← PreviousBetween California and Nevada: Ceres, the desert and American hospitalityFrom ten in the morning we were off exploring Red Rock Canyon, a group of mountains on the edge of Vegas. The rock hesitated between red and yellow depending on where you were. The vegetation was typical desert, with clumps of dense bushes. We took the best-known hiking trail to climb to a summit with a plunging view over the city. We alternated between scrambling over rock, passages through narrow gaps and long sandy stretches. Before reaching the goal, a small freshwater lake was completely frozen.
Temperatures were unusually low for the region and the time of year, and it had even snowed the day before, rare enough for the local news to report it. We knew we'd finished the walk when we saw dozens of people sitting and enjoying the view. We decided to do the same and to eat while we were at it. Out of the backpack came our sandwich from Walmart. It was supposed to be for one person, but as it was as long as my forearm from elbow to fingertips, we cut it in half to share, and it was more than enough.
As we were savouring our meal, we noticed movement to our right and quickly realised a young man was proposing to his girlfriend. He got down on one knee, began to speak, and the whole crowd, in the purest American style, let out a big "oooooh" of excitement. Not the least bit embarrassed, the couple carried on and were even applauded by said crowd, us included, caught up in the moment. After a bit of chat with our neighbours from Maine, who'd recognised our accents and came to tell us about their love of France, we turned back and returned to the car.
We spent a few hours in the park exploring the various trails before heading back to town. Our room for the night was in another, smarter part of the city. Our hosts were very friendly. We were wondering how we'd get to the Strip, the great avenue lined with all the big casinos, when the husband offered us his parking card so we could park for free at one of the big establishments. We thanked him warmly and dashed off to this place seen in hundreds of films.
The city lights flooded Vegas with an unreal glow. As if outside time, in the middle of the desert, Sin City takes thousands of visitors under its wing for a weekend or a week. The avenue was gigantic and the lights lit up the road as if it were daytime. You instantly felt you were stepping into a world apart, a world of make-believe, glitter and inequality. We started with an Italian restaurant before diving into the casinos and realising how gigantic they were. It's something you can't grasp until you've experienced it from the inside. Every room of every hotel was exceptionally large, with incredible ceiling heights. In luxurious surroundings, thousands of gamblers toiled away at hundreds of machines and tables.
We watched, fascinated, the waltz of chips and banknotes. Novices in the world of gambling, we lingered around the poker and blackjack tables trying to understand what on earth interested people. At one table, a man was playing blackjack, throwing in a chip every hand — a 500-dollar chip, equal to our budget for five days of travel. The figure on the chip made us slightly dizzy, especially as we'd given a few coins to a homeless man we'd passed across the street. Perhaps America was summed up right there: extreme poverty and thoughtless wealth. After joking about how we might steal some chips, we went out to make the rounds of all the prestigious casinos.
We visited the various venues, each decorated differently, often in the colours of a country or the extremely clichéd idea Americans had of it. For France, you could see the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge, as well as a replica metro entrance. This city was so different from the rest of the country. Here, people drank straight from the bottle as they strolled along the pavements, whereas just being drunk could land you in jail anywhere else in the nation. McCarran Airport spewed out tourists every day from all over America and the world, there to have the night of their year or even their life.
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," as the famous saying goes, and we realised Americans took it very seriously. Excess wasn't a problem; it was perhaps even encouraged. Gamblers received unlimited free drinks, the only payment being a tip for the waitress. Waitress, because of course the environment was very sexist, with hostesses in skimpy outfits dancing on tables and bringing the drinks with a nonchalant sway of the hips. Once the childlike wonder at the magic of this place blazing with a thousand lights had worn off, you quickly began to step back and realise the sad truth: Vegas was a soulless papier-mâché city where, to have fun, you threw your money away in the unlikely hope of leaving richer than before.