Back from Miami. (Pics added)

[Sara]

It was amazing!  We took a tour of Little Havana, learned so much, didn't have nearly enough time to explore all I wanted, but next time we go we'll spend a day just walking around Calle Ocho (8th Street - center of Little Havana).  I completely recommend this tour group - Miami-Cuba USA www.miamicubausa.com (hope the link is allowed).  It was so different than the typical, overly commerical tours.  We got to try Cuban coffee (strong as heck but good!), see cigar-rollers, lots of monuments, a small museum about political prisoners in Cuba (it is seriously heartbreaking, I had no idea things like that were going on), see a political demonstration stretching for blocks on Calle Ocho, saw the shrine to Our Lady of Charity, saw the spot where Tent City used to be (if you watched Scarface, you saw it, it's where they put up tents inside a fenced area underneath overpasses to house the Cuban refugees back in the 70's I believe), saw Freedom Tower (like Ellis Island in New York), drove through downtown Miami, ate at 2 Cuban restaurants (GOOD FOOD!), etc.  We were visiting Joe's brother so he took us on a short tour of the base there, that was cool.  We stayed at a really old hotel but it was nice.  I'll be posting pictures this evening, so check back for them.   

[angieskidney]

It was amazing!  We took a tour of Little Havana, learned so much, didn't have nearly enough time to explore all I wanted, but next time we go we'll spend a day just walking around Calle Ocho (8th Street - center of Little Havana).  I completely recommend this tour group - Miami-Cuba USA www.miamicubausa.com (hope the link is allowed).  It was so different than the typical, overly commerical tours.  We got to try Cuban coffee (strong as heck but good!), see cigar-rollers, lots of monuments, a small museum about political prisoners in Cuba (it is seriously heartbreaking, I had no idea things like that were going on), see a political demonstration stretching for blocks on Calle Ocho, saw the shrine to Our Lady of Charity, saw the spot where Tent City used to be (if you watched Scarface, you saw it, it's where they put up tents inside a fenced area underneath overpasses to house the Cuban refugees back in the 70's I believe), saw Freedom Tower (like Ellis Island in New York), drove through downtown Miami, ate at 2 Cuban restaurants (GOOD FOOD!), etc.  We were visiting Joe's brother so he took us on a short tour of the base there, that was cool.  We stayed at a really old hotel but it was nice.  I'll be posting pictures this evening, so check back for them.   

Welcome back Sara!!!

Can't wait for the pics!!

[Sara]

El Pub, a very old Cuban restaurant on Calle Ocho (8th Street).  Very popular, although we didn't get a chance to eat there.

[Sara]

A cigar maker in a factory.  She's been doing this for almost 40 years, can make over 100 cigars a day!  The 2nd pic is of her making a cigar.  Note the ashtray - she smokes as she rolls.

[Sara]

The front door to our hotel.  I didn't know it when I booked it, but it was basically in Little Havana which was cool.  The hotel's website is www.hotelstmichel.com , it's a very old hotel, but the rooms were nice and the bed actually comfortable!   

[Sara]

Men playing dominoes in Domino Park.  Local landmark.  The history behind it was that people would actually play in the middle of the street so the city created the park, complete with shelter, tables and chairs, etc.  Later in the day it was lightning and storming and they just rolled down some awning/curtains and kept on playing.

[Sara]

Demonstration against political prioners in Cuba.

[Sara]

Museum for political prisoners in Cuba.  The pictures on the wall are of people who were killed by Castro.  There are thousands more, these are just the ones they were able to get photos of.  The 2nd picture is of Castro's brother killing a prisoner (sorry if this offends anyone).  There were other pictures on the walls, artwork by former prisoners, photos of the prisons, various methods of torture, executions, etc.  Very, very sad.  You come away feeling outrage that these things are allowed to go on in the world.  It is reminiscent of the Holocaust.

[Sara]

I don't know if anyone's even read this thread, but just wanted to share I'd been quoted in the Miami Herald (newspaper) about the tour.  Of course, I was mis-quoted, but that's OK.   

[Epoman]

I don't know if anyone's even read this thread, but just wanted to share I'd been quoted in the Miami Herald (newspaper) about the tour.  Of course, I was mis-quoted, but that's OK.   

I have been, I enjoyed the pics, but where are the pics of you?

[Bajanne]

Thanks for sharing this interesting visit with us.

[Sara]

I have been, I enjoyed the pics, but where are the pics of you?

There was only one of me, and it's not flattering so it will be burned and never posted. 

[Sluff]

for sharing your trip. Looks like you had fun.

[Black]

Glad you had a good time and a safe tour.  I LOVE that Cuban coffee -- wish I could handle the caffeine.  Thank you so much for the pics!!

My husband and I used to have 2 lemonade stands on Calle Ocho during the Eighth Street Festival in February and 4 at the Dade County Youth Fair and Exposition in Tamiami Park in March.  I haven't been there in many years and you bring back many memories.

One of the boys who worked for us for many years started when he was only 13 and worked until he joined the Marines immediately after graduating from high school.  He intended to make it a lifelong career but he found that since he came here to the US from Cuba with his parents when he was 3 months old he could not get the security clearance he needed for the position he wanted.  After he left the Marines he became a police officer in a small community just north of Miami -- beautiful wife and adorable baby the last time I saw him in the mid 1990s.  He said his younger sister had graduated from Florida State University with honors -- her GPA was  over 4.0 every semester!

The really amazing part of his life story is that his father was one of Castro's political prisoners for many years and was only released when he promised to leave the country.  He had been a government official who did not like or support Castro and the Cuban government believed he could be a threat if he stayed in the country.  The son did not discuss any of this with me until he had worked for me for several years.  He never would go into any detail as to why his father was a prisoner, or why he wasn't killed.  I'm not sure that he knew, but because he seemed so uncomfortable discussing it, I never asked him direct questions about his father's past.

After he and parents came to Miami, with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, his father went to work for a builder/contractor.  In about 10 years he started his own construction company.  He gradually built the family a home and then added to it when he brought his parents, and two of his brothers, from Cuba.  They stayed in that home during hurricane Andrew and it was one of the few which survived -- a testament to the skill and high standards he had set for its construction.  Today the family is wealthy, and it is wealth well earned with many years of hard work.

That young man is one of the most awesome and inspiring people I have ever met.  The story of him and his family would make an interesting movie but most people would not believe what they have done.  In the early years when the family was struggling he went to work for a Cuban grocer -- it was illegal because he was only 12.  During the summer he was working 40 hours, on the night shift stocking shelves -- less chance of being seen at night.  He worked less during the school year but he still worked almost every night and still had a 4.0 average in school.  When he turned 16 and could work legally and the family was doing better, he left the grocer and took other assorted part time jobs.  When he was 17 he went to work as a party clown for children's parties -- he did that for a couple of years.  He said the "drug families" tipped VERY well but it was sometime very scary work.  I remember him sometimes coming to work with traces of clown makeup behind his ears.

Thanks again, Sara, for an interesting trip down "Memory Lane".

Got any more pics?

[Sara]

That does sound like an amazing family, Lorelle.  Thanks for sharing that.  I'll have to see if I have any more pics.  I didn't get to photograph everything I wanted, but I think we're going back in December so I will be getting more pics then.

[Black]

... I think we're going back in December so I will be getting more pics then.

That's great!!  Enjoy!  Enjoy!

[Sluff]

Think you could take me with you??? please pretty please I don't eat much...

[Sara]

Think you could take me with you??? please pretty please I don't eat much...

LOL, sure.  Hop on your bike and make your way down here.  It'll be a lot warmer than Wisconsin.