March 7 — Little Havana

March 7, 2022

We are in Miami and today is a new day! 

First on our agenda was taking a Covid test over Zoom. We had pre-ordered a test kit and scheduled our appointment. We brought the test kit with us. We logged on to the link we were given and our test proctor was waiting for us. The test was easy to do and ten minutes later we had our results: NEGATIVE and NEGATIVE!! Hallelujah. We had a lot riding on this.The negative results meant we would be allowed to board our cruise ship tomorrow. A positive result would have meant ten days of quarantining in a hotel and no cruise for us.

Our second agenda item was a FOOD TOUR in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. We met our guide, Marco, and the rest of our tour group, and off we went.

This colorful tile wall commemorates some of the iconic sites located on Calle Ocho, the main street of Little Havana. Dominos are huge in Little Havana. You can see some in the tile wall. We watched a domino tournament taking place in “Domino Park.”

This is Pedro. He has been selling little paper twists of roasted peanuts for longer than anybody can remember. They are insanely good.

After a short history lesson, we were taken to a cafe where we were saved wonderful mojitos and Cuban sandwiches. It turns out Cuban sandwiches were invented in Miami.

At our next stop we had some amazing empanadas with home-made sofrito sauce. The perfect street food.

Roosters are everywhere in Little Havana. 

Marco explained Cuban coffee to us. We all had a shot. It was powerful stuff.

We saw a mural of a rooster and Pitbull. He is also known as “Mr. 305” for Miami’s area code.

At this fruit stand we had a tropical drink freshly squeezed. The owner is an 83-year-old widow of a member of Brigado Asalto, the men who went back to Cuba to fight against Castro in 1961. Many of the 1300 Cuban-Americans were killed or captured by the Communists in a fiasco now known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. A monument to the martyrs of this failed coup stands nearby.

I think cigars are kind of disgusting, but you can’t overlook the importance tobacco has played in Cuba’s history. We stopped briefly at a cigar store where two highly-skilled workers were practicing the nearly-lost art of handrolling cigars.

And finally  . . .  Dessert! Churros! And then some incredible ice cream. We tried an outrageous flavor called Abuela Maria (Grandma Maria). It was vanilla ice cream with chunks of guava, cream cheese, guava marmalade, and crispy Maria cookies, topped with guava sauce. 

This tour is a must if you want to learn about the vibrancy the Cubans bring to Miami’s rich cultural scene. We highly recommend it.

I apologize for the side ways photos and various other technical glitches. I can’t always achieve the functionality I would like on an iPad. I will probably update this eventually and add a few more photos.