Ski week this year found me traveling, although not to Hawaii as has been tradition for the past several years. Instead, I headed east to a very different coast to visit my sister in her new place in Miami. Esther has been living in Miami off and on over the last two years and it was wonderful to finally get to visit her and my Aunt Milda. I think the last time I was in Miami was over ten years ago and considering the University of Miami for colleges.
Esther lives on Miami Beach, which in terms of weather, architecture, culture, and people, feels like a world away from my home in San Francisco. I spent many of my days running and walking around on the boardwalk in South Beach where people watching provided hours of entertainment. Miami Beach is a weird mix of high fashion and barely-there one-piece clubbing outfits, exclusive resorts and run-down, sleazy hotels, skinny tan blonds and weather-beaten longtime locals who look like they have spent a few too many years in the sun. The Latin American culture was pervasive as was that of the South Beach diet. I felt more than a little out of place, to say the least.
It was incredibly fun, however, to explore the culture and the natural environment of the area, especially as it meant that I got to spend several days with my sister in her world- something that we have not had the chance to do in quite some time.
My sister's cute studio apartment in Miami Beach was just a short walk from the flashy shops and restaurants of South Beach but provided a welcome respite from both the chaos outside and the heat.
Esther took the day off from her job at a fashion PR firm to come play with me on Friday. After getting the driving tour of Miami, we ended up at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens which were absolutely amazing. In addition to having examples of the flora of the Florida region, the Gardens are involved with conservation of plants from tropical areas throughout the world giving us the opportunity to see examples of flora from places like Madagascar.
A beautiful beobab tree waiting for spring to start regrowing its leaves
One of the coolest things about the gardens were the several art installations that were incorporated into the gardens. These included sculptures and art by Botero, Chihuly and Roy Lichtenstien. The pieces of Chuhuly's work that were features were several incredible hand blown glass sculptures, including a beautiful tree made entirely of colorful glass (http://www.chihuly.com/). Roy Lichtenstien (http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/), who is perhaps better known for his pop art cartoon-like drawings, had several pieces of sculpture on display that were fun in the way they demonstrated his unique style in three dimensions. What I enjoyed most, however, was the way that the art was woven into the tapestry of the gardens, such as this piece by Lichtenstein shown below. The sculptures seems to be hidden among the trees and ponds as though they themselves were growing there along with the tropical flora.
The sisters posing at the Fairchild Gardens
Later that day, Esther and I took in Sunset across Biscayne Bay from a beach on Key Biscayne. The beach we found also happened to be a favorite with the kite boarders; at one point there had to be at least 20 of them sailing around on the water in front of us. The buildings in the distance are those of Coconut Grove, just south of Miami proper.
Does this even need an explanation? Do people really need to be told not to try to pet the alligators? Apparently so...
Saturday found Esther and I driving west to visit the Everglades National Park. I have to admit that before this trip, I only had a vague sense of what the everglades were and why it is both so difficult and imperative to protect them. Briefly, all of southern Florida was, in its natural state, a wetland watershed where water, flows south from Lake Okeechobee through and underneath almost all of southern Florida until it reaches either the Gulf of Mexico. The park itself only protects about 1/5 of this area- primarily the lower and coastal sections of the watershed. Although the land of southern Florida is quite flat, even small changes in elevation can have a huge effect of the flora and fauna of the area and result in nine or so distinct habitats in the area. These include cypress groves, coastal wetlands, mangrove forests, and sawgrass marshes. With this diversity of habitats comes a diversity of life of both plants and animals living there. The problem, however, is that while the lower sections of the watershed are protected from further development, upstream uses of the water that feed the Everglades threaten the health and further existence of the Everglades as a wetland system. Much of the water from Lake Okeechobee is diverted for agriculture and other human uses, leaving less and less to flow through the Everglades. In addition, increasing agricultural runoff also affects the water quality of the water that does make it through.Esther and I had an incredible day exploring two different ecosystems in the Everglades. We spent the morning walking out the raised trail at Shark Valley. After getting excited about seeing alligators lounging in the pools of water off the side of the trail, they quickly became a dime a dozen as they seemed to be everywhere! We did spend quite a bit of time birding, however, getting to see several species that I will never see further west.
This great blue heron was just one of the man birds we saw on our hike. Other birds to add to the life list: the endangered woodstork, a great egret, red shouldered hawk, a bald eagle, tons of anhingas, a purple gallinule and a pileated woodpecker.
A strangler tree wraps itself around a cypress tree on the Cypress Bend boardwalk trail
