By Mark Holston
Judy Cantor-Navas writes about Latin music for Billboard Magazine Latin Music and is managing editor of Billboard en Espa�ol. Based in Los Angeles, she travels the region in search of the best in new music.
Tell me about your favorite nostalgic hotel.
These days, Havana [Cuba] has better appointed hotels, like the trendy
|
Havana's Nacional hotel
|
Hotel Saratoga or Melia Cohiba, but I still love the 80-year-old Nacional: the photos of Johnny Weissmuller [an Olympic gold medalist best known for playing Tarzan in movies] and the bust of Nat King Cole, the grand palm-framed driveway, the pocket bar off the lobby. [On] the back patio and lawn with views of the malec�n, you can sit and listen to a trio playing vintage son (even the music for tourists in Cuba is life-affirming) music and eat some good rotisserie chicken. While I'm haunted by its star-studded, mafia connected past, the Nacional's ghostly glamour and mystery persist.
Is there an airport that sets your musical soul on fire?
|
Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires |
Buenos Aires' Ezeiza. It's like a tango come to life. This terminal has set the scene for my own emotional departures, saying goodbye to some of my dearest friends. And I've always been moved by the frequent sighting of whole families there coming to see someone off who they don't expect to see again for a long time.
Which is the most difficult airport to pass through customs and immigration?
I'm sorry to say it's in the city where I was born, New York's JFK. Traveling with my husband, who is from Spain, I have seen too many times the disrespectful and downright cruel treatment of foreign nationals. They treat people in an unacceptably rude and purposefully intimidating way. I will never forget the sight of customs officers tearing apart the suitcase of a man from Venezuela, whose luggage contained some santos (figurines of saints), which they passed around, jeering and laughing loudly. For shame.
What's a great little get-away while visiting a major city?
While in Buenos Aires, I would not miss going to Tigre in the Rio de la Plata delta. Some of my most cherished memories are of spending weekends in a cabin there with no electricity and a brick parrilla (grill).
Tigre, outside Buenos Aires in the Rio de la Plata delta
Duty-Free Delights
Cantor-Navas' favorite duty free purchases.
"[No. 1 is] Havana Club rum. Whether I'm coming from Cuba or another Latin American country where I can buy it in the duty free, I always buy a couple of bottles.
"Usually I am searching for something to bring back to my son. While the prices [in duty free] are steeper than they should be, he has a collection of the toy airplanes that make "real" plane sounds and I'm always on the lookout for them.
"Otherwise, I like to buy local food products. I look for things I can't find at home, such as Spanish black olives. And while the prices are higher than at local stores, they usually aren't bad. Sometimes I buy something I need, like a cr�me or lipstick. I don't see it being cheaper than a department store, but when I'm waiting for a plane I actually have time to shop, so I take advantage."
Photos - Nacional hotel: Xl's-Shutterstock.com; Tigre: Mark Holston