Life in Miami Beach

As I walk towards the hallway to the Immigration and Customs department at the Miami International Airport, several signs gave a warm welcome to the “Sunny City”, as this great city of the State of Florida is popularly known, in the United States.

As I exit the airport, a hot wind current hits me, surrounding me and giving me a warm welcome. Without me even noticing, a very proactive airport employee calls me a cab, and a very polite driver opens the door of his car.

A 15-minute drive through the freeway towards my hotel, where you can see some of the neighborhoods down below, and far away with the sea in between, the huge buildings and skyscrapers from the city.

Some small boats and ferries float slowly and calmly in the waters of the Miami Canal, as my taxi drove down an exit lane, towards the downtown area, and after a couple of rounds, I was arriving at my hotel. You can find good hotels in the Downtown area, near cafes and bars.

As I get hungry, I decide to leave my room and go out to get something to eat and check out the sights.

When I get out on the street, at first, I begin to walk with the distrust that the traveler feels when stepping a strange and unknown city, although I came here once before, when I was a little kid, with my family. Asides from a couple memories, I have no recollection of that trip whatsoever.

Passersby go about their business as they walked past me, and waiters and busboys try to get my attention by being friendly and citing the full menus of their restaurants. There is every single kind of food you can imagine: from Sushi and Arepas, to arabian cuisine and the all-American McDonald's and Kentucky Fried-Chicken.

As I walk, a wide diversity of stores appear on both sides of the street: from electronic appliances and gadgets to clothes, pharmacies and small super markets.

Two aspects that caught my attention: Unlike the city where I am from, cars would slow down as a person would cross a street, and a homeless person was watching video on his laptop, as he prepared to go to bed in one of the many streets of the city.

I went back to my hotel, since I had to work the next day, thinking that my visit to this coast city would have to wait for the day after.

After a long day of working, photographing the music event of popular latin musicians called "Premios Lo Nuestro", I was out on the city again, to get a last glimpse of it, before going back to my home country.

Walking opposite what I had been the previous days, I stumbled upon a mall on the side of the sea called “Bayside Mall”, that was also a yacht club and pier. There, a music group played songs from their music album on a stage next to the bay, in a really cool small concert, and I thought “well, this is the real world of music in the street”.

There you could see a wide assortment of offers on boat trips that could take all over the Miami bay area, and also to check out the houses of the rich and famous, which were built on the seaside, and could range from celebrities such as Shakira to Al Pacino.

After spending some time at the bay, I hailed for a cab to take me to South Beach, where I wanted to walk and take some pictures for a while.

A quick five minute ride over a couple of bridges to the beach, where I could see the true freedom of the floridians: A lot of people enjoying a sunny day at the beach, exercising, bathing at the sea or sunbathing in the sand during a “working day”. But life in Miami is also expensive since this city, alongside New York, are the most costly cities in the United States. Still, Miami can offer a wide array of entertainment to the traveler, that can last you a lifetime.

During the night, the city glows with ts skyscrapers lit up in neon colors, while its streets are crowded with tourists looking for parties, food, drinks and fun. There are boats with the word “Fiesta” written on their sides (fiesta is the spanish word Party), that offer rides all over the bay while you drink and dance aboard.

Miami is the ultimate cosmopolite city, where you can enjoy sandy and sunny beaches, streets full of discos and bars, and all the kind of food and fun you want.