Me o my am me twentyfive… 3.24.25

Me o my am me twentyfive… 3.24.25

After being here for almost 4 weeks, I started to run out of museums to go to, especially on a Monday. While most cities close museums on Mondays, this one has some closed on Monday and some on Tuesday and some on both. I looked around and finally found one. It was the Bay of Pigs Museum in little Havana, about a 30 minute walk from my place. 

I had known about this museum and kind of wrote it off as a place that would just have some posters and relics. Today I was forced into going and I am glad that I did. 

It started with a video that explained the general situation of the time. The leader of Cuba in the 40’s and 50’s was Fulgencio Batista who was elected in 1940 and then became a dictator from 1952 to 1958. This caused widespread dissatisfaction and 4 main groups opposed his leadership. They worked together and on February 16th, 1959 they overthrew Batista.  The leader of the biggest group, Fidel Castro, assumed power.   Some people were nervous about Castro because he had some communist leanings. Shortly thereafter, with the influence of Che Guevara and other revolutionaries from South America, he declared himself a communist and took over more and more power. At the time, Eisenhower was the president and, of course, Eisenhower was a military man. They started making plans to invade Cuba because he was taking too much power and controlling the people and also threatening US and international corporations and assets. Eisenhower had a plan in place but they didn’t get a chance to execute it before the election. As we all know, Kennedy beat Nixon in the election. By the time Kennedy got around to the Bay of pigs invasion it was already April of 1961 which was just 3 months after his inauguration. The original plan made by Eisenhower was to fly in troops to the mountainous region in the center of Cuba where they would set up a stronghold and create a provisional government. However, Kennedy was very concerned about something called plausible deniability. In other words he did not want it to appear that the US was involved in the invasion. Because of that, they decided to change the plan around. Rather than fly the troops into the center of Cuba they decided on a boat landing and they thought that they could disguise it to look like it was the Cuban people who were fighting back. However, the plan was rather ill-conceived and poorly planned. The initial plan called for us to bomb the three main airports in Cuba so that would disable the Air Force attacks. They made three bombing raids with disguised aircraft that mimicked Cuban aircraft and at that time Cuba immediately objected in the United Nations. The US put forth there the lie that it was Cubans who were behind the raid and the Cuban ambassador was able to prove with photographs that these were not Cuban planes they had just been slightly altered to look like Cuban planes. The US ambassador to the United Nations at the time, Adley Stevenson, the twice former candidate for president, had not been informed of the operation. He was so incensed that he went to see Kennedy and told him he was going to resign if they were not more forthcoming about the operation. Kennedy relented and suspended any additional bombings. This was a crucial mistake. This left the Cuban air force intact and they were able to control the airspace. Also the CIA did not realize that there was a huge coral reef right outside the Bay of Pigs which was near the city of Giron in Cuba. That meant when the US ships came to dock and leave off the soldiers they crashed on the coral reef and were destroyed. At that time Cuban airplanes were able to attack the troops and also attack and sink some of these ships that were offshore. It was a real fiasco.

There were about 1500 troops that were involved in the operation and those who were not killed were captured. 

The first part of the tour involved watching a 15 minute video about the event and then the woman came in and talked to us. I asked some questions and that got us involved in a rather long discussion about some things that were not clear. There were two other people at the museum who watched the film with me.  They were a couple and the woman’s grandfather was in the invasion. I think perhaps he died there. In any event, it was very emotional for her. Our guide kept saying that she was hoping that one of the survivors would be there and almost as if on cue,  when we were done with the movie he came into the museum. 

His name was Mario Martinez and he was only 18 when the original invasion took place. He told us that after they were captured they were kept in very small cells about 10 feet by 10 feet with mud floors and that they were not treated well. For example, they were fed the same food for up to 6 months at a time. The first 6 months he remembered clearly was just spaghetti with no meatballs and then after 6 months they changed to beans and rice. Since the Kennedy administration was still  insisting on plausible denial they would not pay the Cuban governments’ ransom which was something like 53 million dollars or 50,000 to $500,000 for each prisoner. Prisoners who were more highly educated or higher rank had to pay more, which seemed to our survivor to be completely inconsistent with the Cuban communist platform that all people were going to be equal in the new Communist society. The Kennedy administration found a way to allow companies in the US to pay the actual money so that the government was not technically involved. It was not well publicized but the companies later got tax breaks for doing that. Eventually, all  the survivors were released after 2 years. They  were given a lot of benefits by the government including GI Bill-like benefits to go to college, food help, and housing help. Mr. Martinez took advantage of this and went to school and got his bachelor’s degree in engineering and later got an MBA. Later he was employed by McDonald Douglas and was involved  in the design of the DC 10 airplanes. He said that he himself was still a fervent anti Castro activist and all those years that he lived he sent up to $50,000 a year to help support underground groups and to help bring in food and medicine. He did not seem like he was a person who was filled with hatred, rather, he seemed like a man at peace with himself. He had had a family and children and grandchildren now he was 80. 

Also in the museum were a lot of artifacts including some of the guns used, some of the weapons, and a lot more information about the Battle. It outlined in detail, the different political groups that were vying for power at the time. There were also detailed maps of the invasion and time lines. Even though this was a temporary museum because they’re moving a few years, I thought it was very well done and very complete. It just goes to show you how politics works and the behind the scenes actions and what the forces are that determine what the outcome would be. Certainly Kennedy’s obsession with plausible deniability caused him to change the plan by Master tactician Eisenhower to something that was much worse and ill conceived. At the end, Mr. Martinez told us the same advice that he gave to all young people he talked to at schools and seminars around the country. “No one is going to help you in this life except your parents. You can’t expect help from your brothers or sisters or friends or the government. It just won’t happen. Remember that. “.  It seemed like odd advice to give to children but perhaps he is true. There are many examples of  siblings, cousins, friends, strangers, and the government doing harmful things to one another. 

I spent about an hour and a half at the museum and then had the 30 minute walk home. On the way I stopped to get some essentials. It was about 1:30 when I headed out after a rest and eating something.  My plan was to go back to Miami Beach. I had found one of the nicest busking places that I had ever seen before. That was the main factor in my decision. In a way I was departing from my mission to explore Miami, but playing street music is also a part of my mission. 

First stop was  the beach. As long as I was here to play street music, I might as well take advantage of the beach. It was a very windy day with the wind blowing in from shore. I thought this would be good because I reasoned that the waves should be bigger with the wind blowing from behind. I walked around and found some women who were sitting there doing nothing and asked him if they would watch my stuff.  However, they were not very friendly at all. Again I was admiring all the muffins around; all kinds of muffins; skinny muffins, roasted-to-a-golden-brown muffins, fat muffins, shouldn’t be wearing a thong muffin, beach ball muffins. I, on the other hand was dressed all In white with my hat on.  I had forgotten my sunscreen so I had to be extra careful. 

I went swimming and I was surprised even though the waves were big it was not easy to catch any. Although I did catch a few waves and that was wonderful.  I had heard that there was a coral reef a few hundred yards off the beach here. I went to the lifeguard stand and asked them about the coral reef. I asked them if I could swim out there and look at it and they looked at me like I was crazy.  “What on a day like today? You won’t see anything. It’s all clouded up.” These guys knew the water intimately. So I just had to satisfy myself with body surfing today even though I still had brought my mask. Also the lifeguard said that the coral reef was about 400 yards out. I’m a strong swimmer but I didn’t know if I felt comfortable swimming out 400 yards unless I had some kind of flotation device with me which I didn’t. I just went out to catch waves.  I was only in the water for 15 minutes when I decided to go back and engage in my favorite activity on the beach which is, of course, napping. After a good nap I moved down even further closer to the pier where I would later be playing nearby. I had another good session and talked to a few people in the water. I ran into a woman who was teaching a young girl how to boogie board. I asked her if she was a teacher and she asked me if I needed lessons and I said no.  She said, “ You look like you’re having a lot of fun just with body surfing”. I watched her get the young girl started and the girl had her first wave ride ever. She and the teacher were so excited for the moment. A whole new world had opened up for the girl. It was like falling in love for the first time.  To feel that rush of acceleration for the first time. 

Around 4:45 I headed over to the promenade where I would be playing, right on the southern tip of Miami Beach where there was a channel about 400 yards wide for the boats to go in and out. It was especially exciting watching the cruise ships pull out. When they emerged it was as if you were suddenly standing in front of an enormous moving mountain. Its size was overwhelming and seemed never ending. It was humbling. We are such teeny tiny beings. The ships left one after another around 4:00 p.m. They were always escorted by a pilot ship in front and in back.  In addition, there were other boats going in and out and even some people on  jet skis racing the cruise ships. I was worried they were going to get sucked into the drag of the cruise ship. 

I had some fun with different playing experiments. One of the big cruise ships was tooting its great horn. I figured out the note. It was an e-flat. And I tried to have a little concert with the cruise ship. Of course, she could only play one note but I could play many.  Evenso,  it was fun.  Again I doubted if anyone realized what I was doing. Also again people would not wave to me from the cruise ship. Of course, they could be looking anywhere on the shore so I didn’t take it personally. I’m pretty sure they could not hear me. 

I had a few nice encounters with little kids. By and large though, nobody paid attention to me though some people seemed to enjoy it, especially me. 

Since I have been there the night before, I knew that this night  was almost a full moon, since yesterday had been a full moon. Still, an almost full moon is a stunning thing to see. It was cloudy tonight so I got to see the sun behind a variety of configurations of clouds. Although I had tried to walk to the beach the night before  to watch the moon and was blocked because it was cordoned off,  I noticed that from here on the promenade to the pier at the beach it was not closed and many people were sitting on the beach enjoying the beautiful sky. I ate my dinner there and watched for a while and then headed back.I was better prepared this time than I had been before. I knew where to go. The wind was picking up and although the skies looked terrible it wasn’t raining. I wondered if I had enough energy to make it to the jazz club. 

I really enjoyed looking at some of the very simple but powerful light displays that they had all along the boardwalk, about every 15 yards. They had one light shining up that was one constantly changing color and one white light shining down. Along the way they had little metal slats that were tilted one way and on the top another way that meant that you got to see the light reflected from two different lights. In addition, there was mesh around the cylindrical column that was about 20 feet high, so you got a very good morai effect. It was quite a simple but powerful light display. 

As I walked up Washington Ave. towards 5th Ave, a bus came along. It’s markings said. “Omni” on it. My diverted 100 bus had taken me there the other day. It was just near the Arsht Metromover. I could easily get home from there. However, it was unexpected. I hesitated and by that time it was too late to flag it down. Damn. Damn. I could have gotten back by 9 pm

I continued the next 4 blocks to 5th. Even though I had missed the bus, I was very lucky in that the 100 bus came after about 10 minutes. I was really trying to be more careful now and I looked at the map carefully and saw that I could get off the bus early and not go all the way to Government center. The big question was did I have enough energy to go hear jazz? I looked up the website. As always, the website spoke of the musicians in glowing terms. This one was John Yarling, a “multi-dimensional fixture in the South Florida music scene…” 

I did an internal body check and decided I wasn’t really that tired. I got off the 100 at a good spot and waited about 15 minutes for the 3. Again I got off correctly and walked about 7 blocks to the club. There were no seats on this day so I stood behind the wine racks. The music was very experimental. I could tell that the 3 musicians; drummer, guitar and bass, had never played together before. The drummer was indeed very original and entertaining. They were playing all original songs but the songs were so harmonically strange. While playing the melody they were achingly beautiful but during the solos, it was hard to follow, since we only had the bass to suggest the harmonies. I couldn’t really follow it. 

Of course they took a break after I came in. The bar was known for its short breaks. After 10 minutes they came back. I gave it another shot and enjoyed it but noticed that I was starting to space out and nod off. After 3 songs, I checked my phone. It said there was a 9 bus coming in 10 minutes. Of course, the program rarely was accurate about the times. Still I decided to leave. No one was being friendly today. I was getting snooty responses to my overtures. 

I went outside and waited and waited and waited. I was just about to give in and call a dangerous LYFT ride when I spotted a bus coming down. Thank goddess. I flagged it down and was on my way. These bus drivers or maybe these buses were so rough. It seemed like they were running roughshod over the streets, rarely missing a chance to run over a corner. It almost felt like we were running down hill out of control with no breaks. 

With my now extensive knowledge of downtown transportation, I decided to get out early and caught the Metromover monorail the rest of the way back to Government center. It was just another 20 minute tortuous and heavenly walk back home. I dropped my bags just inside the door. I had made it. Again.