From Tucson, Arizona…

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When we set off from San Diego we hit Interstate 8 and drove along the Mexico border. We went through two border controls and were stopped at one because Fin didn’t realise he had to stop. We sat in the sweltering heat while they set the dog on the car and checked our passports. It wasn’t long before we were on our way again though, and for a brief break in the ride the dry earth turned to glistening desert. The sand dunes shone amber in the sun and rolled effortlessly away to make way for barren land yet again, littered with cacti standing tall and waving us into Tucson…

It took us 5.5 hours to get there and we had to track down our host, Otto – who has fire-red, curly hair and a moustache – because we had no credit and the payphone ate my change without regurgitating a call for me. Luckily he text us his address after we’d been there an hour or so and I phoned him from the reception. He and his girlfriend Ashley met us and instantly drove us around town because they had loads of work to do but they wanted to make sure we knew where to go.

Insterstate 8

The first thing we did was eat and then went to a shop called Bookmans, which is a second hand book shop with odds and ends scattered around the place that you can also buy. Then we bought stir-fry ingredients and made dinner for Otto and Ashley when they came back from rock climbing. We were all ready to nap when we finished so we went to Ashley’s place instead of staying at Otto’s because she not only lived down the road, but had a spare room too.

Now, for some reason arriving in Tucson brought on a series of static shocks that still haven’t left us. For the entire stay my hair clung to my hand if I ran it across, one of my cardigans crackled every time I took it off. The taps gave me shocks along with the oven handle, the light switches and the car. This didn’t affect our stay, of course.

On day two we decided to walk to the University of Arizona to see the Tibetan monk, Losang Samten, making the Kalachakra sand mandala, and the Center for Creative Photography. It was about 30°c so perhaps this was a mistake, but we huffed and puffed our way there and back nonetheless. I walked barefoot around the exhibition, which felt liberating as my toes connected with the cool carpet. After this we went to Deseret thrift store and I got some socks, a bag and a child’s cardigan for bargain prices. Fin bought a cap to blend in with the Americans, and maybe to keep the sun off his face too. We also drove up to Old Tucson and later that day we hung out with Otto, Ashley, Alex (m, flatmate) and Alex (f, friend) watching gross videos and a Channel Five documentary on objectum sexuals and eating pizza.

Sand mandala – click for birds eye view

 

The morning of our third day brought a goodbye breakfast with everyone, which was awesome albeit slightly sickly (crepes and fruit with whipped cream, yoghurt and more whipped cream) before we set off on our 350 mile journey to the Grand Canyon.

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