In winter months, when it's below zero outside, our thoughts like to escape to warmer places. We like imagining to travel to warm places where there is warm and sunny even during the harshest winters. And which place is perfect for that? Naturally, the one that even has sunshine on the licence plates – the Sunshine state! Yes, this is an article about Florida, the South-Eastern state, where I escaped to from the cold Slovenian winter to soak in the sun in hope to keep warm and get a tan during the coldest months of the year.
Alligators under the palm trees
The origin of the name Florida is Spanish and means something blossoming, flowery. There are many tropical plants there, which already met the Spaniards upon their arrival in the era of great explorations, so arriving there right after Easter they named it accordingly – a place in bloom. When Spain retreated and English gained control, the name remained. Even today, with dense population and a vast network of infrastructure Florida still kept its tropical flora, blue skies, green-blue sea and white sand beaches. But one of the best sights is still the hibiscus flower, which is considered the national flower of Florida. With its typical flowers, usually around the palm trees, it decorates many a garden, park or street.
When mentioning the flora, we cannot skip the national park Everglades, which is a unique example of wild plant and animal life. Despite the popular belief, Everglades are not a swamp, but a slow flowing river – the slowest river in the world. It’s 100m wide and 160km long and due to the very small vertical drop (Florida is quite flat) the water flows with the speed of only 1 mile a day (that’s 1,6km a day). On its way to the Okeechobee Lake and towards the Mexican gulf the river flows with the speed three times slower than that of a turtle. A turtle, which is not among the faster swimmers, can swim the distance of 3 miles a day. The national park is one of the most important tourist attractions and almost no visitor passes the opportunity to visit it. 70% of Everglades is covered by tall grass, which gained it the name – the river of grass. Other 30% are trees that grow on places that stand above the water surface – the hammocks. And it is here that the most famous inhabitants of Florida – the alligators – live. The most popular activity in these parts is boat rides with wind powered boats. While speeding through tall grass and among trees on natural and manmade paths, you are spotting the gators, with over a million of them living in this area already.
Everglades are the only place on Earth, where sweet and sea water alligators and crocodiles live together, for the sweet water of the river mixes with the sea water from the Gulf, making it inhabitable for both species.
USA or Latin America?
In the 16th century Florida was first colonised by the Spanish and today that is known as the period of the first Hispanisation. The second wave started in the mid-20th century and is much more influential. The second wave, however, does not consist of the people coming from Spain, but of Spanish speaking people, who come from Latin America and are massively inhabiting the areas to the south of Florida in the Miami – Dade district. Today Miami has over 50% of people, to whom Spanish is the native tongue. Most of them are from Cuba, but they also come from other Caribbean and Central American countries.
In the Miami – Dade Spanish is the part of everyday life, but in some parts – like the Miami’s 8th street (also known as little Havana) – it is much more than that. It’s the bond that connects the immigrants from Cuba among themselves and with their native Island. Cubans started settling in Miami after the revolution, which is not surprising, for Florida is the closest mainland to the island. The immigrants named their part of town after the capital of their island – Havana – and made it cosy for themselves, so now they enjoy the shade of palm trees, smoke cigars and play cards or dominos in parks. Naturally they speak in Spanish and comment the life and political situation in Cuba to keep the memory of the homeland alive. A memory which is so close and yet so far away. Apart from Spanish speaking parts, there’s also the little Haiti, where people speak Creole French. At first glance already, you can also see that the percentage of darker skin completion is higher. There are larger numbers of population, in the south of the US, which are descendants from slaves, brought over the Atlantic during the horrid era of slave traders, who captured free born Africans and chained them in boats for forced slave labour in plantations.
Buenvenidos a Miami
Most people associate the word Florida with Miami, for it is the city of wealthy and famous people, best known and the largest city in Florida – but not the capital of the state. It is part of the Miami-Dade district, which is among the largest metropolitan areas in the US (population wise). There are several cities making up the district, and some already have the names that give the exotic feel to the area. Here you’ll find cities and beaches with names like Miami Beach, Palm Beach, Coconut Grove or Coral Gables. And the Corals used to be the most important construction material in these parts.
The heart of the area is the Biscayne Bay, which on the western side touches the mainland part of Miami and has the island of Miami Beach to the east. Downtown Miami features a beautiful shopping mall Bayside Marketplace, right on the shore, which represents the center of social life of the city. From here you can start a two hour boat tour along the bay, followed by many Latin rhythms and also the unofficial anthem Will Smith’s „Welcome to Miami, Buenvenidos a Miami“. The boat will take you under the elegant arch bridges, which connect Miami and Miami Beach and many artificial islands with high sounding names and even more famous inhabitants. The islands named Star, Palm, Hibiscus… you will find extravagant villas, where the rich and the famous live. While taking the boat ride, you should not skip the sight of the huge cruise liners anchored in Miami. This is the gateway for numerous joy cruises that take you to the pleasure trips along the Caribbean islands. Miami itself is also surrounded by islands, most of them natural even if some are artificial. The biggest island is the before mentioned Miami Beach, which is a city of its own (but still part of the Miami – Dade district), and is renowned throughout the world for its long sand beach – several hundred kilometres long! The beach is on the Atlantic coast (eastern and southern side of the island) and is called South Beach – or SoBe. It’s also the most visited part of the Island. But Miami is not only known for the beaches, but also for many Art Deco style buildings, which stand along the Washington and Collins avenue and Ocean Drive, which is the real gathering place for the rich inhabitants.
More in the next issue of Globetrotter.
