Facing My World – Travel Blog - My thoughts, reflections and experiences of my life around the world.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is one of those places that is impossible to describe with words. Perhaps because of its grandeur, or the beauty, or its uniqueness, but I think that all of this together and a bit more. It is difficult to say exactly when the Grand Canyon was formed, but scientists say somewhere between 250 million and 2 billion years. Virtually yesterday! Today it is one of the largest U.S. National Parks and is visited by 5 million people annually. The place is simply incredible.

Like all U.S. National Parks, it has a good infrastructure with hotels, restaurants and thousands of souvenir stores. Moreover, there are several walks and trails within the park, walks by the Colorado River, helicopter tours, horses rides, etc.. I decided to go for a hike and meditate on this unique landscape: the various shades of the canyon and the whiteness of the snow that fell the night before.

Flagstaff

After a tiring but rewarding day, we left the Grand Canyon towards Flagstaff to spend the night before heading to Sedona. Flagstaff is located north of the state of Arizona at an altitude of about 2200m above sea level, which provides lower temperatures for the rest of Arizona. It really was very cold and snowed during the night, but the scenery was very beautiful with snow. Mainly to see the first rays of morning sun. The city itself has nothing really but its charm and the legendary route 66 which goes through the town.

The Route 66 was famous for many songs and movies that were recorded there. The road has its start in Chicago, Illinois, and passes through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California before arriving in Los Angeles, the amazing total of 3,940 km long.

Sedona

Like the Grand Canyon, the nature in Sedona was very generous with the beauty, colors and configurations of the local mountains. It is clear the difference between a mountain and a mountain in Sedona. The color red and orange, depending on the position of the sun adds a special and unique touch to the place. There are thousands of “Scenic Views” that force you to just admire them and to take pictures at every chance you get.

The town is a nice street with thousands of souvenir stores, cafes and restaurants. There are thousands of trails to walk and the view is wonderful in almost all places, even more in the afternoon. I’m still in love with the sunset in Arizona and here is no different.

More Info:

The value of the ticket to the Grand Canyon costs $ 25.00 per car, or $12.00 per person (bike, motorcycle or on foot). The ticket is valid for 7 days and you can stay outside the park (which is much cheaper). In addition, you must have a valid ticket to park the car in most of the “Scenic Views”, but you can stay at the entrance and keep the ticket in the front of the car. If you want to visit more than two national parks, I’d buy a ticket that entitles the annual visit to all parks and costs $ 80.00.

The unforgettable sunset

In my previous post I made some comments about Arizona and three of its major cities: Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. After 15 days of living and knowing a little more about that region, I am able to go a bit further. To understand the relationship between the city, just look at Sao Paulo and its metropolitan area. The idea is the same, but in smaller proportions. Phoenix is the state capital and largest city with about 1.5 million. Along with the cities that are part of the total metropolitan area population rises to 4.3 million.

This is the second region that grew most in the U.S. since the 90s with rates above 45%, while the national average was 15%. In recent years there has been a large migration of people coming from California in search of more affordable cost of living. Phoenix is the economic center of the region and it is noted that to arrive in the city center. The landscape changes radically because of its modern high skyscrapers. The other cities do not have as high buildings and constructions, which is excellent. There have been hours that I have felt suffocated by thousands of buildings in the city of São Paulo because I can’t see the sun in the sky. Cities get a touch more welcoming, typical of smaller towns and countryside clean and beautiful. And again, to see the sunset in Arizona is an amazing experience.

Tempe is the home of Arizona State University, or ASU, and much of the city’s population is composed of students. In the summer it is normal that this city becomes deserted because of the high temperatures, those that reach 48 º C. From mid June to mid August, most students return to their homes in other states and cities or travel to other places with temperatures more normal, for example California. Not bad. Being a university town, there are thousands of bars, clubs and restaurants. Walking inside the campus of the university made me think of the current Brazilian educational system and how it is declining with rare exceptions (federal and state universities). The universities don’t prepare students for the market, but instead ‘give’ the students a free pass and diploma. It is taught in colleges today that the goal of getting a degree is to receive money and a lot of it, instead of having a quality diploma with something that is really interesting and something that will help everyone without focusing on how much money it will earn.

Already Scottsdale is one of a kind. The differences between the Brazilian cities are even clearer here. For example, BMW and Mercedes cars are absolutely normal, but to see a Maserati, or a Porsche (thousands) and Ferraris is very common (more than you can imagine) and (almost) everyone has one. Most families live in condominiums closed, not because of security, simply because that is how things work here. The city has more luxury than its neighbors, thanks to their cars, mansions, restaurants and very expensive shops, but really they are not very different than in São Paulo.

I had the pleasure of eating and an excellent restaurant called NORTH .Winner of several awards as “best Italian restaurant”, “best environment”, “best wine list”, among others, offers modern Italian cuisine. There are several options even for vegetarians. It is located in Kierland, a shopping center to open, along with other restaurants and shops. It is a very pleasant place to stroll after a good lunch, including the huge Barnes & Noble bookstore, which is amazing the amount of magazines they have!

Another place that deserves mention is Whole Foods Market. Basically it is a supermarket full of  natural and organic food. The list of products is huge and you can find everything organic: cheese, wine, beer (!) and everything you can imagine. I have a mother and a girlfriend that is vegetarian, but I can not complain. Today I believe a person is much healthier when they start to watch what they eat.

Furthermore, the Whole Foods takes seriously the problems of the world and sells for about $ 0.99 (depending on model) plastic bags of PET recycled bottles which is supposed to help eliminate the use of plastic bags. Also, if you use these shopping bags you receive a discount for each plastic bag avoided. The opposite is also true: for each plastic bag you need for your purchases they will add a few cents at the end of your purchase. I see that this is a good trend to be followed (in Europe it is very common too).

In general cities are clean and safe. It is not difficult to walk by free parking (yes, it is difficult to find a place where you must pay to park your car at shopping centers and malls) and find cars with windows open. Somebody will do something? Probably not. Furthermore, Phoenix is not only the state capital of Arizona and is also capital of kidnapping the U.S.. This is associated with the large number of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico. Remember, Arizona borders with Mexico. What often happens is that immigrants need money to pay for having managed to enter the United States, kidnapping for ransom is the easiest and quickest way to make money.

But it is not only bad things that the border from Mexico back to the U.S.. Find Mexican restaurants around here is easy. One that I found very interesting is called Chipotle. Despite being a fast-food network, is fresh and very tasty. And the best: it is as cheap as McDonalds. But the Mexican influence is greater than just the crime and culinary associations. Many advertisements for TVs, radio and magazines are in Spanish. Even call the service electronic banking company or cell phone, often in Spanish as well. So it comes without a surprise to say that in 2050, the Hispanics will be about 30% of the American population, we’re talking about 127 million people. Imagine how that can influence the future of the country in the next decades…

In the next post I will comment on my trip to the Grand Canyon, one of the most famous post-cards of the USA, then Sedona and Flagstaff. See you soon.

Looking at Phoenix from the top

Before traveling…

If you do not have a European Community passport and are not part of a small list of important people, inevitably you will need a visa to travel to the United States. We read and hear various reports, negative of course, that people have tried many times to get a visa, but without success. I even tried a few years ago and received a not as response. The whole process is relatively easy: fill out some forms, gather some documents showing that you work and have financial conditions to pay for the trip, and finally, have an interview with the American Consulate. Sometimes even this is not enough, but fortunately earlier this year I tried again and this time the result was positive.

With the visa in hand, I needed only to buy the ticket. A few years ago my bank sent me a credit card with the American Airlines skymiles programs. Coincidence or not, I had the exact number of miles required for traveling to North America. On 12 February 2009, less than a week after receiving my passport with the visa, I was on my way to Phoenix, Arizona. I made a quick stop in Dallas, Texas to go through immigration and pick up the connection to my final destination. It was all very quick and quiet.

When I arrived in Phoenix and began to walk the city, I was like a child in a toy store. It was a funny feeling, because I loved to look and pay attention to everything that is new and then everything was new and different again. The city is in the middle of the desert, literally, and is surrounded by other smaller cities such as Scottsdale and Tempe. The state of Arizona is known for sun and high temperatures in the entire year and is located between California, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and just above Mexico. Even though the end of winter had temperatures around 30 º C. Frankly, I do not want to imagine how the summer is!

First Impressions

The first thing I drew attention was the size of everything. From the packaging of food and drinks to the cars, streets, avenues and places, everything is absurdly large. I say this even coming from a big city like São Paulo. I believe that the size of houses, streets and avenues is related to large flat area that houses the cities. Howeer, the bad side is that you need to drive for everything and time of “travel” to and from one place to another, is long.

Another obvious difference is related to transit. In Arizona when there is a stop sign, the cars stop. When we are near a school and the speed limit is reduced to 25km per hour, the cars slow down. Even in major intersections where a right turn is allowed when the signal is red, things work. I cannot generalize and compare with all other U.S. cities (probably because not all places are like that) but I got a little jealous of the way things work here (whoever lives in São Paulo knows what I’m talking about).

Also, you can begin to drive when you are 16 years old (this varies for each state), but only when you are 21 can you drink. So, in theory you have about 5 years to learn how to drive before you can drink alcohol. Of course it is only in theory, but several places I was asked to show my ID before drinking a beer. How many times has this happened to me in Brazil? Maximum two … in my whole life.

For people, I was sincerely surprised (positively). Everywhere I went, and that includes restaurants, bars and different types of stores, I was always very well received, “Morning”, “How are you?” and a smile on their faces were quite normal. This is even comparing with Argentina, and even with Brazil, which I think in general are friendly and receptive.

Besides all of this, something we already knew has been confirmed: São Paulo is an expensive city. Comparing prices of some products like food, drinks, books and electronics, almost everything is cheaper in the US. I will not comment on the cars because the price difference is even greater. It is ridiculous to pay a lot of money (tax tax tax) for cars that often have worse quality, without ABS, airbags and other safety items that are mandatory in the U.S. The reality is this: I can buy more things in the U.S. with the salary I had in Brazil than in my own country (but I don’t have that salary anymore!). But again, I do not like to generalize even more because the tax, the cost of living and the wages are different between the two countries.

These were the first things that drew my attention. In general everything was very positive. Soon more information and photos on the next destination: Grand Canyon, Tucson, Flagstaff and Sedona in Arizona and Denver and Vail in Colorado.