So it is my last day in Miami. I’m definitely not planning on moving here anytime in the foreseeable future. For one, the weather would kill me. Humidity and heat make me extremely irritable. If I lived here, I would become nocturnal so that I only had to go outside at night. Furthermore, I’m not a big fan of palm trees, and palm trees seem to make up about ninety percent of the Miami tree population. However, I have still had a lot of fun in Miami the last two and a half weeks.
Teddy took me to South Beach, of course. It wasn’t nearly as risque as I had expected. I only saw two thong bikinis and zero topless beach-goers. I suppose I was imagining South Beach during Spring Break rather than midday Saturday. The water was fantastic: warm and clear and shallow. The few waves were caused by passing boats. It was not until we left the beach to find lunch that I had a taste of the South Beach I had expected. Restaurants line the street parallel to the beach. As we walked past, hosts and hostesses in tiny outfits attempted to stop us by telling us about their happy hour deals and “free tequila! Do you want free tequila?” Many of the diners had massive, novelty sized margarita glasses sitting in front of them. Some of these glasses had two beer bottles upturned inside of them. Some of these glasses were stuffed full of fried prawns. And some of them just had margaritas in them. I can only imagine what that street was like at night.
We limited our bar hopping to bars and clubs that didn’t charge cover fees. According to Teddy, some of the clubs charge up to thirty dollars just to get in. They also require men to follow a dress code. So we didn’t go to South Beach at night. Instead, we stuck to Brickel and Midtown. In Midtown, we went to Bar Louie. Their happy hour deals included one dollar burger night on Tuesdays and one dollar draft night on Wednesdays, so we ended up there more than a few nights. On Halloween we went to a club called Blackbird. It was packed, and everyone was in costume. A DJ entertained the crowd inside, while a live band entertained the crowd outside. We spent most of the night dancing. When we went to Blackbird again on Sunday night, it could not have been more different. Teddy and I went with another couple. When we arrived, there were only two other people at the bar. We spent the night playing Jenga, Scrabble, and backgammon. On Sunday, we also went to Brother Jimmy’s BBQ so that Teddy could watch the 49ers-Panthers game. We ordered a drink called the swamp water. It came in a 64-oz fish bowl with seven straws stuck in it (presumably a sign that more than two people usually share it). When the waitress brought it, she blew on a whistle and stuck a plastic alligator into it mouth first. Red grenadine poured out of the alligator’s mouth into a mixture of pineapple juice and some kind of alcohol.
Saturday marked Teddy and my one-year anniversary of dating, so we celebrated by dressing up a bit and going to a fancy restaurant called Tony Chan’s Water Club. We ordered a three-course Peking duck meal. The first course consisted of the duck’s skin wrapped in little tortillas with cabbage and plum sauce. The second course was a soup made with the duck’s bones, mushrooms, and bok choy. The final course, by which point we didn’t have too much room left in our stomachs, was a duck meat and vegetable stir fry. If you haven’t had duck and you aren’t a vegetarian, do it! It is the fattiest type of poultry, and it is delicious.
After we ate, we walked to a street lined with art galleries. Once a month, the street fills with food carts and the galleries are all open and free to the public. My favorite part of this was not the galleries, but the street art. Many of the walls in the area were covered with colorful graffiti and murals. It was raining, but I didn’t care.
Other than sight seeing, drinking, and eating (Haitian food, by the way, is fried and spicy and wonderful), I have spent time here swimming. Teddy’s apartment complex contains a pool, as well as a gym. I’ve been working on some graphic design and illustration work. (Check it out! http://lootours.com/shop/index.html) And I’ve spent a lot of time watching all of the Marvel movies (hadn’t seen them before) and Supernatural (we’re on season 4). So not a bad two and a half weeks.
What the F*&$ am I doing? 