As I'm sure you've noticed there has been a distinct dropoff in the number of posts I've put up lately. Turns out Bolivia isn't a very internet-friendly country, and it's been hard to find internet at all. Internet that is fast enough to let me upload pictures is even more challenging. I'll try to finish my record of events, but I'm suspecting it won't be until I get home in 2 weeks. Until then you'll just have to trust that I've gotten pretty good at staying alive by this point, and chances are I'm totally fine!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
American Street Art
The United States was one of the first countries to popularize street art, and the two biggest centers for it are in New York City and along the California coast. Here's a sample of the art I encountered around Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix.
El Mac
If you go back to one of my very first posts on the street art tour I did in London you'll see a cowboy portrait by El Mac. The way he makes portraits in stripes makes them feel almost like auras, and the style makes his pieces easy to identify, a trait that I'm beginning to think is almost as important as actual quality and technique in street art. El Mac is from Phoenix, so it was nice to find a mural there by him (the third one). The first two were in Hollywood.
Herakut
I've mentioned Herakut before as well. They are a German duo that are probably my favourite artists, but I had never actually seen their art in person. I knew they'd been around California in the last couple years, so I made an effort to hunt down their pieces that were still standing (and a few locations where they weren't anymore). I'm especially fond of the first two here, which are on the walls of a building in Culver City. The last one is hidden in the back parking lot of a shop in San Francisco. A couple months ago Herakut started a new world tour that has so far had them leaving art around Asia and Australia. I'm a bit disappointed with my timing, since I'm missing out on art and shows they're doing in places I was just in, but I'm happy to see them out spreading their art around the world again.
Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey is probably the most famous American street artist, and his art is very design-oriented. I probably saw more art by him, but this large mural from LA is classic Shepard Fairey.
I don't have the time to try to figure out who did all the other stuff right now, but here's an assortment of some more of the art that I liked. Some of them are signed, but some will have to remain mysteries for now.
Los Angeles / Culver City
San Francisco
Phoenix
El Mac
If you go back to one of my very first posts on the street art tour I did in London you'll see a cowboy portrait by El Mac. The way he makes portraits in stripes makes them feel almost like auras, and the style makes his pieces easy to identify, a trait that I'm beginning to think is almost as important as actual quality and technique in street art. El Mac is from Phoenix, so it was nice to find a mural there by him (the third one). The first two were in Hollywood.
Herakut
I've mentioned Herakut before as well. They are a German duo that are probably my favourite artists, but I had never actually seen their art in person. I knew they'd been around California in the last couple years, so I made an effort to hunt down their pieces that were still standing (and a few locations where they weren't anymore). I'm especially fond of the first two here, which are on the walls of a building in Culver City. The last one is hidden in the back parking lot of a shop in San Francisco. A couple months ago Herakut started a new world tour that has so far had them leaving art around Asia and Australia. I'm a bit disappointed with my timing, since I'm missing out on art and shows they're doing in places I was just in, but I'm happy to see them out spreading their art around the world again.
Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey is probably the most famous American street artist, and his art is very design-oriented. I probably saw more art by him, but this large mural from LA is classic Shepard Fairey.
I don't have the time to try to figure out who did all the other stuff right now, but here's an assortment of some more of the art that I liked. Some of them are signed, but some will have to remain mysteries for now.
Los Angeles / Culver City
San Francisco
Phoenix
Monday, April 8, 2013
Days 361-363: Phoenix
Phoenix isn't much of a travel destination, and most of the travellers there are just passing through. I did my best to see the few sights around, going to the main art gallery for a couple hours before switching to my second hostel. Since I was going to be coming back to the first one the next day I left most of my things there and just took a few clothes to the other one. Downtown Phoenix isn't very big, and it only took a couple of hours to look around and stop by the different sports' stadiums. My favourite part of Phoenix was the Art District around Roosevelt Row, which was full of neat little galleries, cafes and alleyways of street art.
On my 3rd day, when I was back at the original hostel, I spent the evening hanging out with the hostel owners and some of the other guests. We played some board games and ended up going to the nearby park to play ultimate frisbee. When I played ultimate frisbee on the beach in New Zealand I was probably the worst player there, but the difference between playing with a group of very fit people who play 3 times a week and a group of fairly out of shape people who haven't played in years is pretty dramatic, and this time I got to be one of the stars. We spent the evening hanging out and drinking, and overall it was a really fun group of people to end my time in the US with.
My plane the last day didn't leave until late at night. I was taking a really budget airline (the only 2-star airline in North America), and they charged a lot extra for extra bags. By this point I have a backpack, my disintegrating messenger bag and another tote, and I really wanted to get that down to 2 items to save about $30 on the flight. I solved the problem by finding a duffel bag at a goodwill store for $4 and using that to combine two of my other bags. The airport I was flying out of wasn't actually in Phoenix, but in nearby Mesa, and I said my goodbyes in the evening and began the streetcar + 2 bus route trip of about 2.5 hours to get to the airport.
On my 3rd day, when I was back at the original hostel, I spent the evening hanging out with the hostel owners and some of the other guests. We played some board games and ended up going to the nearby park to play ultimate frisbee. When I played ultimate frisbee on the beach in New Zealand I was probably the worst player there, but the difference between playing with a group of very fit people who play 3 times a week and a group of fairly out of shape people who haven't played in years is pretty dramatic, and this time I got to be one of the stars. We spent the evening hanging out and drinking, and overall it was a really fun group of people to end my time in the US with.
My plane the last day didn't leave until late at night. I was taking a really budget airline (the only 2-star airline in North America), and they charged a lot extra for extra bags. By this point I have a backpack, my disintegrating messenger bag and another tote, and I really wanted to get that down to 2 items to save about $30 on the flight. I solved the problem by finding a duffel bag at a goodwill store for $4 and using that to combine two of my other bags. The airport I was flying out of wasn't actually in Phoenix, but in nearby Mesa, and I said my goodbyes in the evening and began the streetcar + 2 bus route trip of about 2.5 hours to get to the airport.
Days 359-360: Sidetrips and Leaving Las Vegas
My original plan when I decided to go to the United States for a few weeks included a few days spend at the Grand Canyon, ideally doing a hike across it. Unfortunately the didn't work out. Part of the problem was that I originally planned to spend about 3.5 weeks in the country, but changes to when I left New Zealand and when I booked a flight into South America meant that I only had about 2 weeks, so everything got condensed. The other issue was that about 3 months prior I tried to book a bed at the hotel at the base of the canyon, but it was already completely full. Basically it's just too hard to juggle planning for all the things I want to do, and a few things have to get left out.
Since I wasn't going to be able to do any real hiking at the Grand Canyon, my consolation was to do one of the day trips out of Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. Most of the day was taken up driving there and back, but we did get in a quick visit at Hoover Dam, and around 2.5 hours at the Canyon. Our drive/guide talked for much of the time, and while he did have some interesting information and good anecdotes it was buried in hours of corny jokes and repetition that left me wanting to smash my head on the window repeatedly.
The Grand Canyon itself was pretty cool. I probably would have been a lot more awed by it a year ago, but the scope of it is still enough to impress me. I've found that for natural things I really react strongest when I can enjoy them on my own, isolated from other people, and that was simply impossible with the 2.5 hours we had. I had been hanging out with a German girl who was in my hostel in Las Vegas, and we took the shuttle bus around to a few of the different view points, but there wasn't enough time to get too far off the main paths so everywhere we went there were more tourists. It was still worth the trip out, and hopefully I'll get a chance to do the hike I want sometime in the future.
The bus got back pretty late in the evening, and I only got a few hours of sleep before I had to get up again around 3am to walk back down Freemont Street to the Greyhound station to get my bus from Las Vegas to Phoenix. I got a little sleep on the bus and spent the rest of the time enjoying the changing landscapes and got into Phoenix early in the afternoon. There are only 2 backpacking hostels in Phoenix, and one was only open for the 1st and 3rd days I'd be there, and the other only on the 2nd day, so I knew there would be a lot of moving back and forth. I checked into the first hostel and spent a bit of time exploring downtown, but mostly just relaxed at the hostel and tried to catch up on sleep.
Since I wasn't going to be able to do any real hiking at the Grand Canyon, my consolation was to do one of the day trips out of Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon. Most of the day was taken up driving there and back, but we did get in a quick visit at Hoover Dam, and around 2.5 hours at the Canyon. Our drive/guide talked for much of the time, and while he did have some interesting information and good anecdotes it was buried in hours of corny jokes and repetition that left me wanting to smash my head on the window repeatedly.
The Grand Canyon itself was pretty cool. I probably would have been a lot more awed by it a year ago, but the scope of it is still enough to impress me. I've found that for natural things I really react strongest when I can enjoy them on my own, isolated from other people, and that was simply impossible with the 2.5 hours we had. I had been hanging out with a German girl who was in my hostel in Las Vegas, and we took the shuttle bus around to a few of the different view points, but there wasn't enough time to get too far off the main paths so everywhere we went there were more tourists. It was still worth the trip out, and hopefully I'll get a chance to do the hike I want sometime in the future.
The bus got back pretty late in the evening, and I only got a few hours of sleep before I had to get up again around 3am to walk back down Freemont Street to the Greyhound station to get my bus from Las Vegas to Phoenix. I got a little sleep on the bus and spent the rest of the time enjoying the changing landscapes and got into Phoenix early in the afternoon. There are only 2 backpacking hostels in Phoenix, and one was only open for the 1st and 3rd days I'd be there, and the other only on the 2nd day, so I knew there would be a lot of moving back and forth. I checked into the first hostel and spent a bit of time exploring downtown, but mostly just relaxed at the hostel and tried to catch up on sleep.
Day 358: St. Patrick's Day
My St. Patrick's Day in Las Vegas actually turned out to be pretty tame. Travelling by myself in Las Vegas meant that I wasn't willing (or even all that interested) in partying too hard, and it became one of those situations where when everybody is more drunk than you they just seem obnoxious and annoying, and not really all that fun. A good number of the people in Las Vegas are obnoxious and annoying at the best of times, but the St. Patrick's Day festivities just made things worse. I did have a nice lunch buffet at one of the casinos with a Welsh guy staying at my hostel, and through the afternoon and evening I did have a fair number of drinks, but not with the unrestrained abandon of most of the other tourists around. I spent the evening away from the big casinos hanging out around Freemont, and the best part of the day was all the live music and street performers the large crowds brought out.
I didn't stay out all that late, partly for the above reasons and partly because I had to get up about 5:30am the next morning for my final big activity.
I didn't stay out all that late, partly for the above reasons and partly because I had to get up about 5:30am the next morning for my final big activity.
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