Maltissimo

I started yesturday with a trip south to the Blue Grotto. Although I initially just wanted to look at the natural rock arch from a viewing platform so I save money rather than take the boat trip, I ended up down at where the boats leave and so I just payed the 3MTL and did the 20 minute boat ride.. and it was totally worth it. the caves are pretty beautiful but the most impressive part is the color of the water in these rocky caves, a florecent blue! not kidding you when I say florecent, its like the boat is floating in a radio active chemical.. but as soon as you exit the rocky formations the sun bleaches everything and the amazing colors are gone.

after the Grotto, I went back to valetta (you have to go back there in order to take a bus to your next destination) then went on all the way northwest to Melieha Bay for the beach. it was a relatively long drive but really nothing longer than going from Newark to 33rd street on the Path Train. what a weird place, lots of scandanavians! oh and families with lots of kids. I thought Europeans dont have that many kids.. well the ones who do have alot of kids seem to come here for relatively cheap hot summer holidays. the water was is very shallow in the bay and very blue.. I took a swim, wrote my postcards and tried to get as much sun on my back to fix the big patch of relatively white skin that was exposed in the shape of an upside triangle on my back after I pealed the first layer of skin for the summer.

now comes the nightlife.. I didnt come to Malta expecting anything at all from nightlife, if anything i was expecting relaxation and sun and quiet nights. and it is like that if not even boring at night, there is not much to do besides strolling on the waterfront. however there is Paceville, St. Jullian which are next to Sliema and within walking distance. there is a nightlife ghetto, with bars, pubs and clubs. I had to see it, so I went and oh my god 'how cheeesy' was my first impression. first of all, there really are lots of kids here. the majority of tourists are families and package tours from Northern Europe. at night the teens of these families go out all dressed up and everyday as I come back to Sliema after my days out the bus gets stuffed with these teenyweeny things.. boys and girls. they go out as drinking age here is 16! oh and thats the age for consentual sex too... I just havent seen a 16 year old that turned me on, I guess I prefer men. anyway, when I finally made it to the ZONE, it was jam packed with teens.. then I tried to find Adam's, a gay bar and hotel, which was on a relatively quiet street.. oh man, the first thing that came to mind when I walked in was Japanese gay bars.. reminded me of those gay bars I found in Kyoto hidden on the third or forth floors of a buildings, and the bars consisted of a single tiny room half of which is occupied by the bar itself and the maximum capacity was under 10! well Adam's was almost like that. there were a few guys and here they come: Some English guy of atleast 50 years who was later revealed to be the owner (he later showed me pictures of his internet boyfriend from venezuela aged 18!), then there was Mario (a maltese bartender and partner in the hotel who later claimed to be a model and that he cant sleep during the days following the one big gay party in malta because the drugs wont let him, attractive but tries too hard o and the train already passed him) then this little Maltese guy (very horny, not very attractive and wants some bad), this irish guy (probably 27ish, bald, likes to travel and it was later revealed that he is very insecure about his appearance) and a couple of other guys that I didnt meet.

I had a couple beers, tried Cisk (the local beer) and chated with the guys. later on went outside for a cigarret on their back terrace and the English owner dude made his first proposal, it was clear he has a thing for arabs. then he went on to tell stories of his "slut days" traveling in Morocco and Tunisia, he made a few not so subtle proposals for him to get on his knees infront of me, maybe to clean my shoes, not sure...

I thought I had enough and left with the irish guy to go to Klozet (a gay club or a bar with loud music) around the corner.. o and I think I saw the most heavinly perfect male creation ever born in the form of a bartender. words cant do him justice, he was fucking stunning and super nice ontop of it all.. Im going back tonight just to get a second look. there was nothing really remarkable about the bar except that it exists at all in a placethat reminds me of Egypt so much, i guess its possible.


about 15 minutes after we arrived and a couple of Cisks later I noticed these two guys standing near.. and in hopes to meet maltese guys I asked one if he was from malta, he wasnt but his boyfriend was.. five minutes later they both asked me to go home with them.. they were hot.. I said yes. aparently as I look out for hot maltese who I think are hot and exotic, they were thinking I'm hot and exotic.. funny how mutual understanding can just happen like that.

the maltese guy (21) was so hot or actually he just have a beautiful.. whats the word.... tool? his boyfriend was south african (27), also hot.. they warned me on the way that their apartment is small... ofcourse I didnt mind, all we need is a bed, a sofa or a floor, right? well, their place was fucking gorgeous!!! they are so spoild to think that its not the amazing asset that it is.. I would never dream of owning its equivilent in NY, maybe that doesnt make sense, but it was realy nice.. a restored typical maltese house with amazingly high cieling, bare smooth limestone, the livinspace is reached by a narrow straight flight of stairs from the entrance on street level, then the bedroom was on one side (with a typical projecting bay window made into a sort of office space) and the kitchen and bath on the other side of the living space.. another zigzaging flight of stairs in the back takes you up to the roof which is a terrace with views of the capital inthe distance! Ahhhmazing. enough about their place, the sex was hot. we had a session, slept for a couple of hours (it was like 5am at this point) then had another session at like 8am then slept for a good 5 hours... it was all very very hot, top notch stuff.

it was late in the day, so they drove me back to my hotel, there was no time to go to the beach so I just went to Marsaxlokk in the south known for its seafood and fishing boats.. oh what a funny place.. like the rest of malta it feels frozen in time, like nothing happened here in centuries.. its a small fishing village on the harbour full of fishing boats with a handfull of resturants along the water serving seafood. my entire experience of Marsaxlokk had the soundtrack of Bingo! not kidding you, they love Bingo in this country (there are alot of old people) but here in this village which was so small that you can hear the number calling (in both malti/arabic and english) over the microphone from any point in the town, it even echoes.. kinda hilarious.. so I sat at Pisces, a small resturant which had no one since it was an in between meals time and faced the boats with the sound of bingo and enjoyed a meal. I finally got to try the local staple of fish soup, which was very yummy, a tomato based soup with little rise, little fish and lemon, it was after i had a starter which consists of a fava beans patte heavy on garlic.. then came the main dish, I ordered a sword fish steak (grilled) which comes with a tomato/olive/capers sauce and is served with salad (heavy on olivs and capers) and the surprise of the day (baked slices of curried potatos!) I thought the yellow curry was out of context but apparently its a local dish served with fish. the yummy meal coasting all of 7MTL ($20)

I was supposed to leave to GOZO (Malta's sister island) tomorrow, but I am extending my stay here by one day so I can go to Golden Bay for a beach day tomorrow and then Rabat tomorrow night for the annual big gay party.. I am curious

five cities in a day?

only in Malta can one see five full cities in one day.. Practically saw the important urban centers of the country in less than 10 hours.
but what a place! first of all its very charming, aged, a little messy but in a nice way, HOT! I was actually melting today, limestone-colored (the whole country), vintage, cosmopolitan (it reminds me of egypt circa 1930-1945, based on old black/white egyptian films).
so there are these odd little things like: 2 Maltese Lira bills, old big yellow vintage public busses, the language is a thing of its own (a semetic language, follows the grammer and structure of Arabic with over 80 percent of the words actually arabic or derived from arabic, however written in latin letters with some special letters to make up for the arabic sounds that are not represented in the latin alphabet, add a sprinkle of italian/french and some english words, add salt water and mix and you've got yourself an odd language that only exists in this tiny island country in the middle of the sea) conterary to popular belief very few people know italian, they only learn Malti and English in school.

its a very urban place, everyone lives in cities, mind you these cities are all very walkable in their entirety. they all kinda look similar, the more historic parts are more charming obviously but over all it just looks like a palestinian village with a sprinkle of baroque churches (only the interiors are baroque, the exteriors look very ostere and fort-like). everything is pretty much out of big blocks of limestone, there is no brick and not much concrete. almost everything is 3-5 storeys.

I cant help it but think other places when trying to understand malta, its like Port Said (there is this architectural element in all homes all over the island, its a sort of bay window but very much resembles a edited version of a mashrabiyya which can also be found in port said, it might be an english invention to deal with the sun and allow air [malta was british for about 150 years about the same time Egypt was british and many egyptians were exiled here]), Alexandria (especially Sliema where I'm staying, which really looks like alexandria complete with the corniche but on a smaller scale of course, meaning no 8 lane highway along the waterfront only one lane for each direction), Havana (there is a frozen-in-time element here with old buses and store fronts that have been out of business since Malta was no longer a british colony, you can actually walk down streets and forget that its 2007), Tunis (with its windows again, doors, and the character of the streets) and probably some other places, maybe Palermo or something but thats probably a stretch. Malta definetly resembles a north african city more than it does a European city. I think this is the obvious and natural answer to the search for a place that is a bridge between east and west (or north and south), its a very catholic place where everyone speaks a derevative of arabic and the lifestyle, culture and cityscapes are truly a blend of arab and european.

much of the history of malta revolves around defending themselves against the turks, and so in St. John Cathedral (the main church of capital Valetta and the country) there are many symbols such as an angel crushing a turban under his foot or and alegory of St. James driving the arabs out of Spain in addition to a few others. its a very baroque church on the inside, but very nice, worth the 2.50MTL ($7.50) entry fee.

Valetta is Europe's first planned city! meaning it was planned and built (1566) in one shot with a regular grid and fortifications.. I loved it, its gorgeous and antique and tiny. thats where I started the day then I took one of the big old yellow buses to Mosta where there is Europe's third largest unsupported dome after the Pantheon and St. Peters. the dome was hit and punctured by a bomb in 1942 when fell throgh into the church but never exploded.. of course catholics love that and concider it a miracle. then i waited an hour waiting for a bus to Mdina. during that time i people watched and it was pretty interesting, boys here are very... juicy? and develope early. anyway, finally got to Mdina and oh my god this place is fucking gorgeous!!! very well restored and taken care off, it is, like the name suggests, a walled city on top of a hill, its also referred to as the silent city, all you can hear are birds and trees in the wind, the streets and buildings are perfect, I cant believe people live there. from Mdina I took a bus to an area near Valletta called the three cities, and only visited two of the three.. Senglea and Vittoriosa. both off the tourist radar so people were a little confused seeing me wander the streets with my guide book. at the tip of Senglea there is a fort (there are so many forts here its funny, what are they protecting? and from who? was it that bad?) I stopped to roll a cigarett as I was alone with a handsome maltese.. I used his lighter and in a quick look I made an assessment, he is angry, frustrated, horney... fucking hot! he was making a joint, the first i've seen in malta (alright ive only been here 24 hours) but I wasnt sure if I should talk to him, he seemed to be one of the few who didnt pay attention in english class or maybe he rebelled against school all together, I like that type. then i took a long walk around the dockyard creek to vittoriosa, also a nice city with a fort at the tip and lots of wealthy english families.. the fort had a sign reading (closed for restoration) but the door at the top of the ramp was open. did they think a sign was gonna stop me, I went a head, and it was awesome. me alone at this massive fort with the sun setting over four different cities in the grand harbour.. i got a boner. I dont know what it is about fortifications and solidarity that makes me horney, so I dropped one. it was magnificant.

anyway, boys here are hot, I should take a shower and try to make some maltese friends or possibly go back to this waterside cafe and have a shisha as I did last night.. I am too excited to just go to sleep even after 10 hours of walking.

oversexed and overdone

Oh My God, I had mosquito attack for the last two nights, my skin is pealing all over my back and I can't believe the Smashing Pumpkins CD comes out next week but I probably wont be able to hear it until I'm back in the US!!

Thank God I am only in Florence for one week, unlike last year when I stayed a month. Marcelo is officially the most single track mind I've ever encountered. The guy thinks about his next fuck while he is fucking ( not with me, we are only friends) but seriously he is such a sex addict.. a bit of an alocoholic by my standards, in the tradition that we have, on my first night in florence with him we drink wine and catch up and of course I vomit.

I thought Florence was going to be relaxing after the action in Barcelona but NO. I did hook up with Marcelo (very unusual, since we really are only friends and the last time we had sex was the first time we met four years ago), then there was this really nice guy Rocco, he was something!! he had all the features I look for: beard, wide shoulders, big eyes and amazing kissing. marcelo had to spend the night on the sofa. and then I spend sunday with Marco, a friend of Marcelo's, and his boyfriend of 14 years who in all their 14 years together only had 4 threesomes.. they just had their 5th on Sunday. it was a very cultural day for me, I spoke lots of italian.

marcelo on the other hand is rediculous, me him and marco went to the beach on saturday and then stayed for the beach parties when at 5 in the morning he gives me his car keys to drive myself back to florence since he met a boy he wants to fuck, ofcourse the boy has an older boyfriend who only agreed to the deal if he gets some too! there was no way I will drive after a long night of drinking and dancing for the first time on a road in tuscany for one hour, so I went back with Marco, hence my sunday.

oh my god, gay people in italy gross me out. its like new jersey circa 1995 and as if nothing has happened in the music, fashion or whatever else for the last 12 years. people still actually have blonde tips on their hair, wear tight stretchy shirts and well, undermine their masculinity as much as possible. what a contrast with Barcelona. when I got into florence last week it was after 1 am and it was relatively quiet, then a car passed with a bunch of probably straight italian dudes blasting terrible music, thats when it hit me that I am back in italy, where the guys dress terribly and everybody listens to the worst music possible.

last night went to a Verdi opera and marcelo and his guests joined. so Friday Marcelo's freind Antonella (35ish) and her husband (65ish, with a ZZtop/Gandolf the white look) and their two friends from California arrived and they were to stay at Marcelo's of course. thats why for the last two nights I've been staying at Armando's where I have been attacked by mosquitos. anyway, the California 4 are a very nice group, very interesting for me though, I never actually met anyone who actually does the whole Renaissance Fair business, meaning they live in trailers and travel to fairs where they sell stuff. AMAZING! who would have thought I would finally get to meet such people in Florence, home of the Renaissance. needless to say their company was very pleasant... I learned alot. :)

The video here is from one of my last nights in Barcelona, very tense. Me, Yanis and Freddy hung out all day at the post Sonar beach parties, then were met with two of Freddy's freinds, two older guys. anyway, we finally go to Freddy's Friend's apartment, also an architect like me and Freddy, so its naturally very nice, but the guy seems to be sexually frustrated, the other guy however just keeps smiling at me hoping I would give him some.. anyway, the who night passes and nother sexual happens (thank God) since I would have wanted it to only involve Freddy, Yanis and me not the other two. the video I think captures the tense and strange atmosphere at like 5:30 am at this point, slightly high.

I'm off to Malta in a few hours, really excited.

5 shades darker

its hot. where do I begin.. I survived Sonar week in BCN with only a couple of scratches and a severe sunburn, which is a good thing. I at met Claire who is a friend of Adam from Cambridge, she now lives in Barcelona and works for an english weekly paper [BCN WEEK]. I met her on first night after my long trip over from NY and I was totally beat. we she was waiting for my with her folding bike at the entrance of the subway stop infront of my hotel, I knew it was her. we then went to a bar where we ran into her dealer and ended up having my first morrocan hash joint for the summer only two hours after arriving in the city, not bad. her dealer, like most meghrebis was obviously bisexual and was inspecting me like I was a potential boy for him. I would have gone for it, but the next day was Sonar, and there just was no time to waste with hot morrocans, its all about good electro right now.

I was a bit.. eh, disappointed with the line-up for Sonar-by-Day this year.. it was OK but the first day was the slowest.. which is good cuz it gave me time to check out the record fair, the exhibition, sonar cinema and all the other side things that come with the festival without missing out on good music. I met these two Iraqi sisters and their English friend, who of course asked me for drugs. apparently I would be an amazingly successful drug dealer. I was asked on average of 15 times a day during the festival if I had pills, hash, coke, or MDMA to sell.. I'm not sure what would make people assume I have drugs to sell, could it have been the way I look, the way I dance, or maybe the fannypack? not sure.

The first Sonar night was a special Beastie Boys concert and a rare performance of Narod Niki (a kind of electro orchestra of over 10 DJs programming music live on stage together). I was smart enough to sleep through the Beastie Boys and just made it in Time for Narod Niki which went on at about 2:20 am. It was pretty damn good.

Sonar days are long, the day begins at noon until 9pm then the night begins at midnight until 9 am. basically if you want to see all the acts of the festival then you have 3 hours to eat and sleep at night and 3 more hours to eat and sleep in the morning. I basically lived off Cheese, bread, beer, cigarettes, hash and water for 5 days..

Here are some of my favorites: there was a video installation that was a sort of video representation of sound. so these were extremely minimal, repetitive visuals that correspond to very minimal noise.. it was realy amazing, its hard to describe. but it was really good to see when I smoked a little too much hash and just wanted to hide from the sun and the crowds.

there was this guy (Tuomas Toivonen) from finland, his performance was pretty good. he programmed his music live on stage with a very minimal set and then he sang over the kicks. my favorites were: Now is Better, which went something like this (now is better, is better than ever, I love the present, I hate nostalgia.. contemporary forever..) very funny and I cant do it justice.. the other one I liked was Utopia and it went like this (U is for Utopia, U izzz for Utopia....) then he sings the concepts of Ebenezer Howard about city and country.. again it was pretty hilarious, I really appreciated it.

the highlight from Sonar-by-Night was by far the Ed Bangers showcase with DJ Mehdi and Justice, very good live, people were dancing like there is no tomorrow.

Digitalism was OK, I didnt think they were amazing live.. but they were not as bad as Junior Boys who I like alot and they sucked hard live.. their music definetley belongs in the studio and on a CD.. and what was up with the bass and the drummer?

enough about the music..

more then anything Sonar this year made me miss the NY gang (Caroline, Erik, Christopher, Erica and Venessa).. our last weekend together was amazing and I can only imagine that they are going to be here in BCN next year so we can do this sonar thing together.

as usual I met some really interesting people...

Meir, a very hot israeli who was checking me out and when I noticed I walked up to him and asked "I thought I saw you looking..." then we exchanged info and met up again the next night at a BPitch Control party in Nitsa Club.. it was very hot very crowded but we found each other.. he is very handsome.. it looks like we will both be in Berlin in a few weeks so we may meet again there.. the whole thing was very sweet and we only kissed but somehow there is a mutual interest to connect in the future.

Anastasia, a 40 year old British woman who is a free spirit, traveller and most importantly a very good person. we met at a bar where I went with Claire on my last night in BCN. Ana and I ended up sharing stories of love, hate and other existantial crap but it was pretty amazing, it was one of those meetings that you would never forget, there was a strange energy that we shared, it was pretty amazing..

then there were Freddy and Yanis. we made eye contact at the digitalism show then yanis approached me and offered me pills or something, I thought they were tryin to sell me drugs, so I said no and kept my distance.. ( I am still paranoid from my experience last year).. then the next day I saw them again and Freddy, the spanish guy, smiled at me.. I didnt do anything.. then I saw them again the following day at the post Sonar Beach party.. this time I approached Freddy and said that I have noticed him around but wasnt sure what his intentions were.. we ended up haning out for the rest of the day and the night.. and boy it got really fun, weird, tense, bizzare at moments..

I am running out of internet time so I gotta finish this later :)

el viaje se funde

the trip that melts the face and burns the sole looks like this:

BCN, Florence, Malta+Gozo, Bratislava, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Budapest, Egypt

adventure begins June 12