On this road trip we usually just camped where we wanted, often looking for places after dark since we were covering big distances and it gets dark so early in the winter. This isn’t always the most comfortable, and Megan didn’t always like the places that we chose to spend the night. At some places near the US-Mexico border — the area around Hachita, Animas, and Cotton City comes to mind–, it seems like we saw more border patrol vehicles than people.
In Tuscon, however, we stayed in a private room in a hostel for three nights. One interesting aspect of this was Ferda being able to experience another slice of US society. At my parents’ place in Newport Beach and visiting my friends in Boulder, Ferda mostly met people with university education, good jobs, and incredible knowledge of the world. Staying at the hostel were mostly single men, some finding day jobs in Tuscon, others looking for work in Tuscon, hoping the prospects there were better than where they had come from. There were a few other travellers like us, but that seemed to be the exception. Everyone was friendly, of course, and most people were curious to hear from Ferda how life is in Turkey and if the political situation really is as bad as the news says it is.
And, breakfast! Hahaha. Anyone who’s been Turkey knows how serious the Turks take their breakfast. Our hostel was “breakfast included” which meant some employee (probably a volunteer getting lodging in exchange for work) mixed waffle mix with water in a huge bowl and plugged the waffle iron in. Self serve: pour a large spoonful of batter into the waffle iron and, if there’s any left, pour syrup on the waffle when it’s ready. Tahdah, breakfast!
On the other end of the spectrum is the beer selection in the US. Ferda was constantly amazed by the wide choice of beers, and how in every city, the selection was different. We found great beers and a great selection at bars or restaurants in Newport Beach, Boulder, Tuscon, and San Diego. Each restaurant had a selection that rivals anything you’d find anywhere in Turkey. Or even Germany for that matter: during our recent trip to Hannover, it was the same narrow beer selection over and over. The variety of beers in the US is quite incredible.
These beers are at Ermanos in Tuscon where there are 34 beers on tap and many more available in bottles:
