I sit in the plane to San Francisco. I can’t believe my journey in Latin America has ended. I watch the map on the screen in the plane in disbelief. I see all those names of the countries I’ve been to. It took me five month to get from Mexico to Colombia mostly by Busses. Now it takes me only five hours to fly over all of them. Now, when I look at the map, I don’t see a two dimensional model of our real word. I see real places, with real people, which created real memories. I am so grateful to experience this!

When I land in San Francisco I grab my bag and try to get to the metro. Apparently I have to take the sky train for two stops to get there. My reasoning is of course “Pfff two stations? I can walk that distance”. With high enthusiasm I head out of the airport and of course after five meters there is no walkway anymore. Defeated I head back to the airport to find the sky train. Welcome to the United States I guess… This became a very common problem for me in the States. After I get off the metro I am supposed to take a bus. But I am too stubborn and want to walk. Bad Idea again… I was walking with my full backpack for an hour straight. At this point I can call this a hike! While walking I get the first glimpses of San Francisco. I am impressed! It is a beautiful city. It reminds me a lot of Lisbon. Well you have to take away most of the cars. But Lisbon is also build on this hilly parts with a bay in the middle and it also has these cable cars. So it is not too far fetched.

In the hostel I meet Basti. He is from Germany as well and spend the semester studying in Seattle. We get along well and decide to spend the day together. We rent some bikes and go to Sausalito. It is a very wealthy neighborhood of San Francisco across the Golden Gate bridge. We get to the bridge pretty fast. If you look closely you can see a wave under the golden gate bridge. If you look ever closer you can also see a surfer on the wave. Later in a surf shop I was told that this spot is pretty dangerous. The currents under the bridge can drag you out to the open ocean pretty quickly. It still looks like a fun left, though.

We take a break, sip on some Cappuccino and chill in the sun. There is no wind so we can sit there in a t-shirt. We decide to explore more and check out Ocean Beach and the surrounding parks. To get there we are crossing a really beautiful area. However we didn’t read the signs carefully. We ended up on the hiking trail and needed to carry the bike around like the biggest fools. In the end we were pretty frustrated, but the amazing views made up for it.

We end up in Ocean Beach and go for a beer. This beer is supposed to give us enough energy to cycle back over the hill to San Francisco. We drink it and later find our way into the Golden Gate park. The park is absolutely enormous and really beautiful. In fact it is even bigger than the Central Park in New York! Here we see some people playing volleyball and decide to join in. Turns out that we just crashed a company meeting. Doesn’t matter since we got a free beer from them. We talked a bit and then said our goodbyes and cycled back to San Francisco. We top the day off at Fort Mason to watch the sunset. After 25km of cycling. I call this day a success.

The next day I wake up. I almost forgot that I promised someone to go swimming in the cold water. Yes you read that right. I went swimming in 13° water… I find him in the lobby and we go to a spot nearby. After a little bit of mental preparation we get ready. We get into the water. I can tell you the first minute hurts! I have to get over the pain. The best thing you can do is not to tense up, but to relax and have fun. If it is still too much, you can focus on your breath out. This will activate your parasympathetic nervous system and it will make you more relaxed. Easier said than done. After a few minutes your body feels a burning sensation. We keep going. Just focus on your breath… After ten minutes I’m done and get out. You don’t need coffee, when you do this in the morning. The endorphins will wake you up.

I stroll through the city later. It is very beautiful. However I can’t get over the fact, that every street is accessible by car. Not one single street had restrictions on cars to make place for more cafes, restaurants and people. Even Medellin had more restricted streets where only passengers are allowed. This made the city very pleasant. Here it was totally normal to sit next to aloud road on every café.

The public transport is kind of tricky as well. Mostly poor people take the public transport. At some point I thought I was directly embedded into the game of GTA5… The conversations were sometimes pretty similar to the ones I encountered in the game.

I hang around at Ocean Beach again. The weather is beautiful but I just didn’t realize how cold it can get in Northern California. I still want to surf but the conditions are not good. At least not in Ocean Beach. I just walk around and take pictures basically. I find a small park with an amazing view over San Francisco.

At the sunset I end up in downtown. I am struck by the amount of homeless people that are gathered on the streets. For the locals this seems to be normal. There is a high class rooftop bar almost directly next to the gathered homeless people. You think Latin America is extreme? I found this contrast much more extreme, than in Latin America.

Next morning Basti and I head for some coffee and breakfast. I got a surf spot recommended from a surf shop. The name is Pacifica, it is 40 minutes away by car. Basti decides to join and we order an Uber. There is nothing going on in that town. This little surf village is more how I like it. I don’t need the big cities. I just need a village at the beach.

I want to get into the water as soon as possible. I feel a little sorry for Basti, since he has to get to the airport soon and doesn’t have Uber on his own. Now the thing with me and surf spots is quite critical. The sheer excitement doesn’t let me think straight. I book Basti a timed Uber before I go into the water. I just forgot, that you need the Pin if you want to confirm the ride.

The water is cold. My hands and feet are exposed. I try to keep control and stay in the water. I know this temperature from the Netherlands. Only difference I had a warm neoprene head, gloves and boots. It feels like a hit in the head every time I duck dive… The orientation fades and I have to take a few deep breaths, until I know where I am again. The hands and feet start to sting after 20 minutes from the cold. Have you ever surfed a wave, where you cannot feel your feet? It feels really strange like you are floating above your feet. I still managed to catch a few waves and have some talks with the locals. California has the reputation to have a fierce line-up. This seems to be more the case for southern California, since the people are pretty nice. I take one more wave and I can’t take it anymore. The cold is too much. I head out. Getting out is really difficult. I can’t feel my feed and the exit is plastered with rocks. This is not a fun combination! When I get out I notice Basti is gone. To my dismay, he texted me that he needs the code for the ride. Turns out he just gave the Uber driver the amount in cash and the Uber driver cancelled the transaction. Afterwards I see that I had to pay a penalty of 20$ for the cancelled ride. So this day the driver made 60$ in 15 minutes. That is a good hourly pay!

I decide to top of the day with a hike. There seems to be one directly behind the local hardware store. The views are really beautiful. I now understand the buzz about California. It is just colder than I imagined. The hike is about one hour.

The sheer luxury I enjoy in that moment is to go where ever you like without the fear of getting robbed. In Latin America you had to be a little bit more careful. I am enjoying the peace and this kind of freedom and of course the crazy views. The last thing I do, is head to an In’s and Out to enjoy one of the famous burgers. Then it is time to head to the airport.

Cheers until next time!