Miami Beach is well known for its stylish flare. Art Deco in particular. While many buildings are the typical boring lifeless white tower, there are pockets of vibrance. Buildings along the southern aspect of Ocean Drive reflect a bygone era. Baby blue paint here, lavender accents there, funky block patterning next to the pale yellow exaggerated round “corners” of the next.

It was along here, in a sea foam green building that we found one of my favorite desserts. Doug had promised me key lime pie earlier in the day. But, as luck would have it, the place we originally sought out had a very unenthusiastic hostess who really couldn’t be bothered to do much of anything. So. No pie. You really can’t promise me key lime pie and NOT deliver. Thus ensued wandering around in search of pie. Which lead us to the Birdcage or the Carlyle Cafe. Which, apparently, is famous from the 1996 film “The Birdcage”. Not that I particularly cared about any of that. I asked the ridiculously nice server if the key lime pie was good. He assured me they had fabulous pie. Naturally. In this case my young friend was 100% correct. OMG. SO YUMMY! And it was plated quite well. Most excellent! Would highly recommend! 5 stars for pie and fabulous service.

Delectable Bites

Food is one of my favorite things ever. Especially good food. I had some amazing meals during my brief stay. That being said there’s also quite a lot of mediocre places. We certainly found that out. Just because an establishment has 1000+ glowing reviews does not necessarily mean the food lives up to the hype. So good luck.

Being huge fans of Peruvian food, we hit up the rather popular Cvi.Che 105 restaurant. No, that’s not a misspelling. One of the fun things about dining in Miami is the decor. They go overboard. This place was no exception with big murals and loads of fake flowers adorning the ceiling and walls. Music blaring. We chose Lomo Saltado, which is a stir fry of sorts. Generally strips of steak, onions, tomatoes, and thick fresh fries served over rice. The dressing is soy sauce based, giving the whole dish an Asian flare. When done well, it’s amazing. This one did not disappoint.

Doug chose a pulled chicken style dish called, Aji de gallina. I’m not sure what all goes into this one, but it’s divine. It doesn’t particularly look appealing but the taste will surely make your taste buds sing out in delight.

Other honorable mentions are the tacos at Taquiza on the North side of Miami Beach. They make their own blue corn tortillas. The shrimp and fish tacos were divine.

As the city is well known for its Cuban influence, we sought out a restaurant to sample the flavors of Cuba. Choosing one is nearly impossible. There are tons. We settled on Bella Cuba and were extremely happy with our decision. Doug went classic with a Cuban sandwich.

Love empanadas? Doug does. They aren’t my favorite but I think they are decent. We sampled a variety, both Venezuelan and Argentinian. In my personal opinion the Argentinian were better. The main difference is Argentinian empanada’s are generally made with a more flaky dough and baked. In contrast, Venezuelan empanadas typically are made with a cornmeal based dough and fried. It simply comes down to personal preference. Regardless, the Charlotte Bakery has plenty of either option to sample.

The Everglades

It seems a shame to travel all the way to Florida and not see the Everglades. Can’t say I’m overly excited about a giant swamp/marsh and crocodiles but I felt we should see it. Tours from Miami (we did not have a car) range all over in price. For the most part, they all take you to the same park. Which, ironically, is not in fact, in the Everglades National Park. That’s quite a ways further north. So, pick one that won’t break the bank as they are all pretty much the same.

Our tour picked us up on a giant tour bus (eww people!) in South Beach and headed out with one quick stop in downtown Miami to pick up fellow passengers. I did a mad dash into a nearby outdoor shopping area to find a restroom (thanks morning coffee). The guide was not about to wait for me. To be fair, I did ask where the nearest restroom was. He had no clue and vaguely pointed me in the direction of the shops, saying “maybe there, we leave in 8 minutes.” I actually ran and made it just fine. Only a few people looked at me weird. The drive was over an hour and a half and is traffic dependent.

Arriving at the “Everglades” we were amongst many other groups doing the exact same thing. After a fairly short wait we were loaded onto an airboat and headed out on the water. Airboats, as it turns out, are rather loud. They are also not particularly fast.

Regardless, the guide weaved in and out of channels, pointing out various birds and searching for crocodiles. We saw two crocs. Loads of birds and quite a few vultures. The gentleman guiding us was quite knowledgeable regarding the local plants and the Everglades itself. I did not realize the Everglades is sort of considered a river. I still think of it as a giant wetlands. Which, I suppose it is. A river through wetlands. Maybe. Florida, make up your mind. One way or another, it’s wet and you can’t see the bottom. So no thanks on swimming in that. Gross. I imagine a slimy mucky bottom and all sorts of critters that could brush past me or take a nibble. Hard pass.

After the air boat tour we were reminded that our guide takes tips. No cash? No worries! He’s there with a QR code. Yes we tipped. But I still never like people blatantly asking for one and going on and on about it. Seems a bit tacky.

Next up was the crocodile show. While I was underwhelmed by the show, I certainly appreciate that the crocs were rescued. Meaning these were all nuisance crocodiles that had to be trapped and dealt with. Apparently the trapper is allowed to do whatever they want with the crocodile, meaning it’s normally sold off to be slaughtered. These lucky crocs were simply retrained, given a job and a home. The show itself basically displayed a few techniques the catcher uses to catch a crocodile and not get chomped. With the warning to never try out these moves. Fair enough. I’ll gladly take a back seat on crocodile wrestling.

Miami, Miami

While Miami Beach may not be on my top 5 list of destinations, it did provide a wonderful change of pace. An escape to warm weather. Loads of sunshine. Endless sandy beaches. Plenty of nightlife, though we are boring and didn’t bother to partake in any of the available clubs. Next visit we will have to actually cross the bridge and explore Miami itself.

---