| Show psinyiB 8T The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday December 6 1987 Little Havana Bienvenidos to the Latin Republic of Miami B MAJOR CARRIERS r Newspapers MIAMI — Coffee arrives dark and swampy in a paper cup its steam curling above a hot Huevo McMuffin trapped in Styrofoam There is something strangely exotic about this rubbery McDonald's fried egg even though the fast-foochain’s golden arches are branded on ’ paper napkins and polyester uniforms d A y dark-eye- waitress counts d change in muttered Spanish then taps a stream of liquid from a silver vat warming cafe cubano — Cuban-styl- e coffee served sweet and murky as river-botto'water Customers scan a wall-siz- e menu advertising Big Macs and Huevo McMuffins galletas and cafe con leche With a whispered “gracias” they choose a breakfast then saunter outdoors into the shimmering languid heat of Little Havana Bienvenidos (Welcome) to the Latin Republic of Miami Deep in the corazon or heart of South Florida where life sways to royal palms steel drums and a sinuous salsa beat even an institution such as McDonald's speaks with a lilting Spanish accent Orange Bowl tours and standard tourist propaganda neglect the exotic side of Florida instead touting old standby star attractions such as powdery white beaches Flipper and Mickey Mouse But a few steps away from this well-wortourist path the other side of Miami lies easily within camera and rental-ca- r range Miami has become an exotic city that tempts visitors to move to its Latin rhythm — to dance merengue in a dimly lit Puerto Rican nightclub to sip sangria in a sidewalk Cuban cafe to sample tapas in a cavelike Spanish restaurant vibrating with the snap of a flamenco dancer's black high heel In the words of a gravel-voice- d “Miami Vice” television heartthrob: Check it out pal This is the new Miami where Spanish is the language and poetry of the street It is the gruff cries of old men clicking dominoes like castanets in Little Havana’s shady Antonio Maceo Park It is the singsong call of the vendor hawking helado from his pushcart along a crowded downtown sidewalk It is the prayer of the Pope celebrating Mass in Miami’s Tamiami Par — not just in English but also in Creole and Spanish Any tour of the other Miami begins usually at sprawling Miami International Airport gateway to thousands of international tourists and a Casablanca mix of drug smugglers contras cocaine couriers former Watergate burglars and relatives of deposed dictators and Latin strongmen Technically Miami remains a part of the United States so don’t worry about passports or border guards But after getting off the plane and walking through a humid tunnel into the main terminal it is immediately apparent that this sure isn't Kansas While a throng of people trudge along the vast terminal corridor with bulky luggage in tow the bored voice of a faceless male announcer drones messages in English and Spanish The crowd’s chatter is also a dull hum of English and Spanish but the tuned ear will easily detect the machine-guaccents of Cuba and Tuerto Rico and the musical trill of Argentina and Venezuela It's rare to find an airline agent or rental clerk who lacks the skill to glide from a conversation in English n Perhaps the best way to explore the other side of Miami is with a visit to the soul of the city — Southwest Eighth Street Better known as Calle Ocho this thriving thoroughfare of farmacias (pharmacies) panaderias (little bakeries) joyerias (jewelry stores) fruit stands and street cafes is Little Havana’s main street Most Americans can’t easily visit Fidel Castro’s Cuba but they can stroll through this Cuban neighborhood where island culture endures in cramped cafes sellspirals of ing churros — deep-friewinsweet dough — from curb-sid- e dows or joyerias offering sales on life-siz- e plaster statues of a leper saint Start with a walk along Memorial Boulevard — Southwest 13th Avenue — a shady street of ranch homes staked with shrines statues and fresh flower wreaths commemorathistorical events ing The street which intersects Calle Ocho is a quiet section of the city with benches where weary tourists may reflect on the history that drove a flood of middle-clas- s Cuban immigrants to Miami after Castro seized power in 1959 and then a second wave of nearly 125000 island immigrants who arrived in the Mariel boat exodus of 1980 Draped by palm trees these cribed memorials tout patriotism and honor the warriors left y dead in battles to wrest control of Cuba One chilling reminder of homeland conflicts is a Bay of Pigs monument dedicated to those who died in the failed 1961 attempt to reclaim the island with US assistance The names of the dead are etched in the monument which is circled by small silver missiles shaped like bullets A blanket of fresh flowers in the form of an old Cuban flag hangs from a small wooden stand Nearby the Museum of Cuban Art and Culture 1300 SW 12th Ave preserves a link to the past with revolving displays such as an exhibit of photographs of life in Cuba’s capital Havana In downtown Miami the Historical Museum of Southern Florida at 101 W Flagler St also tries to chronicle the history of the city’s Cuban community with a collage of exhibits reflecting the pride and fear of the newcomers In one exhibit lies a splintery wooden boat used by Cuban immigrants to sail from Mariel Harbor to Miami Pictures of the newcomers are flashed from a television screen while the disembodied voices of e Miami residents describe their reactions to the new Miami In plaintive and wistful words some of them struggle to come to grips with the notion that their city is no longer “Miamuh” a distinctly Southern small town carved out of the palmetto scrubland Instead their home town has swelled into a subtropical megalopolis with Latino residents making up roughly half of Dade County’s population and operating almost a third of the area's businesses A recent Dade County report concluded that Miami’s Anglo population had decreased by 115000 between 1980 and 1985 “I feel sometimes that I’m not in my own country” said one woman in the museum’s exhibit “All I hear all day is Spanish It's a strange Along Calle Ocho the crackling music of a Spanish record store rises in volume with the dull and constant roar of traffic headed east along the thoroughfare Fleeting conversations in Spanish ebb and flow as people stroll by a crude street poster calling for the killing of Fidel Castro A small leathery-faceman rumbles along the sidewalk pushing a shopping cart brimming with bouquets of cream and pink carnations “Mira a las flores” he calls to a tourist who glances dreamily at the blooms “Look at the flowers” proached a takes place It's a coy game played by everyone from Miami waiters in posh restaurants to chic salesclerks in trendy boutiques The game has one goal to choose a language And when the game ends there is an explosion of words A waiter at Los Ranchos Restaurant one of the best Nicaraguan restaurants in Miami confided that his test is a question in Spanish He asks his customers if they want a drink and if the reply is a baffled stare he smoothly switches language gears The point of this ritual he said is simply to make people comfortable Most tourists can manage in Miami with enough Spanish vocabulary to textfill a few pages in a book but don't be surprised if attenclerks or parking-lo- t dants look puzzled when they’re addressed in English This is a city where a local newspaper comes wrapped in a special Spanish section the AM radio band is dominated by Spanish-speakinstations and store signs pitch their wares in Espanol Even familiar old Ma Bell telephone uses a giant billboard to advertise its amanllas paginas — yellow pages two-wor- d high-scho- gas-statio- n WHOLESALE 140 J k street East along Calle Ocho is the commercial quarter with sidewalk coffee counters squeezed among beauty salons bakeries pharmacies restaurants and religious stores There is a plethora of sidewalk FLORIDA HOME OF DISNEYWORLD EPCOT coffee counters from which to Spanish-ins- choose so stop at one to savor the rich aroma of Cuban coffee or to sample churros perhaps dipped into a cup of sweet Cuban chocolate So fortified visit some of the shops shops that can only be found here or in Havana Enter Frank Joyeria at 1696 SW Eighth St There amid shelves of plaster saints and plastic statues for car dashboards the cramped relidolls gious store sells coffee-colore- d in cascading skirts of crimson polyester and matching turbans The dolls represent saints in the Santeria religion a creed that traces its roots to Africa and is a blend of Catholicism and mystical symbols and rituals involving chanting bathing and the killing of barnyard animals The religion has flourished among some Cuban exiles in the United States Almacenes Felix Gonzalez at 2610 SW Eighth St also sells a complete line of religious statues including life-siz- e statues of Cuba’s patron saints La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre — the Virgin of Charity — and St Lazarus Lazarus whose leprose wounds are painted in bright splotches of crimson is particularly revered by Cubans because of his ability to endure pain and poverty The store also offers plaster busts and car statues of a sober-faceman with a clipped mustache dressed in a dark three-piec- e suit and jaunty fedora The clerk explains to a puzzled tourist that the statue is a likeness of Dr Jose Hernandez from Venezuela "But is this man really a saint?" the tourist asks “Well not exactly” the clerk concedes in Spanish “But they're trying to make him one” To the north of Calle Ocho anothCuban tradition thrives er in a Latin Quarter neighborhood spread along an area of West Flagler Street Here the aroma of hand-rolle- d cigars is a lingering fragrance in the family owned shops and factories scattered along the quarter 20th-centur- na-tiv- Nights Accommodations 7 Mini Holiday one of Mexico’s Finest Resort cities Visit this Fabulous World Class Resort! 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Free) 700 S Tl Vt t 9 USA World Tours each uay $1000 for one way Holiday travel slightly higher £3 USA World Tours offers a variety of exciting tours Make plans now for our February departures to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and the Indio Date Festival in Southern California Call now and receive ourFREE travel newsletter and FREE membership in our Senior Discount Club (Toll Transfers Flights to and from Denver on December 19 21 26 28 January 2 and 4 and every Monday and Friday from January 8 — April 4 i 328-060- $599 Flights every Sunday from January 3 through April 3 DENVEE-$4- 9 7 Exciting Days in Southern California Including: Disneyland and Universal Studios PLUS: Transportation hotels admissions and reserved seats for the parade Departs Dec 27 jll TRAVEl INC WESTERN Sometimes this neighborhood o When they’re apswift diplomatic ritual CALL FOR OTHER DESTINATIONS BUS 1 1ST CUSS ABOUT 12 OFF — NO COUPONS SOME TAXES ANO RESTRICTIONS APPLY seems like a mirage a fantasy country trapped within a country a dreamland with tradition and culture preserved in vivid detail like a mounted butterfly Stroll along Calle Ocho to Antonio Maceo Mini-Parat 15th Avenue There amid a shady oasis of towering trees and rows of picnic tables old and young Cuban men crowd around games of checkers and dominoes and the deep rumble of their voices carries to the n to Spanish d s449 blazoned with a Spanish quotation from Cuban independence fighter and poet Jose Marti: "There are two groups of men: those who love and build and those who hate and d d post-Castr- Perhaps the largest cigar factory is the mustard-coloreplant of Padron Cigars at 1566 W Flagler St which is owned by Orlando Padron a former Cuban revolutionary turned exile The front of the building is em if rj- - wrr £ ‘ v - AX “ MORRIS Ajl' r’- - i l AIR SERVICE vr l karsts cj'Oftx re - far ft A EUROPE by Doreen Carvajal Knight-Ridde- OAYNATV1t 4 4V’S v - ' ' is i |
