Santa Barbara

Home, sweet home! After a week of ambulating I'm back in Santa Barbara again. When I got out of the shower this morning I stood face to face with my second roomie, who I haven't met before: Sho. She is, just like T, a tiny Asian fairy. I mean, back in Sweden I'm the tiny one, but now I'm a giant. In addition, after days of junk food a colony of bumps has landed on my face, so I feel like a huge red faced Barbapapa. Charming like a bulldozer.

I have a confession to make: Even though I've been here for ten days, I haven't really been to the city of Santa Barbara, only passed through. This was about to change. My Bible, the Lonely Planet guide that is, only mentions Santa Barbara briefly. Truly, the description of Santa Barbara can be condensed into one word: sweeeet! Downtown Santa Barbara consists mainly of one street, State St, where stores, cafés and restaurants are neatly put together, with sand colored facades and low roofs. The price tags in the stores rhymes with the populations income, but I still found one shop where I dared peek at the prices. Forever 21, the magic age when drinking becomes legal. Here I can fill the gaps in my wardrobe.

Raingirl and I went to the Old Mission, where the most exciting thing was the relic monk sitting on a bench. However, on the way we passed a beautiful building, huge, white and castle-like. This was the courthouse. I mean, if a Santa Barbarian is going to be tried for fraud it has to be done in a nice building. And then we passed through a lovely neighborhood where a fierce political battle was fought with signs in the gardens. This was the city council election. How did the president campaign look like?

And FYI: It hurts hitting your head in a cactus.