Los Angeles

In The Hands Of Tom Hanks

Brenna again kindly came to meet me at the bus station. I was in a bit of a bad way. Four nights in Vegas can take it out of you. But there was no time for feeling sorry for myself, I ws back in LA and we were off to Sunset Blvd to meet a relative of mine - Julie. I probably hadnt seen her for, well, I cant even remember in how long - but it was a fair few years.

Sunset Blvd naturally had the perfect sunset - we arrived just in time. We met Julie in an English style pub, complete with dishes such as sheperds pie & bangers and mash. She obviously choose it to make me feel at home. We had a good catch up. I knew it was going to be an interesting night when Julie decided she needed a tranquiliser to calm her down. She was a lot of fun though as she retailed stories of the many famous people she had met in this town.

She later took us to Hollywood. I got to skip from one star to the next, before we all put our hands in the many prints that reside at the world famous Graumans Chinese Movie Theatre. I have the exact same hand size as Tom Hanks if you were wondering. We also got to walk up the glamorous steps at the Kodak Theatre - I didnt feel out of place among the home of the stars, not even once!!! We naturally took a ton of photos as has the millions of people before us and the millions of people who will come to this part of the world after we leave.

Later that night we drove back to Brennas student house. She technically lives just outside West LA, in a place called Claremont. Its a small suburb town and mainly houses a series of small, interconnected universities, one of which Brenna attends. Her student house was nothing like the abode that I lived in when studying. For me, the biggest highlight in our house was the toasted sandwich maker, but this house is complete with egg producing chickens and a swimming pool. This is LA I guess.

In Claremont we got to check out Brennas universities before visiting some of her friends that I knew from Ecuador as well. It was odd seeing them all out here because I only knew them from my time in South America. I think it was even weirder for them though - each person becoming quite emotional as my presence brought back memories of their time in Ecuador. Later that night we all got together for dinner and a little reunion. It was also in Claremont where I really remembered how good American food is. I mean the food in Vegas was amazing but I was often too ill to enjoy it properly. Here, I rediscovered my apetite and over the next 6 days I would eat more food than I had done in a long time. I started on the Bagels.

We left Claremont and headed off to another part of LA, Irvine, to visit Brennas parents. On the way we stopped off in Los Angeles Little India, where we had great curry and I picked up English Tetleys Tea and two tins of Heinze Baked Beans - amazing find. Irvine is one of the oddest places I have ever been. Voted the number one, safest city in the United States of America its essentially a planned suburb town, with fake but always beautiful lakes, immaculate roads and perfect houses. It felt like stepping into the Truman Show. Homeless people here are picked up by authorities and dumped outside the boundaries of Irvine, as it spoils the look of the place. Only in America!!! The streets here all look eaxactly the same and while you can decorate the inside of your house more or less however you like, the outside must comply with a thousand rules and regulations.

It was nice to see Brennas parents again, and I also got to meet her cool younger sister too. Around Irvine they also have public hot-tubs which you can go and use whenever you desire, so naturally after dinner thats exactly what we did. Brenna always told me about Irvine. I guess some people really love it but she said it was incredibly boring growing up there. I really didnt know what to make of it, I have never seen a place like this before!!!

Brenna and I left her family and headed off to the beach. I hadnt been to the beach for a long time (last New Years in Montañita, Ecuador) - so I was glad to be heading back to the Pacific. We went to the famous Laguna Beach. Its pretty much exactly how you would imagine it. Rich young kids hang about on the pristine sandy playa, where the sun always shines. The shops are all cute, generally selling delicious ice-creams and milkshakes and every car you see is worth more than I will ever earn in my entire life.

It was now the weekend, and we decided to leave LA for a few days and head up the coast. We rocked into Brennas motor and started to cruise up the PCH. We were off to Santa Babara......................