Relaxing in style

After 5 weeks of packing in so many activities and adventures i decided it was time to finally relax California style. I stopped in Santa Barbara which is a small city right on the coast about 2 hours north of Los Angeles. This was an absolutely awesome place, and to set the typical Californian scene, as i walked to my hostel from the greyhound the air was rye with the oh so sweet smell of marijuana. Santa Barbara is a college town but with a very classy feel. Everything is located along one main high street with a open shopping centre just off this street. The place is littered with sophisticated bars and restaurants but all offering student friendly prices so was a perfect opportunity for me to take a break from cooking cheaply and to enjoy eating out. I stayed for two nights here, so only really had one full day, which involved wandering the high street, dipping in and out of shops and taking a break to read a book over lunch and enjoy the sunshine. I stumbled across a cinema showing '(500) days of Summer' which i thought I had missed my opportunity to see, so I stopped off there to get my Zooey Deschanel fix and left satisfied. On wandering back down the high street i spotted a poster advertising the local theatre showing a 'Twelfth Night' performance put together by the College Drama Students. Twelfth Night being my favourite Shakespeare play i decided to don my sophisticated hat (metaphorically, my actual hat was far to smelly and crimpled to be accepted as 'sophisticated') and attend. It was acting cut back to a very raw, basic level, with only one prop in the whole show, a bench, and quite bland costumes (although no expense was spared for Malvolio's shining moment in cross garters). When the production began i was a little unsure as of course it was spoken with an American accent, however, once i had looked past this fact, it was thoroughly enjoyable. A couple of the characters had been double cast, so after the interval the characters were played by different actors. This was done quite ingeniously by the director to add even more confusion to the plot when he had both male and female actors playing Viola. The change of actor was done by the second actor coming on to the stage and saying the same lines as the first actor, there was a small exchange of confused looks between actors, before the original actor left the stage. It worked very well, and i think it was a great decision to make it such a blatant change rather than try and carry it off like nothing had happened. Both actors playing Malvolio and Sir Toby Belch were aboslutely hilarious, and had the audiences in stitches. Particularly the first actor for Malvolio as he took to the stage on his own absolutely overjoyed at finding the letter, supposedly from Olivia, whilst the other characters hiding in the bushes 'hid' amongst the audience. It was a thoroughly enjoyable performance and certainly did the play justice.

One other thing worth mentioning about this stop off was that as i was walking down the high street a group of people had gathered around one man and on closer inspection it came to light that he was about to carry out a series of live feedings to his snakes (specifically constrictors) for all to see. This consisted of him placing a live rat infront of various snakes and watching them strike and constrict until the rat died, before consuming them whole. It was a mixture of impressive and a little bit unnerving, but either way, it was something different to see.

After a short bus ride the following day, i arrived in downtown Los Angeles with mixed feelings about what to expect. I had heard a large amount of negativity towards LA as i came down the west coast, especially from those who did not have their own transport. I had originally planned to spend 2 nights out at Santa Monica and 3 nights in a hostel in Hollywood. This meant catching a couple of different buses to get out to Santa Monica which took about an hour and a half, (an hour of which was just going along the same ridiculously long road). After hearing bad things about the buses i was pleasantly suprised that the drivers were more than helpful and the condition of the buses were absolutely fine. I arrived in Santa Monica already wondering why everyone was so ridiculously negative about this place.

My initial plan changed the first day i arrived in Santa Monica, I am still here 4 nights on. I absolutely love it here. The hostel is located a 2 minute walk to the beach, and a two minute walk to a fantastic street with numerous shops, restaurants and a huge variety of street performers. I decided to continue for the time being with eating out rather than cooking and it has been absolutely fantastic. I have met some great people at this hostel and so had company on most occasions when i have dined. The main street (3rd Street Promenade) is a pedestrianised area and smoking is completely banned on the whole street. It is ridiculously well looked after with no sign of any litter/graffiti, and there are these huge dinosaurs made out of hedges right down the middle of the street that look incredible. Eating at any of the restaurants/cafes/bars is always extremely interesting due to the fact that the street is lined with very talented street performers. These can range from dancers/musicians, to dog trainers. I cannot express how pleasant the atmosphere is along this stretch, it is so laid back and relaxed coupled with a feeling of absolute safety.

I had a wander down to Venice beach along the pathway from Santa Monica beach which was a very pleasant 45 minute stroll. Santa Monica beach itself has a series of work out equipment along the beach, including chin up bars, ropes for people to climb up and down and rings in the style of 'hang tough' in Gladiators amongst other things. However, it is at Venice beach where the infamous 'Muscle Beach' resides, and it was here i witnessed men in the smallest speedos i have ever seen. It was absolutely ridiculous, and i was tempted to take some photos but i didn't quite feel comfortable enough to take pictures of oiled up men posing in speedos lifting weights and flexing for the passers-by. Venice beach was also home to a huge skate park which was a great spot to stand around and watch children as young as only 7 or 8 grinding ledges and flipping over gaps. There were also numerous shops and quirky market stalls along the way, including an actual doctor advertising his services to write prescriptions for marijuana (i am not even joking!).

Another day i spent heading over to Hollywood, where i walked along the famous Hollywood Blvd looking for different celebrities stars on the pavement, (no Jim Carrey which was very upsetting). There were a few wannabe actors desperate for a minutes fame who had hired various costumes and were hanging around to pose for photos with the tourists, for a small fee of course. Hollywood was an interesting enough place but there was not really much there to be honest, so it certainly did not blow me away. I did have an absolutely incredible lunch though ( chicken, bacon, avocado and egg salad, YUM).

Yesterday was a jam packed day, where a large group of people from the hostel was taken by one guy to Malibu, to check out the beach where 'Baywatch' was filmed and to generally chill out, and hang out with a few other hostellers. It was a very nice relaxing day, and i had my first dip in the pacific sea, which was not nearly as warm as i thought it might be! We headed back and all prepared ourselves for the hostel pub crawl which involved about 30 of us heading out in mass. I have decided to go completely dry for a while (shock horror!) so was not drinking, and it was certainly a strong test of my will power, as free shots were passed to me left right and centre. I managed to fight the urge however, and passed them off to the more than willing other members of the group. I had a great night and ended up singing Karaoke with a londoner (Oasis- dont look back in anger) which got the whole pub singing along as always. I was dragged up on stage to sing Live and Let Die by a fellow englishman but had absolutely no idea of how the verses went. We ended up dragging a very enthusiastic Japanese guy up to sing who was more than happy to scat along to the tune when no lyrics were there to sing (the Japanese really do love their karoake).

Today has brought a very relaxed day down at Santa Monica beach with a few others from the hostel, for a bit of a dip, some volley ball and some poor attempts at the rings on the beach. Tonight will bring some tasty ribs and an evening at a snooker/pool club with a couple of guys from the hostel so should be most enjoyable.

The past few days have been absolutely incredible, i feel completely relaxed which is exactly what i wanted from this stop. I have had a very busy 5 weeks up until landing here so was looking forward to a breather, which is exactly what i have had. Santa Monica has completely quelled any rumours that are negative about Los Angeles, as it has been absolutely fantastic. Next up is Grand Canyon for three nights, where i will be staying in a small hostel in Flagstaff. I will be bus-ing it to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon each day to partake in numerous day hikes around the rim. After a few days rest I am ready to slip my hiking boot back on so here we go.....

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