POW-WOW in South Dakota

We spent one more day in Yellowstone, visiting the Old Faithfull area and then driving towards the east exit. I wanted to see the grizzly bear but we did not manage to spot any. Driving towards east we realised that all the herds of bison’s were gathered in the same region where we could enjoy the spectacular wildelife. Its been great in Yellowstone but it was time to go to east and I was so surprised to feel again heat…a lot of heat and dryness.

We took little roads through Wyoming following the direction towards Rapid City, a place with not much interest except for its closeness to Rushmore Mt. , a well known national symbol. Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Once close to Rapid city we started to search for Carrie’s house, actually located in a trailer park. It is typical in USA to find almost in any city or small village a trailer park. There are caravans or trailer houses, prefabricated. Some look good and are in super condition and other look creepy and like half ran down. Carrie was living in a trailer park due to the fact that she was a volunteer in Americorps but also because she vowed the poverty vow, admitting that she has no income so the state is helping her with few money in order to have a roof under her head and hers sons head. She was 16 when she got pregnant, gave up to school, and had to take care of her son being a single mother( the father of the kid being in jail). She lived most of her life in North Carolina, where she used to own her own house, but her dream was to travel and change her life. With the help of different programs from Americorps she managed to finish a college degree and now she was waiting to be offered a better housing condition. She just celebrated 36 of age and she now is able to enjoy more her life also due to the fact that her son (mixed with Afro-American) has grown up and needs less attention. She is a devoted mother and she welcomed us into her humble place with open arms. We felt immediately at ease and we spent the evening cooking dinner together with another girl from Seattle and a friend of Carrie, both members in CS. We talked a lot for the hole evening, sharing funny or serious stories about our general experiences in USA. In the night we decided to sleep in the car because it was better for Jan due to his allergies and also because Carrie had 3 big dogs that she had to keep locked because of us. We were supposed to stay in Rapid city and in the area for about 3 days visiting different things, but the same night , Rob, the friend of Carrie informed us that there is Pow – Wow ( native Indian festival) that he will attend and that we should go because it might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. So next day we visited the Monument of Mt. Rushmore
( famous for the faces of the American presidents) but the same evening we started to drive towards the Pow- Wow located in the planes of South Dakota, about 4 hours away from Rapid city. We said goodbye to Carrie in the morning but not before visiting her in Rapid city where she works in an office that helps women with poor situation to get milk and diapers. She also informed us that there are many many single mothers in america that do not receive any help from family or society, also that there are many teenage moms and victims of rapes. It is sad but true that in USA there is a big rate of rape victims many of these cases not being reported due to fear and shame. Many of these women are being drugged or they get drunk and the man does not understand when they say no and they take advantage of the situation. I heard of these cases but never been close to a victim of rape.
It must be a shocking and terrible experience, it must be though to be able to admit that you have been a victim and the saddest part is that many women do not report rapes because the authorities do not take things serious when a victim comes and reports the rape. The following morning we had to drive maybe 200 km more. We did not know where exactly will be the Pow Wow but we were supposed to meet Rob over there and sleep at a friends place in a religious mission inside the Indian reserve. Even right now, natives live in special reserves on the territory of USA. These reserves are autonomous and are control by the federal state and not by the local state which means that FBI is the one investigating all the crimes. They also have their own local police and administration but in general the reserves are some of the poorest regions in USA.
This one was not making the exception. Driving through the dry land we crossed the national park od Badlands
which we visited briefly and then continued through small roads in the middle of nowhere. It is surprising how uninhabited some of the regions of US can be. Sometimes we do not see a house or a person for 20Km or more. South Dakota, the state where this Indian reserve is , seems to be one of the poorest states in USA with a very low income per capita, huge unemployment rates and really once you get here you realize that not now and not in the close future there will be improvement here. You might be able to be a farmer but its pretty tough. Once arrived to the town where the Pow Wow was supposed to be we started to look for signs. It is normal that in many reservations the number of white people living there is reduced…very reduced. We spotted a valley with many many people and so once arrived there we parked our car. It was crowded, dusty and curious because it felt like we were in a different country, a totally different culture and totally different features. It was like the feeling I got when I was visiting an african country still very very interesting.




For the first hours we were watching different ceremonies and dances, the different Indians dressed with colorful and vibrant traditional costumes. Pow Wow is a competition also of dancing and of honoring the Indian heritage. It is a competition for all ages and the indians come from different tribes and reservation, this time mostly from The Sioux Fall region. Later in the evening we met Robbie who took us to the house of his friends in the city close to the Pow- Wow. The girl was not there but the property of the Lutheran Church loocked beautiful and peaceful in the middle of fields of green grass. It was also getting dark and while driving towards the house next to the church I actually mentioned with Jan some of our bad experiences with protestant churches in Africa, thinking loud that it will be a big change if they will show us hospitality and let us park for the night in their land. Funny enough, the girl that was supposed to host our friend did not answer the door and we began waiting on a bench in the garden but a women that seems to be from the church came to us and started to ask us questions….like why we are there and who we were. We answered that we are waiting for our friend and that we were going to sleep in the cars on the parking lot ( where there was no other cars). The women showed herself very nervous and told us that the girl should come and talk to her. As soon as the girl appeared the women told her that we are not allowed to stay there (It was already dark outside and it is dangerous to sleep in a reserve) and that we have to leave immediately and that she will have to leave the property next day although she was paying rent and working for an NGO that was doing projects in the reserve. Again it was confirmed to us that people of churches are mean, and that what they preach is not the same with what they do in practice. These kinds of people are the worst, being hypocrites and liars. I wonder if they are conscious of their behavior. So without thinking twice we decided its better to start looking for a place where to park safely for the night and also be close to the Pow Wow, to be able to return the next morning. We started to drive but it was so dark that we could not see anything outside the road in the end deciding it is better to park the vehicles on the side of the road and sleep like that. We found a spot but soon after parking a police car came and told us it is very unsafe to park there, also because it is close to a jail and that we should look for a different place. We ended up sleeping in the parking lot of a supermarket where we had breakfast the next morning. We spent the whole day at the Pow- Wow, resting in the shadow with a lot of cold drinks and enjoying the ceremony. It has been a very interesting experience and we could be close to the natives. One indian guy came to us and asked me if I was the Senator lady they were waiting for. It was funny….because they thought that Jan was taking notes for me and that Robbie was our bodyguard.
Around 7 pm we left the celebrations and started to drive our of the reserve ending up sleeping in the middle of the fields close to a closed church. This time there was no one to kick us out!


Next day we were expected in the house of a Prosecutor of USA , also member in CS. In South Dakota there are no big cities and we were lucky to find people to host us generously. Pamela proved to be a great host and a great women. She welcomed us in the afternoon at her nice home in the fields, we prepared dinner and shared stories and her story proved to be pretty interesting. She was fostering children that came from families with problems, especially kids of indian origin. She had a girl for 3 years but recently the girl had to go back to the indian reserve for a reintegration program. The indians do not accept for their children to be adopted in non indian families so Pamela could not decide for her foster daughter. She also commented that many of the kids come from abusive environments and they are exposed from very early aged to drugs, alcohol, sexual aggression. Many of the young indian girl are pregnant before 16. She was feeling hopeless for the girl she had for 3 years because she feared she is not strong enough to say to drugs and abuse and that she will lose her path in this environment. Pamela was now a prosecutor for US but its been just few years since she earned this status because she finished the school in her late 40s. She also came from an abusive family ( her father was drinking) and actually she was adopted by this catholic family but her birth mother which she looked for many years was from ireland. It sound complicated story and it is actually because before 20 years of age she had 2 children and 2 divorces. Her adoptive parents never really helped her and she ended up driving a truck for about 17 years. When her daughters grew up she managed to get back to school and put some order in her life. She is an open and warm lady and she offered us great hospitality. The next day we even went to court and saw what she was dealing with everyday, mostly small crimes by natives. After 3 days at her house, we left towards Toby’s house, close to Minneapolis in Minnesota, a state with not much interest. We were trying to avoid the big cities of US and we were also looking for people from whom we could learn new things about this big country.
Toby welcomed us in his small home, along with his 2 daughters that were staying with him for the week-end due to the fact that he is in shared custody with his ex-wife. Many American ex-couples seem to be doing the same thing. In Europe it is not that popular. Generally one parent gets full custody and the other has some time in a year to spend with the kid. I do not really know how the Americans cope with this shared custody thing. Even for the kids it seems a bit confusing because while we were there Toby explained us that he is trying to feed healthy food to the girls but his ex takes them all the time to Mc Donalds, also mentioning that may parents in US do the same for commodity.

Toby offered us a room and cooked amazing pizzas in the over that he built outside of his house in the garden. We spent 3 relaxing days with him and his daughters and girlfriend. We spent an entire afternoon through the thrift stores and had fun playing Wi at home.
This travel is not always about seeing new places but also about experiencing the life of the people we meet.

From W to East: Yellowstone

Every time we get used to one place, we feel comfortable and at ease with the people around us, it is time to leave, but knowing that our life for now it is like that. I contacted two host for the next part of the travel and we started to drive towards their place. One of our hosts it is found in Twisp, a small town in Washington State. Once you cross the mountains of the east you find yourself in a much hotter environment. The temperature rose easily to 39•C. The nature gets drier and the grass is a gold yellow. I was surprised how dry it is because I always thought the north of Us should be greener and lush, thinking that it is much more north on the latitude but just looking at the Atlas I realized it is actually close to the same level as the Balcans. In Twisp, Debbie was waiting for us. She is a 40 something years old women, recently separated after another failed relation ship. She decided to move from Portland to this small town and start over although she complains that in such a small town it is quite difficult to meet man. She also left the type of business that she was doing in the last years which is buying old house, renovating them and after that reselling at a higher price. It seems that for a while it worked for her like that but now she feels tired and wants to buy a piece of land and start farming maybe. She is an emancipated women trapped in a society where you have to choose between love and success. Also Debbie started a life plan and a rejuvenating diet and she feels quite happy with herself although I could read in her eyes that this maybe is not the path that she desired in life. Anyway, she showed us Twisp, had dinner together and showed us great hospitality by offering us her own bed and she slept on the couch. Next day we walked to the butcher, bought some meat and cabbage so I could cook a Romanian dish and in the evening she and Jan went to the small theatre of the town where they enjoyed a play. I wanted to do a bike ride through the area so while they were doing that, I took the bicycle and hit the road but the big problem in USA is that they do not have a good infrastructure for cyclist so it is actually quite dangerous to go on the road with all the cars speeding next to you and no proper road for cyclists. The same night, we have been invited by a friend of Debbie to come to her house and watch the rain of meteorites. It was amazing to sit in the grass, with no lights around and watch this phenomenon. After almost two hours we went back to her house to sleep while she spent the night in the field. After two pretty relaxing but host days, usually at this time of the year the afternoon tend to be pretty hot and suffocating even up north, we started driving towards Colville. Almost at the border between Idaho and Washington State you find the small town of Colville, made mostly of farmers’ houses and woods.

Through Couchsurfing we contacted Angie and her family that live in a farm. Arriving there was not difficult and one of her daughters Clarissa presented us the farm and the multitude of animals they own. I have never lived in a farm and never took care of animals, so for me being close to this kind of life it is quite difficult. I know I am a town girl but it is not just that, the fact that I do not understand animals and their needs makes me very frustrated and afraid. Coming to the farm helps me understand and appreciate all much better. Angie is in her late forties; she is at the second marriage and has 4 children: two twin daughters from the first marriage and two from the second marriage. She is a very strong women guiding her life according to the needs of her children although some of the ideas she is preaching are a bit far from free thinking. She is not the adept of any church but believes that if you follow what Jesus Christ said you will reach heaven. She is following the the bible but without the interpretations that one priest or another gives. We have been very well received in their house, with a very friendly and open environment.


The kids have been great and during our 3 days stay we ate delicious dishes hand and home made. I enjoyed a lot the fresh night air and the family spirit but after these days it was time to continue with new energies our trip around US. Being on the road in USA is great because you get to watch the spectacular landscape that unfolds in front of you. Early in the morning we decided to start driving towards Glacier National park, one of the main attraction of North America. Glacier National Park is located in the U.S. state of Montana, bordering the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Glacier National Park is dominated by mountains which were carved into their present shapes by the huge glaciers of the last ice age; these glaciers have largely disappeared over the last 12,000 years. We’ve been in and out of the park for 2 days, Jan having the opportunity to walk to the main glacier while I had rested in the picnic area. When we started this new part of the travel I have promised myself I will enjoy much more and I will worry less and I will just take life easier. Glacier National Park has some spectacular views and its really worth the while but the most beautiful yet to come is Yellowstone. To be able to reach Yellowstone you need to cross about 700km of deserted hills . The landscape is beautiful especially when its cloudy and the sun goes through the clouds and makes shadows on the earth. These lands are inhabited also by some tribes of Indians. Its so uninhabited that you do not see people for 15-30 km. The lands in general are not cultivated because of the climate with strong winds and the dryness of the land.
It took us about two days to reach Yellowstone, one of the most visited parks of United States and probably one of the most beautiful.
Yellowstone was the first national park in the world, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is dominant.


We decided to take our time in the Park, visit everything slowly and enjoy its beauty. The thing we do have in this travel is time and this place is amazing. We needed 3 days in order to fully visit all the main attractions of the park and it was worth. The first two days we were mainly in the north part and we slept on the east entrance. The temperatures dropped dramatically in the night to -5 degrees. We have been surprised unprepared by such low temperatures but we were lucky we did not have to repeat such cold. Besides the gazers with the colorful hot waters, in Yellowstone you can find a large variety of wild life, from elks to grizzly bears…but we did not have the opportunity to see any grizzly but we did enjoy the close presence of wild bison. The best gazer was GREAT FOUNTAIN GEYSER
Temperature 202°F Interval 8-12 hours. Duration 45-60 minutes. Height 75-150 feet. Great Fountain Geyser is one of the grand geysers of Yellowstone.




The activity of the gazers is due to the fact that the park is located on top of a mountain volcano that might erupt at some point because it is just dormant, its caldera would include almost all the park. Caldera's are large basin-shaped volcanic depressions more or less circular in form.





The second day in the park and also our sixth day camping, we decided to go to Jackson , Wyoming, where a host from Couchsurfing was expecting us. Dan seemed to be a nice guy, he was living in a nice house in this very touristy town and shared his place with two more guys. He also plays the piano very good but something made him weird. The same evening that we arrived he looked normal, had dinner together and while at dinner he started to present us his life story. He told us he is originally from Texas, that he comes from a family with strong religious background. That he has actually been a member of a Christian sect all his youth, doing things that right now seemed horrible for him. His family is made of strong believers but they moved here because the sect decomposed due to the fact that the new lider of the sect wanted to follow mainstream Christianity. He did not really tell us the name of this sect but he definitely entered into some more personal details, explaining to us the fact that besides the general brainwashing, he has also been sexually abused by one of the members of the sect and that right now he was dealing with his past. All this could be taken as fare and square but the behaviour he had during the next two days made him a very psychically labile person and we ended up leaving his place faster than programmed. The same night that we arrived there, we decided we cannot sleep in the house due to the amount of dog hair that was everywhere and that made both me and Jan feel uncomfortable. Jan has a chronic allergy to almost anything and I think that for him sleeping in this kind of environment would not be healthy, and for me…well I do not mind a few dog hair here and there but I do mind the immense quantity that was in this house. The same night, Dan left with a friend for some drinks. He called this girl (that he said is a friend but the next day he was calling her fat and ugly and desperately in love with him) and next morning we find the girl at his place, with no car and very angry that he left with her car and dumped her in the bar. We did not really understand the situation but later in the afternoon we went to pick him up from a park fair where he was modelling for two old local artists. While in the car he was rambling about how great guy he is ( he always expressed these great opinions about himself) and how he things one of the lady artists, well in her 60s is dead inlove with him and that he is going to have a cougar. (Noun. A 35+ year old female who is on the "hunt" for a much younger, energetic, willing-to-do-anything male. The cougar can frequently be seen in a padded bra, cleavage exposed, propped up against a swanky bar in San Francisco (or other cities)waiting, watching, calculating; gearing up to sink her claws into an innocent young and strapping buck who happens to cross her path. "Man is cougar's number one prey").
As you might think, all that i am telling you can seem funny at first sight and innocent but little by little it was being built a scary portrait of this guy that seemed to be or schizophrenic or bipolar but he definitely had some problem. The same day he convinces us again to go with him to another place in order for him to meet some friends. We accept because we wanted to do something fun that day. We arrive to this ski resort place that had the gondola open for free and on top of the mountain there was a restaurant. Little by little the weather was changing dramatically and soon after we arrived at the top of the mountain and we took a seat with his friends on the terrace of the restaurant, a strong wind started to blow and soon a very strong storm came that made even the gondola stop. It was really scary outside and I honestly thought that we will have to get refugee on top of the mountain for the whole night. Finally the wind and the rain decrease a bit in intensity and the gondola starts working again so we take the chance and go down but it was moving so much while going down that they stopped it at least 4 or 5 times. When we got to the car Dan decided to go with a friend of his and we left with our car towards home. Again he did not come back that night. We started to feel that he has some problems because no one gave him the car, he could not drive so we think he had some DUI ( driving under influence of alcohol). The third day was the maximum. In the morning we came to the house to have breakfast and as early as ten o’clock he started to behave very strange, I thought he is on drugs( something very powerful) but later he admits he has been drinking a whole bottle of Rom that same morning. He was screaming nervously than laughing nervously, changing thoughts and words and having no coherence, throwing his stuff through the house. At a certain point both me and Jan felt this cannot go good and we need to get away from there. We packed the little things that we had around and as soon as one of his flatmates came to the house we told him we will go and that he is in a very bad condition. The guy was ok with it also adding that it seems to be a common behaviour lately. Probably Dan was dealing with his past but not in the most advisable way. I do not think he is a bad guy but I do think that he got beyond the limits of common sense and that we do not need this kind of things during our travel. I felt better being out in the fields camping than close to his house. This kind of people consumes the energy of the people around them and by having this behaviour they just spread bad vibes.
After doing some shopping in town for the next few days, we started the road back to Yellowstone because we still had some things to visit and honestly that evening was the most relaxing I had after the weekend we have spent in the proximity of Dan.



We could take our seats outside and I read all the afternoon while Jan walked a bit around. The landscape was nice, close to a river and in the night the whole ski was inundated with stars. The more you spend time in the nature, the more you realise how many things we lose or we do not know or appreciate anymore because we live in the city. Next day we woke up fresh and with more energy than ever and we finished our visit in Yellowstone with wildlife watching ( a herd of bisons).



From here we will be crossing the plains of Midwest towards Ohio, where Amanda and Mark are waiting for us!

Seattle and Bellingham, Washington state

Going back on the road gives me a feeling of relief. Looking outside the window of the car and enjoying the views it’s like seeing a documentary from a comfy couch. When the road is going and everything runs smoothly and there are no stress factors I feel that life on the road is the best thing it can happen. You are always the stranger in the city, no one knows you, and you can always be and feel as the person you want to be without social boundaries. I love that. After Oregon we went on the west coast on US up north into Washington State, crossing little towns like Astoria, with Victorian houses, peaceful and cloudy as all the coast of US. The climate changes from the coast to inland… from 14 to 25 degrees Celsius in just a few miles. I love the cloudy weather. I don’t know why but it gives a feeling of drama, as if we are on the edge of a powerful storm and there is nothing that can make it stop, still the storm never comes. We had no rain in the last 2 months and that is great because when we camp outside I would not like to get wet.

What I noticed is that in US no house is made of brick or stone as in Europe most of the dwellings are made of these materials , and although the winters are not milder it seems that America abounds of woods so people find it easier to build everything with timber. The last hundreds of miles we crossed deep woods of conifers, spread all over the states. Both Oregon and Washington are bear countries. The Olympic peninsula has pretty beaches full of trees brought by the fast rivers that come from the mountains and end in the ocean. The houses are beautiful and the air is clean but it seems me and Jan we suffer from some sort of allergy to the pollen or other things in the air because we always complain of pain in the nose or skin rashes. While being on the peninsula I saw many warnings about vampires…it seems they filmed here the Twilight series and people are fascinated with the story. I am most fascinated with a childhood TV series called Twin Peaks and actually it is here in Washington State that they filmed it. After 2 days on the peninsula we took the ferry to Seattle where another host was waiting for us. Carol and Jeff are a middle aged couple, in their 60s , an autumn love as they met 2 years ago and decided to spend their time enjoying life, which I think people should do , we should always be in the search of love and companionship. We were received in their beautiful home in Mercer Island and got a beautiful room just for us. Immediately we felt welcomed and the same Friday night as we arrived, we had dinner and then went to a classic English dances night. It was fun to participate although I have to admit that these kinds of dances are not my favorite. The mathematics in it (counting the steps and the moves) make me really tired. We spent three hours dancing ( probably the longest time I ever spend dancing…ever) and got back home to a nice bed and fell asleep immediately. Carol and Jeff had it all organized for Saturday and around noon we left towards a lake where the family of Jeff had vacation houses and his brother was organizing his birthday weekend party. We were about 100 people, all friends and friends of friends, we talked with people, Jan went on the canoe, ate great food. It has been great. Same evening we came back home and next day ( Sunday we spent it at home relaxing). On Monday , pretty early (8 am) we went to Seattle to the Canadian embassy where I applied for my tourist visa. One entry is 75 dollars (multiple is 150). After a long waiting line and an easy interview I got my visa in the afternoon and we went happy for a walk in downtown Seattle. I actually like a lot Seattle. Even if it is quite a big city, it gives a laid back feeling.
There is a nice park and a vegetables and fish market, and we had an amazing Italian gelato in a little Italian coffee shop. Next day, Tuesday , Jan wanted to go to Mt Rainier for a day or two , so early in the morning we drove to one side of the mountain and slept there, although I must admit I was quite annoyed by the aggressiveness of the mosquitoes.
Next day we drove around Mt. Rainier and Jan did a few walks while I rested in my camping chair reading a novel and getting bitten by the mosquitoes.




Getting back to Seattle in the house of Carol and Jeff we spent another peaceful night and Thursday evening we went for a walk and visited some openings of art galleries. There is a lot of artistic life in Seattle and people try to gain money from open air concerts, art fairs and galleries. After almost one week relaxing with Carol and Jeff but also sharing ideas about travels, God(or better said his absence) and life in general, it was time to leave Seattle and direct ourselves to Bellingham where our friend Amy ( a member of CS that hosted us one year ago in China) was waiting for us. We left Saturday morning, on a rainy weather, with the prospect of a rainy weekend but before leaving Seattle for good we also visited Freemont street and the troll of Seattle and a chocolate factory where we enjoyed for free several kinds of chocolate and coffee.
I always like to meet again friends that we made along the travel and this time it was time to see again Amy, a young American girl that we met one year ago in Xining, China, and with whom we spent really nice moments back then and now again we were looking forward to see her again.
Amy lives in Bellingham, very close to the border with Canada…less than 30 minutes. Bellingham is a small town, with many young people, due to the university here, probably the less American town we’ve been till now. You can walk to most of the places in town which in the rest of the cities is impossible. The shared house where Amy rents a room is close to the motorway from Seattle but the feeling of the house was quite nice. The house mates of Amy are 3 great guys: Chris, Zach and Michael with whom we made friendship instantly. Amy used to study here in Bellingham and when she came back from China after teaching English for one year she decided that the best moments of her life were in this city, her best friends are here so best thing to do is to come back and make some more roots. Amy is a great person, and to prove that she gave up her room, her sanctuary and slept on the couch and we had 4 restful nights in her home. Same night of our arrival it was party time, so around 10 pm we all dressed up and walked to the house party where other 30-40 people were listening to disco music and drank some alcohol. It was great to experience this kind of party, the typical we see in US films. At about 2 am we left the party and came back home walking again. I felt as when I was at university and no one really thought about the future and what our life will be like. We were all living the moment. Amy is a very creative girl, and besides writing (she studied creative writing) she also joined a punk music band about 2 weeks ago and they were already having their 2nd house concert planned for Monday night in a house in Bellingham. It seems that many young alternative people in US at some point in their life join a band or go on a road trip. While Monday morning Amy was at work, I left Jan at home and I walked through Bellingham stopping in a vintage shop for hours in a row. I was so overwhelmed by the watching of a common shopping behavior of the young Americans (the thrift stores and second hand stores and vintage shops are in fashion here) and I kind of needed a small leather bag for myself…last one I bought was in Pakistan in the market for just 1 dollar. In the evening we went to a the house concert. It seems in US the amateur art (of any kind) is much more appreciated than in Europe where people tend to value more quality. I enjoyed a lot the house concert where 4 bands played their punk rock songs. Amy’s band was the first one, then a band from San Francisco played( they were on a 2 weeks tour) and 2 more from Bellingham. Some of the songs were pretty good. People that do these tours they gain money from donations of people (normally enough for gas till the next location) and they also sell their Cd’s or other handy crafts.
After 4 magnificent days spend with so many wonderful people that live the American dream with less money but seem to be more happy, it was time to take the road again. I was so sad to leave Amy again but I am hoping that one day we will see her again maybe this time in Spain. I will miss you Amy and Bellingham …and all your house mates and friends that were great people and with whom we shared many stories, has great laughs, walked the town in the night, had dinners….(they are great cooks).