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Brochure
images of tanning flesh and Mickey
Mouse give an inaccurate and incomplete
picture of FLORIDA. Although the aptly
nicknamed "sunshine state" is indeed
devoted to the tourist trade, it's also among
the least-understood parts of the US. Away
from its overexposed resorts lie forests and
rivers, deserted strands filled with wildlife,
vibrant cities and primeval swamps.
In many respects Florida is still evolving.
A thousand people a day move to the state, now
the fourth most populous in the nation.
Changing demographics are eroding the
traditional Deep South conservatism: the new
Floridians tend to be a younger, more
energetic breed, while Spanish-speaking
enclaves provide close ties to Latin America
and the Caribbean – links as influential in
creating wealth as the recent arrival of the
movie industry in central Florida, fresh from
Hollywood.
The essential stop is cosmopolitan,
half-Hispanic Miami, from where a
simple journey south brings you to the Florida
Keys, a hundred-mile string of islands
known for sports fishing, coral-reef diving,
and the sultry town of Key West,
legendary for its sunsets and anything-goes
attitude. North from Miami, much of the east
coast is disappointingly urbanized, albeit
with miles of unbroken beaches flowing
alongside. The residential stranglehold is
finally escaped further north, where
communities such as Daytona Beach have
become subservient to the local sands.
In central Florida the terrain turns
green, though it's no rural idyll: this is
where you'll find Walt Disney World,
where tourism is practiced on the scale of the
infinite. From here it's just a skip north to
the forests of the Panhandle, Florida's
link with the Deep South, or to the towns and
beaches of the west coast, which should
be savored while progressing steadily south to
the Everglades, an alligator-filled
swathe of saw grass plain.
Finally, Florida is still struggling with
its reputation for crimes against (and
even murders of) tourists. While the
authorities have been successful in reducing
such attacks, the fact remains that planeloads
of visitors who have left their cares – and
sometimes their common sense – at home make
an inviting target for opportunistic
criminals. The odds against becoming a victim
are astronomic, but it pays to be wary
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