Miami - “Cuba - What Went Wrong?” I am looking at that question on the front cover of the May Day edition of Newsweek. It is accompanied by a picture of a belicose Fidel Castro. But the dateline isn't 1 May 2015. Instead, it is the same date in 1961.
The further you stray from the waterside in Miami, the more the heat and humidity intensify. By the time you reach the heart of Little Havana, about three miles south-west of downtown Miami, the pace of life slows right down. You get the impression that time has stood still for more than half a century.
No one calls South West Eighth Street by its official name. It's Calle Ocho, the drowsy main street for Miami's large Cuban population. And right now many of those people are feeling uneasy at the way President Obama has softened the sanctions against the last bastion of Communism in the west. While the US president shakes hands with his Cuban counterpart, Fidel's (slightly) younger brother, Raúl, many locals still regard the Castro pair as enemies of freedom and democracy.
Cuba's military commander in the 19th-century war of independence is commemorated in Máximo Gómez Park, on the corner of SW 15th Avenue. Octogenarian men who fell out with their contemporaries, Fidel and Raúl, play out their days with dominos. Two blocks east, a marble needle points towards the sun. “A los matires de la Brigada de Asalto 2506,” reads the inscription on the memorial to the victims of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
Close by, in a modest single-storey timber structure, the Museum and Library of the 2506 Assault Brigade, better known as the Bay of Pigs Museum, continues the story of the catastrophic CIA-backed attempt to overthrow the Castro regime (1821 SW Ninth Street; 001 305 649 4719; [email protected]; 9am-4pm Monday-Friday, admission free.) It is here that you find that Newsweek front page of unusual durability, as well as the now-declassified invasion strategy - a spidery master plan seemingly sketched out on a scruffy sheet of paper. More than 100 counter-revolutionaries died in the attack and over 1 500 were taken prisoner, while Fidel won round one of the propaganda war.
The museum is one intriguing element of a stay in downtown Miami - a world away from its more celebrated neighbour, South Beach. It offers waterside walks, plus monuments to the South American champion of independence, Simón Bolívar, and the astronauts of the doomed Challenger space shuttle.
UNPACK
You'll have to wait a few more months for downtown Miami's hotel revolution to begin, because EAST Miami (east-miami.com), part of a billion-dollar development, is running late. It mirrors existing hotels in Hong Kong and Beijing. The promise is for 263 rooms (the biggest in Miami), a “paperless arrival and departure experience” and a rooftop bar.
Until then, there are many great properties on Miami Beach - a 20-minute bus ride from downtown. While seafront properties can be absurdly expensive, rates fall a block or two from the ocean. I paid $203 (about R2 400) a night for a family room at the 1930s Hotel Astor at 956 Washington Avenue (001 305 531 8081; hotelastor.com).
THINK LOCAL
Miami's octagonal Freedom Tower rises elegantly amid the dowdy surroundings in the north of downtown Miami. It is arguably the most notable monument in downtown Miami - built in 1925 as the home for a local newspaper, and now the Miami Dade College Museum of Art + Design (001 305 237 7700; mdc.org; noon-5pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays; free). Its structure is rich in detail on the outside, while inside the intricate decoration embellishes a new purpose. The Freedom Tower is home to a gallery devoted to the Cuban Exile Experience, as a result of its temporary use - from 1962 to 1974 - as a holding centre for refugees from that troubled island. “The Ellis Island of the South,” is how it is described by the US government.
EAT
“The best Cuban sandwich is here,” is the common boast along Calle Ocho, but gravitate to Versailles at 3555 SW Eighth Street (001 305 444 0240; versaillesrestaurant.com) for the hottest place north of Havana. Some on the island will dispute whether it is “the world's most famous Cuban restaurant”, but since it opened in 1971 it has become a landmark. The signature dish is the Cuban sandwich (ham, pork, cheese; $6.50).
DRINK
The Bayside Marketplace, north of Bayfront Park, began life as a way to fill in a bit of space to the east of Downtown and for tourists to fill in a bit of time before their cruise ships departed. Over a couple of decades it has gained in character, and has a range of options for a sundowner by the water - of which the most amusing is the Let's Make a Daiquiri kiosk on the boardwalk. The cocktail that began life on the southern coast of Cuba now fuels early evening exuberance in Miami. The drinks are not exactly cheap, typically around $10, but unlike in a “real” bar you are not obliged to tip grandly.
SPEND
Calle Ocho is a fascinating place for window-shopping, with the feel that you could be in Downtown Guatemala City (Cubans do not have a monopoly on Little Havana). You'll look in vain for Che souvenirs, but there is an abundance of fripperies in the colours of the Cuban flag. For men, the best way to experience the place is to have a shave at one of the Cuban barbers - around $5.
DON'T MISS
The amazing Metromover - Miami's mesmerising elevated railway - is strangely under-rated by visitors, even though it guides you around downtown in spectacular fashion and is free for all travellers. From 5am to midnight, the automated shuttles run along an Inner Loop that covers most of the city centre. The Brickell Loop runs south, including a stop at Eighth Street, that is handy for Little Havana, while the Omni Loop runs north and has a station by the Freedom Tower. Metromover even has an Art on Route self-guided cultural tour (bit.ly/MetMovArt).
miamiandbeaches.com
The Independent on Sunday