About our rating systemIf you've never been to Cuba, just visit this small section of Miami and you'll come pretty close. The sounds, tastes, and rhythms are very reminiscent of Cuba's capital city, and some say you don't have to speak a word of English to live an independent life here -- even street signs are in Spanish and English. Cuban coffee shops, tailor and furniture stores, and inexpensive restaurants line Calle Ocho (pronounced Ka-yey O-choh), SW Eighth Street, the region's main thoroughfare. In Little Havana, salsa and merengue beats ring loudly from old record stores while old men in guayaberas (loose-fitting cotton short-sleeved shirts) smoke cigars over their daily game of dominoes. The spotlight focused on the neighborhood during the Elián González situation in 2000, but the area was previously noted for the groups of artists and nocturnal types who had moved their galleries and performance spaces here, sparking culturally charged neobohemian nightlife.
