Little Havana

After we left Key Largo and made our way north, there was one interesting place we wanted to visit - Little Havana.  We'd seen a special about it a few years ago and it was then that it made our "list".

This neighborhood in Miami is the home to many Cuban exiles, as well as many immigrants from Central and South America.  It is noted as a center of social, cultural, and political activity in Miami and its festivals have been televised to millions of people every year on different continents.  It is the best known Cuban exile neighborhood in the world and is characterized by its street life, restaurants, music and other cultural activities, small business enterprises, political passion, and great warmth among residents.

Little Havana was originally a lower-middle class Southern and thriving Jewish neighborhood in the 1930s.  "Little Havana" emerged in the 1960s as the concentration of Cubans in the area grew sharply.  Today "Little Havana" refers to the neighborhood lying immediately west of Downtown Miami, stretching west from the Miami River for roughly two and half miles.

These chickens were all over the neighborhood.  I love how bright and fun they are.

We made our way to "Domino Park" which we learned about in the special we'd seen.

Maximo Gomez Park, also known as Domino Park, is one of the central meeting places in the neighborhood.  As suggested by the unofficial name, the park is famous for the domino games played here by retirees, neighborhood people, and brave tourists (we weren't brave).  Benches are scattered throughout for non-domino players, and cafes, shops, and bars surround the park for those too intimidated to play dominos with feisty Cuban men and women.

They were serious!  They must be accustomed to spectators because they never looked up and played with a vengeance!  

Maximo Gomez, 1836-1905

We walked on and found ourselves here - one of the most famous cigar shops in the area.

The displays inside were beautiful.

A tour bus parked outside and a lot of people joined us inside.

We picked up a few things (happy early birthday, Daniel!) and on we went.

This fruit stand was beautiful.  I wish I'd seen someone buy some oranges so I could see how they reconstructed the display.

Of course we had to stop by a bakery.

So many delicious looking things to choose from.

We picked up a few things even though we weren't sure what they were :-)

Even McDonald's was brightly colored (no, we didn't go inside).

It was time to get on the road and we were too early for lunch so we decided to stop at a walk-up cafe and get some Cuban sandwiches to take with us.

These weren't our drinks but the people who ordered them were happy to let us take a photo.  You can't see it here but the drink on the right had smoke coming out of it.

We headed back to the truck and took in some more sights along the way.

See the parrot?

I'm glad we were able to make the stop and spend some time in Little Havana.