down BACK to San Juan for a second day of delay.
Not to complain though, I had the chance to go out and discover a bit of San Juan (the capital of the island) along with my friends who were already there. The sun was shining and despite the tiredness from the previous days, we managed to see lots of interesting sites mainly within the beautiful colonial Old San Juan.
Puerto Rico supposed to be US but at the time of writing is an 'unincorporated territory'. Officially, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is not an independent country but part of US. And as they say in about a year or two, it will become the 51st state. So there is still some atmosphere of the Hispanic Caribbean that is unknown if it will keep to exist the coming years. Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic & Haiti) and Cuba were the first islands to be colonized by the European (Colombus). It was the home of Tainos, the original indigenous people of these islands who arrived with canoes from Latin Anerica's Orinoco delta. Historically enemies of the neighboring Carib tribes, they had divided the island in chiefdoms. The Spanish of course changed the island to a colonial trade hub. It appeared to me that Spanish is the first language and not English, though everyone could speak English (with a Spanish accent). The influence of the colonial era is manifesting itself through numerous well preserved buildings, an UNESCO fort site overlooking the Caribbean and Atlantic, churches and beautiful pebbled street neighborhoods. Here are some photos.
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| Downtown San Juan, Puerto Rico |
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| Typical neighborhood, Old San Juan |
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| Typical neighborhood, Old San Juan |
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| In God we trust |
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| Easy rider police department |
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| Castillo San Felipe del Morro (UNESCO site) |
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| Colonial Puerto Rico |
Music was playing everywhere and someone could sense the fiesta style of living even if it was a Monday the day I was strolling around. The atmosphere, sounds and smells were certainly Caribbean, away from Florida's hype. Even if people from cruise ships arrive here in hordes, it still has some nice character; and there are some corners in Old San Juan that still take you back in time. It felt relaxed and I was lucky within my -flights- unluckiness (greeklish:) to have the chance to explore this beautiful place.
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| 'La musica es mi arma' (yes it is) |
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| PuertoRican delight |
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| Drunk cat |
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| A little magic shop in the heart of San Juan |
Reflecting on all the above, I will stop and think. My mind will remain silent for a moment, to get on-board a consciousness journey that leads to a deep end. But who cares where it leads. The journey is equally challenging and fulfilling and a gift itself. After all notions, life is not measured by the breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.
Be well, as you devise
Listen to good music
Dream big
Nektarios//
