Arroyo Seco. That was the name of the river from Tuesday; Arroyo Seco, which apparently means dry river, and is located about an hour out from Marina. Anyway,
Wednesday, 7/27
Spent the day in Monterey, a fact that is also a rhyme, after successfully braving the public transit system down here. Turns out the actually have two different fares, one for locals and one for everyone else. Apparently the way they tell which fare you pay is whether or not you have to ask what the fare is.
Monterey is a pleasant little town, about 27,000 people and a concise downtown area centered around the bus station, which I thought was especially cool. Spent a little time reading on the Wharf, which projects out into Monterey bay, and provides some nice wallpaper:
no, there is no new fisherman's wharf
Worked my way through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, because I left A Portrait of Dorian Grey in the car that went back to Oregon, and was staying with elementary school teachers, and got a start on the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, a book which, in addition to the fact that I didn't even know it existed, is startling full of cold-war political metaphors and just a soupcon of old timey racism.
Seriously, check that sentence out. Didn’t even get flagged by MS Word. I'm pretty proud of that.
Anyway, killed some time doing that, then mooched off the wi-fi at a joint called East Village Cafe that Meredith suggested. I took a bunch of pictures 'cause I thought it looked pretty cool.
Coffee was quite good, if priced at the usual indie cafe premium. After a quick Denny's stop (because, since Monterey is kind of a tourist town, all the local taco shops were still ~twice the price of Denny's for a meal) I stopped in at a place called Alfredo's Cantina for a beer, chosen only mostly because it's called a cantina.
Great liquor selection and atmosphere (assuming you like dim, quiet bars as much as the next misanthrope), but literally no on tap options, and not as cheap as the word cantina implies. Got into a conversation with the owner about body disposal (Cremation: $2500. Illegal body dumping: $250 misdemeanor) and what weed was like when he was a kid (weaker). Found out later that this was actually the mystery bar I was taken to on my first night in town.
I got a ride back from Meredith after she was done fighting crime or seal clubbing or whatever teachers do after the school day ends, then helped move furniture; the Teach for America program ends with this month, and they're all fleeing California.
Drink: $3.50 bottle of MGD
Bed: Living room floor (Couch now in garage: earbud situation resolved)
City: somehow, still Marina
Thursday 7/28
Last full day in Marina, so I decided to actually see this town a bit. As mentioned previously, Meredith's couch is located a few miles out into the desert, surrounded by vicious wildlife
bloodthirsty little bugger
and abandoned explosives
so I decided to walk to the nearest business, a local gas station-cum-market called the Ord Store. No, I'm not sure why. Yes, I also wanted it to be the Ood store. What, seriously? Just go google it. Anyway, thanks to the fact that Google Maps and I are apparently in a fight, what should have been about a 2.5 round mile trip ended up being nearly ten, and took me through every section of Marina, starting with the lovely campus.
USC Monterey Bay, in addition to not being in Monterey, is a forlorn ghost town, lacking as it turns out a single food outlet of any sort. Eventually, I abandoned my aimless wandering of campus and, as I so often do in times of duress, googled "tacos" on my smart phone. Turns out there's a couple places that do those in Marina. It also turns out that Marina is actually ~two miles north of the campus, a distance that is mostly occupied by an eerie, beige ghost town.
and this is one of the nice ones
I spent about twenty minutes walking through this before I realized it was completely abandoned. Not a single inhabited house, or any evidence of living beings, for miles.
Finally, I found Marina proper, got my tacos, and started walking back to the couch, using major roads this time so I could at least avoid walking through the middle of Silent Hill again.
Then I found this.
I cannot stress enough how enormous this fenced off area is. it's like an entire second town, except empty and creepy
admittedly, some of the barriers are a more effective than others
what is the terrible secret of Marina Heights? zombies?
werewolves?
zombie werewolves?
lethal levels of freestanding beige?
Note, that this is a completely different area, east of town instead of south, and just incredibly vast. A huge swathe of decrepit desolation, with no explanation. This town is pretty weird.
Drink: creeping dread. Also, more kahlua, because they don't want to take it with them and Devan kind of drinks like a sorority girl (sorry dude, but it's true).
Bed: freshly vacuumed living room floor
City: Marina. Although "city" may be a strong word for this place, in retrospect. Maybe "string of eerie post-apocalyptic wastelands with a taco shop" would be closer.
Sitting in a Vegas hostel right now. Spent night before last in San Francisco, which was pretty cool. I'll update about the last couple days in a bit, but for now let me tell you that in Vegas hostels, they give you a drink before they give you a room key, and leave you with this:
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