Californication

well you know how my vacation started: crappy weather delay, missed my connection, had to stay the night in Denver, etc. I finally arrived in San Diego and V's hotel which was the bomb, a king size bed facing a sliding glass door with billowing, translucent white curtains and a balcony overlooking a courtyard with a pool, and the mountains of San Diego in the surrounding distance, dotted with red-roofed adobe houses. The weather was perfect, so you could sleep with the door open, the bed facing the view outside, the cool (and bugless) night breeze whispering you to sleep.

The first day we went downtown to the Gaslamp District for lunch. Everywhere you look are beautifully decorated restaurants of all types to choose from- Persian, Chinese, Italian, French, Indian.... We had some spectacular Thai and also a phenomenal Indian buffet at a restaurant called Monsoon, starring delectable vegetable korma, saag, paneer tikka masala, garlic naan, and finished with a mango mousse garnished with a strawberry slice, fresh mango slices, and a dollop of mango pulp. Heavenly. We chatted with some guys from Saskachewan Canada, embarrassed that we didn't know where that was although they knew exactly where Baltimore was! So sad. They were nice but very stereotypical Canadian, ending every sentence with 'ey?' It was very comical. If you've ever seen Disney's "Brother Bear", imagine the two mooses (meese? moosai?) and that's exactly how these two sounded!

Anyway enough about food. We then went to a party that was hosted by Jane Goodall (who ISN'T from Gorillas in the Mist, that was Diane Fossey, and oh yeah, she's dead!). It was the most impressive party I've ever been to. Free buffet (although mostly south African beef curry and stuff I couldn't eat, but had enough veggie sidedishes for me to not go hungry) and free desert buffet of watermelon (they sprinkle it with paprika and hot pepper...spicy!), chocolate cake things with whip cream and chocolate shavings, these coconut cubes, oh no I'm talking about food again! There was a band playing African music (the theme of the party was Heart of Africa) and African dancers; creepy guys on stilts with frightening African masks, and straw hanging off of their bodies; lights strung in the trees, but not in the organized, neatly wrapped Christmas tree kind of way, more loose and elegantly draped (the party took place outside in a park by the waterfront). They were giving away African cloths to wear, snap bracelets that looked like cheetah and zebra fur, binoculars, hats with animals on them, etc. and then, just after we procured a couple of free bottles of wine, fireworks over the water! It was awesome. This may not be worth mentioning, but the portajohns were immaculate and smelled like a Bath and Bodyworks store. Incredible! And, for the "I embarrass myself" part of the night:

The hostess of the party has dedicated her life to helping great apes and chimpanzees, in case anyone doesn't know. Well, the guy we were hanging out with really wanted a collection of all of the free animal hats, so far he only had the elephant, and had gone off on a mission to try to find a monkey hat. So, I'm in line at the buffet, and I see him reappear on the other end of the table, looking slightly crestfallen. Meanwhile V is chatting with some other buffet eaters about what's on the menu, and I blurt out, "What, no monkey?!" Of course they all thought I was making a crack about monkey being served at the buffet, and groaned while looking at me with disgust mingled with mirth. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even explain that I was talking to the other guy about finding a monkey hat! d'OH

Anyway, the next day we went to Tijuana. It was awful. The land of 3 tacos for $1, cheap trinkets, and high pressure sales tactics. Basically you are constantly harassed while walking down the street by store owners who would quote a price at $16, but let you haggle them down to $4, restaurant owners vying for your business, dirty children selling chicklets or simply silently asking for handouts, and blank-faced guitar serenaders. At first I was excited to see Mariachi bands loafing about, until I realized they were everywhere. We saw ho's too, that was weird. Eventually we had fun anyway and found a great restaurant recommended by locals, and then had a bunch of margaritas (two for one). We were actually leaving Tijuana for about 3 hours. Every time we saw what we thought was the last open bar, we'd sit down to have one last margarita. That happened like three times, haha. At the last bar of the night, there was rap music playing and three rotund and antic Mexicans put on a show for us, dancing to the music, slapping their own asses, rubbing their nipples and bellies... I thought I was going to burst my spleen laughing! I hope I can post the video we took of them!

Anyway I'll summarize the rest since this is getting long! We rented a car and went to Laguna Beach for the last 2 days of the trip. V only paid $13.50 per day for the car! It was supposed to have XM radio and didn't, so they gave him the super economy 'geo metro with no power steering' price, even though it was the next level up car. So cheap! Anyway we stayed at this uber expensive hotel for like, $250 a night!! It was nice but not THAT nice! Actually it was really cute and right by the beach. It was reminiscent of Melrose place: the rooms were around a courtyard with a pool, great huge prehistoric-looking plants and Mediterranean style red stones on the ground. It happened to be the Laguna Beach art festival while we were there, and one night on the way to dinner we wandered into this art exhibit opening with snacks being served, a guitar player, and all of these shi-shi pretentious people dressed up and feeling superior. We weren't sure if it was invitation only but we were both dressed up and looking hot so what the hell, we walked right in. We then realized why we shouldn't try to hang with that crowd. Keep in mind that, since it was an art opening, the artist was almost certainly present!:

Me: this art is hideous. wow, 3,700?
V: ...Pecos?!
Both of us: hahaha.
V: that guitar player looks just like Jackson Brown, I think it is Jackson Brown. Here, have a strawberry with whip cream.
Me: mmmmmm. free strawberries...
*guitar player bumps into V*
V: Oh, sorry Jackson Brown...

ROFL! I guess you had to be there.

ANYWAY, the beach was so pretty, with the mountains in the distance and the curve of the shoreline, the sun sparkling off the aquamarine water... the water was frigid, but exhilarating. And I saw dolphins!! really close to the shore, right in front of where we were sitting, they were frolicking and jumping out of the water! So much cooler to see in their natural habitat then at the aquarium, trapped in a small pool. We ate some great Mexican there too, Taco Loco (earth crunchy hippies, tofu taco salad!) and Javiers (plastic fake people, bleach blondes with boob jobs and fake tans, thier boyfriends wearing ripped up jeans and bri-ish accents, a guy who looked just like a caricature of a 'Hollywood producer' telling a story a little too loudly and laughing at his own story a little too boisterously.) Well, we were in Laguna Beach after all!

Then it was over. What a great trip, thanks V!

So sad to be back in my real life ... !

I look so happy in this picture!
I am represen'in' - check out the
Orioles hat!