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Published: April 5th 2008
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I've now escaped the grim faces and grimy streets of LA for the more friendly and decidedly cleaner San Diego. It's got the bustling alfresco feel of New Orleans (or at least the New Orleans that lives in my mind, having no real conception of the reality beyond TV 😉, coupled with the laidback openness of beachside centres like Byron Bay.
LA is far behind me now and it's nice not to feel the need to hide all my electronic adornments for fear of rape and / or pillage.
On my last day I missed my carriage to San Diego thanks to a way-too-late last night farewell with some new friends and the next train wasn't leaving for three and a half hours.
As a result of my tardiness I was stuck in Downtown LA in streets where no less than four stores in a small area touted bail loans for the recently impeached who find themselves low on cash.
This was my first clue to the local demographic.
It was quickly reinforced by the poverty which was palpable and the local street dwellers who muttered sweet angries to themselves at the tops of their voices.
Kung fu polar bear
Without a doubt the highlight of the San Diego Zoo visit Of course, I was probably just paranoid and the evening passed without incident.
Not so on Tuesday night when a new visitor to the hostel starting exhibiting increasing weirdness. By early morning he was proclaiming that he was "the one" who "had a gun and the power to kill all inside" - eek. This resulted in the constabulary being called by hostel staff at 1am. The boys in blue turned up - escorted by a helicopter with its lights sweeping the area dramatically from above. They quickly took charge of the situation with tazers and a dose of grand theatre before taking the guy away to the safety (ours) of a state-run psychiatric or penal institution (I guess).
I'm sure if I was in LA longer I would have time to develop a more accurate and less paranoid gauge of which situations are dangerous and which ones are merely creations of a brain that has ingested too many stereotypes from the US TV deluge.
For now, however, I'm happy to be soaking up the relative safety of san diego as an interruption to the constant vigilance and hyper-awareness of my surroundings and the myriad of second-by-second
Mega-Margarita
More than half a litre of limey goodness.. yummm risks to life and ipod that might lie within them 😉 It's nice to slip back slightly into my 'home' mode of naïve trust and blind, happy inobservance, if only for a few days 😊
At the moment I'm sitting in a sidewalk café on a chilly eve warming up under a gas heater and listening to dulcet jazz tones from next door. The strip bustles with a diverse range of pedestrian traffic including business men, pubbers, clubbers, restaurant goers, families and healthy jogger types.
I'm watching this world go accompanied by a *huge* margarita (18 oz - that's more than 1/2 a litre of limey goodness for $4) loverly 😊
The drink is just one of the larger-than-life offerings that proliferate in the US. The bigger-is-better philosophy reigns supreme and the correlation between this and expanding waistlines throughout the country seems clear. A single serve of anything here could almost feed a family for a day.
Before I arrived I imagined LA to be a world composed of lithe, liposuctioned bodies jumping from juice shop to tanning salon before stopping in at the local oxygen bar to replenish... how wrong I was! Swap the bodies
San Diego USA hostels
Nice Spanish feel but didn't have the vibe of USA hostels in Hollywood for blobbies, and replace the healthier-than-thou retail outlets with wall-to-wall hamburger joints and a 6 block walk to find anything vaguely resembling fruit (only to get there and find it's deep friend and chocolate coated for your eating pleasure😉). I was even asked if I wanted fries with my scrambled eggs for breakfast a few days ago!
Well, I'll be swapping fries for patacones (squashed fried green bananas which I've been told accompany many meals) in Quito on Monday. I think I've had about the right dose of the USA and am ready for a change but I'm not looking forward to the challenges of basic communication. Unfortunately, I'm no more prepared for the Spanish speaking world than I was 6 months ago (or 32 years ago for that matter 😉) 😞 With the very limited exception of words gleaned from street signs in Spanish speaking los angeles, I know nada (nearly). Looks like it's going to be a steep learning curve before I feel comfortable 😞
Well that's me for the night - I love hearing from everyone back home so keep writing - the emails keep me sane 😊
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