Are You Lost?

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Wow....talk about major culture shock! After our longest travel time to date (3 days including sitting in an airport for 12 hours!) and managing to battle against the smoke filled city of Buenos Aires we arrived in Miami ready for a dose of reality. I definitely got a dose of something but I am not sure I can honestly use the word reality....It took us 5 hours just to travel up to Fort Lauderdale where we were staying for the first night. It seems that Florida may not infact be used to backpackers, as remarks such as "are you hikers?" and "are you lost?" were thrown in our direction! Finally however we made it to the land of the rich, the famous and 90% of the time the beautiful! The beach and its surrounds were just how I had imagined it, full of fake boobs, plastic faces and men in extremely tight shorts carrying their Paris Hilton's. I dont mind admitting I was absolutely besotted! Tucked behind the main beach, are their houses. Built on the edge of the interconnecting waterways, their boats, yachts or sheer condos on water sparkling away to match the diamonds on their fingers! It was simply amazing to see the amount of money just being used for "holiday homes". I also wont mind admitting that I wasn't particularly dressed for the occasion. Nonetheless we went out to the boutique shops of Las Olas and wandered around deciding that the $200 pair of shorts just really weren't my colour!
After our slight baptism by fire, we travelled further north to the slightly more normal town of Delray Beach; a really lovely place still with lovely boutiques but this time almost affordable! We were really lucky to be staying with a friend who put us up in her condo, which meant we had a lovely relaxed time...playing tennis and swimming! We had heard that Miami itself was nothing special so instead we decided to check out a suburb just south of Miami downtown called Coconut Grove. Whilst I did manage to have my first diner experience, again it was nothing particularly spectacular (especially as it took us 3 hours to get there. Seriously in Florida you need to get a car!)
Our last major outing was obviously out to see Millionaire's row. I don't think I can quite describe the sheer extravegance of the houses. I was blown away by the deco of some of the places and then I was told about their underground tunnels to the beach......I managed to spot Oprah Winfrey's and Este Lauder's houses/mansions/forts.
It was a lovely quick stopover in Miami, a place to definitely chill, but next time if I come back I think I might need a slightly higher wage than I am currently on!

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