Land of Posers

Park Central Hotel

Finally, Miami. I hadn't known what to expect and, not being a city-lover, was not really very enthusiastic - I was still very sad after leaving Islamorada. The entry into downtown Miami is actually spectacular - a white-towered skyline even more amazing-looking than in Miami Vice, quite beautiful in its own monumental fashion. Miami is all about sea and sky - I would like to see the city mid-thunderstorm, flashes of lightning bouncing off the skyscrapers and splitting the vast sky. However, I drove onward to my very historic art deco hotel right on Miami Beach.

 Despite its slight shabbiness and need for authentic restoration, Park Central was a great place to be, especially at night when the hotels glow in neon colours. The centre of poser paradise. If you want to flaunt - flaunt wealth, sex, success or your unique made-to-spec classic car or Bentley, then this is the place to be. Land of gold chains, diamante dresses and giant over-the-top cocktails. I found it interesting for a day or two, but wouldn't want to stay any longer. If I was rich, beautiful and twenty-somehting once more, then I would probably love it!

I did the usual tourist stuff - harbour tour, city tour, a walk on Miami Beach and so on...but then there was nothing else. So I decided to go on a very special trip for my last day - a spectacular finale - a trip to the Bahamas! Only on my return did I realise that I had just sailed right through the Bermuda Triangle and lived to tell the tale. No alien encounters, sadly, to perk this blog up a notch.  After a three and a half hour boat ride, then half an hour by coach, we were deposited at a recently built tourist resort - which hadn't quite got it right. A nasty, scary walk down a shaded, lonely path to the beach, a mass of wooden huts full of locals all selling EXACTLY the same stuff - sadly mostly made in China, very predictable scarves, bags and tourist tat. I was glad I went but it wasn't a patch on the Keys!

Bahamas beach

As always, the day was partly spoilt by the fact that I was flying the next day - I have almost managed to conquer my terror, which had so cruelly stopped me from travelling all my life until I finally plucked up the courage four years ago. I still get very nervous, bad-tempered and agitated the day before. But it all went well and I got back to Portugal without a hitch. I'd had a fantastic time....made so by the hospitality of my friends in Tampa, by the fascinating wildlife and Islamorada, where I could very easily live out the rest of my life, binoculars in one hand and a cocktail in the other......