Mardi Gras on the Keys

Ignoring our son’s condition (bad parents) we’ve decided to go on a day trip to Key West. It’s over 5-hour drive from Flamingo. The road through the Keys is very picturesque, especially the Seven Mile Bridge is impressive and of course the blue sea around (although after Dominican Republic we are not that easy to satisfy when it comes to blue sea).

View from Seven Mile Bridge to old bridge structure

Unfortunately in many places along the way there are no parking or no entry signs. You can see but you cannot touch. Still, there are some places where you can get close to the water or even park for free. We parked at Islamorada public library  parking lot. It has access only to a small river but nevertheless is nice. Next islands look pretty much the same, actually they look a lot like the rest of Florida. Everything seems very temporary, which is not a surprise considering the hurricanes passing by every now and then. For sure there are no so many chain places. Shops, restaurant etc. are mostly local and you can be pretty sure you won't see them anywhere else.

Key West itself was totally different than we expected. Over last few days we’ve seen a few towns in Florida: noisy beaches and deserted downtown in Fort Myers, elegant Fort Lauderdale, fancy Sanibel. We expected something between Sanibel and Ft. Lauderdale, or some fancy, poshy place like Beverly Hills 90210, maybe with a main street full of expensive gift shops near the beach. We also thought that the sunset there will be beautiful and magic, after all it’s the furthest south point of the United States. How wrong we were! 

First of all Key West is only 90 miles from Cuba. And you can feel it very well. People from Cuba, Cuban restaurants, cigar shops, Spanish spoken everywhere. Architecture looks like in Caribbean or like in Peruvian Iquitos.

Fortunately, it hasn't gone with the wind...

We left a car few blocks from downtown, at the south-west end of Key West, scared by tales of difficulties with finding parking spot and high prices. To our surprise that was not true, maybe because of a low season. But we got to go through areas where average tourist would not go. After getting of the main street we first went through pretty wooden houses with roosters running around them...

Typical Key West resident

 ...then through black, eee, African-American neighborhood. Grills on porches, crowds of people sitting on couches outside, black lexus with tinted windows jumping from bass rap sounds passing by...

Hip-hop style...

And then, after another few blocks  it got more artistic, more hipster. Bikes instead of lexuses, hipsters instead of hip-hop fans, pubs with IPA beer instead of porches with couches.  And there was an invisible barrier both groups tried not to cross.

Hipster style

Mallory Square, which was the destination of our walk is the place to see sunset. It is at the end of main street (Duval St). And another surprise. Instead of fancy park or white sand beach with seniors wearing pastel colors and sipping chardonnay we find something looking more like a fairground. Little stands selling jewelry and seashells, guitar players, jugglers on stilts, fire swallowers and acrobats, drinks and beer are sold (Alcohol on the streets, here in the US???). And among that all there are residents of 14-stories-high cruise boat which just arrived, wealthy Canadians from nearby rv parks (60-70 USD per night), local vagabonds, artists, tramps.

We don’t see ethnical diversity any more on the square. Sexual diversity took its place. On the main street there are quite a few noisy and colorful gay bars. Key West is very gay-friendly, according to Lonely Planet, 40 percent of people who live here are gay.

Evening on Mallory Square

From Mallory Square we walk on the main street soaking in joyful atmosphere. We pass by many bars with live music and people pouring out on the streets. We are there on Mardi Gras but it looks as if in Key West every night people have fun like there’s no tomorrow. We would love to stay for a beer or two but Maciek is sick and we have a long long way ahead of us. We arrive to Flamingo after midnight once again going through forests and marshes covered with fog in total dark.