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Published: April 16th 2013
My first week in Islamorada was coming to a close. The sun had set and the dusk was dwindling. The only thing on the agenda was laundry and reading. I was not super excited about that. So, I decided it was time to venture out on my own again, even if just for a day. Sunday night I packed up my little old car and headed to Key West. Key West is the last island in the Florida Keys. To get there I would have to continue driving on the one-lane no passing road for two hours, crossing over dozens of other islands, through a protected deer area and over the seven-mile bridge.
I sent out a few Couch Surfing requests. For those who don’t know, Couch Surfing is an online network of people willing to host fellow travelers on their sofa for free. In return, you host other travelers on your couch when it is convenient (www.couchsurfing.org). If nothing came through, I planned to find a quiet parking lot and sleep in the car. Surprisingly, my first request was accepted within a few hours! I got directions and was off. The drive across the Keys is ideal
Old Bridge
If you look close you can see the old man fishing!during the day because you can see the emerald greens and blues of the sea on one side and the gulf on the other. Still, at night I made good time and got to see the unfiltered stars overhead.
As I arrived in Key West I maneuvered through the poorly laid out traffic patterns and unmarked streets in an attempt to find my new home for the night. After driving down what appeared to be the wrong direction of a one-way street, I found myself pulling into a narrow ally…or was it dead end? I followed it until a small drive appeared on the right. Other than a small white house on the side of the drive, I was surrounded by 15 feet of plywood fencing. Branches poured over the tops of the fences. I assumed this was the only way for residents to get privacy in a town where your backyard was either your neighbor’s front yard or a street.
My host came out and met me. He led me into the back corner of the fenced area where a door appeared out of nowhere. We followed concrete stepping stones around a cabana
Couch Surfing
Shinning Bright Like a Diamond! and I found myself rising on to the first level of a split-level porch. The cabana had a full kitchen and a bathroom, which opened up and faced a patio set, two lawn chairs and an unlit, glistening pool. The next level held the back of the house, which was mainly constructed out of glass windows and doors up the vaulted ceiling. The upper deck had another patio chair set and an outdoor shower.
“You know, I can just sleep on that lawn chair,” I thought about saying, but decided to keep it to myself.
The inside of house was breathtaking: wood floors, a couch that wrapped around the entire living room facing a television the size of the wall and a kitchen made for too many cooks complete with granite-topped counters. The house itself had three bedrooms and a separate upstairs apartment. This place turned out to be the Couch Surfing Mecca with two French girls in the apartment, another two German girls in a bedroom, and a New Zealander in the other room.
My host Adam and I went out to find the other girls. We walked around the
chic downtown almost getting run over by cars, Pedi cab drivers and animated street musicians. For 10:00 PM on a Sunday this place was alive. We ended up at the Garden of Eden, which is a “clothing optional” bar located on the rooftop of a two story building which also contained bars on the other floors. Being our first meeting, I did not take advantage of the clothing optional portion of the experience. In fact the only person who did was an overweight, middle-aged man who appeared to either be there alone or was abandoned by his friends.
After we headed back I took over the enormous couch in the living room. Covered with a curtain, I slept like a baby.
The next day I awoke to Wendy at the dining room table. She was staying in Key West for an extended period of time. She was from Auckland, New Zealand and had some incredible advice for me on places to go and outdoor adventures to pursue. She is about eight hours from where I will be, but it is exciting to have a contact with the same interests!
Adam then
Hey...
"Why are they all looking at us?" came out and introduced me to the two German girls, Julia and Sabrina. With the outbreak of the mustache glasses and matching “Shine Bright Like a Diamond” t-shirts, I knew we were going to get along great. The four of us walked to a market/café called Help Yourself Organic Foods and had a fresh breakfast. We then headed down to the dock where we had Cuban Coffee, looked a large fish swimming under the boats, and walked through random shops.
We maneuvered through the narrow streets back to the house and found a treasure of all treasures: A couch on the side of the road. Needless to say, we all did some literal couch surfing.
While admiring and old antique car, a man who looked like a biker ran out of a shop across the street and came over. We backed up. He reached in and grabbed a handful of rubber bracelets and passed them out to us. The said:
One Human Family
Unity, Equality, Diversity
onehumanfamily.info, Key West
Key West is a very open, socially accepting and progressive community.
Anchor Down!
Nap Time at the Bottom of the Sea. They have a large Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender (LGBT) community. They have drag shows, parties, trolleys, and events island wide. Later I would find out that “One Human Family” is actually the cities motto. Best free souvenir ever.
Originally I had planned to stay only one night, but since there were talks of having a BBQ on the back patio and our own private Garden of Eden Party, I couldn’t pass it up and decided to stay another night.
As the sun set, we walked through the grave yard. The types of stones and walls were quite different from what I have seen before. Large concrete slabs covered the ground and huge block structures were scattered around where families were buried altogether. We encountered a surprising amount of life in the graveyard. Large iguanas ran rapid across concrete stones, grass walkways and pavilion floors. Roosters bobbed around corners and over bushes, panicked and cock-a-doodle-doing confused at the hour. Small birds sang and perched around the branches and on fake flowers.
After dark, the BBQing began. We made blenders full of strawberry daiquiris, and snacked on hummus, carrots and chips. We prepared
dinner as a group grilling burgers, brats, chicken, and skewered veggies that we had picked up at the store earlier. We chilled out at the pool for hours and then headed indoors to the Jacuzzi tub to warm up. That night I was lucky enough to sleep in a bed in the upstairs apartment.
The next morning Julia and I made a big breakfast. After we ate, her, Sabrina and I headed to town to visit Wendy, who had just the day before been hired at and ice cream parlor. Later we headed to a beach to get some sun and explore the AIDS memorial.
We laid out in the shade, napped, swam in the clear, cool water, ate gummy bears, and watched people illegally capture bate.
After we went to check out the AIDS Memorial. The Memorial is on the walkway leading to the White Street Pier. It is a tribute to the people who had a special connection to the Keys and have died of AIDS. Key West had the highest AIDS Rates per capita in the US in 1988. The community lost over 7,000 people, which is huge
Fishing
Illegally for Bait. in a town of only 30,000 year-round residents. The epidemic touched all groups of the community, as it took prominent business owners, housewives, service men, gay and straight alike. Their names are now engraved in Zimbabwe granite on the pier. Unfortunately they had the memorial covered and under construction while we were there so we didn’t get to see it all.
It was time to head back to Islamorada, but not before making additional travel plans with my new friends. Sabrina and Julia said they would come and stay in Islamorada for a night before they headed back to Germany. Adam plans to be in Scotland in August. Since I plan to be in Europe at that time, we made a commitment to try and reunite our own couch surfing One Human Family.
The drive back was marvelous. It was my first daylight drive of emerald greens and blues. I got out and explored the old bridge and enjoyed my long crossing over the seven-mile bridge.
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Kelley
non-member comment
Ya Damn Hippie Ya!
Totally living vicariously through you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miss you Beks.