Hidden Art and the Ultimate Passing as a Local in NY Advice

New York City, USA, February 23rd–27th 2018

I have a friend in New York. Well, not a friend, but the friend. Having that kind of friend is crucial to my mental health and happiness, but there are other benefits, too.

No, not that kind of benefits.

A generic NY pic

Without this particular friend I wouldn't have known about one of the greatest ideas in contemporary public art for a while. And she knew, because the project involved her friend. Learning about it through the grapevine only is kind of weird, since the art project takes place in Times Square, the most known and possibly visited place in NY. It's a treasure hidden in plain sight, par excellence.

The thing is called Midnight Moment: every midnight some of the billboards in Times Square steal three minutes from the commercials and show media art instead, starting 23:57:00. The artist changes monthly, I saw Save the Presidents by Tali Keren and Alex Strada. Previous artists include household names such as Laurie Anderson, Pipilotti Rist and Yoko Ono, but also up and coming artists are exhibited.

Pipilotti Rist: Open My Glade (Flatten).
Photo: Ka-Man Tse for @TSqArts

Times Square is surprisingly empty by midnight, at least on February weekdays. There were a bunch of youngsters, some tourists, a few drunks, all taking selfies. And me, staring around, waiting for the art to begin, prolonging my take away coffee. I was probably the most dubious person there, which really tells how boring Times Square has become. It also reveals that this project hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. There should have been crowds!

And then it started. Images of stone carved US presidents from a forgotten sculpture park slid in to a few billboards around the square, in different sizes an constellations. Amongst the banal commercials the historical characters appeared all calm and dignified, like quiet commentators. The art work was interesting to start with, and bringing it this environment really brought it to another level. 

In addition to being artistically impressive, the whole happening was stone sober hallucinatory: Don't these (few) other people in the square see what I see? And of course they didn't. It's pretty difficult to beat the surrounding commercials, optimized to catch our interest, with this delicate, subtle fine art, appearing without a warning and lasting only a moment. To notice it, you really have to look for it. Then again, I felt like all this was done just for me, which was a nice ego boost.

Another benefit: my friend has a dog. And not just a dog but the dog. He's the best dog ever.

The Dog, photo by the aforementioned friend,
with his pals pig, hedgehog and Karl Marx.

I'm pretty unfortunate at passing as a local, but I'm really happy when I do, for some Freudian reason or another. New York is one of the few places this is theoretically possible in. 

Whitening your teeth is one way, but that might be common in most US, so instead of being taken as a tourist from Europe, I would be taken as a tourist from New Jersey. Not a lot to win there. But, there's a way more successful method: walking a dog. Or a cat. Or a zebra, you get the point. Not that many tourists bring an animal with them, so anyone with a non-human companion is automatically taken as a local. So, go on, get a friend with a dog, offer to take it for a walk and blend in!

Combi takes me to the Daffodil City

Izamal, Mexico, February 17th to 22nd 2018

Google had told me that Izamal is called The Yellow City and I added it to my itinerary immediately. As usual, I didn't quite believe the Internet and expected to find a few worn out ex yellowish buildings around the center, but since I kind of like yellow, that was enough. 

Oh my Gooseberry, was I happily surprised on arrival!

I took a combi, a van packed with fifteenish people, from Mérida after arriving there from Progreso by bus. I bought a blue 30 pesos chip from a man in front of the Similares pharmacy in the corner of Calles 65 and 54, pushed my suitcase to the back of the van he pointed me to and squeezed myself in the car. The van became filled with people quite soon, the chips were collected and off we went. The combis don't have timetables, they leave whenever they're full.

As the combi majestically glided in Izamal, I saw a town supersaturated in my favourite hues of yellow: egg yolk, yellow cab, sunflower, daffodil and banana ice cream from the days of my youth, working in a ice cream parlor! And not just a few buildings, but all of them in the centre. Well, with some white houses amongst them, but merely for ornamental function I guess. Like the white parts in daisies, only there to highlight the yellow.

The yellowest of them all is the Convento de San Antonio, a church/monastery in the middle of the town. It was built on top of a Mayan pyramid, which kind of gives a sour colonialist hue to the beauty of the building, and the city at large. The huge atrium seemed to be in good use of the locals, there was some kind of dinner party organized on the lawn, as I visited the monastery.

Pope John Paul visited in 1993, a statue was erected and
the city was painted yellow.

I very much liked the overall colour coordination,
enclosing even the trash bins.

I was quite colour coordinated, too

I'm afraid the deep and painful regret pictured here
was not originated from destroying ancient Mayan temples

Seen from the rear, the monastery looks a little like a theatre
decor, meant to be seen from the front only

The Izamal central area is conveniently rich with Mayan ruins, and there is at least one Mayan pyramid left, with nothing built on it. On top of Kinich Kak Mo, a temple designated to Sun god of the same name, there's a good view to the town and surrounding areas, in addition to historical value. Climbing to the middle level is quite enough, I tell you.

On the middle level.
Panting.

From Kinich Kak Mo temple,
you can see the suburbian, rougher side of Izamal,
comprising of approximately four houses

After all the climbing I was super hungry, but wanted a change in the menu, so I picked a Japanese restaurant on Calle 31, called Ikigai. Based on the miniature prices of the dishes, I induced them to be miniature sized, so I took three portions. Lo and behold, three full size meals were brought in front of me. Luckily, the food was not just affordable, but also very good, especially the Teriyaki.

The street plan of Izamal is a little more complex than in most of other, strictly grid planned cities in Yucatan, mostly because of the two instead just one central square and the monastery. In the picture above the smaller square, Parque 5 de Mayo. The larger one, Parque Itzamna, has most of the nice cafés, comfortably shadowed by the arched vaults, but in the corner of 5 de Mayo there is the Centro Cultural Y Artesanal, which inhabits most interesting specimens of folk art and design. I'm usually not that much into folksy things, but works here have pretty cheeky artistic touch in them and are not afraid to break out of traditionality.

Angélico Jiménez: Nahual (2006)

Angel Santos Juarez: Leon Coronado (2006)

Mauricio Hernández Colmenero: Calaca panadera con novia (2006)

I haven't paid too much attention to my lodgings in this blog, but my hotel in Izamal deserves an exception. Macan Ché consists of separate houses of different shapes and sizes, arranged in a big, lush garden, with pond like swimming pool and lots of hammocks. And a great breakfast. Every house and room is different so I guess there are murkier options, but I was super happy with my India room. First floor, windows on three sides it was almost like outside, in a good way. 

Of course, there was a hotel cat. Still al little shy here,
but sleeping on my laptop the next day already.

Corner of the India room

The hotel was far enough from the centre not to be totally yellow

Izamal was a perfect ending for my Yucatan trip. I still had five and a half hours bus trip to Cancun ahead of me – highly recommended, see a lot of small villages, just do not drink too much, no toilet in the bus – and then a night in Cancun where my flight to New York was to depart. But Cancun doesn't really even count. Except for realizing that I'm too old to sleep in a hostel, even in a single room. 

Way too old.

Pieces on information

• Izamal in Wikitravel

• Other people exploring Izamal: To Travel Too, Earth Trippers,  Mexico Cassie

Holbox Dogs Showing Their Best Sides

Holbox Island, Mexico, February 1st to 8th 2018

As mentioned in the previous posting, the variety of stray dogs in Holbox is astonishing. Here are some examples. As also mentioned, there's an animal rescue centre in Holbox, more on the Refugio Animal Holbox in a posting by Jessica Salo and on the centre's FB page. Volunteers needed!

This one has a spare eye

This one is striking poses for a dog food commercial

This one is into legs

This one wants some alone time

These ones decided to try some contact impro

These ones are planning a girls' night out. It's going to be rave!

This one had a girls' night out

This one always finds the most photogenic lighting

This one really, really wanted to be cuddled

This one doesn't give a shit

This one is well grounded

This one wants to be a mermaid

This one wants to have my breakfast pancake. The dog is just passing by.

This one wanted to be a cow, but being a dog is fine I guess

This one has a sudden existential crisis

This one knows he has the better ass