Already on the plane I was
exited to have a food experience different from the standard food
experience I use to have in Argentina. The breakfast wrap I got had
flavour in itself and it was served with a spicy salsa – spiciness
does not exist in Argentina really.
We arrived to the LA
airport and I immediately remembered: everything is big in USA.
Our hostel for one night
is located right near the sea in Venice Beach, Santa Monica, one of
the suburbs to Los Angeles. One of the first few things that strikes
us are the amount of skateboarders and homeless people, and how cold
it is. I mean, it is nothing compared to Swedish winter of course,
but we just came form a hot Buenos Aires summer and all of sudden we
had to dig out the warm clothes form our rucksacks.
Along the beach there is a
promenade with shops, street artists selling their work, the smell of
joints, musicians jamming and people performing all kinds of things.
Parallel to this are all the fitness people, cycling, jogging etc.
and it became so clear that there is a very strong culture here of
paying a lot of attention to body and looks. The beach promenade led
us into Santa Monica, and its town centre which is all covered with
Christmas decorations and cheesy American Christmas music. I found
that so bizarre, one minute we are at the beach where people are
playing volleyball and surfing, and the next we are in the middle of
a Christmas shopping rush with female Santa's in hight heel boots and
short seductive red skirts and deep necklines and huge
cleavages...Confused by the changes of worlds and by this stage quite
affected by the jet-lag, we sat down in a restaurant and ordered a
meal, the portions being so huge that they where enough to share
between two.
Before we left Buenos
Aires, Roy dropped out only working camera on the concrete floor (I
broke the other one by having it out in the rain in Patagonia), and
we here without camera. In order to be able to continue documenting
our trip we now have bought a new one since electronics are cheaper
here in the states.
Then we could not keep
awake any longer and went to bed way too early (about 7.30 pm) and
slept for 12 hour. Now we are on the way to check out from room
(struggling with getting out bags closed, again) and depending
another few hours by the beach, maybe renting bikes and go on an
adventure in the surrounding, and then we are off to the airport for
another night on the uncomfortable economy class chairs. But when we
wake up we will be in The Cook Islands, and there will be summer
again!
Love
ania
