My return trip to The United States just days before Thanksgiving left me with an evening to kill in glitzy Miami, Florida, dubbed the capital city of Latin America. I spent my limited time here in Wild On E!'s favorite locale, Sexy South Beach.
Coming back to The States via one of its most excessive locations made for a strange transition. There were no longer metal bars and padlocked steel doors on business windows. Hamburgers cost $9.95 instead of $0.80, and internet was $5.00 for five minutes, as opposed to the $0.75 an hour I had been paying.
Everyone was beautiful. I was no longer a gringo who drew attention, but just a white guy on the streets. Oddly though, the Spanish lifestyle wouldn't leave me so easily, as I was in a city widely influenced by Latin culture, and I heard Spanish being spoken all around me. The difference now was that I could understand the conversations I once may have worried were derogatory about me. Truth is, they're just talking about Sex in the City and where they bought their outfits from.
-Brian |
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Christmas in South Beach. |
| Somehow, here in Miami, these seagulls looked more like models making sure they were being seen in the right light for my photo. I also think they were judging me by my shoes. |
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It was an overcast late November day, but there were still people milling around the namesake of South Beach. Just to the right of this lifeguard tower, there are actually two men laying out. A girl in short green shorts with the word "MIAMI" written in orange across the back jogged past me, listening to an mp3 player, a living testament to the female figure. There were no children begging or grown men trying to sell me a cup of coca-cola from a 16-oz bottle. |
| Another of the many brighly painted, art deco lifeguard towers that sprinkle the long stretch of well-groomed white sand. There was another girl there, about my age, also walking around to find the best angle to photograph this tower from. Only while my camera was a Kodak disposable, hers must have had a value of at least $1000. I'd like to see her photos. |
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This hooded woman was doing two things: 1)Rummaging through the trash, and 2)Feeding the seagulls bread crumbs. My approach caused the diners to stir. |
| A view looking back at the South Beach strip. |
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On Ocean Drive, the near perfect symmetry of The Tides Hotel caught my eye. About a week later, I would learn from How to live like a Pop Star that when J-Lo comes to town, she will rent out the entire top floor here for over $10,000 a night. |
| Get your swimwear here. Take it off up there. |
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These decorated flamingo statues were scattered around South Beach. |
| Running perpendicular to the end of Ocean Drive is Lincoln Road. Lined in the middle with palm trees and fashionable street lights, it is a long pedestrian mall, full of big-ticket clothing shops, free-thinking ritzy bookstores, posh outdoor restaurants, and numerous upscale art galleries. |
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An intricate sandcastle that was built along Ocean Drive, as nothing more than an advertisement by its builders, who were there to promote themselves. |
| Even on the high profile Ocean Drive of Miami's sexy South Beach, things aren't always perfect. |
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