This is Not a Catty Post About Miami Beach … (meeeeeoooww) …

If Miami Beach were a cat, it would be a sleek black panther wearing rings on 3 fingers and getting out of its red Ferrari … slowly, so that as many people as possible could see.

If Barbados were a cat, it would be a pretty little tabby stretched out in the warm sun with a rum punch nearby, smug in the knowledge that it was the very best cat anywhere, no need to roar about it.

I had a great time in sleek Miami Beach where, even in the current economic downturn (in Miami one might call it blight), there’s no bling shame.  The ‘haves’ show off their Astin Martins; the ‘used-to-haves’ relax next to the Delano pool in Gucci bikinis and charge it.

Both locales are seaside retreats, but like panther and tabby, the two places couldn’t be more different.

In Miami Beach, the buildings, like its women, are tall and sleek.  The hotels feature avant-garde art such as the table and chairs in the pool. Open-air cabanas next to the pools are air-conditioned.  The cute-little-purebred-dog population calls for doggie boutiques the size of Cave Shepard.

Our buildings are, like our island, petit.  ‘Avant-garde’ and ‘Barbados’ don’t belong in the same sentence.  The frugality built into our English heritage doesn’t allow for blatant waste of precious resources.  And here, mutts rule and not one of ‘em has its own sweater.

There, beaches are as long as our entire perimeter.  The sand is brownish and chilly in the mornings.  The color of the sea is dusty blue; the water’s cold. Our beaches are as white as sugar, warm as toast, and our water as brilliant as Miami bling.

I had a blast. Loved every minute. Adored that Miami Beach keeps up appearances, just as the Rockefellers would if they fell on hard times.

I’ll return soon. But right now I’m happy to stretch out in the sun, rum punch nearby.



2 Responses to “This is Not a Catty Post About Miami Beach … (meeeeeoooww) …”

1. RR says:

   March 4, 2009 at 7:38 am

   Hey, who are those two pasty people in the foreground? They definitely can’t be from Miami Beach…
2. planetbarbados says:

   March 4, 2009 at 8:19 am

   Definitely not perma-tan Miami Beach locals! My own pastiness rivals and maybe even exceeds theirs, though, so I really didn’t even notice how not-tan they were. Maybe they’re from … Poland??

   Say, does anyone know if there are any spray-on tanning places in Barbados? I asked the concierge at the Hilton one day and she wasn’t sure ….