Research in California

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In the summer of 2002, I spent 2 months in California. As part of my degree in Britain I decided I wanted to write a dissertation on Mexican farmworkers in California, focussing in particular on the formation of Hometown Associations (where Mexicans from particular towns in Mexico would group their money together to pay for particular projects in those towns, such as rebuilding schools, churches, or laying new sewerage systems). I was lucky enough to get some funding from my University and so at the end of June I set off on a flight to San Francisco. After an uneventful flight I went by bus to the lovely town of Napa, about an hour north of San Fran. There I was met by Hugh and Aletha, 2 of the nicest people in the world! They knew my Dad from when he was in America over 30 years earlier and had offered to let me stay with them for 6 weeks whilst carrying out my research.

Those weeks went by incredibly quickly, what with the work I was doing - taking out questionnaires, conducting interviews, etc. I was able to go to a number of vineyards to speak to the Mexican workers there. They worked at least 10 hours a day, often more, and mostly for a low wage. However, they argued that they were doing it for their families, and so would continue to work like that as long as they needed to. On the whole I found the Mexican workers I met were very friendly. At one farm centre I was even given fajitas, washed down with some white vanilla flavoured drink (apparently it is made with the water they use to cook the rice in??). I felt very lucky to have been able to meet these people on my trip to California. I am pretty sure that the vast majority of tourists (and locals) never get near to seeing how the workers live.

After my time at Napa, and after an emotional goodbye to my "American grandparents", I made my way south to spend 2 weeks travelling before coming back to the UK. I am not planning on writing this up as an epic trip, but needless to say it was very enjoyable, although a little intimidating at times as I was on my own. My first stop was at San Francisco for a few days. I particularly enjoyed wandering up and down the hills, particularly in Chinatown, as well as heading down to the Wharf. I also went to see the excellent Museum of Modern Art and the Golden Gate Park (great Japanese tea garden!).

From San Francisco I continued south to Monterey. I had previously read 'Cannery Row' by John Steinbeck and so was keen to see the area where it was based. It was hard to imagine with all of the tourists milling around that this was the same place as that descirbed in the book, but I gues things change! I also enjoyed a trip to the Aquarium in Monterey, which made for an enjoyable afternoon. From Monterey I took a Greyhound bus all of the way down to Los Angeles. Unfortunately due to time and money I was unable to stop off anywhere on the way. In Los Angeles I stayed at a great hostel at Venice Beach. This place was lots of fun, and I shared a room with a variety of people, including an English/American couple and some Russian girls! I enjoyed just walking along Venice Beach as there is so much people-watching to do. This is very much like Baywatch, only with a few more ugly people! I also was able to do a bit of body boarding, as the hostel had surf equipment to use. In Los Angeles I also took a guided tour of the main sites (Hollywood, Mann's theatre, etc). As well as this I managed to work out the public buses to get me over to the Getty museum. This was well worth the effort as it had some excellent collections on show, but was also based in a really interesting building.

Whilst staying in LA, I found out that there was a 3 day tour going via the Mojave desert to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. I jumped at the chance as it meant that someone else would do the organising but that I would get to see some cool stuff! I also met some great people along the way, who were doing similar trips to me. At Las Vegas we stayed at a hotel just behind the Strip, and saw all of the big casinos, including the Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, the Luxor, etc. I was impressed by all of this and found it great fun, but even more fun was the trip to the Grand Canyon. This is just so big! We had plenty of time to go to the visitor's centre as well as wander around the rim. I would love to come back here one day and spend time going down into the Canyon itself. Well, you should always leave something to come back to!

After the mini-tour I went back to LA and spent a couple more days exploring before getting on a plane to come back to the UK. My summer really opened my eyes to travelling alone, seeing a country from a different perspective and learning a bit more about myself.

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