Florida Exposure - Miami's Little Havana

The Hubs and I did something spontaneous last week - we took an impromptu trip to Southern Florida.

 

 
I will qualify the use of "Impromptu" though - back in November, Scott outlined four winter trip options which included the Florida itinerary. We had decided this would be the trip, but did not set a specific date for travel. On Monday January 4, we decided to go the following week - pretty spontaneous for us! We booked the flights and hotels quickly and flew out early on January 11.

 

 
First stop - Miami and Little Havana:

 
After arriving and checking into our hotel, we decided to explore Little Havana by driving to the main strip - 8th street - aka Calle Ocho. The neighborhood, with its Latin roots serves as a cultural center for the arts - visual, music, culinary. While live music remains on hold, the colorful murals adorning side streets remind visitors the pause is just that - a short pause.

 

 

 

The quintessential Calle Ocho Roosters dot the streetscape in Little Havana - I learned they were installed as an artists' installation starting in 2002. Appropriate since chickens and roosters often run around the neighborhood.  

 

 

 

 

I found this cool vintage vehicle behind one of the shops and it reminded me of what you might see in actual Havana.

 

 

We walked around and took in the little cafes and cigar shops before deciding upon an early dinner at Restaurant El Cristo. I had crispy pork chunks with roasted garlic - with so many colorful veggies. The official name of the dish is Masitas De Cerdo or Sauteed Cuban Pork - so delicious!

 

 

While no visit to Little Havana is complete without Cuban Coffee, I don't normally drink caffeine in the afternoon. But I snapped this photo of a sad, un-used espresso maker in one of the stores. I suspect it was not operating due to Covid regulations.

 

 

It was a fun afternoon exploring Little Havana. Hopefully the live performance and music scene returns soon.