Couchsurf #1 – quintessential Berkeley and Hare Krishna


In hindsight, I am terribly grateful to Sandra who let me surf her couch in Berkeley.   I’m finding that not every couchsurfing  host is as responsive or reliable as I am, which is causing me to re-think Servas.   But anyway…

Having never been to Berkeley (and not even knowing how to properly spell it), I decided it was a must-add to the itinerary.   Coupled with the fact that it is the stage for a novel my book group just read, it was an obvious stop.

I met Sandra at her front door at 5:00.   We got to know each other over some tea before heading off for an impromptu tour of Berkeley on the way to the Hare Krishna temple she has been attending  for the past few months.   We arrived before the class she attends in time for the end of the daily honoring of the deities ceremony.   The temple was tucked away in a neighborhood, and plain on the outside.   The inside, however, was incredibly beautiful and ornate.

The singing of the monks was really beautiful and poetic.   For the class, we sat on rugs in the center of the temple and sang from the Bhagavad  Gita and then the students read the translations aloud.   The monk talked about how the text applied to daily life and how it related to the other parts of the Bhagavad  Gita.   It was really interesting!   Followers of Hare Krishna believe that a person has to be reincarnated over 80,000 times before being gifted with a human body.   Incredible!

After the temple, we went out for my first Ethiopian food!   We shared the family-style  sampler and were absolutely stuffed.   The food is generally served with a side of Injera – a traditional “bread” that doubles as a utensil.   Really, the “bread” is more like a cross between a beer pancake (if you’ve never had this, envisioning a regular pancake will get you close) and a crepe.   The “pancake” is rolled up into a tube – like Little Debbie Swiss Rolls – and then cut into sections.   To use, simply unroll a bit, tear off, scoop up some delightful dish, and eat!

The Injera is made  with teff  – the world’s smallest grain.   Unfortunately for my gluten-free tummy, in the U.S. they mix in 1/2 wheat flour.   I figured my first Ethiopian meal called for a digestion sacrifice and boldly ate heaps of 1/2 wheat, 1/2 teff  Injera.   It was delicious, and the fallout wasn’t anything I haven’t experienced a million times before.   Oh!   And how was the food that the Injera scooped?   Delightful!   Lentils, greens – a tasty mix between Indian style dishes, southern cooking, and light Greek fare.

We were early to bed and early to rise as Sandra – a med student – was off to a required basic life-saving skills course for the day.   She drew me an incredible map which set the stage for a perfect day.   Since she lives a block from the infamous UC Berkeley campus, my first order of business was to give myself a tour.   Real tours were booked solid, so I just wandered around checking out the libraries and buildings.   What a gorgeous place!   Made me want to go back to school!

Life with a car in downtown Berkely  revolves around two hour  parking.   At the two hour  mark, I grabbed my car and headed up to Tilden Park – the highlight of the day for sure!   The “park” is really a huge preserve of woods in the hills overlooking Berkeley, the Bay, and San Francisco.   I had the trail I picked randomly to myself and was rewarded  with an incredible view at the top.   I so love being out-of-doors and out-of-crowds, that I had a few moments of doubt regarding my plan to visit my way down the coast cities in effort to really learn California’s political geography.   Shouldn’t I just be backpacking?

After Tilden, Sandra had tipped me off to the local YMCA’s free-mother’s-day  weekend.   Since Sandra is a member, I got into the three-story, amazing, Berkeley Y for free!   They have pretty incredible facilities.   I weight-lifted, steamed, and sauna-ed my afternoon away.   Well, the two hours that parking allowed, at least.   Then I nursed my internet addiction (hey – a traveler has to get info and make couchsurfing plans somehow, right?) at the Berkeley Public Library before embarking on a Telegraph trek.   Telegraph is the famous street in Berkeley, much like Arcata’s Plaza or New York’s Times Square.   It’s a multi-block stretch of funky stores, restaurants, and bars that cater to the student population.

An impromptu, musically-challenged bluegrass band played while reggae blared from a stereo cart on the corner.   Heavenly pizza smells poured from open doors, incense smoke whirled out of head shops, and the flashy colors of the late 80’s were everywhere.   A sweet proprietor of a hole-in-the wall convenience store operation made my day when I inquired about the price of his apples and he tossed me a freebie!

Two hours are up again!   Time to head to San Francisco to meet Elly and begin celebrating her birthday!



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