Dear Compadres:
The first thing I have to tell you is that from Miami to the south, you will enter the northernmost territory of Latin America. Once we arrive in Fort Lauderdale, you will return to the United States of America, although you will not need passports to cross that “border”. Once in Latin territory, you could have a very bad time if you don’t speak Spanish, but for that you have us: We speak a little English. By the way: for others we get money to kill, but you all are our friends… so we’ll kill you for nothing.
Taking into account the platoon led by Lieutenant Dan of eleven people, including two infants between the ages of 6 and 4, I present few valid options to spend on Wednesday, April 5th of the year of Our Lord 2023.
OPTION #1
Wake the platoon up at 0530 military time. Clean up, dress get them into their uniforms and have them boarding the vehicles at 0600 sharp. It will take 18 minutes to get from where you are at Pompano Beach to my home located at 8508 SW 16th Street, Davie Fl 33324.
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Not long ago the Town of Davie was part of Fort Lauderdale, and many confuse it with the 2nd largest city in South Florida.
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At 0630, Vickey Bakery opens its doors, a Cuban pastry shop, which, although it is not the best in the world, meets the challenge of trying the typical Cuban pastries and an excellent espresso coffee as it is IMPOSSIBLE to find from a few miles to the north, and all they way to Canada, unless you are looking for an erotic coffee makers:
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After breakfast, we will take off to Key West, the southernmost continental point of the United States, 90 miles from my native Cuba. To save on narration, I have found this video to be quite significant and graphic.
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On the way to Key West, I will pass Turkey Point, the “testicles” of the United States that were squeezed by Castro to win the war against the most powerful country on planet Earth. Many Americans wonder how the United States did not get rid of Castro. Turkey Point is the answer and if you choose Option No. 1 you will understand why.
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The trip to Key West is fabulous. On the west side, as we travel south, we have the Gulf of Mexico, where whales can sometimes be seen jumping, and on the east side, we see the Atlantic Ocean joining the Caribbean Sea.
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Key West is full of history, some more interesting than others. It has a lot to do with the independence of the United States from the British Empire. It has a lot to do with many historical events. In Key West Ernest Hemingway wrote several of his most famous novels and the famous Sloppy Joe, who was born in Cuba, became famous in that small town. We would have lunch at “Sloppy Joe” where there is amazing live music and, of course, a sloppy joe for lunch. Here is a video I produced when we went to Key West with some friends from Venezuela. It is in Spanish, but you can get the feeling:
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As you will see, it is a WHOLE DAY trip. We have taken our grandchildren on many occasions. In this video we see both. Our granddaughter Miranda was two years old when she went the first time to Key West, as the video below these lines shows.
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The ride to Key West, by and our experience is that young children (like my restless granddaughter) sleep the entire way. Once we get to Key West, the kids are entertained. However, if you consider that the trip takes too many hours, we could opt for Option No. 2.
By the way. On our return from Key West we would have dinner at the Versailles Restaurant, a replica of the restaurant with the same name that existed in Havana before the “revolution” took place. It is considered the best Cuban restaurant IN THE WORLD. By the way, Cuban food is “eatable”. I still haven’t met the first “gringo” who didn’t like it.
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OPTION No. 2
We will always have to spend time inside vehicles. Incredibly, children have a better time on long trips, because they fall asleep, while several hours of short trips make them bored and uncomfortable.
In this option I also suggest that we meet at our home in Davie and from there have a Cuban breakfast at Vicky Bakery. We would then begin a tour of Miami. We would start in Bayside, famous for the Miami Vice series, since many scenes were filmed in that tourist spot:
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From Bayside we would take you to see South Beach, which is the most touristic beach area in Miami, although lately it has become an extremely dangerous place at night, where the area becomes more attractive for tourism. I do not recommend visiting South Beach at night. We can park our vehicles – if we find a place to park them – and walk on the beach, although in Florida there are no beaches that will take your breath away, unless you visit Pensacola bordering Alabama. Too far. Of course, we are from the Caribbean, and there are no beaches like the Caribbean
From South Beach we would take you to Key Biscayne for lunch in a very interesting place. We could let the children bathe on the beach of the key and we would make time to end up having dinner at Versailles. All these places mentioned are very near to each other.
OPTION No. 3
If those two options are not viable, we could always dine at the Rest. Versailles. We would meet Wednesday the 5th at our home at 1900, we would go to dinner, we would take a tour of Miami at night, and we would return to our respective homes afterwards. Perhaps that would be the most viable option, taking into account that there are infants involved.
OPTION No. 4
This option is for you to do with the children. The children would have a lot of fun and you adults would have a great time. It is a journey on a “pirate ship”. You will get to know the canals of Fort Lauderdale, which are beautiful, and the children will have a lot of fun fighting pirates. We would not accompany you on this adventure because we have already done it “a billion times”. In fact, here is one of the videos we recorded on one of the many trips that we took with our grandchildren. The address is: 801 Seabreeze Blvd, Dock I-909, Fort Lauderdale, Fl 30 minutes from Pompano Beach. By the way, maybe it is better for you to start watching the LOOOOONG video from the minute 7:40, unless you would like to see some parts of our city from our home to the pirates.
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You would navigate part of the Intercoastal, a man-made canal that runs from Miami all the way to Canada. Our dream, before passing away to a much better life, is to buy a small boat and travel the canal to Canada and once there, sell the boat and return home by plane. I guarantee that you will not feel like sailing the Mekong River in Vietnam.
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OPTION No. 5
If you like sea food and are hungry, we recommend the Rustic Inn Crabhouse in Fort Lauderdale. In the video we are having dinner with the most famous hairdresser and makeup artist in Hollywood.
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OPTION No. 5
But you have to be very-very hungry and we recommend to make reservations. The restaurant’s address is 4331 Anglers Av. Fort Lauderdale. As you may have seen, it is 20 minutes from Pompano Beach.
OPTION No. 6
An icon of Miami since the turn of the last century is Jungle Island, 43 minutes from Pompano Beach. The children love the place and, among many activities, they put them to do crafts. The bird show is spectacular: unique in the world:
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OPTION No. 7
There is a lot, a lot to see in South Florida, but time doesn’t help you. In a next opportunity we can plan the trip of a lifetime right here in this wonderful and magical state.
Finally as Option # 7 we can all go to one of our favorite Italian reestaurants: GREAT! It is in the heart of Miami and it’s called “Sapore di Mare”: the best of the best…!
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Let us know what you decide.
