64 San Diego Reader December 15, 2016 36 San Diego Reader December 15, 2016


42 San Diego Reader


Gather No Moss TRAVEL STORIES AND TIPS FROM OUR READERS


and the waitstaff spoke both English and Spanish. La Roma neighborhood serenaded us as we came and went, and the night carried on.


View from Euro Stars Reforma Hotel in Mexico City’s financial district


Night’s song in


Mexico City By Lauren Lynch


I woke up this morning feeling like there was something in my head — knocking, asking me to let it spill out. There was a rhythm and a beat and a step. I was being asked to groove. Labor Day weekend this year gave me and my best friend/pseudo-sister, Nicole, the opportunity we always crave: adventure.


And adventure we did.


After a sloppy, adrenaline-spurred search on Kayak and a quick look at a world map, we decided Mexico City was our plan of attack. It was just far enough to “feel far,” without the ugly weight of international jet lag — and, honestly, the price was so right we could in no way resist.


We discovered the beauty of Roma Norte’s vegan co-ops, lush gardens, and dreamy cafés that go vir- tually unnoticed amidst the slow roll of the day, reveled in the U.S. dollar- to-Mexican peso exchange rate, and laughed our way through a seduction of Mexico City’s mezcal collection. We met with not one foreign person, only Mexican locals and the occasional Spaniard who had claimed this former European ter- ritory as home. Cuidad de Mexico was singing us a beautiful lullaby. Instead of sleeping, we stayed up and let the rhythm lead us through the city.


Our midnight daydreams went something like this:


At 9 p.m. an Italian feast at Macelleria Roma of gnocchi and ravioli equipped us with stamina and carbs for a successful night of binge-drinking.


The scene was romantic


kamvenk: Phantom Ship is a small island in Crater Lake in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is a natural rock formation pillar which derives its name from its resemblance to a ghost ship, especially in foggy and low-light conditions.


Win $25 for your travel tips or a Reader T-Shirt or hat for the best travel photo of the week. Go to SDReader


.com/travel for more information.


At 11 p.m. the evening began to rear its sexy head when we strolled less than a mile to Felix, our cozy pre- disco stop in Roma Norte that served a scrumptious clamato natural, a bloody mary–esque mezcal fixie that cost about $2. The lighting was Instagram- worthy, and the people quite chic — despite their spewing cig smoke like a poorly ventilated chimney. We enjoyed a slow-winding start to the evening over mezcal and deep house. The vibe, and momentum to the night, were pal- pable. I felt the edges of my mouth turn up at the promise of a dance. At 12:45 a.m. we went to Café Paraiso to salsa, and it seemed to be the place to see and be seen. Crowds of beautiful Mexicans, and dos gringas, gathered around the door while security and a bouncy little door woman in a white fur vest hand-chose the people that were able to enter through the unmarked doorway.


Shrouded in neon pink flamin- gos, Café Paraiso had the whimsi- cal, frivolous atmosphere Nicole and I craved. The room was full of music, and small table rounds out of Casablanca sat on cream-and- black subway tile. Night’s song was clear now. The partying continued and we danced until just past 5 a.m.


Other Adventures


Read before you go SDReader.com/Travel


San Diego Outdoors with the Museum Canyoneers ROAM-O-RAMA


JUNIPER CANYON OPEN SPACE Experience feeling alone with nature in the middle of the city


Distance from downtown San Diego: approximately 4 miles. Go north on First Avenue and take 1-5 south, exiting on Pershing Drive. Continue north for about a mile before taking a slight right onto Redwood Street and continue on Redwood, turning south onto 32nd Street then east on Nutmeg Street. The trail is on the south side of Nutmeg Street between 33rd and Felton Street. Hiking length: Round-trip distance is 1.6 miles with the trail cut in half by Juniper Street. It can also be walked as two separate hikes of less than a mile each. Difficulty: Easy. Elevation gain/loss of 100 feet with uneven, rocky parts, and a spot in the south half of the trail where one has a brief scramble across the bottom drainage. No facilities.


Wild radish in Juniper Canyon J


uniper Canyon Open Space is mainly an urban remnant of the local native coastal sage scrub, with some intermingling of chaparral and some weedy growth along the trail. The trail itself varies from a narrow path to a partially overgrown, dirt service road going between manholes of the sewer main that runs beneath the bottom of the canyon. The trail south of Juniper Street has more natural growth than the northern portion, where escaped plantings from yards have intruded extensively. From the north, the trail starts as an inconspicu- ous path. An oleander bush, noted for its pretty flowers and poisonous vegetation, borders the west side of the entrance. Toward the other side is the


native bladder-pod, with narrow gray-green leaves and the swollen seed pods that give it its name. Not far off is the prostrate snake-cholla cactus and sacred datura, or jimsonweed, another toxic plant. Bordering the trail are pepper trees with bunches of small pink berries, that when the papery pink outer coating is rubbed off, reveal the “pepper-corns” within (black when ripe, green when not). The ones with dark green leaves are Brazilian pepper; the ones with narrow, light-green, curving leaves are Peruvian pepper, formerly called California pepper, since it was so commonly planted here ever since it was brought to the state by the padres of the first missions. The gray-leafed trees with dark berries are various varieties of olive.


After walking 0.1 mile is the official sign declaring this an open- space park. Just before the sign is a jade plant with its succulent oval leaves, a standard of early San Diego land- scaping. Further on, the low reddish suc- culent ground cover is crystalline ice plant from South Africa. Downhill is a prickly-pear cactus with giant pads and inconspicuous spines. This is Indian fig cac- tus (Opuntia ficus- indica). Different types of prickly-pear cactus have been brought here from Central and South America for food continued on page 39


Find maps for the hikes and more Roam-O-Rama columns online at SDReader.com/roam


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