Spanish in Miami

Part 1 - by Elizabeth Gregory This past weekend, I attended a conference in downtown Miami. Although I had been to Miami before, I had only been as a tourist. This time, I was determined to get to know the city on a new level. First and foremost, let me talk about the nightmare I had trying to drive in the city. Miami is a sprawling city and distances are longer than they appear. What looks like a 5 minute drive winds up being 20 minutes easily (double that with traffic). On top of that, the city is largely under construction. No left turn, no u-turn, and no right turns at intersections makes it difficult to turn around if you find yourself on a road going the wrong way. To add to the confusion, there are numbered streets and numbered avenues. Luckily, they use the same rule as in New York (avenues go "the long way" and streets cut across the "short way").