The next day we drove back to Little Havana and met up with our local tour guide, Ralph. It was supposed to be with a small group, but it turned out that we were his only booking that day, and we had him all to ourselves! We had a great time chatting with him about about Cuban history and culture in Miami. He took us first to a little juice bar/market where we drank some guava juice. Then we had a Cuban sandwich for lunch with another yummy mojito. Ralph took us to Domino Park where we watched some older men play as he explained the game to us and how it became such a popular thing in the area. We went into a pub and ate a delicious beef empanada, cuban style. So yummy! Then we learned about cuban coffee and may or may not have had a small taste. A local peanut street seller came in and gave us a cone of his roasted peanuts. We went into a cuban cigar store and watched a man roll some of those famous cigars. That was pretty interesting. He took us into a guayabera (cuban shirt) and hat store. The store owner (a friend of Ralph's) came over to us and said hello and picked out a hat for Matt that actually fits his head. Matt was pretty excited about finally finding a cool hat. Somewhere in this three hour tour, we were treated to an ice cream taste testing of unique cuban flavors. We got to pick our favorite and have it in a cup. Lastly we ate churros. They were cooked the way they make them in Spain, not Mexico. They are super thin and crisp. Really delicious. We were stuffed! It was such a fun way to spend half our day learning new things and trying new foods.
