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East Coast, USA
July 2017

By Federico Sorrentino

Nothing goes as it is supposed to, luckily. When we first ideated the idea of an east coast road trip was the moment my girlfriend and I bought the flight to the United States. We had faith that the route would present itself without much diligent planning.

With discovery the only focus in our minds, we spent 23 days driving along the East Coast of the USA, crossing 12 states. We started in Miami and woke up by the ocean. The hot and humid air instantly introduced us into this tropical atmosphere, with a permeating Spanish vernacular floating about that made us forget we were in North America.

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The first stop was Key West, but in the outskirts of Islamorada, the cars long queue of cars altered our route and planted us in the area. With a welcome mat of a small white cove with white sand and mangroves, we were now ready to dive in, literally and figuratively.

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The East Coast is a nostalgic journey that traces the stages of American history, from the first clashes between natives and settlers to the Independence War. We slept in motels that seemed frozen in the '70s and were never renovated, in cities inhabited by characters stuck in the same era of their motels. We drifted into less beaten paths, and we saw the amazement of locals in meeting foreigners from so far away.

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We walked miles in search of a past American dream that did not disappear, but continues to live in the most remote places, in the suburbs of the big cities and inside the souls of its inhabitants.

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We ended up in Boston, in the middle of the protests against racial discrimination, where a new chapter in history was being written. We dove into a country made up of contrasts, micro-realities and immense spaces; great successes and poverty, patriotism and multiculturalism. Connections and alienation. Friendliness and loneliness. Possibilities and Individualism. Past and future.

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