Melbourne Bound!

So, after a good nights sleep, we awoke at around 8:30, and breakfasted on cereals we had only dreamed about for over two years. Rice Pops and Honey Oats, and other cereals, which were unavailable in Bolivia. Four very high-pressured showers later and we went over to the main office to get some internet, seeing as there is no wireless around at our little house. I was very glad to have been able to get onto the internet, even if only long enough to check facebook and write to a few close friends on their walls. Then, after checking about sending some of our essential flotsam and jetsam, or in Spanish ________ back to Aus so that we can manage to stuff our bags into our trunk (or luggage compartment, as the car manual says) a little better. Then it was time to jump into our car and drive up to Melbourne, Florida.

After driving for about two hours, getting hungry, falling asleep, and almost getting lost in our attempts to see the Atlantic Ocean, we stopped at a Wendy’s. They had everything we needed, complimentary Wi-Fi, good food, and service which was terrific! When my mum asked the lady at the counter (I’m still convinced she was heaven sent) for directions, she gave us exactly the information we needed, and in fact gave us better information and suggestions as far as getting to the town of Melbourne. I can still say nothing negative about Wendy’s, I’ve joined my American Friends in saying that “I love Wendy’s!!”.

After that things went a whole lot better, we got onto a much quicker route, even if less scenic, and found a good station on the Radio. As I write this, we have almost reached Melbourne, Florida, only about 15 minutes left I would say.

From a very cheerful blogger,

Curious

Welcome to Gecko Land…

So, Miami Airport is one of the most miserable and sad places on this earth. Our flight had been delayed in Santa Cruz you see, and though we had no connecting flights, some poor people did. When booking a flight through Miami Airport, make sure to leave at least five hours of time to get everything done. Now, arriving in Miami makes one feel a little bit overwhelmed. One is instantly overcome by how BIG the airport is. You walk at least a long, long way to get to Immigration, and then stand there in a queue for at least an hour before actually getting to the little desk, as people from about three other flights try and do the same things as you, clogging up the airport with hundreds of people. Then there is baggage claim, or if you have a connecting flight, customs. I was soo glad that we didn’t have to go through any customs there, they are mean…

But, onto car hire. We used Budget Car Rental, and they really seemed to try and make it difficult for us to hire a car. They wanted a credit card, we had debit. They wanted an American License, we had Australian. Non-American Citizens, I found, were treated as lower beings. Paper work, queues, etc. For American Citizens these things are much less painful. Us as Australians are treated, though warmly for our Australian status, have been put through far more queues and paper work than our American friends.So after finally getting a car, we stayed the night at a Red Roof Inn, a good and clean place to stay.

Going through major culture shock at this point, all the white faces makes me do a double take every time. In Bolivia, if you see a gringo, you might know them, so you always take a second look to see. So here, everyone I see might be familiar, so my brain has been going overload as far as memory and storage, trying to recognize any faces I see.The next morning, and thankyou Red Roof for providing a breakfast, it was an eye-opening experience. One that led us to the conclusion that Americans must not do breakfast very much…

Then we got into our rental car and drove up to our friends house further up the coast a little bit. He is an old friend we knew back in Bolivia, and has housed us in a little house on a property, which is next to his own.

A very nice Mexican lunch followed at one of Bob’s favourite restaurants, even if the very big waiter managed to spill a drink all over my mum, I half expected him to come out with the “yeees masssterrr” munster/smeagol voice, but no, he had a very deep voice one would normally expect of a man his size. After lunch, we made a visit to Wal Mart. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the gigantic store that seemed to have everything. What they combined into one store, you’d have to do a bunch of driving and walking to find in Cochabamba. Groceries? Right over there. Clothes? In the center (centre I should say, seeing as an American would be the one giving directions) there. Manly men and fishing stuff? Over in the corner there. Computer stuff? Oh just over there. Really! They have everything, all compressed into one big store. I’d like to see what they call a Mall, see if it is similar to one of our Aussie Shopping Centers. We then retired back to our little house, watched an episode of “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader” and decided that most of it isn’t smarts, but recent-ness.
Then, we went to bed.
From a rather sleepy blogger,

Curious

The Moon and My God

Moon smile,
Moon grin,
It laughs down at me
With its grin so thin

Reminding,
Recalling,
All the thoughts and memories
Though into the land of past they are falling.

Moon sigh,
Moon tears,
It cries for the past and saying goodbye,
It consoles me as I know it hears

God's love
God's hug,
He gave the moon to show,
That He cares, and the strings of his heart do tug

Woes,
Fears,
He knows all that I dread,
And so He gave me the moon to dry all my tears.

Curious