Would you recommend Calle Ocho to tourists?

[jbravo]

Originally Posted by Brutal Force

What the hell?

It was colombians who brought the drugs to miami in the first place, cubans came during the mariel boatlift and started DISTRIBUTING the drugs for the colombians.

During the 60s CIA trained Cuban needed to finance their operations. They already had the contacts in South America (CIA) and unlike the Italians were more accepted in South America.
Later there were ingenious US citizens that took it to a whole new level with very wide distribution. I would say there were probably not more 5 people that were the geniuses (not being sarcastic) that expanded, what up to that time, had been the activity of a few entrepreneurs.
By the 80s cocaine was so prevalent that you found it at parties of school teachers.
The days of the Columbians that followed marked a period of violence and it is true that they took over a lot of the distribution themselves. But notice that they came in as distributors much later and after two previous groups had marked the way.

[Loggerhead Shrike]

I am sure you mean ColOmbians, not ColUmbians. They are not from Washington DC. And who cares who contributed more. Anyone involved was scum. Cubans, Colombians, Anglos whatever.

[somebodymiami]

Originally Posted by thumbelina

I've come across lost tourists in downtown Miami several times recently who want to know how to get to Little Havana. My response? "Are you SURE you want to go there????" And I managed to talk them out of it each time. Maybe if they had a car they could see for themselves. But it would always be by bus and my opinion is that it totally is not worth it.

What the heck are guidebooks saying about Calle Ocho that makes people want to go there? I could see maybe on Viernes Culturales, but we're talking 5 pm on a weekday.

I travel a lot and I'm always grateful when locals give me advice, even when it goes against the Chamber of Commerce party line. But I'm wondering, am I just a jaded local who doesn't appreciate the wonderment of SW 8th Street? Opinions welcome! And if you can convince me, next time I'll just keep quiet and point them to the bus stop

I live on 8th street myself... Im a white male..... Its not that bad but good luck finding someone who knows english... ( Mainly the younger people know more english than the older people ).... Some parts of 8th are pretty bad others are nice.

[big mean bear]

Originally Posted by somebodymiami

I live on 8th street myself... Im a white male..... Its not that bad but good luck finding someone who knows english... ( Mainly the younger people know more english than the older people ).... Some parts of 8th are pretty bad others are nice.

Thanks for telling the truth. I understand why 8th street might lack 'English fluency'... But there are so many people on 8th street who know no English whatsoever. Not even a basic sentence...or a couple of English words put together...

[gymbuff]

Actually this may shed some light on things. I have afriends whose family was visiting from Pennsylvania. One Sunday morning, he took them to The Biltmore for brunch and sightseeing around Coral Gables, which is quite understandable. On the way home, he drove east on 8th street to show them what La Calle Ocho and Little Havanah was all about. He told me that not only did his family enjoy the ride on 8th street, they wanted to stop to savor some local treats. He treated them to guarapo, which was a surprisingly delicious new treat for them. Therefore, while we jaded locals see Calle 8 as a grimy trashy street, tourists MAY have a different opinion.