American Antics Part 3 featuring San Francisco baby!!!!

Because I don´t like to do things the easy way, I decided to jump on a train to get from Chicago to San Francisco... 3 days across 7 states instead of taking a quick plane ride. It was the best trip ever!!! The scenery was stunning, towering canyons blushed with pink, bald headed eagles soaoring past the windows, frozen waterfalls, pristine white snow, massive blue lakes with snowy trees reflected in the water and lots of friendly people to chat to. I met people from all over, Amish families, hippes, Irish families, German bretheren and adventurous Americans. The train went from Illnois, through Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. I am lucky enough to sleep anywhere, and for me beingg the shorty that I am the train was very comfortable. During the day you could sit in the viewing car and watch the breadth of America cruise past, and at night I luckily had a spare seat to strecth out on. By the end of the trip I think I had made friends with everyone on the train! And it was ridicously cheap.. $145 for the trip. Definitely a great way to travel across the States.

Arriving into San Francisco I was on such a high, it was a place I have always wanted to visit and the three day train ride had built the suspense perfectly. And ´Frisco did nt disappoint! I buddied up with Lee from Chicago and we explored Chinatown on our first night. Chinatown is huge and colourful and exotic! It brought home to me the history of California, and the gold rush and subsequent migration... similar to Australia.

What is the best remedy after a loooong train ride... to jump on a push bike and exercise of course! San Fran welcomes ¨greener¨modes of transport and even I (novice biker that I am) felt safe riding in the traffic. I cycled through the Haight Ashbury District (hippy central in the 60´s and scene of many historial moments) through to the Golden Gate Park. Which I think is better than Central Park NYC, its huge and even has a paddock for buffalos! There is lots of wildlife in the park too, I saw a gorgeous blue crane, squirells and lots of birds. From the park I cycled into the Presidio Park, past the studios of George Lucas (aka Star Wars) and along the coast to the Golden Gate Bridge! The red bridge is beautiful and the perspective from a bike was great. By this point I was huffing and puffing and very much struggling, so I was glad to reach Sausilito, a cute harbour village where I stopped for a burger and beer and chat with the locas... many of whom live in boats in the harbour to avoid paying land tax. Although part of the year they still have to pay, whenever their boat is touching land during a shallow tide they have to pay!!! That was enough cycling for me for one day (approximately 14 kms long) so I hopped on the ferry back to San Fran central.

San Fran is surrounded by water, and every street you can peer down onto the harbour and different bridges. The streets are incredibly incredibly steep and offer amazing vantage points. The architecture adds to the charm of San Fran as well, with bright coloured shingle houses. San Fran is definitely on my list to live one day! There is a real mix of culture and history, with the Chinatown area, but also Japantown, Russian Hill and the Latino district.

I walked through a district called the Tenderloin, which was a wake up call that life isn´t perfect. Within a few streets the atmosphere changes, with the buildings being very run down, and long ques of people waiting outside assistance centres. A definition of a house in the Tenderloin area can mean a spot on the pavement and a few pieces of cardboard. The St Vincent de Paul offices were based in this area, along with many other NGO´s. I had heard that San Fran had one of the highest rates of homelessness in America and this certainly seemed to be true, sadly. Even approaching on the train along the tracks could be seen groups of houses entirely made from cardboard and tents. Allegedly the reason the rates of homelessness are so high is because people move there from all across the States, as it has a temperate climate with no snow. Certainly if I was in that position I would make my way to California or Florida too.

Clang Clang Clang! This common sound in San Fran is the old fashioned trams approaching. These days they are more of a tourist attraction than an integral part of the transport system. Still so much fun to go on them! They are amazing, the way they are pulled up the steep hills of the city.

San Francisco is very close to the famous wine growing regions of Napa and Sonoma Valley. In a very decadent manner I went on a wine tour through the Sonoma Valley, which surprisingly reminded me of home with the scenery of wine trellis and tall trees. It was good fun, although I think I prefer Australian wine! On the tour I buddied up with an American nay pilot who was enjoying his weekend off. We chose to have a picnic lunch of wine, cheese, salami and grapes in a park in the Sonoma Valley. It was a very romantic setting, and in those strange situations which as a solo traveller I find myself in, I realised the pilot and I had not exchanged names until we were 3/4 of the way through our picnic! Who needs to know names anyways!!

The last day in San Francisco coincided with the Chinese New Year celebrations in the city. It was a great goodbye, with firecrackers going off every which way and special Chinese cakes to enjoy in the sunshine. Unfortunately I had to leave in the afternoon, and flew to JFk where I spent the night. I think airports delliberly have cold, hard tiles and harsh fluorescent lighting to deter people from doing exactly what I did - sleeping there. At one point I half awoke to people walking past and commenting ..´look there is someone sleeping in here!´ Yes, I was sleeping until you rudely woke me up!

From JFK I flew to Miama, and from Miama to Guatemala City.

Stay tuned for my adventures from Guatemala.. coming to a computer near you very soon!

Cheers, Trisha