why i travel

10 Things One San Franciscan Likes About Los Angeles

by Ekua on November 28, 2011 · 9 comments in California,listastic,why i travel

In the vast and varied country of the United States, fellow residents tend to misunderstand each other as much as they have a tendency to misunderstand the world beyond. It’s disconcerting to see how many people form concrete opinions of other places based on very little knowledge of and experience in those places.

I discovered my own habit of doing this during my travels to the South. I’ve had enlightening experiences there where found that I liked that part of the country more than I imagined I would. I realized that my negative opinions on it were based on stereotypes, politics, and history rather than personal experiences with the current people and places.

Recently, I’ve also eased up on Los Angeles. In California, there is a little tiff between SoCal and NorCal, and more specifically between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s a microcosm of larger issues in the country and in the world and while it’s not detrimental, it can be petty and counterproductive.

While there are still stereotypical and true characteristics of Los Angeles that I don’t like, I’ve found many other things to appreciate about it. I’ve accepted the city for what it is and opened myself up to discovering its more awesome aspects, and that has been a good thing.

Here’s a collection of things that have made me happy on my recent visits to Los Angeles:

» Warm Weather

I love San Francisco, but its weather is not the jam. It has its hotter times, but it tends to hover around highs of 60 degrees Fahrenheit year round, give or take about 10 degrees. I actually prefer to be in warmer climates and I’m not a fan of bundling up. LA is more capable of making these partialities feasible. When I go there, I can pack light and give myself a break from restrictive outerwear.

» The Diverse Array of Cultures

Los Angeles goes far beyond the typical subsections of American cities. There is Koreatown, Thai Town, Little Ethiopia, a sizable population of Hasidic Jews, and areas that make me feel like I’m in Mexico. As a fan of traveling, I really appreciate this cultural mix up all in one location.

» Food

The awesome weather combined with people from all over the world make for an excellent food culture in Los Angeles. There are year round farmers markets everywhere and an abundance of international restaurants and food trucks. There is often an emphasis on food that’s produced locally with respect for the environment and the people who will consume it.

» The Laid Back Atmosphere

Something I noticed on a trip to LA last year is that people there give off an air of being on vacation in their own town. I really enjoy the very city-like energy and feel of San Francisco, but I appreciate the more relaxed nature of LA as well. It’s a nice break from my typical surroundings.

» Hiking to the Hollywood Sign at Sunset

This was the highlight of my most recent trip to Los Angeles. The day after Thanksgiving, we got off to a late start on this hike, but it turned out to be great timing. The lighting was gorgeous on the way up, and when we reached the top, we had a 360 degree view of the Los Angeles and beyond, all aglow in sunset light.

» LACMA

Last summer, I had an afternoon to myself where I happened to be within walking distance of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and it happened to be a free entrance day. I decided to take advantage of that. LACMA is impressive before you even walk in; there is a wonderful light sculpture at the entrance. Once you’re inside, there is an amazing collection of art from around the world. The exhibits are presented in a way that really enhances the art and gives you a sense of the periods and places they come from. The curation at LACMA is artistic excellence in itself.

» Day Trips to Santa Monica

Santa Monica is such an interesting place. With the beach, the boardwalk, the Third Street Promenade, and surf city atmosphere, it’s the California of a lot of people’s dreams. But there is also a very apparent desperate and gritty side to it. These aspects combined make for a truthful dose of Americana.

» Secondhand Shopping

When I’ve gone secondhand shopping in LA, I’ve found some good stuff, I think partly because styles change so quickly and people often get rid of barely worn items. If you’re not caught up in following trends closely, there is good stuff to be found. Beyond the shops, last summer I came across the Melrose Trading Post, a hipstery weekly flea market that has all kinds of little treasures that reflect many different periods of LA. I saw wacky furniture, vintage travel and movie posters, tons of antique knickknacks, and some great jewelry.

» Strange and Passionate People

Venice Beach has its fair share of the LA counterculture, but there are a lot of unique individuals throughout the city. It’s a city that attracts people from all over the country, a lot of them with personalities that were probably too large for Small Town, USA. While there are a lot of people in Los Angeles chasing vacuous and vague dreams of stardom, there are plenty more who may still be enticed by stardom, but have a true love and passion for their art. Los Angeles and San Francisco seem to be equally full of people who are endearingly odd and steadfast about expressing themselves.

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Songs for the Road No. 14: Discovering Afro-Brazil Through Banda Didá, An All Female Drumming Ensemble

by Ekua on November 8, 2011 · 6 comments in Brazil,female travel,inspiring adventurous people,movies with movement,race/culture/identity,songs for the road,why i travel

When I look back at the time I spent volunteering in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil in 2006, it seems so natural, so inevitable that I would end up in there at some point in my life. I often forget about what drew me to it in the first place: Banda Didá, an all female drumming ensemble that is based there. Before learning about that group, I hadn’t even heard of Salvador, an Afro-Brazilian city in the northeastern part of the country.

Music as it pertains to social movements or social justice has always been a topic of interest for me. When I came across a documentary called Girl Beat: Power of the Drum, I was automatically drawn by the synopsis. It highlighted the Banda Didá organization and the work it did to empower females of African descent in Salvador.

Banda Didá was powerful. I couldn’t believe this group of women whose hands and arms pounded out the rage of the remnants of European enslavement to the beats of West Africa. At the same time, their bodies moved fluidly and rhythmically and their faces beamed with pride in their heritage.

The documentary revealed another world, one that I had not yet been privy to, but in which I felt I likely belonged: Afro-Latin culture. In mainstream grade school education in the United States, the fact that Africans were enslaved in many other parts of the Americas is often ignored. The vivacious modern cultures of Latin America and the African influence on many of them is often overlooked. At that point in my life, I was vaguely aware of Afro-Latin America, but that was the first time I’d seen it so tangibly.

As the daughter of immigrants from a small West African country, I’d grown up on the periphery of belonging. I’d accepted that position at that point. But Salvador da Bahia seemed like a place where the distinct mix of cultures that went into my creation was very much the norm in a very visible way. And sure enough, it was.

There’s a bit of drumming at the beginning of this, but skip to 1:00 for the good stuff. Those drums are heavy, and these women make dancing with one attached to your hips look easy.

I saw Banda Didá for the first time in person just a few days after I arrived in Brazil. Every Tuesday night from August until Carnival, they have a big party in Pelourinho, Salvador’s historic center. They call it a “rehearsal” for Carnival and it’s an insanely fun night of government sanctioned partying. There are concerts, street food and drinks, and baterias (drumming ensembles) marching down the cobblestone streets.

A drum circle with an intrinsic sense of spirit and all kinds of soul.

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A Summer Solstice Festival in the Mayan Village of San Juan Chamula

by Ekua on September 30, 2011 · 4 comments in Mexico,why i travel

When we step out of our beat up colectivo and onto the outskirts of San Juan Chamula, we are immediately engulfed in a festive atmosphere. The autonomous Mayan village already feels like a place where unique things happen, and we are fortunate enough to be there for one of their biggest festivals, Dia de San Juan.

Chamula (Dried Lake) is the original Tzotzil Mayan name for the village. The San Juan (St. John the Baptist) comes from the Dominican missionaries. It just so happens that San Juan’s birthday is at the same time of year as the summer solstice. This made him a prime choice of village saint for the sun worshiping Mayans in their syncretic religious practices. So every year, Dia de San Juan is essentially a summer solstice festival and quite a party for the people of the village.

In San Juan Chamula, we’ve been dropped off next to a fair that looks like it could be any fair in Small Town, USA. Every primary color is present in decoration of the rides, there’s a Ferris wheel, a carousel, and all sorts of finger foods and knickknacks for sale.

But most people are shorter than me (and I’m already short). The women have on long furry black skirts and wear their long hair in braids while the men sport furry vests and cowboy hats. This is definitely not the wardrobe of Small Town, USA. And instead of funnel cake, they’re selling churros.

Just past the fair, there’s a graveyard with crosses for headstones that look like they’re being swallowed by the earth. Down a washboard road, we find ourselves on a pedestrian lane lined with vendors.

It’s jam packed. We realize quickly that we have to allow ourselves to get swept up in the crowd, let ourselves be wedged between fur and braids. This is not a place that slows down for or accommodates foreigners.

We’re not really a tour group per se, just a group of hostelers and Couch Surfers who came over in the same colectivos. It’s not long before our large party has been broken into smaller ones and we try to look out for more manageable-sized groups in the abundant chaos.

We reach the town church which is known for its lack of pews and one of a kind rituals. We want to enter, but a man holds his hand out in the universal stop sign. We are not allowed to enter on the festival day. So we find a free spot in the town square and wait for something to happen.

Eventually men start pouring out of the church. They march around us on a bed of pine needles that encircles the square. Some of them haphazardly play a wide variety of instruments. A cacophony of sounds merges to form compelling music. It’s so disorderly that it works. The scene looks so strange and beautiful to my wide eyes and it begins to swirl around me.

I’m having the kind of travel experience that an experience junky like myself craves — the hard to define and often elusive “authentic” experience. The festival seeps into my consciousness and prods at corners of my senses that I was previously unaware of.

I have to use every bit of willpower I have to keep myself from taking my camera out of my bag and snapping away. San Juan Chamula is notorious for its distaste of photo-happy tourists. And because it’s an autonomous village, they make their own rules, which can potentially be harsh.

As I am thinking about this, dozens of men in furry vests clutching police batons come storming into the square. It looks like something is happening, and we’re not sure what. Then we see it, an Italian guy who works at the hostel we’re staying at is dragged out of the square by the Chamula police. His offense? Trying to take pictures. Later, he is released, and I notice a discernible smidgen of humility in his normally ultra confident demeanor.

The festival gets more intense as homemade firecrackers are set off more regularly. They are deafening and dangerously close to the crowd. My little group waits for a break in firecracker lightings and then we beeline for the nearest square exit while covering our ears.

The local women chuckle at me when I let out childish screams of surprise when I let my guard down and forget to cover my ears. In some parts of Mexico, it seems that there’s a cause for celebration and firecrackers every day. So to them, maybe it’s like white noise.

We find the guy who arranged our trip, the owner of the hostel we are staying at. He answers some of our questions about the village. I ask why some men have on white vests while others wear black vests. He explains that white fur means you’re part of the village’s government. It is very apparent that only men run the government in San Juan Chamula.

When a decent amount of us have somehow regrouped, the hostel owner takes us up a hill to visit his friend, a well known artist in San Juan Chamula. “Eh! Africana!” the charming old man says to me excitedly as he welcomes us to his patio.

We sit around a table and sample different flavors of pox (pronounced “posh”), the local moonshine. I’m not a big fan of it, but some are inspired enough to go to the corner store and buy more. It comes in reused plastic bottles with the bottle’s original label still on it.

As we chat, the daily storm clouds appear in the distance to warn us that the party is ending. We’re on our own for getting back to the hostel. I make my way over to a colectivo stand with a few others. Thick drops of rain begin to fall on us as we wait. We decide to get out of the long line and settle on a deal with some taxi drivers for a tiny amount more. As we leave Chamula, the crowds have dispersed. People will regroup at night after the rain stops and the festivities will continue, tourist free.

I wish I had pictures of this colorful festival to share with you or that I could find a video of it online. But in a time when you can be so easily distracted by trying to get the perfect shot, it’s good to have experiences where you have to be fully in the moment. And in a time when you have the ability to preview everything, it’s wonderful to have experiences where you have absolutely no idea what to expect.

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