Does LA really belong to the USA?!

21 years later and I´m finally back in LA, and the first thing that hit me was some serious dejavu from trips to Latin America. We bought "boletos" for the train, got "billetes" from the ATM, and went for burritos at the Mexican diner, before heading past the "lavanderia" and the "supermercado" on our way home. Get rid of Hollywood Boulevard and it´s stars and you could just as well be in Panama City or somewhere in Mexico.

But then there was the part where we headed towards the China Theatre where we stumbled across Will Smith holding a speech about his plans to change the world with the help of Hollywood movies and we realised we definitely weren´t anywhere other than the U S of A! Moving on from his anecdotes about meetings with Mandela and the human spirit we found ourselves in a store off the Boulevard where we bumped into two of our flight attendants from Virgin Atlantic the day before, who turned out to be Brummies living just down the road from our flat in Moseley. Small world.

After strolling down Sunset Blvd, checking out some chic in Los Feliz and going for dinner with some friends on Melrose Ave., we head back to the North Hollywood hostel. Run by a Russian Jew with a big appetite for conversation, the place turns our to be home to an out-of-work Ukrainian, a Russian cleaner, a lost Israeli, and a Latvian on probation. Between these guys, clans of Latinos and the boys from Birmingham, we´re still in search of the stereotype American. Today´s destination: Santa Monica Beach.

To be continued...