I am now in Miami and have been here for almost 2 weeks which is a long time but I love this place so much but I fly out of Miami on sunday 11th to Ecuador which I am really excited about! Since arriving in Miami I have partied a lot, there is always fun people at the hostel up for a good time! I went to the Everglades last week and we were taken out alligator spotting on an airboat which went so fast I thought we were going to capsize and get eaten by some blood thirsty alligators and it didnt help that my visibilty was reduced to zero because of the speed and the rain! However we did spot many alligators, some huge ones and some ikkle baby ones. Afterwards we went to see an alligator show where this guy wrestles a giant alligator, it was better than anything I have ever seen Steve Erwin do, very impressive! Afterwards we got to hold a baby aligator which was about 2 foot long and of course its jaws were taped together otherwise I would have ran a mile! A group of us hired a car for a day and went to Keywest which is a really nice little town and the drive there is pretty amazing, lots of beautiful scenery and a really nice beach en route. The drive there and back took 4 hours each way and was slightly squashed as I was sanwiched in between two blokes in the back so it was a real tight squeeze !! Other than that I have lazed by the beach or the pool, had lots of nights out on Ocean Drive which is so cool just like all the rap videos you see on MTV, lots of people referring to each other as Daaaags (Dogs) for those of you who aint down with the Street talk! Oh and on the 4th of July there was a huge concert on the beach fronted by Julio Inglesis junior but we never made it to that we were too busy having fun and games by the pool. We did, however make it to the beach to watch all the fireworks which were brilliant and even better as we were all stoned..!! The atmosphere was not great tho, it was almost like people felt compelled to go for lack of anything else to do rather than as a celebration of Americas' freedom but we had fun ! Again lots of weirdos at the hostel, NO 1 a guy who can't keep his willy in his pants and makes a habit of flashing it to us everynow and then or getting into the pool with us girls at night in his little spandex pants..NOT NICE!!! No 2 a crazy lady who we call Pat the Hat who wears this silly black hat with a flower on the front, I saw her without it for the first time the other day and it wasnt a pretty sight, she has a big black unruly mop so I see why she wears the hat! Anyhows she reckons she has this special power to rid you of all your stress and invites people up to her room to have screaming sessions to get all the tension out...hmm think I'll pass!! No 3..another crazy lady who is about 90 and is always moping around the kitchen and when you walk in she says "it wasn't me I didn't steal it".... and drops whatevr it was she was looking at! hmmm again!guilty conscience maybe Too many crazies to go into but Im sure I have given you enough insight into the American hostelling situation. Aside from the crazies tho there are some really wicked people there too from all over, England, Australia and American so its not all bad! Will be in touch from South America and might even write my next postcard in Spanish so ya'll better get learning it too! XXX