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I was in two minds as to whether or not I would write about Florida,California since we didn't really experience it, yet we did pass through here for the night and was a part of the journey. To reach Mexico from Colombia meant that we would be flying and many airlines operating this route are American and don't have direct flights, and if they did the prices were beyond our budget. As our South American experience came to an end, we flew over the Caribbean seas leaving behind the rugged landscapes, and for one night we could take comfort in an English speaking country. Our American air hostess makes the feeling real that we are no longer traveling in the Southern end of the continent as we hear her speak, yet we know we are still far from home due to her strong accent. A feeling of sadness sets in as we leave South America, yet a feeling of excitement is with us as we move into another phase of the journey and adjust our watches to a new timezone. Our pilot welcomes us on board and mentions some of the islands we will be flying over. From the window of the plane we see an electric blue ocean surrounding the Caribbean islands, one of them being Jamaica. I remember one island being surrounded by shades of blue and green so bright it was unbelievably stunning. A moment where I regret not taking a photo. As we reached the North American continent, the geographical differences to where we had just come from were seen through the landscapes below, where the land was formed into grids with shades of greens and grey. As we flew further over the state, neighborhoods were defined by the buildings built within their blocks, and blocks of farms surrounding them. It seemed like many people had pools with all the blue dots scattered about and highways curved in and around the land. Far different from the dense green landscape we had just come from with trees and thick vegetation forming a rugged land, where the only blue dot was coming from the ocean itself.
It had been over three months since we had set foot in a country similar to our own, and for one night we received culture shock from a culture just like our own. Our connecting flight was not until the next morning, so we had booked a hotel for the night close to the airport. With Mexico being our point of destination, our experience in Florida seemed somewhat surreal and was after all our first time visiting the United States of America. Keeping our budgets in mind, we didn't venture into the city and stayed in the area around our hotel near the airport. Our room was filled with many comforts of home and was probably the most comfortable bed we had slept in since leaving home. We could actually brush our teeth with tap water again, something which we have become very grateful for back home. We had more comforts than we needed and felt rather lucky to have had so much. With hunger setting in, we set out on foot to get a bite to eat. It felt strange to be communicating in an English speaking country and we were able to ask the staff at the front desk all the questions we had, rather than our basic list we were comfortable with in Spanish. It felt fantastic to be able to fully communicate again! With directions clearly explained to us, and understood, we came to a Walmart and an American diner around the corner. Walking through Walmart was surreal. Eating in the diners felt like we had walked into an American film set. The interior looked just like a scene from an American TV show as we order pop and fries. The amount of super sweet things on the menu was overwhelming and the list of varieties of pop, sundaes and milkshakes was never ending. The strong American accents were all around us and home felt far away. Colombia also felt far away and we felt somewhat disoriented in our location at this point in time. Within 24hrs we had set foot in three different countries with our minds reminiscing about Colombia and fantasizing about Mexico, while our bodies were in limbo and our alarms were set for another early start as we continued our voyage through the Americas.- comments