by Keep in mind: this is a reflexion of our experience in Hollywood, Florida, in the midst of the pandemic. It probably does not reflect the usual atmosphere of this city!
Guess what? We will soon hit the road again!!
The weather is perfect in Hollywood, Florida. At the beach, we can swim in the ocean without any problem. The beaches are beautiful, clean, and not too crowded. The whole family had a great time by the ocean.
There were a ton of iguanas just strolling around on bridges, on the pedestrian walkways. The kids had fun to try to spot them.
We also have two banana trees in the backyard of our Airbnb.
So, there you go—that was the positive side of the last two weeks!
Oh my God… where to begin?
We left Kissimmee with a bit of a heavy heart, because we really liked the neighborhood and the house we had rented. We decide to drive through the Everglades to get to Miami.
We saw aligators. Walking on the wooden paths in the swamps was an incredible experience.
We saw the world’s smallest post office.
Up to that point, we’re having fun.
We arrive at the Airbnb in Hollywood, Florida. The house is much smaller than we thought. Oh well, we’ll deal with it! We tour the house (once the cleaning lady is done). Still, everything is dirty. Hair in the bathtub, the shower had gross yellow-stained tracks, and the beds are—how should I put it—very basic and uncomfortable. The furniture in the house consists of several crappy beds, four small white IKEA tables, six cheap patio chairs, and a small computer desk. The photos on the website were a bit misleading!
Anyway, I give N. a bath (after cleaning it thoroughly, of course!). She then decides she doesn’t want to put her socks back on. We pick our battles, as they say! Five minutes of playing in the living room later, the bottoms of her feet were already covered with dirt. We realize the floors probably haven’t been washed in months. I find a mop and a bucket and clean the floors myself. I have to change the bucket of water four times—it was that dirty. I mop again a few hours later. It’s better, but still dirty…
Later that evening, I want to plug a cable into an outlet in the kids’ bedroom. I plug it in, a big spark appears and… long legs and antennae try to come out of the outlet… There’s (what we believe) a cockroach stuck inside the outlet box.
Robin unscrews the plate, and the creature that comes out of there… oh God!
That night, I cried. I was completely discouraged!!!
What else? I had to go to a medical clinic for a small infection (nothing serious). A few days on antibiotics. I’ve slept less than three hours a night over the last two weeks. Things are going great…
Then… people drive like morons here. They run red lights, turn in front of pedestrians, block intersections, make strange and dangerous lane changes. Robin witnesses a motorcycle accident at the corner of the street. He helps the motorcyclist—he isn’t injured, but he’s shaken.
Robin also comes across a man riding a bike with a big parrot on his shoulder. We also see a campground with Québec flags and a few businesses advertising that they speak French.
What is there to do around here during Covid times? Well, not much besides going to the beach and seeing a giant statue of a Pegasus and a dragon.
Over the weekend, we go for a hike in a park, the Anne Kolb Nature Center.
Verdict: very pretty, but I come back with more than 40 bites from unknown insects. I’m the only one in the family who got bitten, and it still hurts even a week later! You know, I really needed that on top of everything!!
The second-to-last time we go to the beach, we notice that the flags near the lifeguard towers are now yellow and dark blue (they’d been green since we arrived).
We know yellow means the waves are a bit stronger than usual. Dark blue (or purple, depending on the beach) means the presence of “dangerous ocean animals,” such as sharks, stingrays, or jellyfish. We actually saw a few jellyfish washed up on the beach.
So that pretty much sums up, somewhat chaotically, our two weeks in North Miami. We were really looking forward to leaving—it was exhausting, especially for me…
Don’t worry! Everything is better now. We’re currently near St. Augustine (4 hours north of Miami). We rented a lovely little house for two weeks, less than a 5-minute walk from an exceptional beach. We’re happy now!
Those experiences always become the best anecdotes later on!
