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‹ Previous (12/05/2010) MONTH Next (2010-07-11)› ‹ Previous (2010-10-08 - Canada) COUNTRY Next (2011-01-23 - Mexico)› US Los Ángeles, CA (see on map) 15/06/2010:
- Hello! My name is Clarissa – we stop staring at the window of the airplane and a girl with a cheerful smile continues the presentation. – I am flying to Los Angeles, "you too? The anonymous passenger made the gesture of sitting in the empty seat next to Alexandra, as we both answered - yes - very surprised by this introduction. After the girl realized she had the wrong line, but no matter, because soon she became friends with another woman with whom she was speaking for the entire trip. Instead, together with Alexandra , we tried to sleep all the way to have minimal jetlag possible, but in my dreams I also kept wondering "American society is as open as this girl?". Judging from the few days in this new country I would say that americans are quite open, however, what most surprised us so far has been the diversity of the society. These first five days we have been hosted by a family from Argentina that has treated us great, apart from helping us find a second hand van to move across the continent. One of the vans that we saw turned out to be a young man who came from Iran, which was very happy when we explained to him that we had visited his country and its people and we had marveled. After the boy explained that in the United States had never felt discriminated, in contrast to Europe where he had lived for nine months in France. Listening to that comment I thought the U.S. had had to face the problem of multi-cultural and multi-racial long time ago, while in Europe, the problem was much more recent with the immigration of the recent years. Dismissing the Iranian's van, the next day I decided to go watch another van of a Mexican man who lived in another part of town. It took me three hours to arrive, having to take a bus, a subway and a train and it continued to amaze me the diversity of the population: an introverted Asian who shared a seat with a black man who never stopped talking with a chant that seemed to imitate a Rap song, a girl with mini skirt next to a decent man reading a book of Arabic characters, or a thick woman wrapped in a sari from India occupying the seat of a skinny mustached Latino. These images were very similar to those of the vehicle registration office, where I had to record the Chevy Astro van purchased for $ 2,000 from the Mexican guy. There, sitting waiting in line for three hours, an old woman of white skin and very white hair gave me conversation and provided a very different view of diversity, expressing concern at the increasing number of immigrants, and the the fact that many resources are diverted towards this. In any case, soon, my concern was second, because the mulatto man behind the counter informed me that I had to pay $ 400 to put the van in my name, because the Mexican who had bought it had failed to pay the registration of the vehicle for the last two years. We finally have the desired van that would allow us to move freely around the United States and Canada and have a place to sleep if necessary. The pity was that the search of the car did not allow me enough peace of mind to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of Sebastian, who had just returned from a motorcycle trip around South America where he traveled for six months. Sebastian and his family lived in the San Fernando Valley, a very broad area of family houses inhabited by one-third of the population of Los Angeles. It was a recurring feature throughout the city: Nearly all the houses were one story (perhaps a latent fear of earthquakes) and surrounded by a garden of lawns cut without walls that led to the quiet street where almost no one walks. In fact, at such horizontal land-the only way to get around Los Angeles and its environs is by private car (public transportation is scarce and slow with such long distances). So, we had to rely on the offers of Sebastian, who took us to Downtown one night, one of the few areas of Los Angeles where several small skyscrapers rise. The next day he took us to the beach in Malibu, where we met David, a friend of a friend, who invited us to a birthday party in a nice house anchored to a beautiful private beach. The party was good, but we felt a little out of place, with the guests dispersed in small groups open but they did not show much interest in our presence. 21/06/2010:
Knowing that we ought to be more than a week in Los Angeles, finding and buying a car and then visiting the city, we decided to find another host for not abusing the hospitality of Sebastian and his family, which already had helped us a lot. Thus, six days after we arrived we loaded the pretty Chevy Astro Van with our backpacks and headed to the famous Hollywood neighbourhood, where we hoped to meet Jordan, who turned out to be another fabulous host. Jordan ran the oldest restaurant in Hollywood Boulevard, Musso & Frank Grill, where he invited us numerous evenings to eat delicious meals or drink delicious martinis while talking with him. Jordan was very interested to know our travel experience, because very soon he had planned to hand over the restaurant to his cousin in order to travel for the rest of his life. Of course, all the stories and anecdotes that we explained opened his passion to travel, especially to Africa, where he decided to stay maybe a year, instead of a few months. The situation of the house of Jordan, was unbeatable, two blocks from Hollywood Boulevard, where we walked several evenings, hunting for the golden names of the celebrities that had their names written on the famous Walk of Fame of Hollywood . Although Hollywood Boulevard had an atmosphere not too glamorous, it was fun (especially for Alexandra) to walk through places with names as famous as the Kodak Theatre, or Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills and Bell Air to Malibu beach or Mulholland drive. And because of that we had the car and we had bought a GPS, also drove to the beaches of Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Palos Verdes and Long Beach. Of the four of them, the atmosphere of Venice was the one we loved, full of black (or African-Americans according to the currently accepted terminology), Latinos and Caucasian, all strolling, sunbathing on the beach or sweating playing basketball. More than once it made us smile the behaviour of African-Americans, with an expressive, uninhibited joy that seemed copied from an American comedy film. While Alexandra was going shopping with some friends the other night I enjoyed good views of the city from the observatory Griffith and the next day from the skyscrapers of Downtown. Among the many existing attractions, I entered the modern Catholic cathedral where a guide explained to a group that the cathedral was the largest in United States, surpassing by two foot length the St. Patrick in New York. The cathedral’s mausoleum, occupies the entire basement, where any Christian can be buried paying no less than one million dollars and for sure that would be enough to pay for all the sexual abuse lawsuits in which is immersed the American Catholic church (the guide mentioned that a small niche of a square inch is worth $ 300,000). One of the evenings we visited Jordan in the restaurant, he invited us to sit at a table where some of his friends, as well as a screenplay writer, the guitarist John Fogerty and a singer of a Californian group. The evening was very entertaining; we were interest in their lives and they were passionate about our trip. Later, as we explained our planned itinerary of nine months in the United States and Canada, Jordan said we wanted to spend too much time possibly because of differences within the country were not as pronounced and that a road trip was appropriate in America, knowing the continent through the window of a vehicle. I told him that probably was right, that perhaps there were too many months, but on the other hand, we wanted to know not only beautiful scenery but also we wanted to plunge into the world's biggest cultures. Till now we know the different European cultures, African, Islamic and Asian but still we needed to immerse ourselves into the Anglo-Saxon culture, partly because we could not reach Australia. Moreover, experiencing and visiting friends in the U.S. was proving fabulous, and 8 or 9 months did not seem excessive to continue discovering the country. After dinner, Jordan remained in the restaurant while we returned home accompanied by a friend who was a relief counsellor in hospitals (helped the relatives of a deceased), a work in which was important to have religious beliefs. Then he sparked my fascination with religion, explaining that he was an open-minded Christian and even liked learning about other beliefs and had done a course of Zen meditation. I asked him why he believed in God and he tried to show me it was because of the wonderful world we lived in, but I also believed that the universe was exciting and did not need to place a God behind it. The next day Jordan was interested in the religious views of his friend, with whom had never exchanged opinions. After Jordan explained that he had observed long ago that travellers tend to be atheists, according to him, because atheists do not believe in another life after death and the need to experience more, taking more risks to be happy. I was in complete agreement with his opinion, adding that travelling makes you open your mind, makes you discover new religions and beliefs and makes you realize that the subject is absurd and that some dogmas are simply cultural. The last day before leaving, Jordan took us to a forest picnic next to the Hollywood Bowl, a stunning modern amphitheatre with a capacity for 18,000 spectators, where that night was playing various African groups. After drinking a bottle of wine and outside became almost dark, we took the leftovers and we went down the forest to reach half crouched some toilets in the theatre, where we ran to feel fully protected from other spectators. Then we sat on a bench and enjoyed an exciting spectacle of music while we emptied another half bottle of wine. At one point, watching people dancing frantically around, I imagined that I was in Europe or even Africa, but the flags near the stage, I returned to reality: the typical American, the other with a bear above the words "Republic of California. " I asked Jordan asked why they felt their country a republic, but he shrugged and then explained that California was the best state in the country, its people friendly, because it has sea and beach, snow in the mountains, deserts, forests, .. . I still could not compare with any other state, but what was true, we felt wonderful here. San Diego, CA (see on map) 24/06/2010:
We left Los Angeles after the lunch with Jordan. We programmed the GPS to San Diego, but we had no intention of reaching it that same afternoon or evening. Before that we visited the Crystal Cathedral, a huge modern church all-glass lifted by one of the many U.S. Protestant sects. Then, flying from that monstrosity, we stopped at the long beach of Huntington, which had a dock or catwalk that jutted one or two hundred meters to the middle of the sea, under which several surfers were trying to ride on a wave. We stayed a good time watching the experienced surfers, arriving late to the quiet village of Laguna Beach, where we had to find a deserted alley to park the car and spend the night. It was a relaxed night, but Alexandra was a bit paranoid, stating that the police would imprison us both to sleep in the street, and every now and then told me not to move too much because it activated the car alarm we had not gotten off. However, I slept and the next day we visited the lovely town of Laguna Beach, a secluded beach with cliffs. Then ,we went to the Mission San Juan Campistrano, but because of the excessive entry ($ 9 per person) we did not go inside, but it seemed worth it, as its basilica where we were able to enter. Finally we arrived in San Diego, where Pep (my brother in law brother) and his wife Anna expected us. The reception was wonderful and we felt as we are back at home for a few days, which gave us the opportunity to relax but also to visit the city during a busy day. Without doubt, the most interesting was the coast of La Joya neighbourhood, bordered by mansions on the land, but completely wild in the sea side, with numerous seals that swam gracefully or resting on clustered colonies. I also liked the old city of San Diego, a small splinter group of old houses trying to imitate the people of San Diego, shortly after the first explorers arrived. Some old photographs and paintings of free museums, I loved the isolation of the first settlers and the emptiness of the valley that today was oversaturated with people. Finally, with less energy and time I visited Balboa Park and the vibrant Gaslamp Quarter. It was also nice to share the night with Pep and Anna, when he returned from the university where he was doing a doctorate in linguistics and Ana some classes to be a teacher of yoga. Pep and Ana told us their one year experience in the U.S. and the small differences that it had with Europe, for example, they had to travel long distances to go shopping, to the gym, college, or anywhere. With just two weeks we had also found many small differences in cultures, but none of substance. I had the impression that the United States and Europe could be compared culturally to twins who were separated and isolated for a long time: the basis of their culture and education was the same, but details like the landscape could be very different . For example, in the United States you can drive from 16 years (18 in Europe), you can not buy alcohol until age 21 (18 in Europe), in almost every state is completely prohibited prostitution (alegal in Europe ), the vast majority of cars powered by automatic gear change (I'm enjoying it quite a lot with this new drive system), telephone companies charge for incoming calls and SMS (in Spain this would be unthinkable). All these have been small differences that we detected in only 14 days, but surely there were many more to discover along the way, but none that compare recent common origins of both cultures.
After spending two weeks in two major cities of the U.S. west coast, the next two or three weeks we wanted to spend visiting the National Parks of California, Arizona and Utah. For this reason we put the central city of Las Vegas as `base camp` of our explorations. Surely we did well, because after spending two days driving with temperatures near and above 40 º C (on the coast we never went above 30 ° C), we needed a night and morning to recharge the batteries, including those of our computers and cameras. However, the natural parks we visited on the way they deserved more than our suffocation. Departing from San Diego, we crossed the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, a mountainous area that appeared to have burned years ago, but kept quite attractive. Then we crossed the arid desert of Anza Borrego, which was occupied in parts by small towns and installed mobile homes that appeared to be there for years. We loved how there were people living in this furnace, but the conditions which seemed to live in were much better than those of the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa. Africans are living a truly desperate situation because they had to subsist on the resources provided by the desert, unlike those Americans who, cooled with air conditioning, import everything, including water, in the cities. Towards the end of the afternoon we entered the Joshua Tree National Park and camped in a parking lot in front of lush palm trees that had lived centuries ago and later indigenous prospectors. The next day, just woken up to the sunrise, we made a walk of an hour and a half behind the palm desert, following a path through the sand, rocks and desert plants to an abandoned gold mine, which was excavated in the bedrock. At the back we stopped at the park information center, where we paid $ 80 between the two for a card that would allow us to go for a year to all U.S. national parks without paying anything more. And finally, take the road of the park, find the first Joshua tree. We thought it would be the only Joshua Tree Park and Alexandra almost convinces me to stop to photograph that solitary specimen, but a few miles later we began to find more, many in some areas were virtually Joshua Tree forest. But the visual spectacle did not end here, because we had the park also reserved large tracts of cactus, interesting rocky hills, natural water reservoirs, peaks with great views, ... I would have stayed all day walking and driving different ways and small roads of the park, but we had to get to Vegas before dark and so mid-afternoon we left.
On the way to Las Vegas we were surprised to find a great salt lake and, on the historic Route 66, a tree lying dry and full of shoes hanging from its branches. We commented on this image to Justin, the great host who hosted us that night and told me that this tree was known and was called the shoes tree (The Tree of shoes), but when searching for information online, we found that there were many other tree shoes all over the world, a curious thing. Justin told us the story of Las Vegas, a city in the middle of the desert, but also a place where water had always been, where once had been inhabited by natives or Indians. Since the arrival of the colonizers, Las Vegas became an obligatory stopping point for caravans that went from East to West. But the city's importance grew after 1930, when construction of the dam near Hobbes brought many workers, who were encouraged by low taxes and legal gambling. And the last great transformation began in 1950 when the mobster Bugsy Malone built a luxury casino in the city, a bet that everyone felt a loss, but eventually triumphed. This was how the city was becoming a center of gambling, entertainment and fun in general throughout the United States. I asked Justin if his teenage years had been special because he grew up in Las Vegas and he said no, but he was too used to having anything close on the weekends or open at night in Las Vegas and you could go to lunch or shopping at any time. Then he added that it was difficult to get used to accept that in other cities, the bars close early, but you still feel thirst and money in your pocket. Talking about travel, Justin said that Americans are generally very innocent and they can easily generate cultural misunderstandings, they are used to travel the country, large but not significant cultural changes, unlike the rest of the world, which is very diverse and with multiple borders every few miles. Finally, Justin mentioned that the U.S. has no history like Europe and that the most interesting things to visit are the parks and not the cities, which do not have the attraction of Europe. Thus, as we had planned and as being advised by Justin the next week we started visiting some of the interesting natural parks of Utah and Arizona. And really the Parks that we visited fascinated us. We visited many places, sleeping in the road, showers with water bottles hidden in the woods, feeling the heat from time to time (finally we had to put gas in the air conditioning of the Chevy van), other times enjoying the cool temperatures and fast wind ... It was an intense week, but I would have prolongued it, visiting places that were pointed as side things on paper or by visiting the most remote National Parks, by car or on foot. But Alexandra is feeling bad and tired with the heat or the discomfort of sleeping in the car, eating uncooked foods or take a shower with bottles of water and was pushing me to leave faster. On the other hand, and I do not want to lose the traditional celebrations of July 4 in a major city like Las Vegas. So on Saturday night, after having enjoyed visually some of the most fantastic places on earth, we again drove to Las Vegas where we had intended to return to recharge our batteries for the next visits.
We were surprised by the cool weather of this Natural Park in the desert that raises on a rock mass, creating landscapes that we could remember from Switzerland. Bryce Canyon National Park (see on map) 29/06/2010:
One of the parks that fascinated us most, especially the walk I did below the rocky forest of needles that inhabited the canyon. Grand Canyon National Park, North Rim (see on map) 30/06/2010:
Visiting these fantastic views I wondered which part of the biological or cultural evolutionary cause was the cause in humans of such fascination for the great works and monuments of nature. Coyote Buttes, the wave (see on map) 02/07/2010:
Definitely one of the most fascinating places visited. A little gem hidden among red mountains that brings us geology psychotropic dreams. A paradise for photographers. Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim (see on map) 03/07/2010:
Tired of so many visitings, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon surprised us less that the North Rim, especially because that day was a Saturday and there was so many people that we could not take any of the public buses to the most isolated areas of the park. Las Vegas, NV (see on map) 08/07/2010:
We returned from the parks and we wanted to relax and unwind, and that`s what we did at the house of Justin, where we met for a few hours , his charming wife Heather. Justin treated us great again, letting us to feel at home editing photos and writing the diary of the last week in the parks. But in the afternoon of the second day, July 4th, we celebrated the popular celebration of independence commemorated in the United States Constitution in 1776. First we went to dinner, still under the sunlight, to Justin`s parents house, which welcomed us with open arms. While we ate delicious burgers and hot dogs, Justin`s father was extremely happy to be able to hear one of our travel stories, while showing us his fascination with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. Marching however, the family surprised me to combine the passion for communism with the worship of Catholic icons, which adorned the garden. Then Justin took us to the heart of Vegas, where the Strip or Las Vegas Boulevard, surrounded by the most extravagant casino hotels I have ever seen: Luxor Hotel Casino with a large black pyramid and a sphinx entry , New York Hotel Casino, with a reproduction of the eastern city, including Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn bridge; Hotel Casino Paris, with a high reproduction of the Eiffel Tower, Hotel Casino Venice reproducing the canals and buildings characteristic of the Piazza San Marco, and so dozens more that I could further describe here. We were also surprised the crowd of people who were waiting on the sidewalks to undertake the famous fireworks of the night of July 4, which began with us still in the car because all the parking lots were full. Fortunately, the rocket took off just ahead of us, behind Caesars Palace Hotel Casino, where we had been detained in traffic. The show did not seem to exceed expectations, but was gradually increasing the level of spectacular lights exploding in the sky until the fireworks finally managed to start many whistles and applause from the audience. Without lowering from the car, we headed for the Fremont Street that houses the oldest casinos in the city. It was less glamorous than the south of the Strip, it was interesting to walk along this historic street full of half decadent casinos where they played mostly local people. However, the street was reluctant to fall into disgrace and in various corners of the casinos had installed some scenarios where groups played music that sounded pretty good and met quite a few spectators. Before coming to Las Vegas I had believed that the visits to natural parks do not occupy as many days and had announced to Justin that we would leave after July 4. Unfortunately, once in, we could not further lengthen our stay, because Justin had agreed in advance to accommodate other girls from Couchsurfing. Luckily, our friend Jordan in Hollywood had long proposed to stay with his parents who lived in Las Vegas and they were delighted to be staying with them. With the help of the GPS we we arrived in a wealthy suburb and then to the home of Steve and Anna, who welcomed us to marvel at their mansion in the English style: over-decorated with small objects and full of plants growing wild in the garden and the portal. That night, Steve and Anna took us to lunch at a restaurant, as we talked about their son Jordan, who had already announced he will soon begin his life of travels. They were also interested in our trip, with a little envy, as they too had always dreamed of travelling more, although they met very young when they were in the Central African Republic, where Steve`s father had come to manage a ranch and the father of Ann to make a mineral exploration. During dinner and the following days, Steve also told us about life in Las Vegas, a city free of racism or social exclusion ( Justin also had told us something similar) for to build Hoover Dam and later the city around everybody was welcome. In this way the communities are not isolated and have never existed separations between communities with a Jewish neighbourhood, a Little Italy, a `China town `,... although judging by some comments from Steve, maybe it was an exception and the African American population was not entirely welcome. In other conversations, Steve also gave us a share of the madness surrounding the world of gambling in Las Vegas, explaining such a case from a direct source, the casino owner of Treasure Island for whom he was building a house. In 1995 a bum entered the casino with $ 400 payed by the social security and began to bet on black jack, starting immediately to win despite not using any conventional strategy. Soon began to increase their bets so in a week he had a profit of $ 1.6 million. But throughout the week, Wynn kept him in the hotel, inviting him to the best rooms, travel by limousine, delicious buffets, drinks, ... with the sole intention to make him keep playing, something that ultimately proved beneficial to the casino, as the homeless man eventually lost almost all the benefits the following day, however remaining with $ 40,000 in his pocket. Explaining more stories from casinos, Steve also told me the case of Terrance Watanabe, the biggest loser in Las Vegas, who in the course of 2007 year lost $ 112 million in Las Vegas, owning $ 14.7 million to casinos . Naturally, the casinos had sued Terrance , but the man had fought back by denouncing the casinos that they have gotten him drunk and made him play under the influence of pain killers. And like this, Steve said many other stories that convinced me of the stupidity of playing the money in the casinos, like Bergstrom, who made one of the highest stakes of the story in 1980 in Las Vegas, betting on $ 777.000 in a single roll. Fortunately, that day Bergstrom won, but not the next, when he bet $ 1 million in another single shot, he lost. But his bid was even higher shortly after when his life was played in Russian roulette, which he eventually lost. Despite all the stories, Steve told me that the people that grow up in Las Vegas usually do not play in casinos, because they know that the casinos always have the upper hand, and basically those who bet are the tourists, but also many American retirees who retire to Las Vegas to live the rest of life plugged to a slot machine. We had gone to downtown of Las Vegas with Justin, but for another evening I managed to get Alexandra out of the comfortable house of Steve and Anna and we returned to the Strip to enjoy the free entertainment with which the casinos attract customers: a large aquarium in downtown Silverton Hotel Casino, the largest collection of vintage cars offered for sale in the Imperial Palace hotel casino, a volcano that explodes occasionally at the Mirage hotel-casino, pirates and mermaids fighting in Treasure Island hotel and casino the fountain with lights that is illuminating the Bellagio casino hotel. Anyway, soon we could see, because after four hours of discovering a small part of the casinos Alexandra was already exhausted and begged me to leave. We had been walking for a while inside Paris casino hotel, whose interior was decorated with houses, shops and restaurants under a Parisian beauty of blue sky painted on the ceiling. It was at this casino where we saw a man who won $ 3,000 in two bets, as he was bragging to the other players at the table that he was a person of extreme risk, but in the next two plays he lost $ 4,000, disappeared from the table in a blink of an eye and without a trace. We saw similar stories in other casinos that wevisited, in addition to observing the people in the street sometime asking for charity, many with signs like `No lie, I need money to get drunk,` as if it were the only way to win over or fellow tourists. Naturally Alexandra asked me to try her luck and lost $ 20 in one play, even less luck than the $ 10 I bet and lost that night we went out with Justin. That night, on the first pitch of roulette I won $ 5, but in the next three runs I lost everything, leaving a feeling of frustration and need to remain committed to recover the lost $ 10. Fortunately we are not fooled and it will not be us who we fatten the coffers of Las Vegas.
We left to the National Park Dead Valley (Valley of Death) at 9 am, after Anne gave us foods for our refrigerator, which was filled to bursting and, as she said, if we do not take she would feel hurt. We reached the top of a hill overlooking the valley hell (Dante`s view) close at noon and I was glad that the winds of the coast drew some clouds. Although we put gas in the air conditioning a week before, it had evaporated, and we were again driving with the windows open. He knew that the temperatures down in the valley (to 86m below the sea level) could be terrifying and hoped that at times the clouds would be blocking the sun. I do not know what temperatures we would have reached without the clouds, but as we descended into the hell the thermometer was up to 50 ° C (122 º F), with some points of 51 º C. Actually the heat was unbearable, although I knelt and I walked over some sea salt and lengthen the path leading up to the golf course the devil and to the artist`s palette. Alexandra wanted to kill me, but she died first: lost energy so fast that it almost ceased to protest, I have always claimed that if she had listened we would have gone to six in the morning and we would have found much less heat. To visit the north of the valley, we decided to climb the mountains, where the 37 º C were comforting, and after a snack and cool off with ice and fresh water we came down to visit the so-called Scottish castle, which was already closed. The north of the valley was higher and the sun was setting, but temperatures were still exhausting. But we visited the spectacular crater of a volcano of steam that exploded about 300 years ago, and then we headed south with the intention of seeking a high point where we could sleep without being hot. Surprisingly, down in the valley temperatures were rise again to 47 º C, despite driving on black night, when we pulled the hand out the window the air was burning. Actually that place was hell. To the west of the park we began to climb a small road until you reached a height of around 2000 meters where the temperature stood at 27 º C and finally we could relax and sleep. The next day, taking advantage that we had not left the park, we drove through a path leading to another interesting view of the valley (imagine people screaming in agony below), to a house and abandoned gold mine and even some large ovens located close to a coal mine. Then we went down the other side of the mountain, leaving the national park, where the valley temperatures increased again to 43 º C. This time, Alexandra did not entirely lost energy and was screaming for a long time that she did not want to be more warm but she was silent when I showed her the map and the route we had to take, after crossing some plains, until Sierra Nevada Mountains. |
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