Miami

Miami. It didn’t even feel like we’d left South America. Everyone still speaks Spanish. I ordered a Coke at the airport in English and received a blank look, then ordered in Spanish and got comprehension. Oh well, at least I can keep practicing!

I knew this would be the town of the rich and beautiful, but to this extreme! At first appearance, it seems like Surfers Paradise, only much much larger. Our first morning was spent at Southbeach, very similar to any Queensland beach, plus girls in gold larmae swim suits and an abundance of gym junkies. People in Miami don’t go to the beach to swim or surf. They go to show off their new leopard skin bikini or sip cocktails or flirt outrageously with the local solarium-tanned macho men. I have never felt self –conscious walking down a beach in my swimmers. Until yesterday! The amount of ridiculously good-looking women (and men for that matter) is amazing! But not the kind of natural beauty you find in a coastal town. You get the feeling that these girls don’t leave the house without a considerable amount of work, choice of completely over-dressed ensemble, careful make-up, previous sun tanning, manicures, peticures etc. I felt completely under dressed walking down the main road in my denim skirt and black singlet top and flip flops.

We spent the rest of this first day searching downtown Miami for an Apple store and a Verison (apparently Vodafone’s sister company) unsuccessfully and so went back to the hostel to some really annoying German girls that walk around topless and turn the air conditioning up to sweltering heat despite the fact that its boiling outside.

We went out that night with some people from the hostel. After pre drinks at the hotel, we headed out at midnight to explore the Miami club scene. We arrived at a club called Mansions, where we waited in front of the ‘red rope’ for a solid 20 minutes while the guy from our hostel worked his magic with the bouncers and managed to convince them that 2 guys with a 7 girl-strong harem was fit to enter the club without queuing. This is after being looked up and down by the door bitch, obviously checking to see if we were good looking enough to be worthy of her club. We were presented with a charge of $30 to enter the club, despite the fact that at midnight, it was close to empty. We decided (being the tight arse Aussie travelers that we are) that that was a bit to steep and made a 180 through the front door. Much to the door bitch’s dismay, the people in the queue saw us leaving and drew to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth lining up for, also leaving. Suck that stupid Miami biatch!!!

So we did what any Aussie in Miami would do…went to the nearest Irish pub! Although still overly expensive ($7 for a beer!!), the atmosphere was much more relaxed and the people here were much less stuck up!!

So yesterday I bought my whiz bang brand new Macbook Pro and its so shiny and new and pretty and metallic! We uploaded 5000 photos from our trip so far! I think we’ve been getting overly excited with our cameras for the past two months!

Jem came with me to buy my computer and ended up buying on herself (I mean, there’s impulse buying and then there’s insanity..) so we walked down a populated Miami beach road with brand new Macbooks in one hand, tickets to a cruise in the Caribbean in the other, 8 months of travel through 3 continents to come, looking like rich bitches and finally felt like we fit in! All we needed was a Chiaua under our arm and it would have been perfect! Little did everyone know that it was all going on credit..and not daddy’s credit card like the rest of the 23 year olds in Miami, but our own which we will have to pay back upon our return. Awesome.

But I’m happy now, I have my puter, I’m going on a cruise next week, and I’m feeling healthy. Apart from 20 sandfly bites on my legs, which have consequently become infected and itching like crazy! Might need something for that…