Chicago

Today was the last day of the trip, we are finally going to reach Chicago, where we are going to spend the next 2 months. We had breakfast at the hotel in St. louis, the best breakfast buffet in the trip! They had fresh fruit and hot meals, oatmeal and greek yoghurt and waffles and omelettes coocked for you in the moment by a cook.

We drove to Chicago then, also to return the rented car we drove from New York. It lasted about 5 hours today, and at 2 o'clock we where there already. Nevetherless, it was difficult to find a gas station in downtown, and also to find the car hire with alot of traffic. After lefting the car, we went eating to Giordano's, a very famous italian restaurant where they are well known for their pizzas.

Then, we went to our hotel, that is going to be our next one the next whole week. It is a nice room, and it is located in the highest floor! After lefting our baggage we went to buy grocery at a supermarket and came back to relax a little bit in the room. Then, we searched for schools to Matías and me, and accordd to go to an interview tomorrow.

Memphis - Saint Louis

After having breakfast, we went to Memphis downtown to see the city. At first, we saw the peabody ducks, a group of ducks that march every day 11 and 17 o'clock to a fountain inside the hotel. They had been doing this more than 80 years, with only 5 duck-masters yet! Also, they had a piano that played itself without any musician.

After that, we saw the street full of restaurants playing blues at night, but it were silent at that moment. Then, we saw the "pyramid", a huge mall with living alligators and many types of fish. We bought a couple of things there and went back to the hotel. After picking up our things, we saw inside the car Graceland, the place where Elvis Presley lived.

We continued driving, entering Arkansas. We ate there at an Hardee's and eventually reaching Saint Louis, Missouri. Desadortunately, we had confused the date of reservarion, booking the 30th of Agust! We booked then another hotel, near the one we took at first. Finally, we swam a bit in the swimming pool of the hotel and then relaxed in the room.

Memphis

Today, we woke up and ate breakfast, so we could go to our next destination; Memphis, Tenessee. That means that we are going straight up north, back to Chicago. While in the road, we stopped in a city called Vicksburg, in Mississippi, that had a very important role in the civil war, from 1861 to 1865.

It lays in a very strathegic position; in in a bank where the Mississippi river bends, so it controls that part of it. It was controlled by the Confederate states, so if The Union could take city, they could split in two the Confederates. Therefore, they could make it difficult to their enemy to get supplies for the war; and so they did. They surrendered in July 4th, so for many years the city has not celebrared that day due to their defeat in the Civil War.

We saw the visitor's center where they were projecting a short movie so we could inderstand it better. The citizens of the town had to live in caves under it to protect themselves of the war.

Later, we took the car and drove around the battelfield that was full of hills, making it very difficult to conquer. We saw the only house from that time that remains in our days.

We ate in a restaurant called Chestnut Hills, named after the place it was. It comes from the anglisation of the spanish word "nogales", given by the spanish when they first discovered this part of America. We took then the car again to drive to our hotel in Memphis, and it took us in all 7 hours trip. Tonavoidbtraffic, we drove in a smaller road where we could see many nice houses and towns, and eventually deers. It began also to rain, this time with thunder and lightning.

When we came to the hotel, we relaxed after the long day in the car and planned what to do tomorrow morning in Memphis.

New Orleans II

Today, after having breakfast in our hotel, we decided to go to a swampland near the city to see the local wildlife (including alligators). For this purpose, we visited the Jean Lafitte National Park, wich had paths over the swamp where you could see the animals and plants of the terrain.

As we reached the place, the first impression was seeing a flock of gray vultures in the road, so close to us that we could stay out the car and take pictures. After arriving in the visitor's center, the guard gave to Matías a brochure so he could complete it when he saw especific animals and trees in the swamp. I grabed the camera and I took pictures of every animal species we saw; this includes many types of drafonflies, lizards, frogs, crickets, spiders and birds. We could even take photos of an alligator just in front of us!

We had to dug often because huge spiders had made their cobweb near our heads, but also be quiet to see as much wildlife as we could. We had also to wear long pants and spray ourselves with mosquito-repellent and sunscreanin order to prevent being stung and sunburnt. The humidity was so high that we sweat a lot during the visit, good we brought some water in the car.

After the visit, we ate at Dooky Chase, a famous restaurant where many celebrities (including Obama, Bush and the Pope Benedict XVI) have dinned. We took the buffet as lunch, but the meal I best liked was the gumbo soup and the dessert, wich was a peach cobbler.

After eating, we went again to the city center to see a market with stands selling handmade products. We strolled around the riverfront and went to Bourbon street again, and then we bought some fruit and bread to dinner.

New Orleans I

Today we tried again to go to the beach, but it was still duble-red flag, so ee drove after eating breakfast to Lousiana. We passed throu Alabama and Mississippi, and then finally reached New Orleans. The trip was exhausting, so we went eating lunch just after arrive. This time we did in Willie Mae's, known for serving America's best fried chicken. Although it wasn't refined, the meal tasted very good.

We went to our hotel room to relax a bit to then go to the city center. The city has a multi-cultural background; it was founded by the french and administered by the spanish in the 18th century. That makes it the most european city in the U.S., as well as the most african and caribbean as well. The french quartier (actually built by spaniards) is a very nice neighbourhood full of housew with wrought iron balconies and gardens, with a mixture of spanish and french style and jazz musicians playing in the streets. The street signs were in both english and french, but they were some conmemorative plates that showed the old spanish name.

When we strolled in the riverfront, we saw a steamboat with live music departing to make a tour in the Mississippi river. When we wanted to go back, a very long train avoided us to cross and it took 10 minutes to pass. Later, we saw the famous Café du monde and their beignets, and then we bought a couple of souvenirs to our fridge in a shop.

When we came back to the french quartier, we noticed they were shooting a film in one of the pubs in the street with bars, called the Bourbon street. The ambient was great, every pub had jazz music and blues; you have to be there to capt how it is.

Finally, we ate diner at the room and we planned what to do tomorrow.

Valdemar

Savannah-Saint Agustine

After leaving early from Charleston more south, we reached savannah, Georgia, a nice city with beautiful squares and avenues full of trees with spanish moss falling from their branches. One of those squares was the place where some scenes of Forrest Gump was filmed! 

Later, we sropped to eat near the border between Georgia an Florida in a restaurant called Sony's, where we ate barbecued-styled pulled pork. When we finally reached Florida, we saw from the road Jacksonville, the state's most populous city. 

After a while, we arrived in St. Agustine, the very first settlement in America that reminds today. But first, we went to Vilano beach, suposed to be visited by sea turtles and manatees. Like yesterday, the water is much warmer than in Spain, being the same ocean! 

Then, after spending a couple of hours there, we visited the city of Saint Agustine, visiting a spanish fort, called "Castillo de San Marcos" and probably the only monument in honour of the spanish constitution of 1812 in the western hemisphere. Also, we saw the oldest existing house in North America!

At last, we went to an outlet to buy some clothes near our hotel. Then, tomorrow, we are going to go to the Mexican Gulf and some beaches in the floridan part of it.

Valdemar

Charleston II

Today is our second day in Charleston, and we began our day visiting a plantation called Middleton Plantation, a garden-museum from the 18th century. It is full of exotic trees and bushes and many types of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and even alligators!

In our trip so far we have seen also alot of squirrels, mostly in parks and gardens, but also a great variety of small birds (cardinals, grackels, mockingbirds...) and big ones (such as pelicans and many types of vultures and hawks).

In this case, there were in the garden mute swans, ibis, herons, etc. And in a pond also alligators! We saw a few of them by having their noses outside the water while swimming.

We took some guided tours to understand better how it was in the colonial time; the first one was about the botannic point of view, the second one explaining the animals in the stables and the last one (and longest) was about the slaves that served in the property. It was interesting to know te types of them, the historical view of the issue and in which conditions they came to America. Later, we saw the rice plantations and saw why it was so dangerous to work there, mainly due to the mosquitos, alligators and more than 65 types of poisonous snakes).

The garden itself had a lot of smaller portions, normally with a geometrical shape; the  owners played games on the lawn. The stables were great too! They had water buffalos, hogs comming from Europe (most probably from Spain, du to their black skin), peacocks, horses, sheep and goats, etc.

Then, after seeing this plantations, we went to Charleston center to eat lunch, and we did in a restaurant called Fleet Landing, eating typical southern meals (based on she-crab soup, french sausages and schrimps and grit). 

After that, we went to Folly beach, a very good one in an island very close to Charleston. While we swam, we could see pelicans flying in row above us, a very nice view! Actually, the beach was very good, and so was the sand. Matías found an oyster in the sand, and I found some shells.

Finally, we went once again to the grocery of yesterday to buy some food for dinner and then to go a little around the city.

Valdemar