Stiltsville

A few months ago, El Hombre procured a boat. No particular reason why, he just wanted one, went on the hunt, and found one for a reasonable price. Once we got it all fixed up, we have been exploring the waters of Miami-Dade County. This past Sunday was no exception. We docked out of Coconut Grove and decided to find some new sites to explore. Afterall, Miami is a different city, even on the water, and there continues to be unique spots even at sea. Stiltsville is no exception.

Ever since I started seeing photos of these houses hovering above the water, I have been fascinated. Stiltsville has been around since the late 20s, early 30s and is apparently a hotspot during the spring and summer months for boaters to hang out on the sandbars and flats on the weekends. But these parties didn't start in the past few years, Stiltsville was one of the original party spots in Miami. Rumored to have been a hotbed for gambling and drinking during prohibition, people have been making their way out there since it's inception, to throw down and have a good time. Kind of fitting now, given Miami's reputation, right?

Now most of these homes are empty, their residents moving onto firmer grounds after hurricanes and storms. Seven homes remain, darkened windows and birds on roofs. The only way to get there is by boat, and stay far off during low tide or you may get stuck. Once we got out there, and found a safe place to drift without getting stuck, we admired these homes on stilts, like giants taking quiet moments over calm, clear blue waters while staring off at El Farito and Key Biscayne. You can't help but wonder what was life like back then. How did people weather the storms, how did they survive? Looking across the calm, serene blue water, did it make up for the terrifying nature of whipping winds from hurricanes and waterspouts? Did they flee conventional life to live free from traditions and societal pressure, and did they get lonely at all? We will never know, but it's interesting to imagine.

Of course I took a few photos:



To learn more about Stiltsville, check out the following links:
Biscayne National Park Info
Wikipedia entry
Miamism Article

If you don't have access to a boat, the South Florida Historical Museum offers a tour by Dr. Paul George, a leading South Florida Historian

Only in Miami

Typically I only stop in gas stations for one of three reasons. 1. to get gas. 2. to run into the bathroom on a long road trip and 3. to get a quick snack or drink, or to pick up beer on the way to a last minute shindig.

So when my cohort, JoFi suggested we meet up for dinner at the gas station, I was a bit, well, perplexed. You see, JoFi is someone I would typically refer to as a "foodie," so eating tapas in a gas station doesn't seem like his style. But I also sometimes forget that my cohort also has a taste for the offbeat experience as well.

So we met up in the back of the BP off of 17th street. Now, when you walk into the gas station, it's your typical setup. But when you walk into the back, you see the lights are darkened, and there's an entire wall of wines. Apparently, the restaurant El Carajo (I am always amused by their name) has a little mini restaurant in the back of the station. Complete with the full menu and no indication of such from the outside.

The food was actually pretty decent. I would never have thought I would sit at a full-serve restaurant in the back of a gas station. And I really never thought I would be brave enough to eat ceviche and drink wine, but both were surprisingly good. We also got tortilla and sliced fillet. When you go, you are able to pick a bottle of wine from the wall and they will open it (for an additional charge, but really it doesn't turn out any more expensive than any other normal restaurant. Our service was decent enough and there were a few other tables of people. JoFi explained to me that on the weekends, the gas station is packed to the brim.







He also explained that before it was a restaurant, the back of the BP was a garage, and you can still see where the lifts were, behind the brightly painted faux brick facade.

Would I go again? Of course. It was entertaining, decent food, and just the right amount of cheesy decor. Really, where else will you be able to sit down and eat in a gas station?

Only in Miami

I have posted about street vendors before, specifically the people you buy fruit, avocados and plants before. But this is something I hadn't seen yet.



I dunno, there's just something about buying fish off the back of a truck on the corner of Calle Ocho that says "food poisoning" to me. Maybe I'm just a tad too skeptical....

It strikes me as funny that it is not unusual to see peacocks around Coconut Grove, South Miami and parts of the Gables. They are so representative of most people in this city, preening and flaunting all they have.

Needless to say, when we were in the grove, we found a bunch:



It was pretty cool. I haven't seen any peacocks for a few months now. I sat for awhile, my camera trained on them, trying to grab a good shot of the whole group, but the trees were in the way. Finally, these two broke away and ran down the wall. I don't think they appreciated the paparazzi about them, though they were staring directly at me the whole time.

This was one of those "only in Miami" moments for me, I guess.

Only in Miami

Only in Miami would you get a flyer like this:

Only in Miami moment

So I was driving up US1 this afternoon, on my way to the gym and I had one of those, "only in Miami" moments.

Now normally when you are on the road in South Florida, you have to be fairly defensive because you never know what you are going to have swerve into your lane, car, motorcycle, moped, pedestrians, Iguana-the-size-of-a-pony, whatever.
But in the five years I have been here, I have never seen parrots become an issue. And I'm not talking about the little green parrots, I'm referring to the HUGE yellow and blue parrots that people pay thousands of dollars for.

It was a pair of said yellow and blue parrots the size of my cats that almost dive-bombed my car before the swooped up at the last minute. freaky