Los Angeles - Traffic and Tacos

Already a whole week has gone by since the Ashram. So Ill just give a quick recap, especially since I am at an internet cafe and truly only have a few minutes.

I got the chance to stay with my dearest friend Maiah Khin and her ever so lovely mom and grandmother. They always make me feel like part of their family and for that I am truly grateful. We saw some more of the sights in SF like the Botanical Gardens, Fisherman's Wharf, and even Haight-Ashbury, the birthplace of the hippie. This is Wednesday now and thats when we headed to Carmel, but Carmel was a bit too twee so we opted to continue on to Big Sur. Absolutely gorgeous! That afternoon I had to say farewell to the Khins, but not for long because Maiah Khin and I will soon rendez-vous. #Scotland2018 

So I had my first real travel stress. As you all probably know there have been some recent mudslides in Santa Barbara. These mudslides caused Amtrak to have to close some of the rails and deliver me a message saying that there is absolutely nothing they can do so I just have to sit in Monterey for another day. I guess I left an impression on the Amtrak customer services because I arrive in Salinas to catch the bus and the head of the station comes out and smiles, "Alex, so glad to have you. I got you a spot on the train if you'd rather do that than the bus??". Needless to say I made it to LA.

First First impressions of LA. Everyone who knows me told me I would'nt like it. Its fake. Its too spread out. Yada Yada. I really wanted to prove them wrong but in the end definitely not the place for Alex Lane. First off, you cant walk anywhere. You either need a car or you have to take an hour long bus. A couple of times I thought oh I'll just have a wander around the neighborhood, like when I walked my last night to get Mexican. You're walking along a highway. This all is evidence towards my theory that LA people don't even like to walk, yet all they do is talk about traffic. Another thing about LA, as I was buying some sweatpants at 3rd st Promenade, I asked the guy behind the desk if he recommended anything to do. Literally, "There's a mall up the street."Why would I go to a mall? Malls are pretty much the same everywhere you go. He wasnt the only who recommended some odd stuff.

Now that Ive got that off my chest Im able to reflect on the awesome parts of LA, which there are. My first day exploring I headed off to Santa Monica. It was a big smoggy that day so the beach wasnt all that tempting so I sat and peopled watched on the pier. As I sat there I realized I hadnt planned out my meal timings and was starving. This was the moment when I truly felt like a Lane, in particular a Steven Lane. Im looking around the pier and only see 8 dollar churros, which I refused to pay for, so I pulled out a beet from my backpack and just munched on that. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking to Venice Beach, watching the street performers, and eating tacos.

Tacos deserve their own little paragraph because for me this was the best part of LA. I go to this organic taco place with an actual solid lunch special. I was blown away. It was as if I had never eaten a taco before. This epiphany led me to eating tacos 6 times over the next 4 days. 

Back on track now. I was all about making the most of my day so I headed to the LACMA and then to In N Out. PSA: In N Out is not good, don't let Californians trick you. 

Second Day I started in downtown LA exploring The Last Bookstore which is the coolest bookstore I have ever been too. Grand Central Market was nearby which is like a hipster food mecca. Another tasty meal of tacos and pupusas. I made the somewhat bad decision to walk to the Griffith Observatory on a Saturday night in the dark (don't worry this is not what youre thinking). A 20 minute walk actually was more like an hour and a half and there were so many people there. The bonus was that I did catch some wildlife, a coyote actually, about 100 feet away from me. 

Third Day I spent with my great buddy Tim from high school and thank to his car we knocked off the Hollywood sign hike, USC campus, and The Getty Center all in one day. That was probably my favorite day.

Final day in LA (sorry for the long post). This was definitely the weirdest. I decided to take it easy, so I just walked around downtown to the Fashion District. Cheap and cheerful is the best way to describe that area. After having eaten out of taco trucks the past couple of days I thought I would treat myself to a hearty kale dish in a classic LA place called Urth Cafe. I walked there from Santee Alley. You know how in cities you'll be walking in a nice part with yoga studios and sushi burrito joints and then you round the corner and theres like fast cash loan places and homeless people. This was that, but I couldn't escape it. For blocks I was walking squeezing past tents, dogs, human feces, lepers, and homeless people passed out on the street. It was truly awful. I couldn't believe that I was in America. I finally got to my cafe and attempted to enjoy my bowl of kale after what I had just seen. I befriended the lady sitting next to me instantly who was like THE character of characters. We talked about waiting tables as she was a Denny's waitress except you would never know cause she had  a lot of work done. She had some different ideas on the poverty in LA. She thought it was more a choice and that most of the beggars are not in fact Mexican, as he believes. She expressed her concerns about me travelling but also wanted me to inspire her younger daughter who was in high school to work hard, but also see the world. It was definitely a lovely ending note. I've met some amazing people already and the journey has just begun.