California dreaming

Bas Geertsema

“It never rains in southern california”. I can confess that this is not the case.

But that was only the first day. Ever since the weather has been beautiful, although the weather back home in Holland is going crazy now (temperatures reaching 28-30 degrees celcius!). What do the people in L.A. do on a hot summer day. They go to Venice Beach. This beach is maybe most famous for it’s setting for the television show Baywatch. Ofcourse I had to check out if the lifeguards are anything like it in real life, so a busride took me to _Santa Monica, _the place of Venice Beach. Unfortunately, it was apparently too cold to swim as there were almost no people on the beach. So a quick trip to the famous pier with the fair on top of it, was the closest I go to see Baywatch in real life :)

People sometimes asked me if it was safe travelling in countries like Cambodia and Vietnam. I can now honestly say that L.A. was the single most hostile place of my entire trip! I’d rather end up on a countryroad in Vietnam than in a bad neighborhoofd in L.A. Which is ofcourse exactly that neighborhood where they put the greyhound bus terminals. The reason? I quickly found out that America is indeed a country of extremes. Sure, you have the hollywood richest. But on the other hand there are a huge amount of poor people, mostly immigrants. The number of homeless people, disables people and beggars is staggering. Especially when the sun sets down there arrives a hostile atmosphere in the city. And everybody acts tough. In the bus from Santa Monica back to down town L.A. for example there where two guys fighting in the bus, because one of them jumped the queue, or something like it. It was not the fact that the guy got mad about it, but the excessive amount of violence he used to make his point, that surprised me. And this was at 8 p.m. in a good neighborhood and a bus full of people.

And in the land of extremes, there must ofcourse be a counterpart of LA. I experienced that the next day when I made my day to Santa Barbara. This seaside town is the perfect resort for retired eldery, the nouveaux riches, and the holidaytourists. With it’s beautiful mediterranean style building, wildflower, palmtrees, mountains and ocean it is a stunning city to see. This is the spot where you can spot your grandma driving that Porsche 911, or your grandfather in a Escalade.. One day is enough for plain sightseeing, so I travelled today to San Francisco. Home to the golden gate bridge and that olden-golden television show about a family of which I forgot the name. I just can remember it was the near-perfect family in the perfect city. I’ll check it out and let you know the truth behind this!

Btw, some people asked me about the date I am to return home. The planned date is to arrive tuesday, 22 may at 13:45 at Schiphol. Just so you know.

Enjoy your crazy weather!

comments powered by Disqus