Ecuador: Guida di viaggio, visti e alloggi gratuiti · 2026

UUSAblogi · 5 ott 2009Leggi

...the airport was left far behind. In the shuttle, I meet two Cubans (or rather, they meet me...) ah, Cubans... more on that later..;) In broken English, they ask where I'm from, I say Belarus.. Belarus? Never heard of it.. The rest of the way they talk among themselves in Spanish, and one by one, first the driver and then other passengers on the "shuttle" join in.. soon the whole shuttle bus knows each other by name, everyone is laughing merrily, making jokes (judging by the glances, in my direction..) oh yes, in Spanish, of course! By the way, I came to the USA with a firm intention to improve my English, but instead, it seems I'll have to learn Spanish.. In Miami, 90% speak Spanish, it's all Latinos: Cuba (this is apparently that 90%=)), Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Portugal, Jamaica... but the Cubans! There are tons of Cubans! A wide selection, a rich assortment.. =) In short, you could say I wasn't in America, I was in Cuba=)) ...meanwhile, our little bus reaches Miami Beach, new acquaintances gradually get off, saying goodbye to those remaining in the "shuttle" as if they had known them their whole lives or had been best friends for an eternity! Extremely friendly people!! Here is my hostel, I pay the driver, get a few invitations to visit from the passengers as I leave, turn on my default "smile and wave" (it's amazing, but it works!! An extremely useful thing) and tired but happy, I trudge to the reception.. ..reception: hello, I would like.. no, I don't speak Spanish.. yes, my friend booked a spot for me in room #11.. no, I don't have luggage, it was lost.. I get a magnetic card, and here I am in the room... Nadya (that's my friend's name) is at work.. in the room, judging by the occupied beds, there is one more person besides us.. the setting doesn't match the $27 paid: two bunk beds, a small refrigerator without a leg, one closet for three, a shower.. air conditioner right above the bed, impossible without it, but with it - it blows.. just as I'm about to take a shower, the door opens and.. - here it is, the wonderful moment of reunion!! Nadya was let off early! We rejoice, exchange impressions.. I tell her about the lost luggage, we need to go shopping immediately.. Here we are at the store. By the way, stores in Miami Beach are divided into two types: very expensive branded ones and, no less expensive, souvenir ones, where you can buy wonderful panties with no less wonderful inscriptions ("FBI - fabulous booty inside" - the most decent of what was there), as well as t-shirts-bikes-caps-towels-shorts with screaming, no, YELLING declarations of love for Miami itself and for each of its parts individually! I love Miami! I love South Beach! I love Miami Beach! I buy shorts.. next, I need shoes.. AirFrance is paying! We go into the first shop.. And here we meet for the first time... a guy trying on stilettos.. he is keenly interested if they have the same ones, but in black.. he also likes the red ones very much, but he is more comfortable in black, it's not (!) as provocative.. yeah.. we go into a couple more shops, quickly buy everything necessary - and back to the hostel, I am terribly exhausted, the night at the airport and the time difference are taking their toll.. tomorrow we have a day off, the owner (from the restaurant) promised to take us around the shops

Gguest_160071 ott 2009Leggi

Paramount… ...This is perhaps one of the most interesting pages of our big adventure (for us personally!!) since this is exactly where we spent most of our summer! Everything started when we got a flat tire in the middle of a deserted Mexican neighborhood crawling with shady characters... as fate would have it, a Mexican guy named Rico helped us out and found us a place to stay for just 400 bucks a month for 5 people!!! in a family of Mexican COMMUNISTS!! Viva Che Guevara! But I'll tell you more about that later, as I want to briefly describe the neighborhood and what it's like! It's a small neighborhood in the south of Los Angeles, densely populated by Mexicans. You will never meet tourists here; they simply don't make it to such areas. Besides Paramount, this includes Downey, Norwalk, and the ever-present Compton (where only African Americans live). The latter is known as the most dangerous neighborhood in LA and for its famous natives, such as Dr. Dre, The Game, WC, and Beanie Man. There was a myth that Snoop Dogg was also from there, but as it turned out, he grew up in Long Beach. So, it felt more like the plot of GTA San Andreas than the real world! All neighborhoods are strictly divided by their gangs: African American, Mexican, and Latin (not to be confused with Mexicans... since these are from Latin America: Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina, etc.). One gang replaces another as you move along (everyone is terribly tattooed with their gang symbols, right up to their faces, not to mention their whole bodies). So, the whole meaning of their short lives (since few live past 30, the average age of LA gangs is 18-20, or even younger!) they see in destroying members of other gangs! Watch the video about one of these shootouts in Compton in my gallery or via the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SNBUe52zYc&feature=related We learned all this from a Mexican named Edgar (he says that 10 of his 15 friends are in prison, 3 have been killed, and 2 are wanted!), with whom we lived all summer. He himself avoided such a fate because his father is a very strict COMMUNIST!! So... neighborhoods like Paramount are like villages in Russia. No, of course, there are hypermarkets (Bestway, Super-A-Food), like everywhere in America, there are huge shopping centers (Downey Landing, Lakewood Centre), but it's a village. The ocean is an hour away by bus, although if you take the subway, you can significantly shorten the path. Finding work there is also quite problematic, unless, of course, you speak Spanish. If you do, then good luck to you))) There are very few people on the streets; in the evening, you won't meet anyone at all. Police patrols usually monitor such places, and if they see some crazy tourists wandering the streets late at night, they will definitely offer to drive them to their destination, as it is not safe. Personally, we encountered this situation very often. In Compton, it's better not to appear at all. We often had cases where black guys would harass our acquaintances, and they will definitely stare at you. It's better to get used to it right away. Such guys will try in every way to provoke you and pick a fight over something. Paramount is also a fairly dangerous neighborhood. We had an incident where some guys went at 11 p.m. for gum at the nearest store at a gas station, and their bike was taken away. They just walked up with a gun and took it. To their luck or not, the police were nearby, and one of the criminals was caught; they took statements from our guys. But the matter didn't go further than that; we were politely suggested to drop the case if we didn't want problems in the future. Of course, it wasn't hard to find us; we were the only Russians in this Mexican quarter!!! And in the neighboring district of Norwalk, we met some guys who were returning home from work on bicycles and got caught in a shootout; one of them got a stray bullet in his collarbone!! So, the conclusion is quite simple: LA is far from what we see