Arriving at Loews Hotel on South Beach 😊
Day 1
It was everything the hotel website made it look out to be and more. The views. Oh my.
Day 2
More scenic shots and a day of staying in and watching Suits. Yes, I needed it!
Days 3 & 4
Visit to Española Way, Big Bus Tour of Downtown, visit to Little Havana, Little Haiti & Ocean Drive at night!
Next Stop: Little Haiti!
I needed to go to pay tribute to my family's origins!
Above: picture of the Mache Ayisyen (Haitian Marketplace), also called the Caribbean Marketplace
Above: This is the back of a replica of a "tap tap" bus, which are public transportation buses driven in Haiti to take people around for very cheaply, I presume. In DR, these buses are called "guagua" and in Ghana, they're called "tro tro." I just noticed this, but isn't it funny how the names for these buses in these different cultures is the same word repeated twice?
There was an actual person waiting outside of the Haitian Marketplace to give people tours of Little Haiti while riding inside the bus! I didn't go on a tour though. It was a brutally hot day and only mid-May. The back of the bus says "Together, we are strong," or in other words, "In unity, there is strength," which is also the motto written on the Haitian flag. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that the Marketplace is inside what is known as the Little Haiti Cultural Complex - an awesome space dedicated to preserving Afro-Caribbean culture! Check out the Complex's page for more information on its assortment of venues, exhibits, and programming offered! Yes!
There was an actual person waiting outside of the Haitian Marketplace to give people tours of Little Haiti while riding inside the bus! I didn't go on a tour though. It was a brutally hot day and only mid-May. The back of the bus says "Together, we are strong," or in other words, "In unity, there is strength," which is also the motto written on the Haitian flag. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that the Marketplace is inside what is known as the Little Haiti Cultural Complex - an awesome space dedicated to preserving Afro-Caribbean culture! Check out the Complex's page for more information on its assortment of venues, exhibits, and programming offered! Yes!
South Beach & Ocean Drive
Day 5 is Goodbye
Goodbye to this...
This...
And this...
Sigh.
Hello Boston!
I booked this trip as a much-needed getaway. When I returned to work the day after my trip, I presided over a mediation, went to a professional development training in the evening, conducted a civil rights training for immigrants in the community the day after that, and continued prepping for a civil rights training that I'd be giving to local businesses a few weeks later. The week that I gave my civil rights training to local businesses, I was fortunate to spend a day reviewing scholarship applications for high school students across the US, delivered my training, and then packed for the civil rights conference that I went to in Indiana! See my Indiana pics for more.