Welcome to Miami, bienvenido a Miami! I can’t help it, but since I’ve been in Miami, this tune from a Will Smith song doesn’t want to leave my head, complicit in the fact that walking through the streets of Miami really feels like I’m inside the video of the song!
The weather is absolutely, wonderfully and shamefully PER-FET-TO. The temperature is just right for lapping around in shorts and short sleeves, and the destination in this case is just one: South Beach, also known as SoBe, the part of Miami that is home to Miami Beach. Bounded by bustling Ocean Drive, Miami Beach is a 7-mile-long strip of white sand that sees palm trees, bike paths and public restrooms equipped with showers, mirrors, dressing rooms and what not on one side, while on the other are lifeguard outposts and shacks that rent out beach chairs, towels and umbrellas at affordable prices.
The beach is heavily populated, but the space is so vast that one does not have
slightest sense of being on top of each other. It really is a beautiful landscape, and before you know it, I have running shoes on my feet.
On the Ocean Drive pedestrian walkway, I am joined by several runners, cyclists, and people on rollerblades. The men are all strictly shirtless, and the women have very minimal tank tops, tops, and shorts. Judging by the muscle tone, tan, and lean physiques, there must be a fair amount of body culture; across the street, establishments serving mojitos, margaritas, and other cocktails to the beat of salsa and other Latin music suggest a particularly relaxed and enjoyable lifestyle, which I don’t mind at all! If it weren’t for some of the street signs and street names, you would have a hard time believing you were in the United States because most people use Spanish as their first language and the menus in restaurants and bars are all a succession of guacamole, arroz con pollo, frijoles, yuca, vaca frita, etc.
Then again, when the sky is particularly clear, you can see Cuba from the tip most
South Beach, and that’s where I’m going. As I race further south, the low white lime cottages of Ocean Drive give way to tall, gleaming glass mansions, and even the long tongue of white beach begins to thin out and is replaced by very well-maintained English-style lawns that demarcate access to the docks to which numerous sailboats and a few yachts are moored. Definitely, a rich man’s area.
I arrive at the southernmost tip of South Beach and enjoy for a moment the view of the Atlantic Ocean as far as the eye can see, the sea breeze and the sun on my forehead. So I turn on my heels and start retracing the trail in reverse, a little faster than on the way out: I want to take a shower, rent a deck chair and enjoy the beach, sea and sun as soon as possible. Possibly, with a cocktail in hand!
Cristina
Lussiana
Cristina’s other travels:
AFRICA
– Angola
– Benin
– Cape Town
– Congo
– Lesotho
– Mali
– Madagascar
– Mozambique
– Nairobi
– Rwanda
– Senegal
– South Africa
AMERICA
– Guatemala
– Hawaii
– New Orleans
– Washington
ASIA
– Bangkok
– Cambodia
– Kathmandu
– Kyoto
– Tokyo
– Mount Fuji
– Myanmar