USA - California

3 weeks into the North American stint of the trip and only just about getting used to putting toilet paper down the toilet, and not in the rubbish bin (oh, I’m sorry, ‘the garbage’). It’s amazing how quickly you pick up the lingo (“I filled up the gas today, walked along the sidewalk to find the the atm etc”) whereas the old habits of chucking the loo role in a different location seem to die hard….strange that! 

Today, Ash and I had our first ‘Oh, I love your accent’, which we loved..obviously!  My theory is the further you get away from California the more special you are and the more attention is lavished upon you…certainly sounds good to me.  In actual fact, having attention lavished seems to be a running theme here in North America, whether it be for our English-ness of otherwise.  The States, as it turns out, is a damn friendly place to be, especially here in Texas where we’re currently staying.  On our journey so far, the level of customer service found in bars, restaurants, shops etc, as well as the friendliness and eagerness to assist by the locals, has really taken me aback.   The cynics among us may wager that the former instance serves purely as a necessarily by-product of the tipping culture over here, but I think that this view may be just that…cynical.  Even in clothes shops, for instance, where tips are (I assume) not on the cards, the assistants go out their way to deliver a service that leaves you walking out the doors feeling just that bit better than when you stepped in.  Once again, the cynics among us may say this feeling of betterment is due to the new pair of shoes or dress that managed to find itself into your wardrobe, rather than any lasting effects from the service provided, but I would perhaps beg to differ.  We’ve also been offered lifts by locals and were helped out of a ditch that I stupidly drove into on the first day of our car rental….oopps! We’ve had coffee shop worked print maps out for us, hotel assistants upgrading us to palatial suites in Vegas and passers-by asking us if we need any help.  A girl on our flight even took the time to write us a ‘What’s Hot and What’s Not’ list of things to do in Austin after hearing our British accents.  All in all, it’s not been going so badly for us.

San Francisco

As mentioned in a previous post, we began the States in San Francisco, the city that everyone had gone out of the way to tell me how much I’d love.  And love it I did…as most people who visit seem to.  Ash and I rented a gorgeous apartment in the Nob Hill area, which had every amenity we could have wished for.  Having come from 4 months hostelling in South America, finding a blender in the kitchen and a fridge stocked with Hersey’s chocolate and organic walnut and cranberry bread was nothing short of amazing and we got stuck in to ‘playing house’ for the next 6 days.

Playing host to the 'rents at the apartment:

We spent a lot of time in San Francisco walking, getting used to the area and visiting all the different districts.  I think, for me, getting to know the distinct areas of the city was a real highlight. A few notable areas we visited were the Italian area of North Beach, the overtly Chinese China town, where you could walk for block upon block without seeing another white face,  the old hippy district of Haight Ashbury, with so many excitingly weird and wonderful shops and bars, and the gay capital of The Castro, where my Mum particularly enjoyed and where Ash seemed to get a bit too much attention…     We also dined in the Mexican Mission District, cycled over the Golden Bridge, schmoozed around Salsalito and did the really interesting tour of Alcatraz. It was Ash’s bday whie we were away and we celebrated by visiting the Exploratorium, checking out the Palace of Fine Arts in its beautiful lake-side setting and going for a great Japanese meal at a sushi restaurant in The Marina.   We also had the chance to entertain in our lovely Nob Hill abode, as it was San Francisco where we met up with my Mum, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law.  It was really nice to see them all after  so many months and we made up for lost time whilst chatting away over  glasses of wine in our sunny living room.  Now that we were with some proper adults, we were able to rent a car, meaning that we could begin the American Road Trip in earnest and head down south along the Atlantic coast, first stopping at the seaside town of Santa Cruz.

The trip down the coast

Now equipped with our 6 seated people carrier, we set off on our trip down south towards Santa Cruz.  While in San Francisco we had spent some time researching holiday rentals and somehow managed to bargain with the owners of a grand golf ‘french’ villa just a short drive from downtown.  The villa was only costing us 35 pounds a night or so each a night ... something we couldn’t believe when we set our eyes on the property.  Each couple had our own beautifully decorated double en-suite and the living areas were huge and very grand, including several patio areas with outdoor heaters and speakers and humungous barbecues waiting for us.  I knew they did things bigger this side of the pond, but we really did seem to land on our feet with this property.  Wine seemed to be the theme of our time in California, and the patio areas in the villa were the perfect arena for a spot of al fresco drinking and dining. 

Although we found it hard to drag ourselves away from our beautiful abode, we did manage to spend time visiting the downtown area (going shopping for clothes!) and boardwalk of Santa Cruz. We also spent a day in Monterey visiting the spectacular aquarium as well the overly touristy drag of Cannery Row (from John Steinbeck’s book of the same name).  It was interesting to learn about the fishing industry in the area that enjoyed such a boom in the first half of the 20^th century but later crashed as a result of such high levels of over-fishing.  The aquarium, in particularly, did a good job at providing information on this history and there was a whole area dedicated to warning us of the perils of such abuse.  On the way back from Monterey, we visited the upmarket town of Carmel and drove through Pebble Beach golf course and surrounding areas (where I reckon lots of rich Californias must live – we even had to pay to drive through). The golf course also features on the Tiger Wood’s Pro-golf game, something that Ash was particularly excited about!

           

The next destination was Morro Bay, mainly planned as a stop-off point between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.  Here we stayed in a nice hotel that had free cheese and wine in the evening and Ash and I enjoyed the added benefit of having a Jacuzzi in our room (a gift from the parents for our birthdays).  The next day (my Bday!) we visited the amazing Hearst’s Castle, a huge estate build by a very rich Californian who was in the newspaper business (apparently the guy that Citizen Kane was based on).  Hearst was so interested in art and architecture, that he systemically filled his house (more like a castle) with pieces from all over the world.  His outdoor swimming pool, for instance, featured real Roman columns and tapestries once belonging to Louis XIV hung of the walls of the reception rooms.  Back in his day, Heart also had a plethora of wild animals roaming the grounds, including polar bears, lions and zebras.  The whole estate was really impressive and it was nice to see how an art lover, who had the money to indulge his passions, had incorporated some many interesting and beautiful pieces into his home. 

After leaving Hearst’s castle, we set off again to Santa Barbara to another great rental property.  Although not as grand as the Santa Cruz place, this house felt like a Californian home should with 180 degree views of the coast (the best view being from our en-suite toilet!).  There were comfy sofas to lounge around on, a separate ‘den’ and balcony areas surrounding the property.  Once again, it was starting to look like the Americans really did know how to live.  The owner was really lovely too and provided us with up-to-date magazines and newspapers, wine, crisps and a range of lovely toiletries to use (the kind of things you get excited about after backpacking!).  As it as my birthday, I was treated to massages from my mum and sister and sipped champagne before going for a really nice meal at a place called the Fishhouse just opposite the beach.  My food was really good and I even tried an oyster, something that I was very proud of!

We had planned to do Karaoke after the meal but we were all too full and tired and so retired back to the pad to watch a spot of ‘The Sound of Music’ (another first for me).

Santa Barbara turned out to be a really lovely place and the spent time perusing the shops and bars downtown.  We also visited a great vineyard in the area for wine tasting and picnicked lakeside in gorgeous green settings.  As with Santa Cruz, we felt sad to leave our new home, but by this time we had all begun to get excited about Vegas, where we would be staying for the next 3 nights.

Quick last bit of Bolivia..and Peru

Quick last bit of Bolivia

Ok, so I should be filling in on the rest of Bolivia in this post, but, to be honest, I have forgotten most of the finer details, given that we left some 2 months ago now.  From what I do remember was all positive:  We dressed up and danced at carnival in Oruru (involving ourselves in many 'espuma' (read 'foam) fights), checked out Cochabamba and spent a great week in La Paz, a city that we loved.  I took some Spanish lessons and Ash completed 'The World's Most Dangerous Road', leaving me a gibbering wreck while I waited for his return.  We spent our time in the capital with Paige and Lloyd and managed to fit in beer drinking at our micro-brewery hostel, visits to coco leaf museums and general partying.  After La Paz, we ventured to Isla del Sol on the border of Bolivia and Peru with P and L staying a hotel that must have one of the best views in the world over the majestic Lake Titicaca (one side looking out over Peru and the over Bolivia).

Onwards from Isla del Sol was the next destination of Peru!

Peru 

The last couple of weeks in the South American leg were spent in Peru.  Unfortunately, given the amount of time spent in other locations, we only ended up with a brief 10 or so days to discover the 5^th country on our journey.   With this in mind, we decided to concentrate our time in Cusco, the ancient empire of the Inca’s, the last ruling group to fall at the hands of the Spanish.  With Paige and Lloyd still by our side, we set off from Copacabana on the rather uncomfortable journey to Cusco (seemingly having been downgraded from ‘cama’ to ‘semi cama’..grrrr…).

My first impressions of Peru, (and maybe this was due to prior influence from guidebook), was that it was a lot more ‘tourist-ready’ than Bolivia.    There were more English speakers, more flyers being thrown at you and more people trying to lure you into buying their tickets/ tours/ bus seats etc.  Even after you had walked past, you could still hear the continuing ‘Machu Pichu’, ‘Bus to Lima’, ‘Tour to Amazon’ taunts following you down the street; you certainly couldn’t knock them for trying!  I also found it notably strange that there were no searches crossing the border from Bolivia into Peru.  Compared to the border crossings into, say, Chile, where they would shoot you for having an apple in your bag, this procedure (or lack of it) seemed rather lax.  Perhaps, we reasoned, both countries had reached a point of saturation with regards narcotics, general contraband … and apples…that there was no need for control anymore.

In any case, we arrived safely into Cusco and checked into the notorious ‘party hostel’ Loki.  I had wanted to check out this place since Brazil, mostly due to have being informed of the weekly pub quizzes hosted in the bar.  The other 3 were less unconvinced.  Our first foray into the bar confirmed their fears…huge crowds of 18-24 year olds (the age bracket below us!) flooded the dance floor, adorned in fancy dress and falling all other the place.  Drunken young men line danced on the bar and cigarette smoke engulfed ever corner of the bar space. It couldn’t have been more perfect… just what the doctor had ordered!!  We got into the party spirit with a few beers and bumped into our old friend Herman, which was great.

As we found out over the next couple of days, Cusco has a lot to offer to the tourist: world-class eateries, culture coming out its ears and an interesting and beautiful mix of Incan and colonial architecture decorating the town centre.  Add the nearby ruins of Incan fortresses and a plethora of great shops, and Cusco proves itself an enjoyable and stimulating place to spend your time.  As Liverpool was awarded the European city of culture, Cusco took the crown for the Americas, and you could see evidence as to why as you walked the stone paved streets.  Many of the walls in the city are Incan originals (having withstood two earthquakes in the past 400 years) and the Spanish style arches around the main plazas are strategically lit up with dramatic effect.  

Whilst in Cusco, we visited Sexy Women (ok, it’s not spelt like that, but that’s what it sounds like), the Incan fortress, shopped, went to the most AMAZING restaurant called Fallen Angel (never seen anything quite like it in terms of  décor)  and set off on our trip to Machu Picchu, the ‘lost Incan city’.  Whilst most people chose the 5-day trek to this spectacular archaeological site, we chose the less demanding option of hopping on the train, spending a night in Aguas Calientes and bussing up in the morning.  At least we thought this was the easy option…. Our driver was late on picking us up to take us to the train station meaning that we were in for the ride of our life in attempts to make the train on time.  We bombed down winding roads, took detours to avoid traffic and ran a final stretch down a stony path to try and catch the train that we were already 30 minutes late for.  As predicted, we missed our transport and the company ended up having to pay for us to be upgraded to the more expensive train (with food and everything) to take us through the Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes. The scenery en-route was nothing short of spectacular, with steep cliff sides, cascading rivers and lush greenery covering everything the eye could see. 

Aguas Calientes, itself, was also not as bad as we’d expected.  A small town set among two massive mountains with the roaring river intersecting at a steep gradient made for an impressive initial impression.  It was soon, clear, however that the town existed for one reason only (as the entrance to Macchu Picchu) and the people were even more ‘tourist ready’ than Peru in general.  Despite this, we managed to have a pleasant evening, tucking ourselves in early for a 3.45 start in the morning!

Getting up at quarter to 4 in the morning wasn’t much fun, but was deemed necessary if we were to catch a bus up to Machu Picchu in time for registration for the walk up Wanu Pichu (the mountain often seen in the background of the Macchu Pichu postcard shots).  We also started our guided tour early so as to avoid the crowds coming in later.  Machu Picchu is one of those things that, despite having been seen on postcards and in guidebooks so often, did not fail to impress me.   The very location of this famous site was as much of a charm as the ruins itself and almost magical with the green mountains poking out from the blanket of mist and clouds.  It almost felt as though you were walking round a city in the sky and I half expected a Jetson to drive past in a jet-car, or a character from Galaxy High to appear besides me.  Below are some pics that, once again, will do the site better justice than any of my words can:

 

We actually ended up stranded in Aguas Calientes for another night, due to a landslide that had fallen onto the train tracks.  Luckily the situation wasn’t as bad as it had been previous years, when helicopters had had to be sent to pick us the tourists, and we were able to move on the following day.

After two more evenings in Cusco, we sadly said our goodbyes to our friends Paige and Lloyd with a final night out on the tiles, and bussed the 20 odd hours to Lima, another unpleasant journey on what seemed like the world’s most windy road, albeit with good scenery.  We made up for the treacherous journey once we arrived into Lima with a gorgeous meal in the rather upmarket cervicheria, where we gorged on some beautiful seafood, pisco sours and white wine.  The next day, the final day in South America,  was spent with our friend Herman site-seeing around the centre of Lima (much nicer than expected) before flying out later on that evening.   The fact that we didn’t know whether our flight was confirmed until that morning all added to the excitement of the day (mmm….think we’ll be having words with STA Travel when we get back).

We arrived into San Francisco early the next morning, after a comfortable flight, and I could hardly contain my excitement as I made my first ever steps onto North America soil. Another continent ticked off the list with just Antarctica to go now…not bad going for a 25 year old eh?