From Toronto off to Cancun. Unlike the obnoxiously early limo to the airport last year on the way to the Dominican Republic the limo was 10 minutes late but so early in the morning the traffic to Pearson airport was light. The flight was on Canadian Airways and the passengers were relatively quiet unlike our suburban populated flight last year where the suburbanites were dreaming of Pina Coladas. The terrain upon approach was less tropical than in the Dominican Republic or Puerto Vallarta. Whizzed through customs as we were the only flight arriving. The trip to the hotel was on an old dilapidated bus. There is a huge amount of construction occurring and I wonder if it a result of the hurricane that struck Cancun last year. They were, in a great entrepreneurial spirit, selling cold beer on the bus for a USD. Cold, light and thirst quenching. I even had a wide-eyed gringo ask me if it was safe to drink the beer in Mexico. This reminded me of my mother who once said (and those were different times) the safest beverage to dink in “those foreign countries” was beer. The hotel was in a hotel strip like in Las Vegas. A swampy lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other. Unfortunately even with a room change I am facing the lagoon. But at least on the third floor instead the ground floor. You can see Isla Mujeres from the beach. Room is adequate but not luxurious. I harken back to my travel days in the 1970’s and should be overjoyed I have hot water and even a poorly functioning television set. Pizza at a pizzeria (in Mexico!) was excellent although the mushrooms were canned! Corona beer was chilled and refreshing. Came home and sat on the balcony for a bit before retiring. The air is so different in feel and smell here.
RKS Wine: From the Terraced Vineyards of the Douro
The Douro River trip from Porto to Pinhão either on a ship or by rail is remarkably beautiful. One feature you see is terraced vineyards running up from the river. Mechanization is problematic given the steep slopes.
This Lua Cheia red wine from the Douro was grown on terraced slopes. It has a black cherry colour almost purplish. On the nose black currant, cassis, black cherry, licorice with a hint of lavender. On the palate the tannins are well hidden making this a smooth wine very relaxed and mellow in character. Notes of blackberry, cherry with some root beer at the core. The wine has aged nicely and really has nowhere to go other than in your glass by the end of 2022. Take it beyond that and a decline is inevitable.
It would pair well with grilled meats and is mellow enough to pair with Portugal’s national dish Bachalau with cod as its key ingredient.
(Lua Cheia Red Wine 2019, DOC Douro, Lua Cheia-Saven, ľlhavo, Portugal, $14.95, 750 mL, 13.5%. Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 266882, RKS Wine Rating 87/100).
“Travels to a Different Time” : September 1988: Sosua, Dominican Republic: The Restaurant Scene
Most of the restaurants are in the town of Sosua. If there is any “formal dining” it would be in a few of the hotels. Amigo’s was quite good with excellent seafood. Newosol also has excellent seafood. Marco Polo’s has superb Tiberon and a dynamite creole octopus stew. Then there is the iconic Woody’s with the best grilled chicken I have had and the chicken I am sure is local and free range. At our Playa Chiquita Hotel there is piano bar called Pappy’s. An older black American plays the piano at cocktail hour. Pappy has a dozen children and is married to a local. With so many children it is no surprise they call him Pappy!
The Future of Sosua
For the time being Sosua is just starting to develop and give it a few more years and it will lose it rural charm and be a hot destination for budget travellers. Get ready for high rises and all you can eat buffets. Given the warm and clear waters, the hot climate blessed by a refreshing breeze, cheap alcohol and food and friendly people this quiet town is heading for mega development. As for Montezuma’s revenge aside from some questionable shrimp I escaped that scourge. In the room above me one night a German couple was puking and running to the toilet for hours with lots of moans, gas and vomit. Stay away from the raw veggies.
“Travels to a Different Time” : September 1988: Sosua, Dominican Republic: Sosua’s Famous Beach
The beach is highly recommended by a few gringos I have encountered. It is home to too many vendors hawking trinkets of coral, amber and onyx not to mention all sorts of food, beer and cheap mass-produced junk. Express any sort of interest in anything and you are immediately besieged by corny lines such as “Name your price, wholesale liquidation prices. Best prices in town.” Most are not willing to bargain. The beach touted by so many as fantastic is mediocre and the sand is not clean littered with garbage and seaweed. Our hotel beach is tiny in comparison but superior.
RKS Film: “Nude Tuesday”: The Film That Could Have Easily Been a Different Film
“Nude Tuesday” is a film that is completely gibberish! But you may be guaranteed a constant smile from a film that borders on the absurd. Cut out the subtitles from gibberish to English and replace them with a new set of subtitles and you could be watching a different film. You see the dialogue and the nine songs in it are in gibberish. Gibberish is nothing but a steam of words and sounds that make no sense because gibberish is not a language. Yet Julia Davis crafted subtitles based on the gibberish laden movie. The result is a movie that makes total sense although it could have been a totally different film and a plausible one with many possible subtitles.
If there is any absurdity it is developed through the subtitles. Some of the subtitles contribute to the hilarity of the film while others make perfect sense. The soundtrack in gibberish highlights the film’s streak of absurdity.
While almost all the fun is wondering how the subtitles suit particular scenes watching the actors babbling away is also a source of merriment.
Laura (Jackie Van Beek) and Bruno (Damon Herriman) are a middle-aged suburban couple in a drifting and crumbling marriage that as mother-in-law notes is “lacking a rumble in the jungle”. The feisty old bird gives Laura and Bruno a gift certificate to “Wonderla Retreat” a sexual rejuvenation retreat in the beautiful New Zealand mountains. It is a zany place full of odd stereotypical couples. Bjorg Rasmussen (Jemaine Clement) is the eccentric spooner of palaver and his latest book is the “Toothy Vulva”.
In the midst of frothy pandemonium which viciously cuts through the Tony Robbins method somehow Laura and Bruno snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Yes the subtitles turn the film into a lampooning of self help gurus who have answers to mend the trainwrecks of life.
Welcome to the “Gibberish Genre”. Give us a Gibberish film and let us create! Get your “tingly” tingling!
“Nude Tuesday” screens virtually at the New York Tribeca Film Festival on June 11th. If you wish to purchase the film contact Cornerstone Films for further details https://cornerstonefilm.com/
Feel free to check out the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoRFDK6iI-g .
Written by Jackie Van Beek and directed by Armağan Ballantyne.
RKS Film Rating 89/100.
RKS Wine: A Red Wine Clunker from Tejo in Portugal: Memories of Mahatma Gandhi
When I saw this wine called Babu from the Tejo in Portugal it invoked memories of Gandhi. Gandhi had a nickname of Bapu which is so close to Babu. While not an exact match with Babu it is close enough to trigger a smile and toast to the great Indian statesman. The Portuguese set up a settlement in Goa in present day India in 1510 and there they remained until driven out by Indian forces in 1961.
The Babu is a red blend of Alicante Bouschet and Touriga Nacional.
The palate is indicative of a red wine a little long on the tooth. Roger Voss of Wine Enthusiast gave it a 92 when he tried it over two years ago. Unfortunately, it bears the hallmarks of a red wine on the decline. Prune, coffee and juice in its last throes. On the palate notes of molasses, burnt rubber, cement and cherries sitting on the counter for two days. Who on earth bought this wine or agreed to put it on the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario?
You know I read an article about wine writing by a wine writer that prattled about integrity of wine writers yet in the same breath stated he rarely releases reviews about clunker wines. My view is that a rogue wine deserves to be shouted down to have purchasers start thinking about caveat emptor. Again how did this burnt out wine reach the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario? It strikes me this is a conspiracy! The LCBO as ultimate purchaser, the winery with its reputation on the line and the agent that brought into the LCBO. But my finger points to the LCBO as they decide what goes on their shelves and is sold to the public. Tsk Tsk!
I would suggest you not purchase but if you have a retailer with decent return policies buy, have a glass and see what spent wine tastes like and then return it.
(Babu Reserva 2018, Vinho Regional Tejo, Fiuza & Bright, Portugal, $14.95, 750 mL, 13.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 617175, RKS Wine Rating Purchase at Your Own Risk)
“Travels to a Different Time” : September 1988: Sosua, Dominican Republic: Suspect Shrimp
It was either too much sun or last night’s shrimp but whatever it was a fever, headaches and the chills. To bed at 19:00 but the pounding rain made sleep difficult. The rooster started crowing at 05:00. Felt a bit better.
The Trip to Puerto Plata: Lunch at Uncle Ricks Café
A few of us chartered Rafael and his 1977 Caprice for a trip into Puerto Plata which included 2 hours of waiting time. Not exactly an exciting 45-minute drive as mostly flat with sugar cane fields. Small shanty towns for the sugar cane workers. Puerto Plata was more or less a hole in the wall with so many children wanting to be your “secretary” for the day. Keep moving as if you stop you’ll be swarmed. We had a brief stop at Uncle Rick’s Café for a Coke and a grilled cheese sandwich. It was a ramshackle building and the clientele scruffy and greasy looking Americans. They looked out of touch with reality. Dopesters? The television screen was playing videos when we arrived then Conan the Barbarian movie followed by a Charles Bronson shoot em up film. Our waitress was called Mama Juanita and like the establishment and its clients looked very seedy. All we need is Sam playing the piano and Claude Rains raiding the joint.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 4September1988: Sosua, Dominican Republic: The Way into Town
It is about a 20-minute walk into Sosua and a taxi trip is about $1.75. The road is in terrible shape with huge potholes. The taxi must swerve or stop and bypass these craters. There are what seems to be a few middle-class homes and also some villas on the road but almost all lower levels have steel bars on the windows and there are security guards outside some of the homes and many signs warning of guard dogs. There are horses and cows on the road not to mention chickens! There are few cars on the road but mostly mopeds and minibuses. There is a huge amount of construction. Looks as if tourism is getting into gear.
RKS Film: “An Act of Worship”: United States as a Deeply Fractured Country
“An Act of Worship” is an attempt to have the viewer experience the Islamophobia faced by some Muslims in the United States. It is not a pretty picture and accentuates the hate and phobia fracturing America where hatred and distrust seems prevalent. Most of this hatred was not created by former President Trump and that man simply harnessed it and hitched a ride on it to political power and once there he augmented it.
The documentary does an excellent job of chronicling the extent of Islamophobia but only does a partial job in explaining why it exists. There is some connection of Islamophobia with the Iran Hostage Crisis, 9/11 and the various wars the United Sates has waged in Muslim countries but I felt the film could have gone deeper in dissecting the roots of Islamic hatred. For example is it the melting pot theory of immigrants prevalent in the United States to blame as Muslims don’t dress like “Americans”. Is it because they have a different religion or come from some societies that have honour killings? Yet the fact is that there are American Muslims who refuse to embrace the melting pot. Does this single them out? As a Canadian we are used to the concept of co-existence as opposed to the assimilationist melting pot yet last year three generations of a Muslim family were killed in London, Ontario as a deranged young man intentionally ran the family down on an evening walk. Chinese have been assaulted during the height of COVID. Black men and people of colour have been assaulted and killed by police. Canada may be only marginally better than the United States.
The story of these mostly young American Muslims deserves to be told but again I wish it had been more fully explained with a why. It is also very singular and negative as is often the case with so many documentaries. Surely the American population as a whole are not Muslim haters but one may say this documentary ignores the voice of their support of the Muslim community. One may also conclude that while there is Islamophobia in this world is there a streak of Americaphobia on the part of the Muslim community or would this be a politically incorrect statement? Phobias feed on phobias.
“An Act of Worship” is part of the 2022 New York Tribeca Film Festival. It has its world premiere on June 9th. It also screens on June 10/12. Unfortunately it is not available on line as part of the Tribeca offering.
You can catch the trailer here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gsfcf7lez5r4q9t/AACzVqcnKpsEMmzsK4xifbSka?dl=0&preview=AAOW_TRAILER_4K_june5_2022.mov
It is directed by Nausheen Dadabhoy.
RKS Film Rating 81/100.
“Travels to a Different Time” : 3September1988: Sosua, Dominican Republic: Sick with the Shakes! Armed Guards and Barred Windows
Bad start to a trip with a fever of 102 and the shakes compounded by waking up at 04:30 for a 06:50 flight from Toronto to Sosua. The limo arrived 10 minutes early upsetting my rhythm and was not appreciated. The airport was hopping at 05:30 and most of the passengers had checked in so a shitty seat for me. The plane was a WorldWays ancient DC-8. Aside from its age it is a solid plane and I have taken it to and from Europe in the 1970s without any complaints. Had a screwdriver to start the morning and being a charter flight peanuts instead of smoked almonds. Breakfast was a cheese omelette and a bran muffin with pathetic coffee. Surrounded by suburbanites from WASP central Oakville excited about downing pina coladas. The airport in Sosua is small and the first thing you see is a burnt-out plane just off the runway. Super humid. Hopped on bus and at hotel in 10 minutes.
Hotel called Playa Chiquita and is 10 minutes from town. It is a low rise and right on the beach. It faces a Dominican general’s villa on a cliff facing the ocean. The room is simple and well air conditioned. A television with international stations. The hotel beach is small but sandy and beautiful warm water and is encircled by rocky cliffs. The entrance to the beach is protected by a guard with a Billy club. All the houses have metal bars on their windows and some have armed guards. You get that feeling this is a dangerous country.
To dinner in town. Taxi was $2 and the roads are atrocious and the diver constantly swerving to avoid potholes. Dinner was a seabass in a white wine sauce for $3.75.
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