missing miami already

It won't be for another few months until I leave town for Ann Arbor, but I'm already pining away for that sabor Miami. It's something that's hard to explain until you've experienced it, and even then it's easy to take it for granted once you've got it. Miami is unlike anywhere I've ever been - sort of a awkward combination of everything I've ever seen in another country. It doesn't come together easily by any means. People are angry here, people can be hostile towards those who aren't from the same country, but every now and again there is a break through.

Today on a stroll down Lincoln Road after my yoga class, I overheard two men talking, in Spanish (I'll write it in English):

"Can I have one of those," one man says pointing to the other's cigarette.
The other man reaches to his pocket to give him one, and says,"What country are you from?"
"I am Bolivian," the man replies.
"Oh, I am from Uruguay," he smiles and lights the cigarette for his new compatriot.

While simple, this kind of exchange made me smile. Two men, who don't know each other, share something. In the process they learn where one another are from. Even if this exchange never moves beyond knowing the others' country of origin, something is gained - a knowledge that there are so many people living in Miami who are from somewhere else and each has their story to tell.

Miami truly fascinates me and I will miss so many things about it's sabor (flavor).

And the list begins: (in no particular order)Let me make a disclaimer: this is by no means comprehensive, and I am not including anything which specifically deals with missing certain people...trying to stick to experiences.
1. The sunrise over the Julia Tuttle Causeway
2. Arepas in any grocery store
3. Israeli cheese has just appeared in the "new" Publix on the Beach
4. Sweaty yoga (just cause it's hot outside)
5. Cuban spanglish
6. Brazilian Portuguese
7. Sports beach (3rd and the sand)
8. Yoga on the beach
9. the Boardwalk and the Sweat Sisters
10. 30 min flight to the Bahamas
11. driving to Key West
12. Ethnic Bakeries (Haitian, Jamaican, Argentinean, Jewish, Cuban) run by those people
13. Creole radio on NPR
14. the Venetian Causeway
15. Palm Trees
16. Cafe con Leche from anywhere, not just a cuban restaurant
17. preparing to hunker down for a low-grade hurricane
18. the hurricane kit my hunny has so dutifully prepared
19. south pointe park and the pier
20. that Epicure has turned from a store for little Jewish old ladies into a gourmet market for everyone

More to come. . .