Miami Nice

Hi All,

We arrived in Miami tired after a 9-hour flight, but happy to be finally on our travels.Miami has been a surprise to us. For starters, it is so hispanic that you’re more likely to hear Spanish than English in the street. We’re getting used to empanadas and cafecito (Cuban coffee) for breakfast. It’s also safe - at least where we are. Forget the image portrayed in Miami Vice and so on. It is also more tropical than we expected. The heat is scorching already and we’ve quickly learnt to dart from the shade of one coconut palm to the next when walking on the street.The hotel is just a stone’s throw from South Beach - golden sand as far as you can see. This morning we got up before dawn (not difficult, as our bodies are still in UK time…) to catch the sunrise on the Atlantic Ocean. It was a stunning and beautiful sight.

Yesterday we visited Little Havana looking for a vibrant central American vibe, but only got seedy and eerily quiet streets. Three hours of walking in the Miami heat for nothing. We eventually got to Villa Vizcaya, an early 20th C folly built by someone with too much money and a desperate desire to impress. It was a real mess of styles, with ceilings, tapestries and masonry pilfered from Italian palaces, but the views of Biscayne Bay and the gardens were worth it. Mari was particularly taken with a stone caravel (ship) built just out into the bay and originally reached by gondola.

Tomorrow we fly to Belize for yet more sun, sand and sea. Life’s a bitch!

- Neil and Mari

21:07:54 - Sunday, 08.05.05

This entry was posted on 08/05/2005 at 09:07 pm and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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