Third Night in Miami

Well today started off pretty good. I set out for Little Havana. This is a really neat area. Everywhere you look, there are these lunch counters and cafeterias serving inexpensive Cuban food. Unfortunately, since it took me a while to get going the right way, I was really hungry with about 12 blocks to walk before I got to Little Havana, so I ended up eating at Burger King.

I only got pictures of some monuments, since any other pictures would have been of people, and I didn’t think they would like that too much.

Bay of Pigs Memorial

One interesting area that I really wanted to get a picture of was Domino Park. This is a little courtyard where a bunch of old Cuban guys play dominoes and talk.

After another failed attempt at buying Madden 2006, I came back and took a nap. It was still early, but I was hungry and had nothing to do, so I decided to scope out the club downtown that I wanted to go to later and then get something to eat. I took the bus downtown, and was (in theory) only 4 blocks away from the club, so I started walking there. It was only about 6:30pm, but evidently this is when the ruffians start coming out on Saturday nights. I had one guy trying to tell me he met me several weeks ago. Of course, I didn’t let on that I wasn’t from Miami, and I started to walk away. He proceeded to follow me, about a block behind, for several blocks. I found the club, and if things hadn’t been so shady, I would have walked around looking for a decent restaurant. But, I had two other people try to get my attention (I am sure they had something really important to say); I ignored them and decided to take the Metro Mover to the Bayside Marketplace for dinner. Dinner was good, the service sucked, and tip was automatically included.

I sat around for a little while, watching some live music at the marketplace, and waiting for it to get late. 10pm rolled around so I decided it was late enough to go to the club. I had a hell of a time finding a cabbie that wanted to give me a ride. Of course the “first cab” has dibs on passengers, but when there is no driver near the cab, this can get a little confusing. I hailed a cab, got into an argument with a couple of cabbies (this would be great comedy if caught on tape), and finally found someone that wanted my money. We made it about 10 feet towards the club when the cabbie informed me that the club didn’t even open until midnight. Well, I wasn’t about to sit around for two more hours, so I asked him if he knew of any good bars.

He took me back to south beach, and dropped me off at the absolute chillest place I have ever been to. This place had white curtains everywhere, beds to lay on while you sip your drinks, and a very shallow pool for looks in the middle of the garden area. The only problem was that this place wasn’t exactly the type of place where a dude like me can find a table in the corner and just enjoy a couple of beers. At this point, I decided that the night, and Miami as a whole, was pretty much a lost cause. I walked the 14 blocks back to my hotel, had a couple of Coronas and the free cigar I got earlier in the day out on the porch. After a whole book of matches, I can now say I know how to properly light a cigar.

Mark and I played a little World of Warcraft to round things out, so not all was lost.

• September 26, 2005

  FourMajor,

  You’ve set out your travel adventures methodically and asked input from others (they gave so much to your questions that I have yet to read their answers). Once your trip was planned, you enjoyed yourself and I do mean that literally; it’s important to like yourself and know what you want to do.

  Hope that the workplace will turn out to be as nice as you have hoped and that benefits are good there.

  How are your neighbors??? And have you met any more of the local merchants???

  Have you picked up your car?

  Weather here for the wedding this Friday will be as cool as you have been experiencing in ol’ San Fran.

  later gator