Cafe Maximo

There is an episode, in Anthony Bourdain's show, Parts Unknown, where he is in Myanmar, the dictatorship has just ended, censorship is gone, and people can speak freely in tea houses again. Not that people didn't talk in tea houses before. He says that such places have always been hotbeds of rebellious discussion, forums for artistic expression, and where you could find agents for the government spying on would-be rebels over hot cups of tea. I've always liked that image of a tea house. I'm sure it's the same for cafes. They appear mild and uninteresting, on the surface, while actually having complicated undercurrents of hostility underneath. All the while, smelling delicious of course. It doesn't matter what the cafe would look like, as long as they would serve good food, good coffee or tea, and people could talk.

Talking has always been as interesting as when people learned to lie. And everything seems better with a cup of coffee in hand.