The Everglades

So, today would be a busy day for us. It started out calm because we had to do some laundry while Maria was at her yoga class. The washers in America don’t really work like the washers we have, but I managed to get the most out of it, even though I didn’t think the clothes were that clean, but hey, it’s better than to wash them in the shower!

After the morning fuss, we went to have brunch with some other couch surfers. We had to go pick up a friend of Maria, Lina on the other side of Miami and we had to rush a bit because we were already running late.

The brunch was nice and we met Nav, another host in Miami, who was very outgoing and who invited us to go to a private boat party in the evening. We thanked him, but told him we were going to a speech of some world improver guy in the evening.

After the brunch, we drove all the way to the Everglades, but only to the northern part, because that was already a very long drive. We were there at around 3 o’clock and we took an airboat ride in the Everglades with Maria and Lina. It was only for half an hour, but we saw some alligators, and some really nice birds. Our guide was a very nice guy and he explained a bit about the nature there. After the tour we could hold a snake and a baby alligator. Seb hold them both, but I was not into it, so I gladly declined!! Seb was still holding the baby gator when we saw that we had to get going to see the speech.

We were driving very fast, the European style, but we had to avoid the toll way, because you can only go on them if you have a special pass. We had to be at the speech at 5.30, but at 5.35 we were still very far away from the place we had to be. After a while, we saw a sign going to the highway, with a side note on it that the Express Lane was only for Sunpass users. We went on the Highway to try to still make it in time, but once we were on it, we saw that it was only an access to the Express lane, and not the normal highway….. On top of the lane it said, all non Sunpass users will be fined a 100 dollar fine….

You can image Seb’s reaction when he saw it!! After that it turned out that the Express lane takes you way beyond the point you have to be, and you can’t get off!! When we could take the first exit, we just phoned Nav and told him we would be going to the boat party with him…

Nav told us that we could go to the Hare Krishna meeting and eat there for 3 dollars, the cheapest meal we would have had till then! It was a real experience, far out of my comfort zone, but it was nice. They had a lot of chanting, dancing and happy joy stuff going on.

The meal was vegan, but if you are hungry you eat everything!

After the dinner, we went to the marina for the boat party. The guy who took us to the boat was saying that he rode his motrocycle through Europe and that he left it in Belgium to take it with him on his next trip. We looked at each other and we said, Yes we know, you left it with Guurt in Schoten!! The guy looked at us and said: “do you know Guurt?” It’s such a small world when you think about it!

We had a nice time on the boat, it was an amazing view of Miami, the people were really nice and the weather was off course super!!!

The people on the boat even sang a birthday song for me,…. so nice!!