Again In USA

After leaving Wayn’s home and camping for 3 nights, we headed south to the USA border, with many emotions, because our journey will depend on the availability of the American authorities to extend our initial visa. Remembering the little adventure we had before entering Canada ( for just asking a question) and having heard other horrible stories of travellers that got their visa cancelled at the border, well…lets say I spent a few nights not sleeping, worrying to much…it’s true I know…I worry too much. With huge angst, we arrived at the border cross …a very small one on the state of Main border line. It was so small that there was not even a wall or police outside. We waited for the officer to come to us and then we mentioned him that we are interested in our options to extend our visa. He invited us inside the check post, where without asking too many questions and after reading the pages about our travel…he simply invited us to pay 6 dollars each and he gave us a new entry of 6 months. When we left the check post I was screaming of happiness because the new entry meant that we could spend as long as we need in USA to be able to finish our visiting plans + to sell the van. The weather in the north has been bad for the last weeks and we were realising for the first time in this travel that winter is approaching…We haven’t spent any real winter and no rain in all these years and for us all this cold and rain was bringing depression and desires to go home. Lucky we were that the next destinations were at least so appealing that all this cold was worthy. We have crossed the border on the 25th of October and slowly, we started to drive south bound, stopping at first at the lovely park of Acadia. Here in USA the park still preserved some leafs and we could do some good camping, although next morning…quite early a ranger’s car woke us up and decided to fine us 100dollars for having spent the night in the park. We were used in Canada for the parks to be closed and so no rangers…’how lucky that here in USA the parks were still open’…anyway…when the ranger asked for our papers, and saw that we were foreigners with a car from California, he decided it was too much hassle for him to fine us but he advised us that we are on the black list of the national park and that we should not camp again. Happy that in the end he was not such an asshole we left the parking lot and drove through the park (we really enjoyed it). To be honest, after driving through Maine I have to say that the landscape of this state is one that most attracts me, red grass, yellow trees…magic. I would definitely come back to Maine.
The 30 of November is a big holyday in USA, The Halloween.







We had in mind to spend this day in the most wanted place in the world to celebrate it: Salem ( Bran is second best it seems). Before arriving to Salem we contacted John from CS in Portland, a small and enchanting city of the east coast. John owns a beautiful house close to the centre of the city, and so we could soend some relaxing day, preparing with energy for Salem. I also got the chance to find a nice costume and I cut my hair. I noticed that with the travel I need to take care about the condition of my hair…too much stress and white hair.
We had the opportunity to share our stories with John, who although in his 50’s he were well maintained and with desires to travel some more. He even had a story of survival from when he was in his early 40’s and got lost in the woods of Alaska for 13 days. He almost died there but his good instincts of survival got him to a chalet from where he was rescued after walking about 400km through the woods.
After leaving from John’s house we have arrived on the 29th in Salem, and our host Darell was waiting for us. He owns a one room flat in Salem downtown- a bachelor apartment)and we were lucky to meet him and his girlfriend. We went out walking through the city, all in disguise; it seems here in Salem the party starts one week before. Jan had a wig and vampire teeth and he painted his face as a zombie and I was a witch but to be honest he got all the attention in the street, people stopping him and asking for a photo. The streets of Salem were full of everything…from Disney cartoons to movie starts transformed in zombies or book characters. It was a jungle, plus the religious preachers at every corner of the street…some more crazy than other…screaming loudly phrases like: I used to be gay but Jesus saved me and now I am married with children….





It was such a freak show everywhere that you cold not stop watching, laughing or getting surprised. Coming to Salem for Halloween is really an unique experience. Second day we did the same only from the morning until the night…and in the night we have paid the entry to a private party that wasn’t so good and we decided to leave early and wonder the streets of Salem watching more craziness. It’s been a great experience but the next morning we had to continue our route. Going south to NY we had to see Boston and we were lucky to be hosted here by the brother of the owner of CS and his wife. Although we thought that we will have a super incredible experience, we were disappointed to find a place where too many people were being hosted and there was a lack of interaction unless alcohol was being consumed. Anyway during the 3 nights that we spent here we could enjoy two dinners and also visit Cambridge and the surrounding of the city. After leaving the place in Boston we headed to Yale University, another important place for the educational system of USA. I liked Yale although it seems a Disney park for education. The moment you start visiting cities on the east coast there is much more architecture to see and much ore similarities with European towns which until now we haven’t experienced in USA.




About 3 years ago we met a coupe in Pretoria, South Africa. They were also travelling at that moment and we had made a connection on CS, and as I saw that right now they were living in NY I decided to write them an email. We were lucky because they offered to host us for 5 days in Manhattan, NY. Here in NY it is difficult to get hosted so the fact that they could host us was a miracle. Jan and Magda are a very good couple, formed a few years ago ( Magda is a photographer of polish origins) and Jan is a designer. Once we arrived at their little apartment in the Lower East village, we felt happy to find two old friends with whom we could share our experiences and theirs as well.



We had a room just for us and although the window was having exit to a big street , we could sleep . To be honest at six am every morning you could start hearing the huge noise of the traffic until very late in the night (plus sirens of ambulances, fireman trucks and police). I LOVE NY! Is there anything to add to this statement? Manhattan is a great metropolitan place where one can live…but incredibly expensive. For a 25 square m apartment Jan and Magda were paying 2200 dollars every month. Each day of these 5 days that we spent in NY we walked intensively.




Although the metro works pretty well, many things were reachable on foot. We walked to the Brooklyn Bridge, The Ground Zero, went to the Staten Island with a free ferry to see the Statue of Liberty , walked the 5th avenue up and down, went to the Times Square, went to SOHO and China Town, went to Little Italy, to the Central Park and Union Square, Madison Sq Garden, to the Wall street…..countless places and even went out for drinks with Jan and two friends from Chile that I was in contact with while they were in Africa and middle east and we just past each other several times and now after 2 years we finally met in person. What a small world!





I must repeat myself and say I LOVE NY! And continue saying I will miss this great, amazing metropolis but our journey must go on and after this amazing experience our road continues to New Jersey, another place famous for the series called the Jersey shore ( I have never seen this series- it seems pretty bad). In NY it was cold, we had to use all our winter cloths and still was not enough but once going down into NJ we felt relief to see that the weather wasn’t getting worse and sunny days were still possible in mid November. In NJ we were hosted in a small town by Dan, a very nice man in his late 40’s, who owned a very beautiful house and where we could relax after those tremendous days in NY. Jan is working a lot these days because he needs to publish the new book about Africa, before April of next year. Dan is an amazing host, with vast interests and numberless questions about the world and our experiences. He is a great person with whom we hope to cross paths again in the future. We relaxed, recharged batteries and also did some bike rides through the small villages and towns in the area, sharing great meals every night with Dan.
It was already late November and we still had a good road to do until reaching Florida, where I wanted to spend my birthday at the beginning of December. We continued our journey down south to Philadelphia or Philly as the locals call it. Philadelphia preserves a lot of history related to the background of the creating of the USA. It has a nice downtown that we explored with the help and participation of our host Joshua, a great guy who belongs to the vast gay community of Philadelphia. Josh is just 2 years older than me and he came out of the closet just a few years ago (he admitted recently that he is gay), coming from a pretty traditional family who had some issues understanding and accepting him. I like Josh, he is a very, very nice person, very helpful and funny but in the same way pretty balanced and conscious of his actions. He reminded me physically of my little brother Mattia who also is fair haired and has gray /blue eyes. We spent a few good days in his home, sharing meals and interesting conversations and protecting ourselves from the horrible rainy weather outside.


Finally we had to leave because Thanksgiving was approaching and people recommended us to spend it more in the south with a family but not before visiting the nation’s capital: Washington DC.

Last weeks in Canada

Before arriving in Canada and even for the first few days I did not seem to notice big differences between USA and Canada, but for many Canadians it seemed awful to be even compared to the Americans.




Little by little I started to put more attention into what we were doing every day, into our contact with the local culture and environment and the more we were driving up north away from the border, the more I was feeling like I am back in some European country.
Montreal is a great city to explore on bicycle and we had great time here but we were on schedule so after 4 days here we decided its tie to drive up into Quebec with the first destination Quebec City. If the southern parts of Canada you can still feel you are on American continent but once you arrive in Quebec it’s a completely new feeling. From the nature, to the vendors in the shops no one here seems to like to speak English so actually I would say English speakers are in minority.




Quebec city was founded by the French, who built a mighty citadel walls, constituting the only walled city in North America. Here, we contacted Benoit, a man who was continually accommodating different Couchsurfing travellers with whom we felt comfortable, despite the cold and aloof temperament contrasted with Canada´s previous hosts.




Sometimes it is difficult to relate with people that seem not able to relate to others.



Although Benoit seemed interested to have many people around him, at the same time his involvement in the relationship was diminished by the fact that he was hosting so many people, that probably at one point he did not even care. Anyway, everyday we did our best to interact with him and gave him some good advices for his next trip into Vietnam. I was more than happy to leave from his place and start a new week on the road, camping with our self sufficient van. Although it was so cold sometimes in the night, we spent very relaxed days, travelling slowly towards Gaspe and Nova Scotia.




Definitely we were not in the high season, most of the hotels and parks being already closed, but we enjoyed the landscapes and the presence of black bears almost everywhere.




We had realised that the rest of our stay in Canada will be about the amazing landscape and nature but also we got the chance to be hosted two more times during our stay. Pierre is a French Canadian, living in Les Escoumins, and works as a coast controller. After visiting the Baie Sainte Marguerite, in the afternoon we drove to Pierre´s home, who received us wonderfully. Because we knew there are whales in the see over there, we commented to Pierre the fact that we would like to see some and he pointed to his amazing view of the ocean in front of his hose, and after staring a bit at the ocean we managed to spot a wale. We cooked dinner and at the table there was also a friend of Pierre, a lady in her 50s that she could not understand any English although she lived in Canada, supposedly a bilingual country. If in Catalonia, all the Catalans speak Spanish, here in Quebec it seems there are many people who cannot or do not speak or know any English.





We were supposed to take a ferry across golf St Lawrence, but the weather was so bad for the last days that many ferries were not working. We booked one for the next day but it was cancelled, and the one of the next day again. The see was troubled, there were huge waves and wind and rain. It was the worst time of all. Finally we could make a reservation for the ferry from Godbout, but that boat was leaving very early in the morning and we were 250k away. Next day we woke up at 4 am and started to drive in order to arrive by 7.30 at the town where the ferry was leaving. Once there we were informed that also this boat was cancelled. We were stuck there. The weather was apocalyptical and if we were stuck there we would have to go through a horrible night of torment. Watching how the waves were braking into the shore and how the wind was blowing with such rage, I almost thanked not being on a boat.




The people in the port told us that there might be a boat from another town, 50km away and that we should hurry for the boar was leaving at 5 pm. We drove the last kms and waited in town till we were informed that yes, the boat was leaving at 5. The torment wasn’t gone and once on the ferry we realised how bad the sea was. The boat was rising and falling at least 1 to 2 m on every wave. I think we spent the most horrible 3 h on a boat. I felt very very sick, almost vomiting, all my stomach was up and down. It was just too much and I think all the passengers were raying to arrive safely at the shore. After 3 h we landed and it was great, but the storm outside was fore strong. We started to look for a place to camp but we realised we should go out of town. We drove at least 50km till we found a nice picnic area on the coast and we could sleep although I really though that with the rain that was outside we might have a change to be under water by the next day. Its been almost a week of rain and cold and it was getting to us. The night was setting pretty early and the mornings were humid and cold. It gave us the feeling of going home and abandoning the travel. Bad weather can be very depressing for travellers.

Slowly, visiting things , we were heading towards Halifax, Nova Scotia, where we would be hosted by a man called Wayn. On the way to visit Halifax we went to Kouchibouguac National Park, where we spent the night in spite of seeing a pair of black bears in the evening. I decided it was the best spot for a beautiful night of camping and not even the park rangers bothered us. After 6 nights of camping we finally arrived at Wayn’s house where we could take a shower and relax. Meeting Wayn was a bit shocking for me because he seems to be a hoarder, his house being packed with stuff. I have never seen a house like that. He has hundreds of thousands of books and boxes and things thrown everywhere. It was obvious that there was no women in the house. Another pretty disturbing fact was that he was in a BDMS ( bondage and sado-maso) club and was a nudist , although during our stay he was using a bathrobe. We had a very cluttered room but the room had a lock so during the night we were locking ourselves in. He was an ex army guy, recently divorced and experiencing life to its limits. He liked to talk openly about his sexuality and also about his variated interests like Tarot, Numancy, Chiromancy and other paranormal stuff. After leaving his home, we went to visit Peggy´s Cove, a fishing village southwest of Halifax, really worth visiting. Despite the cold wind, we climbed the road behind the town towards the lighthouse, the view made Jan stop the and he went to take pictures of the little lighthouse with the raging sea in the back , but I dod not dare to go out. It was too cold.
With so much time on our hands, and long camping days, we have started in the last few months to think about how our life will be once this travel is over. Although it has been already almost years on the road, the 16 months that we still have ahead seem a short time. It is quite strange to think that our lives will be so different when this amazing travel is over, that all the good and bad experiences will become memories. It almost makes us sad but we have to decide how our future will be and we have to do that now, during the last months of this amazing journey.