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Published: January 5th 2013
Up at 0345, out the door at 0410.
We were fortunate to find the car- the fog has rolled in overnight and the visibility was shocking- it is a challenging 45 minute drive on the, now very familiar, freeway. Return the hire car and Callum and Christine head off for the next part of their trip- New York City followed by skiing at Whistler. We catch the monorail into the main terminal and its 0500. Our flight to Miami isnt for another 5 hours....
Luckily the airport is a mecca of things to do - the Disney shop(s), Universal Studio shop, NASA shop, Harry Potter shop, etc, etc. The real salvation, however, is the ever present temple of Starbucks and wifi connectivity. Internet access and recharging stations are a truly wonderful thing about the USA. We manage to while away 5 hours drinking coffee, eating "seasonal treats"- those little cranberry bar slice things that Starbucks bakes every year- I love them, and playing words with friends, etc. We recharge every bit of electrical equipment that we own (if you know what our family is like you will know that that equates to a a lot of recharging). Actually 1
other interesting thing in Terminal B is a statue called "The Traveller", its a bit freaky, it's so life like. I keep looking at it out of the corner of my eye expecting it to get up and reposition itself. We also buy a 6 pack (of new socks- Geoff has completely run out somehow), and Geoff convinces me that we dont actually need those "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" Tshirts that i have gone back to look at 3 times (now we are back home I really wish I had just bought them).
Ok- time to board, then 45 mins later we are in Miami. We make a peculiar observation withing minutes of 'de-planing'- people here seem to have a compusion to jump up and touch overhead signage. Seriously, it happens going down the escalator, down in the baggage pick up area and outside the terminal...why?
Cathch a cab to where we are staying - Miami Guesthouse.
http://www.miamiguesthouse.com/ The cab ride is less than $20, it's about 20 minutes away. You can actually get complimentary pick up but we didn't get ourselves organised in time. The drive was pretty interesting, after Chicago and Orlando the
area is noticeably more down market- the houses are pretty much single storey, flat roof, small yards. There's more trash lying in the streets, bars on windows and more dinged up, old model cars. The neighbourhood that we end up in looks very neighbourly and pretty nice. Those blow up xmas decos seem to have made it this far south- the place is littered with snowmen and santas. The cabbie drops us off and Beatrice appears at the gate. We are at the right place!
Beatrice shows us in, we have booked Anas Room which you get to via the little kitchen. It's compact and clean and looks like it will do the job. The bed pretty much dominates the room but there is a good sized closet to put the bags in, and, walk around the bed. There is an a/c, a tv, a ceiling fan, good linen, toiletries and a really great shower. The adjoining kitchen has a fridge, kettle, microwave and tea/coffee/biscuits. Beatrice gives us the lowdown on how things work and asks us what our plans are. Given that we only have about 14 hours in total before the next airport run we are very
specific- 1. We are starving (despite those Starbucks Cranberry Seasonal Delights) and we want to eat authentic Cuban food for a (late) lunch and 2. We want to go for a decent walk to look around the neighbourhood and see some local birds. Beatrice obliges with the info but warns us that it is a very long way and she'd like to drive us- very nice gesture but we decline- we really like walking.
About 25 mins later we find ourselves at the "Latin American Restaurant"
http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/latin-america-restaurant-at-red-road-west-miami . The place is packed, everyone looks like they know each other, there are meats hanging up behind the counter, lots of wait staff buzzing around and a sugar cane machine in the corner - perfect. They also sell big cigars and have a pretty busy little takeaway set up happening. We get a table and given that we are absolutely devoid of Spanish proceed to butcher our order - to the point that the waitress calls for an interpreter, and then another interpreter! Australian accents are difficult for Americans to understand, let alone the Cuban staff here. It all ends up well- we get soup, chicken rice, plantains, beans, beer and
a sangria (and some dulce leche to go). AMAZING meal, cheap and exactly what we wanted.
Walk for a couple more hours through the suburb- take lots of photos of the houses, Geoff takes lots of bird shots with his big binocular/camera- we must look very suspicious as cars start to slow down and one lady jumps out asking us what is going on? "Has something happened"? she says, we reassure her that we are harmless tourists and continue on. Another car slows and stops - this time it is Beatrice, she was worried about us and thought she'd come looking for us- we reassure her too and walk the 10 mins back to her place. In summary- the neighbourhood is nice, the houses are colourful. It seems very safe, there is a police station in the neighborhood and may of the people have lived there a long time. The main road that we found ourself on at one point is lined with some seedy looking bars and shops and a lot of roadwork- it looks a bit depressed/run down. A few streets away, however, it is a different story- it's a noticeably more wealthy area- lots of double
storey, lots of trees, lots of big yards and lots of gates (and also lots of workers leaving for the day- gardeners, builders, etc).
We have a long chat with Beatrice later that evening and she tells us about herself, her family, Cuba, food- lots of stuff. We meet her son, we meet the 2 French guys that are renting the other room and generally have a really nice night. Beatrice makes us some Cuban coffee to go with our takeaway desserts- perfect end to a very short stay. Early night-we have another 4am start.
Next stop- Ixtapa, Mexico
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