Off Again: Day 7

Spent time this morning re-organizing suitcases so I’m organized for the morning, leaving a small suitcase behind in the car; I also phoned the hotel in Santo Domingo to arrange for the shuttle to pick me up at the airport tomorrow.  Then I bought my ticket for the Hop On, Hop Off and headed down Callie Ocho to the Big Bus bus stop in Little Havana.  I ended up parking twice.  My first spot was a Phone Pay and I didn’t know how to use it.  Someone told me there was free parking in behind so I went around the block and found a parking spot on the street in a lovely residential area.  I parked across the street from this beautiful house.

I was able to purchase a Spanish frittata for breakfast at a little bakery right where the Big Bus stops and I didn’t have long to wait for it to come along.  With all the car shuffling, I forgot my sweater in the back seat and it was quite cool and windy on top of the double decker.  The bus was heading directly to the ticket booth at Bayfront Park where I was to show my eticket and receive a hard copy ticket.  Well, the eticket they sent me didn’t show the bar code so there was a big hassle before the guy finally took a picture of my receipt and printed me a ticket.  There is a large area with a wall and message and a sculpture of  JFK.  Then the bus was ready to head off to the island, Miami South, and the iconic Art Deco buildings on the strip.  Some of my pictures are here but more can be found here.

After the island, we drove through an area called Wynwood where there was a lot of street art.  It was quite amazing.  I wish I had been able to get capture more of them on camera but here’s some of what I did get.

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When we arrived back at Little Havana, I had lunch at a place called El Pub and took out something for supper as well.  It was very much the Cuban culture — loud music, loud conversation, Cuban menu — and I was there quite awhile.  I was also able to do a little shopping.  I’ve been doing quite well with picking up some things for friends and relatives and also picked up a couple of really lightweight tops that should serve me well in the DR.

I need an early start to get the car to the parking lot and the shuttle to the airport.  I’ve signed in for the flight, so that is done.  Tomorrow night I’ll be writing from Santo Domingo, DR.