Acapulco Adventures March 08

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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Acapulco Adventure
Category: Travel and Places

This is a few months back when I wrote this along with some of my entries, please keep in mind the location, and date.

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Typing this back in San Diego after my trip to Acapulco, Mexico.

Anyway, so I completely thought we were leaving Thursday morning to Acapulco when in fact it was Wednesday night. I had just went to a model fitting in Del Mar at a designers house, was on my way back to my place to go out with my girlfriends before leaving when my friend Carlos called me telling me he was on his way to come pick us up. Completely baffled, I flew home whilst my gas tank told me E! I completely did not pay attention to the flight schedule as it said Wed night, not Thursday morning. So I called the other dancer, Crystal and told her to get over to my place as we were getting picked up at 9:30 to drive to Tijuana.

When I got home, thankfully I packed most of my suitcase earlier that day and Art made me a nice Salmon dinner but I didn’t have time to eat it. He asked why am I leaving tonight and it was my fault as I didn’t read the email with our flights times clearly so I told him we had to bail out tonight. I packed the rest of my suitcase, Carlos and Crystal both arrived at my place and then at 9:45 we were off to TJ. I never imagined I’d cross the border to fly out of TJ but there is a first to everything right? (I recorded the border crossing)

Once we were at the airport, we waited two hours before catching our 1:30 am flight to Acapulco. We landed about 6 am and as we were collecting our luggage, there were chickens in boxes on the belt roosting. It was quite funny as out of all the traveling I’ve done, I’ve never had a shipment of chickens and I swear we were on a regular airliner! The guy who was putting on the festival named Henaro had his brother, Martin (pronounced Marth-eeen) pick us up from the aeropuerto and it was off to the villa. As soon as we got to the villa, we took a small nap to rejuvenate and then we all headed out to the beach to promote the festival.

In Acapulco, I don’t know if it’s in other places but at the beach, there are a bunch of stragglers who jump on your car and claim to know where parking is so, they jump on your car and show you where. Then if you find a spot yourself, they still expect you to pay them for looking, so ghetto. We had 3 stragglers on our jeep looking for 20 minutes, Martin ended up finding a spot on his own and the last straggler expected to be paid. What a liberty.

After that adventure, we all walked to the beach, rented a canopy, drank and walked around taking photos "Una photo una photo" and passing out flyers. The beach was a happening place, loads of spring breakers from Mexico City there relaxing, you don’t see many Americans there unlike Cancun or perhaps even Cabo San Lucas. We stayed there for a few hours before heading back to the villa to eat some dinner. As I was unpacking some stuff, I noticed there were white sheets of paper in my suitcase and Arthur wrote me notes and hid them in my suitcase back home when I wasn’t looking. Awww!!! He’s so sweet.

The villa that we stayed in was wicked, it reminded me of villa I stayed in in Ibiza a couple years only this time we had a lady who came and cooked for us and she was amazing. I wanted to pack her up and take her back home with me. Of course, it was Spanglish in the house as well because we spoke conversational Spanish, a few english speakers and then the non-English speakers. It was cool because everyone in the house was great and we don’t need much to be content, just give me a room with a nice bathroom I’m good to go. It also had a pool to relax in and we were playing some house music, it all went well together.

This is Thursday, so that evening we had to go pick up some of the DJ’s at the airport and take them to Acapulco Bay. I have to be honest, when we first arrived to Acapulco and we drove to the beach, I thought that was it and I was a bit dissappointed but you actually have to drive another 20 minutes around the hills on this dodgy windy road along side the cliffs to get into Acapulco Bay. It’s the only way in so if there is an accident or you decide you want to be speedy gonzalez, you’re screwed. When you come around the bend, you can see the entire city and it’s such a cool view.

Back to us picking up the DJ’s. We got ready and headed to the airport to pick up Mike Shiver, Mike Foyle, Galen Behr, 4-Strings (Jaans), and Leon Bolier. Crystal and I felt a little funny because we were ready to go out and we’re standing there looking like groupies waiting for them. LOL When they finally arrived, we all drove over to Acapulco Bay to take them to their hotel. It took forever getting there because traffic was insane due to this club called the Palladium which looks over the entire bay. Once we finally got passed that it was easy sailing then to their hotel.

When we finally got to the hotel, they checked in and Carlos said let’s all go out to the clubs. The dj’s literally just landed from Europe and were all up for it, so that was cool. We actually didn’t get to the club until 1 am, and when we got there, it was nearly empty so we went to another club next door that was outside and we took it over. The club put us up in the second level, blocked off the entire balchony, brought us bottles of vodka and the dj’s took turns playing on the decks for fun. Acapulco during spring break is absolutely nuts, but everyone was having a blast and we didn’t leave until 4:30 am closer to 5 am when you can see the sky slightly lighting up. We finally got back at 6 am and went to sleep at 6:30 am.

The following day we were suppose to ride on a float during the parade but Carlos fell asleep and didn’t check his phone, so Crystal and I were all dressed up and nowhere to go. After waiting an hour, we decided to lay out a bit and get some color, Carlos finally woke up, Martin came back and he took us cruising thru the town. We took some photos and drove around, Martin had to collect some cash from ticket sales, we drove back to the festival grounds which is back by the villa and airport, then we went to Walmart to do some shopping. I brought torches to do a fire set but we couldn’t find any kerosene fluid so I didn’t think I was going to do a fire set. I was a bit sad but what can you do if there isn’t the right fluid? Then we went to Starbucks and I had to get my starbucks coffee mug for my collection, then back to the festival.

When we got there, we walked over to main stage where Leon was playing, the crowd was really enjoying the music. All we had to do was dance 4 x 20 minute sets to any dj’s we wanted except Moby. We all became a little crew since we all went clubbing the night before and it was cool because the dj’s were all great, non of them were divas, high maintenance, attitudes, etc....Everyone was there to have a good time. We danced to 4-strings set, Matthew Dear, and Jimmy Van M who replaced 16 Bit Lolitas. Moby was headlining that night and I have to say who ever thought minimal thoughts about Moby (including myself), if you ever get a chance to see him....GO SEE HIM! He is such a humble guy, very nice, when he gets onto the stage, he’s very good at controlling the crowd. I highly recommend scratching your Eminem thoughts on him and not taking his mainstream success into consideration because aside from all that BS, he can rock it! He gained my respect on Friday night for sure.

The festival grounds were quite bit and there were 3 stages, one at the front towards the entrance, main stage and second main stage. Moby played main and then Infected Mushroom played right after and their stuff is a bit too hard for me to dance to so we went over to second stage and danced to Matthew Dear. All the dj’s were a bit drunk and came out with us because they weren’t big fans of IM as well. However, during Matthew’s set, the wiring fried and his set was cut short. So that was a buzz kill. We all went back to main stage and Mike Shiver was suppose to close out the night after IM which kind of sucked because he was there the entire night waiting and once IM were done, 60% of the crowd left. All of us (4-strings, Crystal, Galen, Leon, Mike F, and myself) all stayed for half of his set jumping up and down to keep the crowd going. I asked him to play "Always a fool" for me and he did 3rd song. I had my hands in the air singing the lyrics, awesome way to end out the night!

Crystal and I got back to the villa about 6:30 am and went to sleep. I ended up waking up about noon, eating some lunch, and laying out. Everyone was gone sorting out the festival, picking up more dj’s, bits and pieces. We heard there were a few minor things that weren’t going right, one of them being PVD’s management. His booking agent for Mexico came on Friday night and decided she didn’t like the set up of the stage, so she requested changes to the stage as well as the line up for Saturday night. It all seemed to work out fine, until we got to the festival Saturday night. We arrived about 7pm, there were people standing outside the gates waiting to come in. When we walked in thru the VIP entrance, no one was inside and the dj’s were all there. Menno De Jong flew in that day and Jennifer Rene was there. Jaans who played on Friday night was already there with his video camera (he was paparrazzi all weekend with his trust video camera). We pretty much just lingered around the grounds waiting to see what was going on. Until Carlos came.

Carlos came with the line up and set times for Saturday and all the mainstage dj’s were moved to the second stage per PVD and his management’s request. This includes, Menno De Jong, Filo and Peri, Alex Morph, even Jennifer Rene. It was a huge mess, Menno was pissed and said he won’t play due to contract terms being on main stage. Carlos wasn’t the one putting on the event, but he was taking care of all the dj’s and the promoters were so concerned about pleasing PVD that it was messing up everyone else’s agenda to play. It was a huge mess!

It was 8 pm and no one was in the grounds yet, we all sat around waiting wondering what the hell is going on. I text Dom from Filo and Peri and told him what was going on because we honestly thought, "oh great." Jennifer Rene finally was able to open up the festival and then Menno finally went .. her. Crystal and I did our set to Menno’s and the crowd were going nuts. Mike Foyle was on the second stage blasting out trance, so as soon as we were done with our first, we went to do a second set to Mike’s. That’s another thing, the house music and trance music weren’t set at different stages, it was back and forth. Also, apparently PVD didn’t want any trance dj’s .. him on main stage so that was another reason why it was a mess. But Jenn and Menno went on anyway, Alex Morph was suppose to play main stage but was booted to second stage. Some one was pissed about something and Carlos had to run onto main stage to play after Menno, and he plays more house so it went from trance to house and the crowd looked confused.

Once the crowd started getting into it finally, Crystal and I got done, I went back out and did a fire set during Carlos’s set and it was break time. The backstage was chill and everyone was having a good time until we were all told we had to leave because PVD didn’t want anyone around. So all of us went over to second stage, Alex Morph came on and with in 5 minutes he had the crowd going nuts and he played a classic and all time favorite of mine, Ocean Lab’s Satellite. Everyone was dancing, it was great. Dom and Bo finally show up and I told them what was going on and they were just then told they weren’t playing main stage. THEN, Alex gets told he has to shut off his set for PVD. 30 MINUTES INTO IT!! He was PISSED!!! Dom wasn’t having it so when he said he was going back to main stage VIP, I said we can’t go, his response, "no F*&^ that you can come." Haha 30 of us mobbed back over, it was hilarious. Now here’s where s*&6 was hitting the fan.

We all go back, everyone is dancing, having a good time PVD wasn’t on yet, a Mexican dj was playing at the moment, I was talking to everyone, Dom, Jaans, Menno, Bo... we were all having a good time but Dom was trying to figure out what was going on with their set, Alex was pissed off, you could start to feel the tension in the air. PVD hasn’t came on yet and already he’s causing ripples in the water. Jaans was sitting there with his beer just looking back and watching it all loving the drama. Luckily for him, he had a great set and everything went smoothly. But tonight, it was just a cluster f*&^. Management was getting involved, finally PVD goes on, his management put so much stress and requirements on the promoters, Dom and Bo are pissed. Like I said, you can feel the tension and you can cut it with a knife. What else can seriously be worse?

Well, PVD knew Filo and Peri were suppose to go .. him so towards the end of his set, he decides to mix in Anthem, Filo and Peri’s 1 track. Right then, that was it. Everyone in the back just looked stunned! Like, "I cannot believe he just pulled that on them. The nerve!" It was wild, you had to be there to just feel and see reactions, and the arguments, everything. It was crazy and what’s funny is the crowd has no idea what’s going behind the stage. When PVD was done with his set, he ran off stage and straight into the dressing room. Security were escorting him to the car and to the stage, it was crazy. Dom and Bo didn’t end up playing, they left. I felt so awful for them because we were suppose to dance to their set and they were gonna play anthem. Alex Morph gets back on for 45 mins and then Josh Wink came on. Crystal and I did our last set to Josh’s and his style of music is totally opposite to what they were banging out so at 5 am in the morning the boys had this brilliant idea to tag team on main stage.

Jaan gets on the mic and introduces Mike F, Mike S, Leon, and Galen and they all start taking turns on the decks and it’s Sunday morning. It was the highlight of the weekend to end out the festival like that. We were all on stage dancing around, jumping up and down, Jaans is on the mic saying, "Acapulco wanna party?" Everyone was going crazy! We stayed until 6:30 am, the sky was getting light. Crystal wasn’t feeling good from the tacos we had earlier that night so she was tired, but I was having a blast. I didn’t want to leave, but our ride was there to pick us up as we had a 11 am flight. We said our good byes to everyone while they are still going at it. The villa is 5 mins away so when we got home, Crystal took a nap and I stayed up and I could hear them playing until 8 am. Awesome!

I watched some tv in the living room and there was a guy there from Belize who I saw earlier in the night but didn’t pay much attention to. He asked me if I wanted to smoke and I said I don’t smoke cigarettes and he said it’s a joint, so I though, "why not!" So here we are sitting outside smoking a joint talking about music, San Diego, Belize, live, good energy, this guy was so cool. He was extremely exotic looking, dark, had naturally blonde hair, surfer, loves life, and was cracking me up. Plus being stoned, he was just that much more funny. His friend was a dj who played at the festival and when he came back to the villa, he was smittened with me, kept telling me to come to Playa de Carmen with him, to stay. He was adorable but I said, "if I come I have to bring my boyfriend." Dave, my new Belizan friend started cracking up, was so funny. Then, one guy who was at the villa named Omar, the whole time who spoke very little english, went up stairs and smoked weed, came down and was so high, he started speaking loads of English. It’s funny when you’re drunk or I guess stoned, your guard comes down and you speak better.

Around 9 am I woke up Crystal, we packed up and started saying bye to everyone. Carlos came back, packed up and a driver came to pick us up. Our weekend in Acapulco was coming to an end, Omar was telling the drivers, in English mind you, to put the bags in the trunk and started singing to us. The drivers are Mexican, and he was speaking to them in English, that’s how stoned he was. LOL Once we left, we drove 5 minutes to the airport, checked in, boarded our flight and headed back to Tijuana. Once we landed at the airport there, Carlos’s brother picked us up and it was another hour to cross the border. Finally, around 3:30 pm we were on the 905, stopped in Chula Vista for a quick bite, then onto my place to drop off Crystal and I. hadn’t slept in over 24 hours because all night at the festival, all morning, all flight, all the way home. I completely forgot it was Easter, so when I got home, Arthur and I went to eat sushi in Hillcrest. Then one of my good friends Kalifa is moving back to Dubai so we went to say good bye to him. Looks like I have to make a trip to Dubai now. :-)

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Photos

Crystal and I
I brought her along with me to Acapulco to dance.

Our group
Myself, Mike Shivers, Mike Foyle, Galen Behr, Leon Boiler, Jaan (4 Strings) and Crystal. We just picked them up from the airport at 11 pm and went out right after.

Carlos and Jaan
Haha he looks like a flamer.

Drive home at 6 am
Club Palladium overlooking the bay. The road was insanely packed.

Cruising
The following day we cruised around.