Posted by admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 11-03-2006
I was well surprised by just how Hispanic Miami is! Every single sign has it’s Spanish translation, the majority of adverts are in Spanish and we heard far more Spanish voices than any other.
We spent 2 nights here and got a decent feel for the place. I really like it, there’s a lively and positive atmosphere although it did happen to be Spring Break which meant there were plenty of youths chilling by day and making the most of their time off by night.
Our hotel was great – a real old building (especially for the U.S.) on the south side of the river. The pool was refreshing after you’ve been sweating in the tasty heat and all day sun! Although if you ask any local to Florida the water is ‘freezing’. Bloody Brits!
We checked out Miami beach and South beach which were as expected, a good stretch of quality sand and gorgeous luke-warm sea. There’s a good range of shops, bars and cafes and we found 2 fantastic restaurants thanks to tip offs from the hotel woman. First night we had quality Mexican (a certain American friend of mine was proven absolutely right, at least based on this one restaurant, as he always went on about how much better Mexican food is in the States commpared to Europe) which was unbelievably cheap. Then on the Friday night we went to a crazy Cuban place. The eating part was HUGE and pretty much empty. I had some damn fine Pargo (Snapper) while Clare sampled a seafood platter. Afterwards we checked out what all the commotion was about in the adjacent bar. The bar was cramped and packed with a small stage with two dancers (I think kind of Flamenco) and the most skillful guitarist I’ve ever seen up close (sorry Geoff, he even surpassed your mighty skills). He was pretty old, didn’t use a pick, was playing an antic-looking guitar (I’d say was older than him) and honestly looked like he lived with the guitar permanently in his hands.
Anyway, enough. Miami was sweeeeeet!
* Every different nation, Spanish, Haitian, Indian, Jamaican
Black, White, Cuban, and Asian *