Tuesday, July 17, 2007

We're back

Yes, our holidays in sunny California are over. We're back in the mild Swiss climate.

Our home base was South Central Los Angeles. Yes, it's exactly the place travel guides recommend not to visit. Although, I was the only pinche güero in sight, I never felt uncomfortable in any way. Toño's relatives took perfectly care of me. I have not the slightest idea, why the gringos make such a fuss about their neighbours from the south. The Mexicans I met set a shining example of taking care of each other and holding together as a family. IMHO you can't wish more upright, decent and hard working citizens.


4th of July Volleyball tournament in South Central LA.

Well the main purpose of our visit, the Quinceañera took place at Desert Hot Springs, which is close to the famous Palm Springs. It set the antipode to our Siberia trip. The thermometer read up to 113°F/45°C. We covered a range of 175°F/97°C and 19 time zones in less than a six months.



The Quinceañera itself was a blast. The unbelievable part was that I spent more time on the dance floor than Toño. There were about 350 people. Many of whom Toño has not seen for years. He is still the better dancer, but he had to catch up a lot with his family.

We also went to Las Vegas to see an uncle and niece of Toño and to Hollywood to meet with a friend from Mexico D.F. who is a director of photography to dine in a house which ones belonged to Charlie Chaplin. You see, there was no time for any sightseeing left.

3 comments:

Michael Lehet said...

Welcome back!

Sounds like you had a great time and got to see alot of the Western US.

Unknown said...

what a great report! And yes it can get very hot in the desert and in vegas! Can you believe my brother lives in 45C weather daily (Bakersfield)

And I had no idea Tono had so many relatives in the area...

Where is he from originally or where did he grow up?

Anonymous said...

happy you and tono are back. i enjoyed all your blogs. they are lovely and amusing. from isi.