A VISIT TO KEY LARGO SO CLOSE TO MIAMI AND SO FAR AWAY FROM ITS UGLINESS

My visits to Miami are very short, and the places that I visit are usually the same, without taking time to visit other parts in Miami or near Miami. I do like my drives to the Everglades when I go to visit the Native people there.
Today I decided to visit some friends in Key largo just 65 km south of Miami, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 

 The highway took me to Homestead, an older town which was the centre of agriculture in the days past. Arriving in Key Largo was a surprise, I recognized how different Miami is from the rest of the Florida and Key Largo is a slice of Florida.

 EAT LIKE BOURDAIN: CUBA  

In Havana, Anthony Bourdain ate at a place called

Santy Pescador

240A (3ra. C), Jaimanitas, La Habana(+53) 53 58 51 44

Bourdain ate: the day’s catch, featuring classic seafood and sushi.

Lunch date: Hugo Cancio, the Cuban-born entrepreneur behind Fuego Enterprises entertainment and a host of other businesses operating in the U.S. and Cuba.

This photo of Restaurante Santy Pescador is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The quiet streets of this part of Key Largo reminded me so much of the tranquility of the many islands in the Caribbean.

 I am alway happy to see Mangroves  or manglito in cuban spanish

 This house will not be out of place in some of the islands ..

 Friends I was visiting took me to their new home which sits at the end of the canal. You can see the Atlantic ocean in the distance.

 the detritus can be seen floating up the canal from the ocean.

 I wanted a Cortadito, a cuban coffee. and I was happy to see an older fashioned cuban coffee shop where you could devour some of the cuban delicacies as well. It was called Danny Cuban Cafeteria decorated with old maps (the one above before the revolution and also posters of the Pan American Airlines whose maiden flight was from Miami to Havana )

 We went over to the ocean side where we could visit the restaurant and the fresh fish market.

 Fisherman bringing in the catch, yellow tails flying out, and the fish is so fresh, a dinner there sitting watching the ocean would be soothing

 Canals, mangroves and memories of the native people who lived here long before Spaniards arrived. Florida as the name implies was a spanish territory and the Spanish speakers have reclaimed it. It was nice to speak Spanish in Cayo Largo. Many of the new home owners are Cuban and Venezuelan and south american as well as American.

We took a detour from the main road and in a secluded area facing the Bay there was a holiday resort with a restaurant and many boats freely berthed. (I remember the name of the Resort, GILBERT, as I thought of the Hurricane Gilbert)

 Driving back to MIami, the clouds were menacing and the downpour led to dangerous driving conditions

 The sunset was magnificent even through the rainsoaked windows

Back to the reality of Miami, and I said to myself

I need to spend as little time as  possible in Miami and when I do have spare time (after a nice dinner with my closest friends M and G), I should seek out the solace of Key Largo..

Many of you may have heard of the name KEY LARGO which was a movie made in 1948 (the year modern Israel became a State). It starred Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perke) and Edward G Robinson.(born Emmanuel Goldenberg)

A quote from Humphrey Bogart 

I was born when you kissed me. I died when you left me. I lived a few weeks while you loved me.