Cinco de MiMo

Happy 6th of May!

I don't know why, but Cinco de Mayo is always a huge party, no matter where you live. Miami was no exception. But what's interesting to me is not necessarily drowning in Corona and tequila, but going to some of the off-beat parties and festivals. One such festival was the Cinco de Mimo on the upper east side of Miami. We went on Saturday to catch the farmers' market, where I learned my favorite ceviche guy is going to Las Olas on the weekends, and walk up and down and see the artists, try some food and scope out the vintage venders. It was a pretty relaxed scene, with a huge variety of people also wandering the streets, perusing the side carts.



The food from Michy's. Cause nothing goes better than red velvet cupcakes, shrimp and wine. El Hombre had the shrimp and enjoyed it. I was still munching on ozzarella, zucchini and pesto from Wine 69 so I passed.

One thing I like about MiMo are all the old-school motels like this one:


And of course the Vagabond:


Many of the outdoor venders were selling art, antiques and mod-style clothing and furnature:



And then there was this treasure:


Along the way, El Hombre made some friends:


Of course you will find vintage cars in many festivals in Miami:


And when you walked back to scope them, you found some tasty treats:


When we walked back into the Upper East Side Garden, we found a bunch of hipsters selling handmade clothing and items out of recycled materials. Like this bag:


As we walked around, we saw artists (including Alex Yanes,who apparently designed the Publix calendar) and this guy:


We also saw this historic landmark:


I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but it was a hot day. Of course because it's May and this is South Florida. But some came up with their own solutions to handle the heat, and everyone stopped to stare:

Carnaval on the Mile

This is super late, I realize that. But sadly, this is the first time I have had the time and energy to sit down in front of my computer for any reason other than work for the past two weeks. I had been waffling over creating a post about COTM because it's been so late, but ultimately I decided better late than never. And the main deciding factor was because the two days I went, I was super relaxed. Maybe writing about that stage will bring some bliss into my life, right?

Anyway. So we went on the Friday kickoff event/Coral Gables Art Walk to see Conjunto Progresso, who were fantastic, as usual. The crowd had been milling around the stage for the previous band, but when Conjunto started, they gathered close to the stage, people played maracas and danced salsa with their loved ones. It was awesome.



It's hard to see in this light, but the band had as much fun playing as people did listening to them. They were an eclectic crew, most of which played several instruments and the younger guys liked to dance in sync. It was really fun.

As you walked around, there were the standard artists in the circles, as well as cigar rollers:

To me, the whole event of the Coral Gables Art Walk is a homage to the Cuban culture, with art galleries that happen to be open. And speaking of galleries, you tend to find some sort of vintage car outside at least one. But this one was unique:


During the actual Carnaval on the Mile, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, there were street vendors, food, art (most of it generic, but some good things in between) and bands. Lots of bands. With a lineup of Suenalo, Afrobeta, Locos por Juana, ArtOfficial, Brendan O'Hare and Conjunto Progresso, you cannot go wrong.

This was Brendan O'Hare. Super awesome sound.




And here are some scenes from COTM:




(Another example of art that is a homage to Latin culture... And one of my favorite things, Coffee)


There were lots of dogs. I kept pointing out the ones I liked as examples to El Hombre



Lebo Car!

I think my favorite thing was the fact that I was in my comfy bathing suite and BoHo gear, walking around in the sun, largely by myself at first, just exploring. After I got a free 5 minute massage from BlueCross BlueShield, I grabbed a coffee and a little table off the walkway, and soaked in the sun, listened to the bands in the distance and just relaxed, watching people with their families run past, looking at the street performers, games, giveaways and wares.

South Miami Art Fest

This weekend I was really excited to go to the Greek Festival because the one in Charlotte is really cool. Man. This one had nothing on it. So we ditched out the festival and drove to South Miami for the art festival. It's set up like the Carnival on the Mile, only with no stages and much smaller. I like both of these festivals because they are the opposite of the Coconut Grove Art Festival - smaller and less crowded.

We are in "perfect weather" season of Miami, with temperatures reaching into the upper 70s and low 80s, which makes walking around outside, not only bearable, but actually enjoyable.

Which is why I was perplexed to see these on sale for $200:


I also thought it was interesting that there were fake orchids, considering you can throw a rock and hit an orchid stand in this city (even on side streets)



There were alot of artists hawking traditional landscapes, and the overly colorful caribbean-influenced art that I am not crazy about. But there were some "pop art" pieces that caught my eye, including this artist, who designed this year's Carnival on the Mile poster:


There was also this artist, who had an interesting use of mixed media on canvas. I liked this picture because it had a cat:


This one caught my eye, I forget the artist:


And speaking of cats, this one was hanging with his owner:


But the South Miami Art Fest wasn't all about cats and art, there was food too:


And puppets!




And if you want to adopt a greyhound (I'm not poking fun, my friends have adopted two from this organization) then you could talk to the Greyhound Rescue Mission: