Carlsbad Reunion: East LA, Carlsbad Village, and the Candy Bar Game

July 6, 2021, was, for me, one of the highlights of the reunion.  Spencer led family members on a tour of his mission in East L.A.   We sampled the area's delights (great Mexican food, vibrant shops, and beautiful murals) and the area's challenges (the "projects" where many poor and/or unemployed people live, along with gang members).

Two cars of us trailed each other into Los Angeles and stopped at the stake house for the Spanish-speaking stake.  We peeked inside the door to see the beautiful mosaic tile floors.  Spencer told us that the Church is creating fewer Spanish-speaking wards in this area, since the older people like speaking in Spanish and having their own ethnic community, but the young people drop out because they identify with speaking English and being with a mixed Anglo/Spanish community.

We next stopped for agua frescas and tacos at a food truck near a strip mall.  I have never tasted such good fruit drinks.  My passion fruit fresca was bursting with fruit and flavor!  The tacos were also excellent.  Of course, the clerks all spoke Spanish, and there were signs in Spanish on the truck.

We then drove past the "projects," the federally subsidized low income housing where gang members hang out.  The projects didn't look threatening during the daytime, and they were even decorated with artistic murals.  However, we didn't stop.  Spencer said that it's hard to tell when an area like that will be safe and when it won't be.

The Virgin Mary is a frequent theme of Hispanic murals.

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We drove through the neighborhoods of East L.A., looking at the many murals on the side of buildings, which are distinctive to this part of town.  Some of them were elaborate, with paintings of the Madonna or Hispanic heroes like Cesar Chavez.  

There were also many Spanish and mission-style churches.

Our next stop was a Mexican shopping center.  “This one is authentic, where the Latin people actually go,” Spencer said.  The Mexican market on Olivera Street is for tourists.  

We admired the sheer volume of brightly colored products.  We also stopped to haggle at a t-shirt shop, picking up a black t-shirt with a gold Aztec head and a smaller, women’s t-shirt that said “biggest boss” in Spanish.  Those will be prime items for the family auction.  

As we wandered through the stalls inside and outside the large building, Spencer was wary.  “Things can change from safe to dangerous in a minute,” he said.  After we had shopped for a half hour or so, Spencer heard people talking about us in Spanish, so we quickly left.  “Usually, this is a safe place in the daytime,” Spencer said, “but you never know.”

We stopped on Ortega Street, where Los Angeles was first settled.  We walked past the oldest surviving house in the city, from the early 1800s, and ate excellent taquitos and horchata at a café.  This shopping center felt safe, if not as authentic as the shopping center in East L.A.

We finished our tour by about 2 p.m., with the timing of our arrival back in Carlsbad as uncertain as the heavy Southern California traffic.  Dave and I left for the condos, but Spencer, Naomi, Kyle, Lisa, Bryce, and Alyssa stayed behind.  They visited one of Spencer’s missionary contacts and ate Guatemalan pupusas.  I would loved to have done that, but I was also aware of my obligation to feed the folks at the condos and to get ready for the after-dinner candy bar game.

Camille's and Jonny's families also had a fun day.  They ate lunch together in downtown Carlsbad.

The candy bar game is one of our favorite retreat events.  Lisa brought $150 worth of candy bars from Seattle--one each of every candy bar she could find.  We each received a paper bag and took turns throwing dice.  With dice totaling 7 or 11, you got to choose a candy bar from the floor and put it in your bag, or else "steal" a candy bar from another member of the group, if you could remember whose bag it was in.  If you guessed wrong, you had to put one of your candy bars back on the floor.

Around and around we went, as the excitement mounted.  

There were some big winners, like Grant's wife Meg, who got six or seven candy bars, and some big losers, like me, who got only one or none. Of course, I filched bites from some of David’s.  In the excitement of the game, we forgot that we could walk down to the store and inexpensively buy our favorite candy bars, without having to steal them from someone else!