On Friday, my daughter and I were on our own. I considered renting roller skates and exploring South Beach, but I decided to go to a nice beach instead. I'd read that Key Biscayne has one of the top 10 beaches in the world, so we went there. At first it seemed like all beach access was closed there too, but we eventually found a lot that was open. As luck would have it, it was the lot nearest the playground. The playground held her attention for only a few minutes, after which we went in search of the "seahorse thing that squirts water" which I had read about and the parking attendant mentioned. We found something that resembled the outdoor showers that one rinses off with at the beach, and it had seahorses instead of shower heads, but the water to it had been turned off. That was completely underwhelming, so we continued to the beach itself.
The beach was lined with palm trees and absolutely beautiful! There were a few people around, but it was far from crowded. Once again, I found the water a bit cold, but my daughter played in the waves for quite some time before settling down to build a sand castle. Birds were fishing in the water behind her, but the wind was increasing, and I felt my camera was safer in the backpack. Soon sand was building dunes on my towel, and I felt uncomfortably like I was being sandblasted. I was helping to finish the sand castle when it started pouring rain. Everyone took shelter under the lifeguard building and debated stay or go.
We decided to change into dry clothes and go. At the restrooms, a flock of large white birds (ibises?) brazenly strutted past us and raided the trashcan. By the time we were ready to go, it had stopped raining. On the way to the parking lot, we saw a pair of wild iguanas (probably close to 1 m long, including tail). Unlike alligators, I love iguanas and other lizards, so we watched them for quite a while.
We drove into town on Key Biscayne in search of lunch, but much to my surprise, we did not find any fast food. I eventually found a parking spot at a strip mall, and we walked around to examine the restaurants more closely. They all had cloth tablecloths and napkins--not exactly where you want to take a 7 year old for a quick lunch. We decided to buy sandwiches at the supermarket which we ate on a bench out front.My daughter wanted to go swimming in warm water, so we went back to the pool at the hotel. I was happy to sit by the pool with my book. There were a couple of kids there, and they all hit it off immediately. The little boy seemed quite taken by my daughter. They played for a couple of hours, but with the sun low in the sky it was time to go. The boy asked for our room number so that he could send up milk and cookies. I must have had a funny expression, because his mother quickly explained that the general manager of the hotel was his father. The whole family was at the hotel because they were going to see Cavalia (like Cirque du Soleil but with horses) that evening. The boy then asked if Lina could join them for drinks in the lounge. We needed to shower (especially after the beach), but I'd never seen Lina get ready so quickly. We let Lina go with her new friends, then my husband and I joined them a little later.
They took Lina to see the "ghost mall" under the hotel. Apparently the downturn in the economy has hit Miami hard. Besides entirely deserted shopping centers, there were abandoned development projects, and entire buildings of empty condos and apartments. The luxury condos along the waterfront were 75% unoccupied. Many old buildings were torn down to make room for new ones that have not materialized leaving downtown speckled with empty lots.
We enjoyed drinks and interesting conversation with our new friends, and we made plans to meet for breakfast. Before leaving for their show, they recommended a Mexican restaurant, so we decided to give that a try.
We took the free MetroMover monorail to get there, which made for interesting people watching. One man wore a hat woven from palm fronds with an amazing grasshopper in the same material. Lina must have been staring at the grasshopper also because he suddenly gave it to her, and he gave me a similar rose. We have carried these treasures all the way back to Sweden, and they somehow didn't get too mashed.
We were told that Rosa Mexicano had the best guacamole ever, and that was true! I wasn't a huge guacamole fan until I tried this, and it was paired with the perfect light and crispy tortilla chips. I was tempted to cancel my dinner order and have more guacamole and chips instead, but I didn't, and I wasn't disappointed. The carne asada soft tacos were wonderful too. Lina was so exhausted that she fell asleep at the table having hardly eaten a thing. We took a taxi back to the hotel.
When we got back to our room, we were surprised to find a room-service cart with a plate of giant chocolate chip cookies, a pitcher of milk and a bottle of wine (on ice). I had totally forgotten. We were too stuffed to eat much at the time, but it was a lovely treat and the perfect end to a fantastic day.
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