Paco´s Life: Madrid

California Dreaming: Conclussions

So this was, more or less, the itinerary we followed in this trip. About 3000 miles (4800 km) of driving through the californian geography:

The trip had everything and the planification was almost perfect, apart from the issue with the chains we didn’t get lost too much and there wasn’t any sort of problem. I would say that everything worked out so well that it got close to be boring, no funny stories nor problems to tell about. It was a “very professional” trip, we saw everything we wanted and the route was the best. Been only 2 people travelling, even having a very good relation, could produce some kind of routine: you drive to a place, you see the place, you take the picture and then you go to the next one. With a bigger group we wouldn’t had seen so many places but it would probably had been funnier. But the social moments we had during the trip (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco) helped breaking up this routine so it wasn’t boring at all. Besides, the area offers plenty of stuff to see. It is pity that the nightlife was not too good, probably because we tried to go out in small cities. That was probably the main problem since the only night we had in a big city (Los Angeles) happened to be much funnier. In conclusion, a great traveller experience more than social. A combination of big cities, cinematographic scenarios and natural landscapes. This more cultural tourism was very welcome after the last ICEX trips which ended up been big alcoholic parties.

About the country and from my point of view, it is a pity that the exterior politics of crappy Bush had damaged so much its reputation all over the world. People there is mostly very very friendly and welcoming. The standard of living of the medium class is very high, there is the bigger the better culture, big cars, big houses, big meals… That´s their culture and the way they live. There are quite a few bad things though. Firstly their luck of international culture, many of them don’t know further than their state. This, if not justifiable, is at least understandable having into account how huge the country is. With 50 states, a few different time regions and a size bigger than all occidental Europe, you could say they have enough with getting to know their own country. It is also a very gifted place from the geographic point of view: natural parks, coast, mountains… So the opportunities for national tourism are endless. It seems kind of logic that many Americans don’t see the need of crossing the Atlantic. The other face of the coin is how few history the cities have behind. Nobody expect to find big monuments or ancient cathedrals here. Most of these places are only a century and a half old in the best case, built geometrically as squares. There is not such a sing as historic center in the American cities as we have them in any European city. In general, they have little to offer apart from the surrounding landscapes.

Something which is also quite bad is the issue with the social differences. California is one of the richest states in the country but still you see plenty of homeless. And the immigration problem: the waitres serving your table is the typical good looking and smiling American girl, the guy cooking the hamburguers in the kitchen is almost in 100% of the cases a Mexican not looking very happy. Same happens with the people you see working to improve the roads and buildings. It is really exaggerated how certain jobs are exclusively taken by immigrants coming from the southern neighbour. I don’t know it this is the reality, but it would be quite hopeful to think that, right now, the children of these Mexican cooks and workers are been educated in the universities thanks to their parents effort and that, in a future, their integration in the American society will be better. That would be nice cause right now the impression you get is that this is not happening. In any case, I am just speaking for speaking, 15 days is not enough time to get a good picture of a country, just to get back with some impression about it, some of them are good and some of them are bad.