Miami South Beach, Florida, USA
Trip Start
Oct 06, 2006
1
63
76
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
Miami,
Florida,
United States
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I always had plans to go to Miami and Fort Lauderdale and get to know the area a bit better and on January 15, almost one year after leaving the US for Central America, I set foot on US ground again. Wow... I would say I had a bit of a culture shock and thought at first I just want to leave again. Everything felt so sterile! I'm sure those of you who have traveled a bit to developing countries know what I'm talking about. Everything seems very clean, straight, cut, painted, paved, and organized. In comparison to the part of the world where I just came from where there's people on the streets walking, talking, playing, and making business getting back to the western world seemed like it was a place where everyone sits in their cars, most of the time alone, and nobody talks with anyone. Really strange, but after spending first a couple of nights in Fort Lauderdale with Mariela and then making my way down to Miami things started to change and it felt much more Latino in Miami than any other part of the US that I've been to.
Crandon Park, Miami, USA
In Miami there are Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Guatemalans, and many other Latinos and it almost feels more like a Latin American city than a US city. Spanish is spoken pretty much everywhere. In Miami you speak Spanish like you would speak English anywhere else. It doesn't matter, English or Spanish is the same there and my Spanish once again paid off. I'm very thankful to the people, the time and investment I have made in Central America studying this language. These days it almost becomes a necessity in the US to be bi-lingual and be able to speak English AND Spanish. So... get to class! JConsumer world
It is interesting that after a few weeks, for some already after a few days, of being in a different or new environment you get used to what is around you and the initial culture shock you experience in the first few days after your arrival just fades away. One thing that really sticks out in my mind though is how of a consuming culture we are. You walk through the streets of South Beach, Miami for example, there are first of all beautiful people everywhere and there is stuff to buy everywhere and people are consuming and consuming what the wallet, or let's say the credit-card, can hold. We buy stuff and buy more stuff, we show off stuff, and people are concerned more with their image or brand they are wearing than just simply worrying about having clothes on their body. It is really strange, but even I felt like after a little while that my clothes that I had been using all over Central America and which were just fine were not "good enough" and had to buy some new things
South Beach, Miami, FL
. I guess I hadn't bought any new clothes for a while so I justified it that way, but I felt like I wanted to look good too to fit in. Strange, but an interesting experience for sure especially when you think about how little or nothing people a thousand or 2000 miles south of you have or need.Kiteboarding
I stayed in Miami about a month and a half. I actually had a great time there and did a lot of things. First of all, as you can imagine, I kiteboarded as much as possible and it turns out it's a great area for that activity. The beaches in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and the water in the Florida Keys are just incredible. I also met some really cool people, and like I said before once, this sport gets you in contact with all kinds of people from all walks of life. One of my best friends I can say now is a Colombian named Andres, a kiteboarder and network engineer like myself, with whom I spent lots time in Miami and with whom I would also meet up in Colombia again in the future. After having all the experience of teaching kiting in Costa Rica I also took the opportunity to teach people in Miami and had a blast and really enjoyed teaching the passion I have to other passionate and excited people from all over the world. I spent more time than I originally wanted in Miami but after all it has become one of my favorite big cities and I would highly consider it as a place to move to due to its Latino atmosphere, Spanish, beautiful weather, wonderful beaches, big city with cultural offerings and jobs, great nightlife, closeness to Latin America and the Caribbean, and easy and fairly inexpensive access from and to Europe, or for that matter, from and to anywhere in the world.
Couchsurfing
While you can stay 6 nights in a hostel in your private room in Central America, you can stay only 1 night in a hostel sharing a dorm room with 5 strangers in Miami for exactly the same price
South Beach, Miami, FL
. In other words, staying in Miami becomes expensive even when you're staying at budget places. Let's not even talk about going out to eat! Well... while money is of course somewhat important while you travel I also figured I wanted to get some new experience and give couchsurfing a try. Since I had sold my kiteboarding gear and had to wait for some new equipment to be shipped to Miami I had time to try couchsurfing which was always on my list of things to do. What the heck is couchsurfing you might be asking? Well... let me explain briefly. Couchsurfing is a social network of like-minded people who offer travelers a couch, sofa, mattress, bed, floor space, hammock, or whatever... free of charge while fostering inter-cultural exchanges. In other words if you like meeting people and making friends from all over the world you can offer them to stay at your home, show them your city, teach them something new about your culture while at the same time learn something new as well. Couchsurfers and hosts have an online profile with references and friend links that can be reviewed before accepting a couchsurfing request. The system is awesome and I am convinced that it's one of the best ways to travel and get to know the people and places you are visiting - from a local perspective and not just from a typical tourist point of view. Check out www.couchsurfing.com or look at my profile at http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/globekiter
I had my first couchsurfing experience in Miami and it was great and I knew that this would be the way to go once I headed to Colombia!
