my week in miami was great. no computers and no work the whole time. just fun, sun and my travel buddy ellen. with a little family time thrown in to mix it up.
we got in on tuesday and wandered around til it started raining. then we had dinner at puerto sagua (which turned out to be the best restaurant on our trip) and passed out in the room. wednesday was spent sunning and sweating on the beach, a little shopping and then dinner and fireworks on the beach. closed out the night with some latin-tinged jam band jazz at jazid (which coincidentally is right next to miami ink, whose show i love).
thursday morning we rented a car and drove down to visit my family near key largo. two aunts, my gram, and some family friends were all at my aunt's house for the week. had my most delicious salad of the week there during a spanglish lunch and then ellen and i hung out in the pool and napping on the porch until dinner. gram and i had some quality time on the porch in the pitch black watching the lighting bugs flutter around. friday morning we had a caravan of cars drive up north to the largest flea market in america. i got a cool shell windchime and ellen got some jewelry. aunts and gram got purses. a successful trip for all. after filling up on gas we split up. ellen and i drove back down to miami and visited little havana. we took a look around a cigar factory and got some yum yums at a cuban bakery. the cuban coffee with lots of sugar was delicious.
back in miami we went to the beach, took a nap, had dinner at the cuban place again, and went to bed which is a bar/restaurant/lounge/club place with beds for seating. like the one in nyc. only this one was really small and empty. it was kind of like a frat party. weird. but fun cos they're open late. cos its not boston.
saturday morning we sunned ourselves on the beach again and then had lunch and slushies at wet willies. greasy burgers and deliciously crispy fries. after some showers and an a/c refresher we wandered down collins to lincoln ave and checked out all the cool shops and a whole artist studio complex which was one of my favorite places on the visit. it was SO hot the whole time but we did some quality shopping (real and window) and scored super end of season deals. after a detox-dinner of green green salads(we'd been eating fried and greasy food since tuesday) it started to rain. i had some tiramisu gelato while we skipped around back to the hotel- it was delish (the gelato, not the rain). after our long walk home both ellen and i passed out at like 10 and didn't wake up til 3am so there was no out on the streets that night.
sunday morning we woke up early only to find the skies cloudy and all the shops closed (duh- sunday). we wandered around, got rained on, napped, and then once it was sunny we did more shopping and beaching. took a shower, then we went out for a late dinner on ocean drive and people watched. ocean drive is awesome for people watching and car gawking. lots of fun cars around- lambos, ferraris and a lotus- oh my! closed out the night at mansion cos it's the thing to do in southbeach. weirdest part was the stripper pole. and the girls dancing on it. really. maybe i' just a prude, but better for it... anyways, best part of the night was seeing chris nunez from miami ink near the bar. i wish it was ami cos i love him (so does my aunt) but alas, just chris. still cool. i love that show. and i want a tattoo. badly. we stayed out so late and took advantage of the whole south beach thing. it's funny what can make ellen and i so proud. staying up late into the early morning. we're nerds.
sunday we got up late, had a last lunch at our cuban place and hit the road to the airport. the flight was delayed and my luggage was heavy. a guy on the train made fun of me. we made it home around midnight. a good, long trip. pictures on flickr/facebook/picasa if you're interested.
southbeach living is what i want. how could you not?
favorite observations:
- wearing bathing suits as streetwear is great. knowing that if you're hot you can just take off your shirt and walk around in a swimsuit is awesome. and so not kosher for boston.
- cuban black beans, rice and platanos all mixed together is a most delicious icky looking mixture. i could eat it every day.
- conversations that occur in spanish and english are more fun. and challenging to my little brain. in a good way.
- being able to take disco naps until 11 or 12 at night and knowing that restaurants and bar will still be open for hours and hours works really well with my love of nappy naps and being ready to go out after midnight.
- boys everywhere hit on you. which is sketchy yes, but also a great confidence booster. that's so anti-feminist but still so true.
- flip flops and shorts and tube tops. everyday. who needs pants? and real shoes? pshh. no.
- they have way better radio djs. they actually dj and dont just press play. how novel! and the mixed singles they have are cooler than what we've got in this pop-music backwater of boston.
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