DAY 45 - Back to San Francisco

So, finally the second of my tours has drawn to a close and I find myself halfway through the whole adventure and still looking forward to what Central America has to offer.  We set out early as Eveline had a 4pm flight booked and Sam drove relentlessly to deliver us to the USA Hostel at just before 12.30.  As I couldn’t get into my room until 2pm I set out for the Post Office to buy a box in which to stow all the stuff I no longer need and make the challenge of keeping control of my possessions easier on the next trip.  Mission accomplished I had a proper lunch at a hamburger joint opposite the hostel; very good but rather too much of it!

The next challenge was to find a Spanish book as I’d left my copy at William’s before departing in a last minute bid to save weight.  The girl on the desk showed me where to go and helpfully marked out an area to be avoided so a circular walk around San Francisco seemed to be an appropriate solution.  There was certainly much to observe.  San Francisco seems even more culturally diverse than New York and the character of the place varies quite considerably block by block.  In some parts it seemed distinctly shabby with lots of litter whereas only a few hundred yards along the street sweepers were out in force.  At one point I noticed a crew in the act of towing away a parked car. 

A cry of “That’s my car!” provoked interest and a lady appeared to plead her case.  I felt somewhat intrusive with my camera (clearly not paparazzi material) so left before the drama was fully played out, but the men did seem to be unlocking the car as I went.  I don’t know if money changed hands!

Between the Asian Art Centre and the Library there was a flourishing Farmers’ Market with mainly organic produce that seemed both high quality and reasonably priced.  I’ve never seen so many different types of chilli.  Ex-students will be pleased to learn that Greengrocer’s apostrophe is not a purely British phenomenon.  Here it was more a case of additional letters!

Otherwise the streets were pretty much typical of larger American towns; youngsters just hanging out, some rather sad buskers trying to extract money from the public and others begging more openly, plenty of people busy going somewhere and lots of people apparently talking to themselves but some at least were on the phone.

Back at the hostel I showered and removed several days of facial growth before attending to my housekeeping duties before meeting with Vanessa and Jenna for a meal at a ‘famous’ diner.  Jenna returns to Tasmania tomorrow evening whilst Vanessa has several days to kill before returning to a new job in Switzerland.  I wish them both well.