Tuesday, October 7, 2008

From Tijuana Slums to the Las Vegas lights!

Leaving Tijuana was so hard! I havent been able to stop thinking about them all back there and how our lives just go on as we do while they live their same hard existence in the hot dusty slums........

But it couldnt go on for ever.....so I am now in Anaheim, Los Angeles and eagerly waiting for tomorrow to arrive because I am going to Disneyland! The last few days have been absolutely awesome (well still comes 2nd to Mexico but great all the same)........we left Tijuana and crossed back into the states. All 3 of our vans were taken for a secondary check at the border where we saw a man being taken away in handcuffs and another really old mexican couple get searched - it was sad! They were so old and frail but the border patrol took their bags and searched everything in front of us.
Half of the group flew back to NZ that night and the rest of us have stayed on but split off in different directions. Myself and another guy Ben, had a tour booked for Las Vegas and Grand Canyon so we stayed in a motel in LA.....after booking we found out these motels have a wee bit of a bad reputation and it certainly lived up to that! Dodgy looking place, dodgy looking people, and that night there were police up on the same balcony as us because they had been called to some kind of domestic...i felt like i was in a tacky american movie with the drug dealing in dodgy cheap motels!! I was freaking out and so glad i was not alone! When i saw the police i bolted into our room and locked the door and tried to laugh it off but was pooing myself ha ha. It was all good tho, we survived the night but was glad to get out of there!
Sunday we jumped on a tour bus and took off for Las Vegas! What an awesome city - just so unreal out in the middle of the desert. Hotels hotels hotels and casinos casinos casinos. Lights and people everywhere........we were so lucky because a friend had put us onto a great website for finding cheap last minute deals on hotels so we got a 3 star hotel for only $30 per nite! Stoked!! It was called Stratosphere and its tower is the tallest West of the Mississippi and has thrill rides on the top of the tower!! It looks pretty much like the sky tower in Aucks. There is so much to see and do in Vegas and we just didnt have enough time there but had a good look around. A taxi driver we had one morning was an Italian guy who studies in Vegas...he kept telling us he was really tired and when i asked why he said he has a night job as one of the Chippendale dancers!!! If anyone has been to Vegas you will know what im talking about! I was loving it being driven around by a hot italian stripper!! ha ha.

The second day we were in Vegas we did a day tour to the Grand Canyon. Wowwwww totally lost for words and I really cant describe what it is like......all i can say is that you gotta check that out some day if you can. 170 miles of canyon as far as the eye can see and just soooooo huge!!! and absolutely magnificent!!!! It was a loooong 16 hour day with most of it spent on a bus but we had a cool bus driver who knew his stuff. He was a black american with an awesome accent that sounded like he was straight out of the 20s. Kind of reminded me a bit of Bubba Gump lol.

Our last day in Vegas we had some R&R time at the pool at our hotel and played a few pokies (im useless and had no idea what i was doing ha ha). The highlight for me would have to be the Fremount St Experience in downtown vegas - there is a massive tunnel like structure that is made of thousands of little lights and is like a MASSIVE LCD screen. Every 30 mins they have a light show which was fantastic! I took a video so will try upload it when i have more time.

So, we are now back in LA and have met up with two other girls from the Mexico group and will meet up with the rest of them tomorrow to go to Disneyland. I will get some photos up in a couple of days when i am at my friends place in New York!

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