Chapter
10
In 1993 I decided to leave all the people around and went on a trip to everywhere.
First of all I had to organized the money and my job. So, I quit the job. And for the money, I went ask my richest uncle Aurelio Simonetti. He helped me with 500 us dollars, could be one thousand but I think he was tight. Anyway, 500 hundred was fine, like 2 thousand nowdays. So, plus my saves I was ready to leave. I got with a friend´s brother in law, a cheap ticket as a family member, in LAN Chile, the Chilean airline. But this was not in business or turist class, I flew as a crew member in a Cargo Plane. We took off in Santiago in a super clear night with full moon. I was sitted on the pilot cabin with 2 nice and experienced pilots. And the rest of the plane was Cargo.
They had to make different stops. Peru and Curazao. And we crossed Central America, Panama and Costa Rica with view over an amazing electric storm. We saw Cuba with nightlights. And we arrived early morning to Miami.
New York was the primordial destiny but I started with the deepest America.
I first lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Deep America with the plus of the mexican inmigrants, and americans with mexican origins, that are mexican with perfect english that born in US. In fact, they are from the area, from that land. Cross border with Mexico. Is the same.
I stayed at my good friend Angelica. who lived with her husband Trevor and her first child Dakota, a 6 months baby. Phoenix, is a city in the middle of the desert where people suffered temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius. Why they choosed to live there? It´s a mystery for me, but I can imagen, Trevor was born at the cold North, in New York State, and mostly of his brothers lived in Arizona, so i think he decided like that. Trevor was super american, deep american. Nice, handsome, and pretty drunked. I think, this guy didn´t understand what a beer is. Alcohol and bad taste, but cold. Everyday, after work these guys drunk a lot of beer because of the hot climate.
Next day of my arrival, a super hot day and a hot night, Trevor got drunk, like in the movies. At the end of the soireé , me thinking going to sleep, ready to sleep and, Trevor and Angelica started what is called a domestic fight. As I told before, Angelica has her mother´s dna, so she was adorable and quite dramatic. They finished the fight, someone calling 911 and Angelica laid on the floor. Fine, but laid on the floor. But, before this moment that I saw Angelica on the floor, I was in pijama in my bed. Suddenly, a policeman enter super quitely in my room with a torch …like in the movies. And then arrived an ambulance service with full lights, sounds and, doctors or technician, whatever to help Angelica. That´s when I went out of my room and saw Angelica.
Fortunately, everything ended fine. Maybe Trevor went with the police. But in between, we already were laughing with Angelica after the event. I never got scare. I finished speaking with the police man about my journey. It was funny. And it was America wellcoming me with all its character and bubbles.
Next day we had a trip organized with Troy, Trevor´s brother and a friend. We went on the forest and we slept under the pine trees. That´s an american costum because they have the climate and the pine forests. Next day, Troy and —- were jumping from the rocks to a pound of green water. Even being in the desert zone there is full nature in Arizona. A yellow brown golden nature.
I passed my days organizing my next trip and baby sitting Dakota. I was totally inexpert with childs so it wasn´t easy. In the middle of my stay there was a call from Santiago about some papers I had to sign because of our dispute with the bank and our house. So, I had to travel to the Chilean consulate in Los Angeles. This was so much fun and payed by my father.
I travel to LAX and at the airport I booked a place in an Hostal for youth, near Venice beach. I chose that, only because they picked me up at the airport. When I saw the guy arrived, instantly I understood Los Angeles mood. People from there are so proud and so happy to be in L.A, to live in L.A. It´s a huge sunny urban space. They walk, dress, talk and hair styled like a L.A´s member. Each one on his tribe. This case, was a mix between a surfer and the flower power.
That was only one tribe of L.A, there are many others. I check in and I went to the consulate in downtown to sign the papers. They were waiting for me. I used a public bus and that was the second thought to find out people from L.A. Long distances, long highways and big neighborhoods. Many black people, I mean Afroamericans. And for me to see people with a different color of skin was not usual. That´s the truth and that´s the reason of my thought. I´m just talking about a color, not about we are different human beings.
I stayed one week in LA, and I kept looking the tribes. They were so snoby aswell. Once in Bevery Hills, Rodeo Drive, Rodeo etc, I was looking all those luxury shops, sometimes getting in and speaking with the people. They look at me as an excentric girl from south america, i dont remember well the word oh! south america, how excentric. It was no problem for me, on the contrary, i understood americans on those days knew few about south americans, less about a Country as Chile.
I think, they thought it was incredible to find a white face coming from south america, instead of any coming as a people of the land. A kind of exception. And I think as well, because of this in an Art Gallery, in the middle of Rodeo drive, the seller wanted to sell me a Serie of Warhol´s hammers serigraphies, in different colors. He invited me to a private room, where he sell collections of all kinds. Offer me coffee, and show me 5 or 6 serigraphis of Warhol in a long wall painted grey. Me, a young white face girl from South America who was going around Rodeo Drive, sitting on the top the world. Crazy people and so snob.
Finally, at the end of my trip to LA, it was like being in a movie. Just with the sad inconvenience that someone stole from me an amazing pair of boots at the youth hostal. The End.
