Little Havana is Miami’s most colourful, vibrant and characteristic neighbourhood, and the closest many people can ever get to Cuba itself. Want to dive into this unique concentration of Cuban and Hispanic culture? Here’s how.
Immerse yourself in Cuban culture at Viernes Culturales.
Ocho Calle (8th Street) has always been at the heart of Miami’s Cuban community – Little Havana centres around it. On the last Friday of every month, its hosts a street fair called Viernes Culturales (Cultural Fridays) between 14th and 17th Avenues. With dancing, dominoes games, cigar rollers, Cuban cafecitos, mojitos, artists and live music, Viernes Culturales is like a crash course in Cuban culture. Free walking tours, led by famed Miami historian Dr. Paul George, leave from the Tower Theater at 7pm during the festival.
Feast.
Little Havana’s got loads of charming restaurants and hole-in-the-wall joints serving up classic Cuban dishes like “congri” (black beans and white rice), “sandweech Cubano” (pressed ham sandwich) and lechon asado (slow roasted pork).
Learn how to dance, Cuban style.
Latin America has a rich tradition of dancing. So it should come as no surprise that Little Havana, a neighbourhood with a population that’s 98 per cent Hispanic, takes dancing pretty seriously. Try your hand, or should we say feet, at Afro-Cuban folkloric dance, salsa, merengue, tango or flamenco.
Watch veteranos slap fichas in Domino Park.
Every day dozens of the neighbourhood’s old boys descend on Maximo Gomez Park – known better as “Domino Park” – to play passionate and animated games of dominoes and chess. Just watching can offer a real flavour of the community. There’s a delightful rhythmic quality to their games and discussions – the cool slap of the fichas (tiles), the knock of a fist when a turn has to be passed, the click and shuffle of the pack in preparation – all comprise a backing track to the players’ lyrical comments about the game and the latest neighbourhood gossip.
Buy a cigar in Calle Ocho.
Calle Ocho is the place to buy a cigar in America. More than that, it’s possible to watch them being crafted at one of the handful of factories nearby – a rare treat since most of the world’s cigar production takes place behind the closed doors of free trade zones. Don’t miss El Credito Cigar Factory, home of the world-famous non-Cuban La Gloria Cubana cigar.
Honourable mention: Every March, Calle Ocho hosts a giant street party. Known as the Calle Ocho Festival, it attracts upwards of a million visitors each year.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Image: wallyg)
