spa day
Final Lisbon dispatch
I survived the flophouse. I’m in a hotel now. A nice one. My mom asked how much it cost and she was shocked at how cheap it was. There’s an infinity pool on the roof and a spa in the basement. The spa’s great. Much needed after this week. I’m in the sauna cleaning my nostrils out. I feel refreshed. I shave my beard and wash my hair and take a real shower for the first time in a while. I look like a respectable person of society again.
Been a while since I was in a spa. Last time was January. A cold winter night. Joe Burrow upset the Bills. We’d been at the bar all day when someone decided to go to a spa. All of us were drunk and high on mushrooms and thought it was a great idea. That’s how I ended up doing cold plunges and discussing Egyptian politics and making out with you at 2 AM while the snow fell outside. New York has everything you could ever want. It’s just a matter of finding it.
Lisbon’s similar to the big apple in some ways. There’s a ton of parks. Cute squares that you can hang out in. Robust public transit options. Lots of really good food. Big immigrant population. You get the sense that it’s an old city, like walking around certain parts of Manhattan. That people have prayed at churches that are older than the Declaration of Independence and the docks you’re looking out at now were the launch points for wars and colonizing expeditions.
Portugal was the original colonizing superpower, before Spain or the British or the French or the Dutch. They had a huge empire spanning from Africa to South America to Asia. You can see it in the palaces and the statues and the squares and the basilicas in the old parts of town. Things only possible by extracting the wealth and labor and lives from the indigenous people whose areas they ravaged. But the Portuguese fucked up. They got lazy. Their European rivals caught up to them and started their own New World expeditions and built their own armadas and their own colonies. And so Portuguese power and influence shrank over the centuries until the country became the go-to spot for crypto guys seeking a tax haven and British tourists going on holiday. They weren’t involved in World War II. Nobody thought to include them. Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t even the best soccer player of his generation.
**
The day before I leave I meet up with a longtime twitter mutual of mine. He’s from Brazil but he just moved to Lisbon to study film. He’s also the first person I’ve had a real conversation with in a while that doesn’t know what Urbit is, which is a huge breath of fresh air.
We’re talking about our homelands. The city he’s from has 2 million people. Some place I’ve never heard of. He says that Sao Paulo, which is near him, has 20 million. Shit. I think that’s a bigger population than the greater NYC area. Lisbon feels small to him. And more expensive. To me it feels big and cheap. I like the different perspectives we have on this city. It reminds me that I live in a bubble. That people have different lives. He says that a lot of Brazilians live here, that they can stay without needing a visa. I ask if he’s going to try to stay for 5 years and apply for Portugal citizenship. He says probably. He doesn’t want to go back home. He’s just like me for real.
We talk about our favorite David Lynch films while eating Taco Bell. He’s never had it before. He likes it. I can’t escape America try as I might. Wherever you go, there you are.
**
I’m writing this while landing into JFK. My last flight for a while. One more foray upstate and then I’m in town again for a while. No more trips. No more sojourns to/from JFK or LGA or, thank God, EWR. Travelling is fun but it’s also good to be home and reflect on your experiences. Analyze how the world has changed you. I want to travel more in the future. Maybe I’ll go with you. That’d be nice. The world is too big to be seen all by yourself. It’s nice to share the journey with others.
**
Oh, right, I gotta tell you guys about this thing I ate all the time in Lisbon. It’s called doner box and it’s the best fucking thing since I don’t even know when. It’s just french fries and mixed gyro meats carved from a spit and white sauce and hot sauce. Kind of like the stuff you get at halal carts, but it’s way better because 1. they get served in a small takeout box and a fork so it’s much easier to eat on the go and 2. it’s really cheap, only like 5 bucks and 3. it cuts out all the bad shit you get in your average chicken and rice plate. No watery vegetables. No overdone rice. Just meat and carbs and that heavenly white sauce, which I need to figure out how to replicate.
I’m not sure why the halal carts don’t just sell this. It seems super easy and fast and cheap to make. I guess they don’t have the gyro spits in trucks, but they could replicate it with the cubed meats they give you in rice bowls. Seems like the ideal meal for a city that’s constantly on the move.