By Leonardo Rodriguez Carrion
San Francisco, Oakland, & Sausalito
Right off the bat, our first concern after departing the hotel was whether they would let us stay because none of us had our “papers.” Remember, this was in the Fall of 2021. Things were still a bit over the place, especially in California, where I had much to say. A lot of good things, but man, everyone seems to agree a lot with what’s happened to the Golden State. The woman at the reception who attended us asked my mom if we had the shot, to which she responded yes. That was that. No further conversation after that. Could you imagine if we still had to do that? The ever-changing goalpost, as my one friend had said to me. What a shame.
As if that wasn’t enough, I had a job lined up when I returned from the trip. However, over an exchange of emails, the hiring manager at the marketing agency, whom I would not mention out of respect for privacy, rescinded my job offer because I refused to take the shot. So yeah, these things happened, and they affected us. Thankfully, it was not my livelihood on the line, but it was the end of what could have been the start of a career. My morals, conviction, and integrity were stronger and mattered more; I would not compromise, especially on my health. I can proudly say I did this during the craziness of 2020-2022. Can you tell me the same, reader?
Enough about that. I’m sure you have enough stress and drama going on to reflect on this strange and confusing time when we were all thrust into a mass psychosis.
Anyway, I am moving on. San Francisco, oh San Francisco, what a dense and heavy city it’s become. Don’t even get me started on Oakland. This is the United States, the First World, my dear reader. Let’s talk about the good things now, though. Right, right.
Well, I forgot at which point, but we rented a car for two days. The car rental for those two days cost a whopping $500! My mom asked the desk clerk, “Why is it so expensive?” The man responded, “Welcome to San Francisco.”
We ran into some people from the Mt. Shasta trip at the hotel where we were staying. We only took one of them with us, though. Her name was Susie. She works for the travel agency Mayk is with. We only ever saw her on this trip. We drove around the city for a bit. I asked my mom if we could pass by Chinatown, but we didn’t walk around Chinatown.
Of course, we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge, took pictures, and headed to the beautiful city across the bridge called Sausalito. I really cannot stress the night and day difference between Sausalito and San Francisco. We ate at a costly but delicious restaurant in Sausalito. I also remember going to a wonderful bookstore with some cool books I recognized but already had!
We stopped at one point in the small town to get ice cream. The town is very walkable. I got passion fruit ice cream, which is, to this day, my favorite ice cream! While we were eating ice cream, two British bikers were next to us. Both were tall; one was blonde and had blue eyes, while the other was a brunette with brown eyes. We found out they were pilots for the United Arab Emirates! One of them told me his name, Oliver. The one pilot had his daughter in a private school in Dubai. We talked about their queen, and they said, “Oh, we love our queen; you Americans should have one, too. We think it’s wonderful having a queen.” Yeah right! No thanks.
Towards the end of our conversation, we saw some fighter jets fly by. It was unusual, but it was one of the San Francisco Navy/Air Force parades, where they show off their aircraft around the beautiful city of San Francisco!
On the way back, we had a few conversations. It turns out that Suzie and my mom both went to the same university in Mexico City at around the same time! How about that? When we returned, I remember spending some time near the fire pit outside the hotel with friends I had made from the Mt. Shasta trip. We stopped at a burger place one of the last few days. It was expensive and not so good, but I remember a girl with a ukulele outside. My grandfather asked her if he could play it and played her a quick song on the spot. I think we gave her change, too.
The next day, we would depart, and boy, were we ever so happy not to live in a place we visited. The way back was calm and unadventurous, but this was just the beginning. I hope you enjoyed reading my recount of this beautiful trip as much as I enjoyed living and writing about it!
