Miami- I live among the creatures of the night

We are back in Sarasota now at my sister's apartment (more on that later) but a little bit more on Miami. As I said, I was tasked with driving Hayley and Amisha out for a night on the town last night. Before taking off, we went for a short walk to a pharmacy to get some groceries. Well, on the way there we walked by a restaurant that was closing up, and one of the workers opened the door to shake out a rug or something. It was a black fella, and I took him to be a Hatian immigrant. He saw the three of us coming (Jiayi stayed back at the room) then looked at me and smiled, then slid his finger across his throat in the universal "You're dead" signal, then just walked back inside without word. I'm still not really quite sure what to make of that. I mean, I have heard that Miami, like any big city, can get pretty rough in some spots. But that was just downright creepy.

Threats to my person aside, it is kind of hard for me to pass judgment on Miami. Our time there was pretty brief, and all of it was spent in the South Beach area. Before we left the city for good, I requested we at least drive through Little Havana, which seemed pretty interesting. We also stopped briefly in an area known as Coconut Grove, which had all these little shops. I found it disappointing though, nothing too much of interest.

Miami didn't seem too much like my kind of town though. South Beach had a real party atmosphere, and I am not a big party person. That said, you really can't beat the weather.

Anyway, we arrived back into Sarasota around six in the afternoon, at it wasn't such a pleasant return. Hayley has two cats, and while we were gone their self-cleaning litter box stopped working, so they used the whole apartment as their personal litter box. They shit in a couple spots, and, most unfortunate, pissed on the blankets and pillows Jiayi and I were using. The apartment, despite our efforts with candles and spray, still has a bit of a stench to it, which should make sleeping tonight an interesting affair.

Despite being threatened by Haitian busboys and sleeping in what smells like a Mumbai slum, I am liking Florida. As long as I can still wear shorts out in sunny 70 degree-with-a-light-breeze weather, I'll take the problems as they come.