The city of sin

Here I am in Las-Vegas.

This place is very strange.

First of all there was the drive.
We decided to leave in the afternoon, and so went through the mountains at night, and it was very cold. However there was plenty of passing through civilization, so no big deal.

We got into Nevada around day break...
Bad idea.

As soon as you enter Nevada civilization as we know it ceases to exist.
There are tiny towns throughout the plains to the north. And the tiny towns fall under one of two categories.

1) A few businesses on a dusty road,
These are the kind of places a person like me fears walking around in.
These are the places where manly men are, the kind of place where you just know a person like me wont fit in.
We passed a place called bobo's bar. Outside the only vehicles were pick-up trucks. Five of them.
I imagined Eric and I stopping in there. The moment we walk in the door the music stops. Everyone just stares at us.
We walk up to the bar and a redneack says "My friend here doesn't like you".
I respond "Well, I'm sorry about that".
He goes on "I don't like you either".
I suppose at this point it would be Eric's duty to cut his hand off.

2) A small pristine village.
The places have green lawns. Large churches, horses frolicking around in pens. nice cars outside. The fire department looks old, but nicely kept. You get the idea.
Okay so here is the creepy part.
These towns are about a mile long. It is clear that people aught to live there. However Eric and I could not see a single soul, or even evidence that anyone has been around in the last few hours the entire time that we drove through.
Also no sign of any sort of shop or business. No reason for strangers like us to stop and look around.
Maybe I'm exaggerating the creepiness, maybe I was just getting crazy from the sun. But it certainly seemed very David Lynch at the time.

Then comes the desert.
It's 200 miles from the end of the savannah of wild sage to LasVegas.
The rest is desert, with nothing at all in it.

It is just (mostly) straight road, a few cactuses and rocks. There is nothing there. It is a hollow and empty void. In fact it is the only land we passed that no one bothered to fence off.
The only exception is that for some reason someone appears to be attempting to build an oasis about 50 miles away from Vegas, I cannot imagine why.

Then we get to Vegas. The thing about Vegas is when one thinks of it one thinks of this tiny strip of road with these monolithic casinos and bright lights. This is a small part of Vegas, but nonetheless the part the rest of the city revolves around.

The rest of the city is mexicans (with a bit of white trash, and black folk sprinkled in for flavor) struggling for survival in the middle of the desert with nothing there, and nothing around forever. And no matter what neighbourhood your in, it all looks the same. Every block it seems comes with the obligatory tax help, law firms (run out of shops like it's a dominoes pizza or something), cheap insurance, 7 eleven, taqueria (or teriaki or mcdonalds or whatever), and then of course the ever present pay day loans.
This comes in such sharp contrast to the names of every street, which are all cliches. Sombraro, silver saddle, golden arrow, desert inn, and hollywood boulevard (not kidding). Yet, it is clear that beyond the boarders of the strip lies an oceon of poverty. A swarming mass of people really struggling to get by, and make it into the center of the city. Where water flows freely, electricity flows to make night into day, it's cool inside wherever you go, every signal from all around you begs you to stay, begs you to play, offers you food and drink, and women, and the promise of money does nothing but linger... of course you have to pay.

There are magic shows in Vegas every night, but the strip is the real illusion.