| IF THERE WAS EVER A PLACE WHERE A MAN MAY BE TEMPTED TO BITE AN UNKNOWN WOMAN'S NAVEL, THAT PLACE IS IBIZA IN AUGUST. | ![[Mallemaroking runs amok]](ibiza970408.jpg) |
I B I Z A | A N A V E L V O Y A G E
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C O N T E N T S My Private Wanderlust
Ibiza: A Navel Voyage
Mallemaroking D E P A R T M E N T S Postmark: New York
Passages:
Table Talk
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- - - - - - - - E A R L I E R Welcome to Wanderlust Isabel Allende
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BY KARL TARO GREENFELD |
summer in Ibiza was fine until my friend Christopher, drunk on too
much tequila and Pescador wine -- an intoxicatingly sweet and fizzy Sprite-like white wine -- bit Isabella Estrapulos,
the granddaughter of the most powerful man on the island,
on the navel. I didn't witness the act; I had stayed
home that night. It all started innocently enough when Chris and my girlfriend, Silka, drove to the center of
Ibiza's old city to rendezvous with a few of our friends at Banana's, a
popular joint overlooking the harbor. Chris began slamming tequila shots
and ogling the women promenading along the boardwalk. Then came the incident
that could be either dismissed as youthful indiscretion or prosecuted as
sexual harassment.
When Silka and Chris returned from their evening excursion only an hour and a half later, two sides had
already formed. On one side was everyone we knew; they were angry, insulted
and repulsed by Chris' misconduct. On the other side was Chris.
"He bit Isabella," said Veronique, a Dutch woman who had been living on
Ibiza for several years, "on the stomach."
As those who witnessed the incident, or claimed to, recounted it, the
legend grew. By 1 a.m., when everyone headed off for a full moon party in
San Josep, Chris -- who had long since passed out -- had emerged as a kind of
Grendel on Vacation, terrorizing the city and gorging himself on tequila
and bellybuttons.
If there was ever a place where a man may be tempted to bite an unknown
woman's navel, that place is Ibiza in August. Ibiza is the third largest
of the Balearics, a group of four Mediterranean islands so small that on
most maps, only Majorca, the largest and most famous of the islands, merits a
touch of green topographical coloring. Ibiza is usually only a
speck, with its name flying from it like a pennant. While Ibiza exudes an atmosphere conducive to outlandish behavioral outbursts, it is Majorca that remains the most renowned Balearic, with Michael Douglas, Princess Stephanie of
Monaco, Alain Delon and Michael Caine all making regular cameos. Majorca is also the most heavily touristed, with more than 5 million visitors each year.
Ibiza is Majorca's funky cousin -- the island has a little bit of that
East Hampton-in-the-'50s flavor, when rising art world figures such as
Leo Castelli, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock lived or spent summers
on the island, and there was still good property for less than six digits.
Spanish aristocrats discovered the natural splendor of
Ibiza in the 1930s. Back then, the summer tradition among the best Spanish families was to take a two-month Balearic sojourn: a
month in Majorca for socializing and a month in Ibiza for recreation. But
it was the European artiste crowd that made Ibiza the multicultured,
multi-classed resort it is today. Dutch painter Jan Kramer, Polish director
Roman Polanski and the rock group Pink Floyd were among the first to give
Ibiza its boho reputation, and their legacy of soporific days and salacious
nights is still going strong.
Silka pointed out that Chris may have been overwhelmed by
that atmosphere, rendered momentarily senseless by the exposed midriffs
and microscopic minis displayed along Ibiza's waterfront, by the tanned,
muscled, studly goddesses and gods who walked the walk. Ibiza at night is
Sodom and Gomorrah, costumed by Frederick's of Hollywood and shot by
Steven Meisel. And Chris was a guy from New Jersey looking for a good time.
You do the math.
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