Travel : Mexico City

I wasn't particularly excited to visit a city of over 21 million people. The thought of nearly the population of Canada in one city kind of freaked me out. I've always been keen on visiting the small towns when i'm travelling... However, what I discovered was that one week here was not enough time.

We drove from the coast in San Pancho to Guadalajara with some friends we met along the way before catching a flight to Mexico City the next day. I remember banking left over the city before we landed, it was so big, I couldn't see where it began and where it ended. After leaving a relaxing week on the coast, we were quick to sharpen up our senses and stayed alert for scammers or pick pocketers, something I had heard about the city was to be aware of your belongings and to be careful who you trust. 

We took an Uber to our AirBnB, a beautiful loft above a cute café in a nice neighbourhood. There are a few districts in Mexico City that have been gentrified with upscale restaurants, stores and you get a sense of the division here between wealthy and poor... It also happens to be the epicentre of modern art, culture and design in the city. It's best to either UBER or bike around between neighbourhoods as they span over quite a few miles. We spend a lot of our time in Roma Norté, La Condesa & Polanco.  

Our AirBnb

Where to eat

Some of the best restaurants i've ever been to were in Mexico City... we ate pretty cheap meals for breakfast and lunch, and splurged out out dinners at high-end restaurants, which equivalently were about the same price as a decent meal in Canada or the US.

Lardo

We only ate here for appetizers and drinks, but it was one of my favourite restaurants... The food was amazing, the service was top notch and the atmosphere was relaxing. My only regret is not coming hungry for a full dinner. The owner also owns a few other places in the city that are also incredible. Make a reservation before you go, you won't regret it.

Huset
Beautiful outdoor seating under a maze of string lights. We only stayed for a cocktail, but the menu looked incredible... the drinks were top notch! 

Taqueria Orinoco
Some of the best tacos we had in Mexico City... if your Spanish is as bad as ours, you might have a tough time ordering. I'd suggest looking at what other people order and pointing at it. 

La Rosetta
Italian restaurant in the heart of Condesa, the type of architecture that would never meet building codes in Canada, the type of food that makes you wish you could eat more. We did a full course meal with wine pairing and it might have been the best Italian food i've experienced outside of Italy.

La Rosetta

Where to drink  : 

Limantour

Cocktails, atmosphere, location. This place has it all. If you want to try your hands at some hard to find Mezcal or an award winning classic cocktail, this is your joint... If you don't show up early, you won't find a seat... For good reason. 

Limantour

Xaman Bar

Xaman Bar

This place came from a suggestion from a tourist from New York, who happened to be the judge of the international cocktail competition that was happening in Mexico City. There is no real sign to find this bar, it's down a set of stairs in a unassuming neighbourhood. When you make your way into the dark basement, you find a dimly lit bar that feels like a 1960's tiki bar meets a shaman's house. Cocktails are served in a variety of ways, with unique herbs, spices, flavours and glassware. One cocktail came served with a beaded panther skull done by the Huichol people, served with a bamboo straw erecting from the mouth of the panther.

Local tips : 

1. Parts of Mexico City are still unsafe for tourists, check online before heading into neighbourhoods.

2. Do not leave your wallet, purse, phone etc unattended at bars and restaurants, it will disappear

3. rent a bike!

4. UBER is pretty cheap for getting around also

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"Ghost Nets" of the Salish Sea

When I first met Bourton, I was wandering around with my camera on the docks of the Maritime Museum in Vancouver. I saw a guy dressed in overalls sanding an old wooden tug boat. It had me curious, so I walked up and said hello and asked if I could take a few photos, and since that day we’ve become great friends. Not only does ‘Burt’ own a 1950’s wooden tug boat named the Ella Mackenzie, he is also a commercial diver with a passion for conservation, founding a non-profit called the Emerald Sea Protection Society who’s mission is simple, identify lost fishing gear and marine debris and clean it up… Although the solution for this problem proves itself to be more complicated than first imagined.

Flash-forward a year of many beers, joints and countless days on the water and our plan to create a documentary on the issue of lost fishing nets in the Salish Sea begins to take light… We filmed a small teaser over a week last summer in the gulf islands to drum up some support and a few weeks ago with some funding we were able to film a full-length documentary which will be aired on national television in the coming year.

So, what is a “ghost net”?

A fishing net that has been lost at sea, often times caught on a reef, or simply just bad fishing conditions leading to an accident. These nets have been lost from years of fishing along the coast, and with no accountability, they’ve been left at the bottom of the ocean to continually fish, and they don’t just fish target species down there, they fish everything from small fish, to large mammals, creating a never-ending cycle and causing huge habitat loss and economic downfalls.

Compared to the hot topic of ocean plastics, ghost nets are basically an invisible issue. They are mostly found beneath the water along with other marine debris and human waste. It really became apparent when we dove under a marina, in a cute harbour on Saltspring Island… below the marina in a short dive we found piles of debris including 2 marine batteries, a bicycle, tires, shopping carts, plastic crates and more… when we pulled up a few pieces and placed them on the dock, people were shocked that these things were lingering just below the surface of the water… for Bourton, it’s not a surprise, he sees these types of things constantly as a commercial diver… sparking him to take action.

During the filming, we managed to recover a full gill net in the Great Bear Rainforest as well as large chunks of a purse seine net off the coast of Pender Island. Both of these tasks proved to be very difficult… the gill net was only visible at low tide, and with huge tidal swings, we had a very limited time to hack it into pieces and bag it up. It took 2 days and a few people to tackle that net, leaving the crew with bloody hands from cuts and scrapes. The second net off Pender Island was technical, involving 2 vessels, a team of divers and support crew, a ROV and a limited window of time. After multiple dives to over 100 feet in a strong current, the team was only able to recover a portion of the net that spans over the length of a football field and weighs a few tonnes.

The Emerald Sea Protection Society is working hard to pull together more resources, funding and support to survey the Salish Sea for nets, and plan out the recovery, stay tuned as we cut together a full-length documentary on the project.

For more info, visit the Emerald Sea Protection Society and please consider making a donation!
www.emeraldseasociety.ca

Photoset : Coldsmoke co

I get a lot of joy showing people around BC that are not from here, so when Coldsmoke Co hit me up to shoot a look book for them in Tofino, I was ecstatic. These guys make technical outerwear from some of the best materials in the world, made in LA. It’s not like this group hasn’t travelled but none of them had been to this special place on Vancouver Island…

See more on the Coldsmoke Blog