LETTERS FROM THE LIVING
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Reached Miami, Florida in the unearthly hours of Sunday morning and checked in Malabo hotel (the pirated version of Malibu haha, and had the worst living conditions since our stay at Atlanta Youth hostel!). As most of the people concussed into mere oblivion at about 3am, we headed to the famous South Beach in the afternoon. It was very crowded with sun-worshippers, sea-swimmers, partying spring breakers and lots of locals and tourists. Played beach volleyball, Frisbee, football, sun tanning in the process and saw the occasional topless babe too. The guys also went on a raging rampage to start dunking dry people from our group into the chilling waters. The sunset and the dwindling crowd also signaled the end of the day at the beach.
Had a stomach upset throughout the late dinner. To make matters worse, the poor service and lousy expensive food did not help the situation much. Then the first drama happened when we went sightseeing at night. We drove more than 3 hrs to search for an elusive lighthouse and on the way back, one of the vehicles met an accident on the highway. It was not serious but some suffered bruising bumps and emotional trauma. In the end, the road trip to Key West was cancelled and we spent another day at South Beach.
The second day at South Beach was very fruitful for me. After a late lunch, Calvin and I decided to go sightseeing around the area. and soon I began on a secret quest to find Miami Ink; the famous tattoo parlor that has its own reality tv show on Discovery Travel and Living channel on cable. I was a follower of the series and the idea of visiting the shop and hopefully meet the stars on the show sent Goosebumps down my body. Jackpot! We stumbled upon the shop and began to frantically take pictures - along with many other excited tourists and customers! Alas, it was a shame that the shop was handed to other people to do the tattoos. The stars only do the tattooing during filming on weekends.
Went back to the beach to play catch and when we were heading back, we saw a commotion along the beach. There was a photoshoot and I sensed it was the guys from Miami Ink. I sped towards the area and to my amazement, it was them! All five of them!! They weere shooting for the new season of Miami Ink and were there to take the photos during sunset. Soon, I went forward and requested to take pictures with Yoji, Chris and Ami. What are the odds of meeting them?! Thank God!!
Next stop: The Island of Bahamas
Laid to Rest at 12:03 PM;
