Just three months ago, Riptide introduced Miami to William Guinaraes and Laetitia Casareto, a young French couple with the ridiculous plan to walk from Miami to Ushuaia, the southernmost point of South America.
Despite a complete lack of preparedness for crocodiles, hurricanes and violent Florida criminals, armed only with a digital camera, a tent, and winning Gallic smiles, William checked in this week to report that the couple somehow has made it all the way through Florida, around the Gulf Coast, and into Brownsville, Texas -- their last stop in the good ol' U.S. of A.
That's 1,537 miles, for those of you keeping score at home -- about 16 miles a day, every day, for three months. After the jump, our modern-day Alexis de Tocqueville weighs in on his American experience, why he loves Louisiana and what sucks about Loxahatchee.
Riptide: What was your favorite stop in America?
William: Louisiana. We came back 200 years after the Cajuns to speak French.
Riptide: And the worst experience?
William: Between Loxahatchee and Bryant in Florida, on Highway 441. There were alligators all over the road as we traveled and tried to sleep.
Riptide: Any surprises to report on your first trip through America's back roads?
William: The surprise is that there are two sides of the USA, the one on TV and the one in the real world and they are totally different. We think American people and Iranian people have many similar things, like religious conviction and great hospitality. It's just the government is very different. (ed: Williams and Laetitia walked across all of Iran on an earlier journey.)
Our only complaint about Americans is that they care too much only about the USA. They don't look outside. It's good to be proud of your country, but its important to see the world. The whole world is just one country, to me.
-- Tim Elfrink
