Holy hangover Batman! I woke up this morning to what I thought was a pounding on the door to the room. In reality it was my head notifying me that I was no longer as adept to drinking as I used to be. I assume it was the sugar combined with the alcohol, rather than the copious beverages consumed. I grabbed some Advil and water, my brother went downstairs to get some coffee for the both of us while I nursed my hangover with a nice shower. We sat around the hotel room for a little bit, before deciding on going jet skiing. We purchased two one-hour Jet Ski tours for 4pm, and decided on hitting the other side of South Beach Island for lunch. We called an Uber and was dropped off near a Cuban restaurant recommended by the Uber driver the night before. We arrived to find the place packed, and we not even the slightest bit hungry. Instead we decided to walk up and down the street. We seemed to be in a residential area. Bicyclists rode up and down the blocks as we passed a school and several apartment complexes. After walking a few blocks, we decided to head back to the more touristy area we were at last night with the assumption that we would be hungry by the time we arrived. We walked in the mid-day heat from one side to the other with little shade. I assume it was about a mile long walk. We passed a lot of construction, which made me laugh. I assume that it’s construction season in Miami. Finally we arrived near the restaurants and umbrellas which looked so vibrant the night before. We walked south of the Clevelander this afternoon. After walking, we found a place with a reasonably priced lunch time meal. My brother chose a sandwich, and I chose muscles in a butter pasta sauce. Our meals arrived after some time. I would described the food as completely marginal, and a little disappointing. Before lunch, I was excited to have some muscles because it’s not a dish I normally choose. The muscles were good, but the pasta was underwhelming, and the flavoring of the sauce was bland.
After lunch, we walked over to the beach. I rolled up my pants legs and played around in the water for a bit. My brother did not have sandals on, so he chose not to get his feet wet. Instead he enjoyed the scenery from the beach. We walked up the beach for a while, before cutting over onto the sidewalk. We stopped off at an Art Deco Store, on the beach. I was like a kid in a candy shop, because my favorite kind of architecture is Art Deco. My brother did not get as much enjoyment as I did. I assume that’s because he’s an accountant. Kidding! I have no idea what he does. I mean, he has told me, but it’s not in an industry I work in, so I do not have idea of his scope of work.
After leaving the Art Deco shop, we looked at the time and headed over towards the Jet Ski rental place. We showed up at a huge shopping center, and finally made our way to the Jet Ski rental counter. We got changed into our bathing suits, loaded up on sunscreen, and got safety trained on the Jet Ski. While on the water, I realized I was not nearly as adventurous as I had thought I was. I kept losing control of the Jet Ski and couldn’t seem to get going fast enough to make it anywhere. Finally I made it to a sandbar where the instructor met us. The water was about ankle deep, and we walked around for a little bit while he pointed out some of the features on the horizon. He also mentioned that the Jet Ski handles a lot better at 20mph, so that’s the sweet spot we should aim for. As we headed back out, he and all the others were far ahead of me as I started to speed up. We were VERY close to some rocks by the side of the beach. I kept it about 15 mph while I was going because I felt like I was going to fly into the rocks. Finally, when we got some open water away from the rocks, I let loose. “There it goes” I hit 20mph, and it started to handle much nicer. As I opened it up to 25-30mph, the handling improved and I started to really enjoy my time. On the way back to the harbor, we drove by a cruise ship leaving port. I was laughing because it felt like we were riding up next to the titanic during the opening scenes of the movie. We safely maneuvered around the ship, and cruised back into port.
After our Jet Ski landing, it was dinner time. My brother and I walked around the shopping stalls, only to find expensive and marginal food offerings. The shopping didn’t quite interest us either. We decided on a place about ½ mile away called CVI.CHE 105 it’s a trendy Peruvian restaurant. While walking over to the restaurant, we noticed storm clouds in front of us. In true Miami fashion, as soon as we were seated at our table, it started to come down in buckets. Jon and I grabbed an appetizer of potato in an egg like cream sauce, and beer. I chose the fish ceviche for my entrée, but could not finish it due to the size. We talked to the waiter for a little bit before deciding what to do next. The waiter was an extremely enthusiastic middle aged Peruvian gentleman. He really seemed passionate about the flavors of the meal, and enjoyed telling us about each dish. I relayed how excited I was to taste the flavors of the ceviche, and how light and flavorful the dish was. He offered to let us stay at the table while the rain subsided, so we sat around talking for another half hour. Finally, we decided to head back to the action and grab some drinks. We ended up drinking our way down the street again, while enjoying the ambiance of the scenery. We walked up towards some of the larger hotel chains, just to see what they looked like. I walked into one hotel that was filled with the most elegant ladies, all decked out. The men seemed to be dressed rather casual, but the ladies were all dressed to the nines as if heading to a banquet. I felt extremely under dressed in my jeans and old navy top with bathing suit sticking out. After grabbing a few more rounds, we decided to head back to the hotel and get some sleep.
