OREGON – Portland

by | 29 Oct 2016 | Cities, On the Panamerican road, United States | 0 comments

Date de dernière mise à jour : le 6 November 2019

Third city from Vancouver, we arrive in Portland with a perfect weather, 25 celsius degrees, and, hold on, by day. It changes.

We are a bit tired. And this time we want to rest for a while, not move for an entire day, using internet and enjoying a daily shower during 2 days… In a word, we look for a campground.

The first one is full. The second has a small place for us. We take one night (and a second one finally).

We buy some food and enjoy our evening. The next day is not productive at all. As expected. We change 2 or 3 things on the van and enjoy the warm air.

 

Yeah

Yeah

After a second night, we decide to go to Portland. The city is much smaller than Vancouver or Seattle and a day will be enough to have a first view.

It is too complicated to ride a bus, so we park the van in downtown for the days and go for a walk around.

 

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The city is nice.

Nevertheless Portland leaves us with a particular taste. There are still the same districts: Chinatown, students, business buildings… But one thing hits us particularly. Many people seem homeless, in the street, alone, a bit or a lot lost.

And we realize that we have sometimes ideas about the places we visit and the cities we cross. That was the case today. We may have imagined this city as sporty, ecologic, organic, dynamic and happy… Portland might be all this. But not only this. The reality is more dual.

Maybe we were in a state of mind that made us see the things differently? Probably.

Then, we look back to all the cities we crossed. And yes, the inequalities are here. There. In France. In Europe. Everywhere.

And the United-States, the richest country we will cross during our trip, is as the others. We know that.

And we stay powerless. Aware that we are very lucky and maybe a little ashamed to be so lucky.

We would like to take these pictures that could put an image on what we feel. And share. But it is complicated. We remain modest. We do not want to be intrusive.

Then we wonder.

Has our perception of our trip changed?

Or maybe we are just starting to enter in our journey. Starting not to live these 13 months as vacation.

We take our cameras.

It is time to leave now. In nature. To leave the city for the green, the wind, the wild.

Yellowstone is calling us.

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