Miami and next steps
After looking at the costs of hotels in Miami this weekend, and looking at the costs of flights out of Miami this weekend, i decided to book a flight to Panama. You only live once!
I don't really know what there is to see in Panama. I only know it from the Pirate History Podcast and from the Panama Papers, i.e. a country that has basically been ravaged first by colonialism and then by capitalism for hundreds of years. I also know it is very hot and rainy down there, and that the jungle is pretty much impenetrable.
Of course, the moment that i wrote to the skipper i had been talking with that i had booked a flight, he "suddenly" found another crewmember and said there would not be room for me. Is it because after speaking in person he realized i wasn't some sexy chick who was going to wear a bikini all day, nor was i a straight woman looking for a relationship, or was it just bad timing? Who knows. I do know that the fact all these crewing websites put gender as the first question (and only offer the options of male and female) make looking for an unpaid position a little uncomfortable for me. You can hide your age, but not your gender. I wonder why?
The important point is that i already had my plan B worked out, and that is to go to fucking Panama and sit under a palm tree drinking booze from a coconut. There are many places in the Caribbean where i could do just that, but not all of them are "cheap". To be honest Panama isn't cheap either, it's just cheaper than Florida. The other point is that many places in the Caribbean are not Spanish-speaking, which would defeat my ulterior motive. I want to learn Spanish so it can open more doors for traveling in Latin America. At least i want to learn it better than i currently do. So, worst case, i go to Panama, i sit under a palm tree, i do not find any white straight men who want to take my haggard, asexual, trans, hard-working ass on their boat, and instead i learn some Spanish. I mean, when the flight down there is only $78, you can't really lose, right?
Of course i will have to give away my bike. I have contacted the local bike co-op and am currently trying to figure out a time for them to come pick it up (or me to deliver it). I don't want to get involved with selling it. I would prefer it goes to people who really need it. The trouble is finding a way to meet on no or little notice. Unfortunately giving stuff away for free is often harder than selling it.
Last night i went clubbing. This weekend is the Art Basel festival in Miami, and there is basically a who's who of the top commercial techno and progressive house DJs coming into town to play shows. The one i would most like to see is Honey Dijon, but there are dozens of others that would also play music reasonably up my alley, even if more on the commercial end. However. I do not want to get COVID.
These Art Basel gigs are massive, there must be thousands of people attending. I tend to avoid festivals and big raves even outside of COVID times because i find that many people to detract from the intimacy and vibe of an event. My ideal club or party size is probably around 100 people, maybe a few hundred if there are several rooms. I like when the DJ is standing at the same level as the dancers, and they feel like part of the crowd instead of being a "performer" way up in front. Anyway, yeah, so despite the number of top artists coming this weekend, i want to get the fuck out before the hordes arrive.
It doesn't help that hotels in Miami Beach have shot up to hundreds of dollars a night - even the "cheap" ones - and in Miami proper prices are edging $200 for even the airport motels. This is going to be massive. The city will likely be an utter shit-show. That was another reason to fly out on Friday.
But i did find one Tuesday night event being held in a small venue in downtown Miami that "only" cost $20 cover. The DJs were a handful of residents from Sisyphos nightclub in Berlin. Sisyphos wasn't my favorite nightclub in Berlin, i tended to get more of a touristy vibe from it than my main favorite of Kater Blau, but it was definitely in the family of night clubs where people who liked the music i liked went to. Sisy, Kater, Rummels Bucht, that kind of party crew. So it was nice to hear these guys play again, and see a familiar face behind the decks, even though they probably didn't recognize me since i was a Kater regular and only went to Sisy a handful of times. I think they probably adjusted their music for the US audience, playing a bit more deep house in the American style - less hippie-ish or druggy, more R&B influenced - but still very much a style of music that i enjoy. It was just... incredible to dance there in this small space, maybe 15-20 people on the dancefloor at a time, 100 or so at the party all up, with a crystal-clear, tremendously beefy, jacking sound system. I loved it so much. I miss Berlin so much.
But i really missed Berlin when it got to about 3am and i was exhausted so i sat down and started to nod off, and almost immediatey a bouncer clad all in black appeared out of nowhere telling me i couldn't fall asleep in the club. God, welcome back to everywhere-outside-of-Berlin's shitty clubbing experience. Club opens at 11pm, closes at 5am, too many DJs squished into too few hours, so they're all trying to play their bangers, and despite the fact that it's literally only open during the hours that people normally sleep, you are not allowed to sleep, or even sit down and close your eyes. I am getting too old for this shit. I need to be able to party in the daytime, like you could in Berlin. And take naps, for fuck's sake. Good bouncers should be able to tell the difference between an overdose and someone who is just tired because it's the middle of the goddamn night.
Eventually i couldn't keep going, even though the music was still pretty decent. And that's when i had my next Bad Miami Experience. Catching a fucking taxi. Or not catching a fucking taxi, to be precise. The bouncer said i would need to install Uber or Lyft to get a taxi in Miami because there are no taxis. I reluctantly tried to install both of them, and it turns out both of them want your phone number, email address and name, not to mention your credit card. What the fuck privacy-invading bullshit is this!? As if it wasn't bad enough that these Silicon Valley jackasses are raking in cash by exploiting workers and muscling out local businesses, they also want to mine all my fucking data as well? Disgusting. So i uninstalled them without entering any data, called every taxi company in Miami that i could find a phone number for, and got no answer from any of them. Then i walked to the bus stop, which is how i was originally going to get home, but Google Maps told me that the (once per hour) 24-hour bus was delayed, which is why i ended up trying the taxi thing instead. I waited for the bus, and waited, and then Google Maps switched over to saying the next bus would be after 5am, i.e. the first morning bus.
Fuck that shit.
I installed Uber again and put in all my personal data and got my trip home, trying to cancel about a million notifications and bullshit ads and crap that they were shoveling in my face the whole way. And then the supposed great feature of Uber - that you know how much you will pay before you leave - didn't work either, because the driver used a toll road and that toll got paid by me. Like, what the fuck, bro? I felt dirty after using it. I can't decide if i should delete it immediately from my phone and say four Hail Marys for penance, or if i should leave it there since i will probably be forced to use it for a ride to the airport and perhaps again when i arrive in Panama because fuck Silicon Valley up its fucking rapacious ass.
God i hate Uber. I hated it even more when i read the Wikipedia entry for Miami-Dade Transit and discovered that Miami bus ridership has actually gone down instead of up over the past decade, and it made a significant and sharp downturn when Uber launched in the city. Now they are decreasing services, which obviously is going to disproportionately affect the poor. Buses are $2.25 to go anywhere in town. Uber is $17 just to cross the fucking Venetian Causeway.
I noticed it already when i was cycling down the busway that stretches all the way from Florida City to Miami - about 50km. That whole stretch is a dedicated road only for public transport and bicycles, but instead of being a magnet for property development and a catalyst for building neighborhoods with walkable, mixed-use hubs like it is in every other city of the world where there is a bus rapid transit, it is a mostly desolate strip where a passing cyclist gets to see sex workers, homeless people, drug addicts and gangsters hanging out. Oh, and the odd shopping mall. It's like... Miami has both the land and the infrastructure to comfortably house everyone who lives here, but somehow the wealth distribution is all messed up and it doesn't work. It reminds me of when i was in Sicily and other parts of southern Italy, a place that has been hollowed out by corruption and organized crime. I'm not sure if that's actually the case in Miami, but it had that feeling about it.
Of course, that's also part of what makes the city fascinating to me. It is by far the best city i have ever visited in the United States. It's a clusterfuck, but it's a beautiful clusterfuck. I love it.
I met a Colombian last night who said "i love Miami, but there's too much reggaeton here". Too much reggaeton! It's like people in Berlin complaining about too much techno. I can understand the relentless dembow riddim driving you nuts after a while, but dear lord have you ever passed through the other 99% of America where all you fucking hear is country music and classic rock and possibly if you are very lucky some hip-hop? Gimme dat riddim any day of the week.
Today i already decided i would spend the whole day in bed. Yeah, i could go hang out on the beach again, or sit on the strip and watch the world go by, but i only got about 4 hours sleep and i don't want to do anything. My body is totally not used to staying up that late. God, when i was cycling i was fast asleep by 8pm. I am exhausted.
Yeah, so today i will just take it easy and maybe make a todo list for tomorrow. I'm not really worried about prepping for Panama because they accept US currency and i am quite sure that i will be able to buy whatever i need over there, but i do need to update my travel insurance and get in touch with everyone who isn't on LiveJournal to let them know what's going on. Some of my friends and family haven't heard anything from me since i left Kamloops in August.
I don't really know what there is to see in Panama. I only know it from the Pirate History Podcast and from the Panama Papers, i.e. a country that has basically been ravaged first by colonialism and then by capitalism for hundreds of years. I also know it is very hot and rainy down there, and that the jungle is pretty much impenetrable.
Of course, the moment that i wrote to the skipper i had been talking with that i had booked a flight, he "suddenly" found another crewmember and said there would not be room for me. Is it because after speaking in person he realized i wasn't some sexy chick who was going to wear a bikini all day, nor was i a straight woman looking for a relationship, or was it just bad timing? Who knows. I do know that the fact all these crewing websites put gender as the first question (and only offer the options of male and female) make looking for an unpaid position a little uncomfortable for me. You can hide your age, but not your gender. I wonder why?
The important point is that i already had my plan B worked out, and that is to go to fucking Panama and sit under a palm tree drinking booze from a coconut. There are many places in the Caribbean where i could do just that, but not all of them are "cheap". To be honest Panama isn't cheap either, it's just cheaper than Florida. The other point is that many places in the Caribbean are not Spanish-speaking, which would defeat my ulterior motive. I want to learn Spanish so it can open more doors for traveling in Latin America. At least i want to learn it better than i currently do. So, worst case, i go to Panama, i sit under a palm tree, i do not find any white straight men who want to take my haggard, asexual, trans, hard-working ass on their boat, and instead i learn some Spanish. I mean, when the flight down there is only $78, you can't really lose, right?
Of course i will have to give away my bike. I have contacted the local bike co-op and am currently trying to figure out a time for them to come pick it up (or me to deliver it). I don't want to get involved with selling it. I would prefer it goes to people who really need it. The trouble is finding a way to meet on no or little notice. Unfortunately giving stuff away for free is often harder than selling it.
Last night i went clubbing. This weekend is the Art Basel festival in Miami, and there is basically a who's who of the top commercial techno and progressive house DJs coming into town to play shows. The one i would most like to see is Honey Dijon, but there are dozens of others that would also play music reasonably up my alley, even if more on the commercial end. However. I do not want to get COVID.
These Art Basel gigs are massive, there must be thousands of people attending. I tend to avoid festivals and big raves even outside of COVID times because i find that many people to detract from the intimacy and vibe of an event. My ideal club or party size is probably around 100 people, maybe a few hundred if there are several rooms. I like when the DJ is standing at the same level as the dancers, and they feel like part of the crowd instead of being a "performer" way up in front. Anyway, yeah, so despite the number of top artists coming this weekend, i want to get the fuck out before the hordes arrive.
It doesn't help that hotels in Miami Beach have shot up to hundreds of dollars a night - even the "cheap" ones - and in Miami proper prices are edging $200 for even the airport motels. This is going to be massive. The city will likely be an utter shit-show. That was another reason to fly out on Friday.
But i did find one Tuesday night event being held in a small venue in downtown Miami that "only" cost $20 cover. The DJs were a handful of residents from Sisyphos nightclub in Berlin. Sisyphos wasn't my favorite nightclub in Berlin, i tended to get more of a touristy vibe from it than my main favorite of Kater Blau, but it was definitely in the family of night clubs where people who liked the music i liked went to. Sisy, Kater, Rummels Bucht, that kind of party crew. So it was nice to hear these guys play again, and see a familiar face behind the decks, even though they probably didn't recognize me since i was a Kater regular and only went to Sisy a handful of times. I think they probably adjusted their music for the US audience, playing a bit more deep house in the American style - less hippie-ish or druggy, more R&B influenced - but still very much a style of music that i enjoy. It was just... incredible to dance there in this small space, maybe 15-20 people on the dancefloor at a time, 100 or so at the party all up, with a crystal-clear, tremendously beefy, jacking sound system. I loved it so much. I miss Berlin so much.
But i really missed Berlin when it got to about 3am and i was exhausted so i sat down and started to nod off, and almost immediatey a bouncer clad all in black appeared out of nowhere telling me i couldn't fall asleep in the club. God, welcome back to everywhere-outside-of-Berlin's shitty clubbing experience. Club opens at 11pm, closes at 5am, too many DJs squished into too few hours, so they're all trying to play their bangers, and despite the fact that it's literally only open during the hours that people normally sleep, you are not allowed to sleep, or even sit down and close your eyes. I am getting too old for this shit. I need to be able to party in the daytime, like you could in Berlin. And take naps, for fuck's sake. Good bouncers should be able to tell the difference between an overdose and someone who is just tired because it's the middle of the goddamn night.
Eventually i couldn't keep going, even though the music was still pretty decent. And that's when i had my next Bad Miami Experience. Catching a fucking taxi. Or not catching a fucking taxi, to be precise. The bouncer said i would need to install Uber or Lyft to get a taxi in Miami because there are no taxis. I reluctantly tried to install both of them, and it turns out both of them want your phone number, email address and name, not to mention your credit card. What the fuck privacy-invading bullshit is this!? As if it wasn't bad enough that these Silicon Valley jackasses are raking in cash by exploiting workers and muscling out local businesses, they also want to mine all my fucking data as well? Disgusting. So i uninstalled them without entering any data, called every taxi company in Miami that i could find a phone number for, and got no answer from any of them. Then i walked to the bus stop, which is how i was originally going to get home, but Google Maps told me that the (once per hour) 24-hour bus was delayed, which is why i ended up trying the taxi thing instead. I waited for the bus, and waited, and then Google Maps switched over to saying the next bus would be after 5am, i.e. the first morning bus.
Fuck that shit.
I installed Uber again and put in all my personal data and got my trip home, trying to cancel about a million notifications and bullshit ads and crap that they were shoveling in my face the whole way. And then the supposed great feature of Uber - that you know how much you will pay before you leave - didn't work either, because the driver used a toll road and that toll got paid by me. Like, what the fuck, bro? I felt dirty after using it. I can't decide if i should delete it immediately from my phone and say four Hail Marys for penance, or if i should leave it there since i will probably be forced to use it for a ride to the airport and perhaps again when i arrive in Panama because fuck Silicon Valley up its fucking rapacious ass.
God i hate Uber. I hated it even more when i read the Wikipedia entry for Miami-Dade Transit and discovered that Miami bus ridership has actually gone down instead of up over the past decade, and it made a significant and sharp downturn when Uber launched in the city. Now they are decreasing services, which obviously is going to disproportionately affect the poor. Buses are $2.25 to go anywhere in town. Uber is $17 just to cross the fucking Venetian Causeway.
I noticed it already when i was cycling down the busway that stretches all the way from Florida City to Miami - about 50km. That whole stretch is a dedicated road only for public transport and bicycles, but instead of being a magnet for property development and a catalyst for building neighborhoods with walkable, mixed-use hubs like it is in every other city of the world where there is a bus rapid transit, it is a mostly desolate strip where a passing cyclist gets to see sex workers, homeless people, drug addicts and gangsters hanging out. Oh, and the odd shopping mall. It's like... Miami has both the land and the infrastructure to comfortably house everyone who lives here, but somehow the wealth distribution is all messed up and it doesn't work. It reminds me of when i was in Sicily and other parts of southern Italy, a place that has been hollowed out by corruption and organized crime. I'm not sure if that's actually the case in Miami, but it had that feeling about it.
Of course, that's also part of what makes the city fascinating to me. It is by far the best city i have ever visited in the United States. It's a clusterfuck, but it's a beautiful clusterfuck. I love it.
I met a Colombian last night who said "i love Miami, but there's too much reggaeton here". Too much reggaeton! It's like people in Berlin complaining about too much techno. I can understand the relentless dembow riddim driving you nuts after a while, but dear lord have you ever passed through the other 99% of America where all you fucking hear is country music and classic rock and possibly if you are very lucky some hip-hop? Gimme dat riddim any day of the week.
Today i already decided i would spend the whole day in bed. Yeah, i could go hang out on the beach again, or sit on the strip and watch the world go by, but i only got about 4 hours sleep and i don't want to do anything. My body is totally not used to staying up that late. God, when i was cycling i was fast asleep by 8pm. I am exhausted.
Yeah, so today i will just take it easy and maybe make a todo list for tomorrow. I'm not really worried about prepping for Panama because they accept US currency and i am quite sure that i will be able to buy whatever i need over there, but i do need to update my travel insurance and get in touch with everyone who isn't on LiveJournal to let them know what's going on. Some of my friends and family haven't heard anything from me since i left Kamloops in August.