Miami, USA

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Miami - big beach, big people, big food, big storms, big bigs

We left La Paz as it started to snow and blew into Miami at the roasting temperature of 38 degrees....with our fingers and toes thawing in the balmy weather, we spent our time acclimatising to the heat, to the healthy food portions, and to the fact that everything suddenly cost 100 times what we were used to paying in bolivia! it was only a short stay, but sweet enough for us to taste a deliciously sickly slice of cheesecake from the reknowned cheesecake factory, pretzels with gooey dipping cheese, and the best seafood that miami has to offer.• city highlights: the beach itself - especially south beach with it´s whiter than white sand, bluer than blue waves, and gayer than gay locals sitting in their own pretty rainbow section; the shopping - having come from the bowels of south america, it was strange walking through shopping areas and not seeing the traditional gringo clown pants, scarves, woollen produce or crappy beads on sale; no trip to miami would be complete without visiting a mall....insanely large and blasted with ice cold air conditioning, it felt just like home....just more gigantic.• Accommodation: 4.5/5 for a lovely hotel one street back from south beach and smack bang in the middle of the shopping precinct. Inline with all things american, it was big big BIG.• Food: Great seafood gumbos, stone crabs and junk food. Although paul was unfortunate enough to experience food poisoning from one of the dishes we tried....ironic that his stomach braved all of south america and then decided to pack it in in north america....perhaps it was just too clean!• Misc: weclome to the land of hummers....they´re everywhere and the crazy thing is that they´re small cars compared to some of the other monsters being driven around; the heat was lovely at first and then unbearable by the time we left....we now understand why noone walks anywhere; there appear to be very very few women in town - only large groups of men and old people.

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