Sodom and Gomorra April 20 - 21/2012

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As soon as we enter Nevada we are welcomed by the famous Joshua trees, stretching their arms to heaven in extasis, like Joshua once did. But despite this pious gesture Nevada has become the very spot where all that happens what was forbidden once by God: gambling, sexshows and a huge consumption of alcohol. So it is rather a gesture of despair the trees make, witnessing as they do a new Sodom and Gomorra in their desert.

We find a campsite at the outskirts of Las Vegas. It is completely full. It looks like some people live in their motorhomes. They make a little garden around it with a fence and sculptures of angels, birds and other animals, pots with flowers, colourful lights and always the American flag, proudly planted near the entrance. When I ask if they really live in their motorhomes I hear they do. One couple tells me that they had lost their house in 1976 by a fire and that they were forced to live in a motorhome since then. Could the recent financial crisis possibly be a reason? A woman tells me that they sold their house in 2010 and that they bought a motorhome instead. 'Now we are travelling across America', she says with a smile. It is a strong wind and the American flag in her 'garden' is fiercely moving.

We see a lot of impoverished areas before we finally arrive at the very center of Las Vegas. 'The strip' as it is called. Everywhere you can play poker, black jack, roulette and so on. 'Tournaments are not like they used to be', a man tells me. 'My wife and I inscribed for a tournament, but they cancelled it because there were not enough people. In the past you hardly could get a place. It is all because of the crisis.' We do not know if we have to find this a very sad story. Now the spots are occupied by drunk tourists. It is said that a minority of the tourists comes to play poker, but that finally a majority does. We like to play poker, but we do not join in. Instead we walk along the Eiffeltower, the Venetian gondola's, the Forum Romanum, the working volcano, the neonlights in Fremont. It is a Disneyland for adults. We eat the biggest hamburger we ever ate, but unfortunely also the most disgusting. We try to find a taxi back to our campsite. But the taxidrivers refuse us, saying that they do not know where it is. Apparently it is too far. It costs them too much money to come back.

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