Miami - South Beach

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Miami, South Beach

The party capital of the USA! The place to see aesthetically enhanced beautiful people (I mean plastic surgery), top up that tan, see top of the range cars, eat in the best restaurants and whoop it up!

Except that when we got there an uncharactersitic cold front was in place and it was cold and wet, the hostel we booked and paid for on the internet that looked so good in the pictures was under renovation, everything was so damn expensive and the place was deserted!

So we didn't see the beautiful people parading themselves on the beach, didn't get much sleep between the builders hammering away and the bar that didnt close until the early hours of the morning and had to eat meals consisting of burgers and chips, pizza and burrito's (probably a typical US diet).

Undeterred we knew Miami was going to eat into our budget, after coming from central america to Miami everything is at least 4 times more expensive - this hurts for the first few days then slowly becomes more normal and we had to restock and re-equip ourselves for the rest of our journey around the globe. We had been waiting to get here so we could buy a computer to update the blog as going to internet cafes is so boring and takes too long - however the whacking great sales tax on everything was unaccounted for (why don't they just put the final price you are going to pay on the label?).

We got rid of our excess baggage collected in Central America - 10 kilos!! What a weight, imagine lugging that around on your back with everything else we already had.

OK we have griped enough about Miami, but one thing that does stand out is the friendliness of the place, Martin - who was on the front desk of the hostel was so helpful and kind plus the locals were really accomodating, showing us places to eat and drink and helped us to find the elusive malls out on the freeways.

Miami is a bilingual city too, more people speak spanish there than english which was nice for us as we didn't lose the little we picked up already (as in Belize), and I think it allowed to get on a little bit better with the locals (also if the staff at the hostel were talking about you behind your back you could understand them - didn't happen to us but to others staying there.).

The South Beach has many museums, we visited only one (most of the time was spent on buses getting to malls). The Wolfsonian museum is dedicated to modernist design from the 1920's to the 1950's (and beyond) and was a pleasant diversion from the drizzle.

We decided to treat ourselves with a trip to the Everglades for a ride on those fan boat thingies that glide above the water- pretty cool, take a look at the alligators and the other wildlife. Those alligators are really impressive they are huge and we certainly wouldn't rate our chances if we came across one by ourselves - they are so still, camoflagued and basically are just a lump of muscle with teeth

On the final day we went to the Bayside mall to prepare ourselves for Argentina by going to an all you can eat parrillla joint - truly epic in its consumption, this meal left Marcel in particular so full and bursting with meat that the 13 hour uncomfortable American airlines flight to Buenos Aires flashed by in a carnivorous induced coma.

Recommendations: Get a hotel on one of those bidding sites where you put how much you are prepared to pay per night - a roommate did this in the hostel and got a great deal but because we already paid we were commited to stay in the hostel - gutted. Also hire a car, it really is so cheap and the public transport (buses) is soooo slow, Miami is a place to drive not walk. Finally the restaurants in South beach aren't that good really for the money that you pay, so do what the locals do and eat Cuban or Mexican food downtown as it is cheap and tasty - the cuban coffee in particular is excellent it is a type of thick, sweet espresso very similar to Turkish coffee.

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Photos

Probably the largest burger I have ever eaten
Massive portion - you know when your in america - the portions are so big they must be designed for taking home with you. I ate all mine in the restaurant.

Miami by night
The famous neon strip

Our hostel
Much nicer on thhe outside - should be decent enough when the refurb is complete.