First steps in the land of Uncle Sam!

First steps in the land of Uncle Sam!

Date: Of 19/08/2012 to 24/08/2012

Saimos of: Cartagena de Indias – Colombia

Destination: Los Angeles – USA

Travel time: 27 hours

Path: We flew Cartagena to Bogota, Bogota to Miami, Miami finally to Los Angeles.

Where to sleep: Casa do Daniel, em Los Angeles.

What eat different: Tacos and burritos, em um caminhão que virou cozinha mexicana.

Filled Tire : Venice Beach, a place where being different is normal!

Flat Tire : The lack of clarity of traders who left us with the feeling of having been cheated sometimes.

First steps in the land of Uncle Sam!

Despite all we have already visited and / or lived in the U.S. before, and know that the south has much of the population comprised of Latinos, one of the points that most caught our attention in this first leg of the U.S., que envolveu algumas horas em Miami, and and a few days in the great Los Angeles, was the amount of people who speak Spanish. Even when we approached in English, often had the answers in Spanish. In a department store quite popular in the U.S., come to be served by a seller who did not speak English, Spanish only.

Unlike other trips that we made along the expedition, usually on board the Tanajura, with the exception of the stretch Belém-Manaus that was done by boat, the stretch Cartagena – Los Angeles (LA) was done plane. There were three flights to arrive in California, total duration of 27 hours, and Miami with stops ehoursotá. As the waiting time in Miami until the time of the flight to LA was almost 12 hours, decided to take a spin around town. After going through 2 malls, and conclude that Miami is not the best options for shopping, we were back at the airport.

Após o desembarque em Los Angeles, around 9:00 night, we get the car we had rented in advance and to our surprise the price was different than we had hired. After more than one hour negotiation and expects, we can find an option for phone rental much regard. The only thing is that we had to get the car alone overnight and the agency was in another airport, the 40 minutes of the place that would be hosted. In the late afternoon of the next day we went to the location to remove the vehicle, and once again we had been duped. Prices do not coincide with what we had agreed by phone. Dessa vez, As there were a number of branches bonded to one another, just getting a better car for a lower price than we had previously engaged. O Buick Enclave de 7 places she accompanied us 21 days, until our arrival in Seattle and earned the affectionate nickname given besourão its black color and rounded front.

Em Los Angeles, we were staying at the home of Daniel, who is a friend of Gabriel's time living in Recife-PE. We were very happy with the way that Daniel received us in his apartment, making us feel comfortable as if we were in our republic. Moreover, the 4 years of experience as a student he contributed to several tips on this ride, transportation and food with great value for money.

In those days we were in Los Angeles received a special visit, who accompanied us to San Francisco – California. A Luciane, (Lu) que além de ser namorada do Gabriel é uma grande amiga do grupo desde em 2006, when we met. Besides bringing your machine to record several moments, It brought her joy that Contagion everywhere it gets.

Among the tours we did in Los Angeles, stand up to walk along the shore of Venice, a visit to Hollywood and swim at the beach in Santa Monica.

Venice is a beach known to be frequented by “hippies modernos”, and for being a place where the diverse and restrictive American laws are not followed by complete. It is a place where the normal pattern is to be different from, whether in the form of dressing, in order to sell something or begging.

As we walked by Venice, the business environment and the public grew more alternative back, giving space to a boardwalk over desert, architecture filled with houses with diversified, modern and pleasant. We had the opportunity to enjoy the sunset and practice skate, it was observed by a number of people.

Since there could be different, took one day for us to visit Hollywood, right with the famous picture with the name of the town board background.

We did a tour of the busy Hollywood Boulevard past the red carpet at the entrance of the hall oscar (Antigo Kodak Theatre, what is now known as Dolby Theater), after a series of photographs on the Walk of Fame next to the name of stars from the music industry and film as John Lennon and James Cammeron. We took advantage of the proximity to give a drive by Beverly Hills, residential neighborhood where they live some famous Hollywood.

Still in Hollywood, we visited the Griffith Observatory, that is an icon of American astronomy and has a great view of the Hollywood leteriro. Moreover, vale a dica de que a entrada é gratuita e se pode ter imagens espaciais incríveis através de um telescópio com lentes Zeiss.

Another activity that is worth commenting on was the day we spent on the beach in Santa Monica. Besides the pier that had a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster, the width of the beach also called our attention. Despite the cold water, we took our first dip into California waters.

Besides these main activities, ainda vale comentar nossas inúmeras refeições na madrugada feitas em um caminhão de comida mexicana (food truck), cheap and flavorful. This type des service can be found in several places in the United States, As Nova York, Miami, San Francisco, etc.. Também tivemos a oportunidade de apreciar um bar de jazz em Venice. O que mais nos chamou a atenção nesse bar foi o fato da banda ser composta por membros improvisados da própria platéia. Qualquer um que quisesse tocar um instrumento poderia se candidatar. As we said, ninguém leva muito jeito com instrumentos por aqui, so we were happy to just enjoy the show. Generally speaking, were days filled with activities, and sufficient to observe differences in costs and quality of life between South America and North.

To check out more photos of this stretch of the Expedition 4×1, click here