I just passed by the world famous Californian surf break called trestles and saw miles of perfect five foot waves breaking along a sandy point. There was maybe three hundred guys spread along six or seven sections of the point. Too late for me to get amongst it but the though had crossed my mind to yell ‘stop the train! It’s forken cranking and I’m getting off ya pack of seppo pricks’. Needless to say I just sat there with a stunned look on my face while I watched the waves go by and said nothing. Maybe a little wince could be heard if you were sitting close enough…

After new years, I spent a couple more weeks in Ecuador, surfing around Salinas, visiting Montanita and Guayaquil, pushing the boundaries of beer consumption and surfing my now white contrasting brown lower back ass off. We made a short DVD called “Jamon Briefcase” with some of the surfing footage and shenanigans from the trip that will be an entertaining little time capsule. I had an unbelievably good time in Salinas. Out of all of the places in South America that I passed through, I think I favour Southern Ecuador as the place that I could happily live. I hope that I get to go back one day.

The US was (is) cool. That is about the best way to sum the places I saw in a nutshell - “cool”. There is a definite self consciousness about the people of California and in turn almost everyone makes an effort to look the part and have an edge. There are miles of groovy cafés and every variety of trendy clothes shop along the waterfront of San Diego with an unbroken flow of trendy Californians looking hip and sharp and ready to front the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. A good scene for sipping a soya mochaccino with lemon and organic half and half while watching the fashion parade unfold in front of you.

I was fortunate enough to go to a party in Hollywood with several soon to be famous actors (or so they told me), where alcohol, food and even a bowl of cigarettes was supplied to a gab of the trendiest of the trendy LA folk. They were pretty accepting of the Aussie traveller in their midst so I wasn‘t uncomfortable amongst the low carb, gym junkie look at me look at me types. I had a good time and was even treated to a small concert from a local boy band wanna-be mid party that, if in Australia would have seen a full can of beer pelted at this blokes head for sure. It was lousy and embarrassing to watch but it was amusing to see a grown man singing like a small girl with miles of feeling and absolutely no talent. Gotta give him credit though, it took a lot of guts and little or no touch with reality to do that.

I saw a mind blowing art exhibition called “Ecstasy” in LA all about the altered state. I can’t really describe it in full but there was one great installation that saw massive red top mushrooms (like the ones in Alice in Wonderland) rotating upside down from the ceiling in a white room. You really have to see it! You weren’t allowed to take photos but I did snap one away before I was stopped by the overly enthusiastic security guard. I went to the San Diego zoo (love aminals) and got a look at a stationary wave at a place called wave-house (mind boggling, looks dicey though).

All in all, thanks to Corina for showing me the sights, I enjoyed a very cool time in California. Anyway, time to pack this computer away and get off the train, I’ve got a plane to catch…

Emerson

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