Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities


sunny beach
Bathers spread a towel next to one of Miami Beach's lush lifeguard huts.
Muscles
Lazar Novovic and Dusan Djolevic, mentors of the street work out movement Bar Brothers and Hannibal for King, one of its inspirations, show off their physical shape at Lumus Park.
Art Deco Photo
Visitors to Miami Beach can't resist the charm of an Art Deco-era automobile in which the buildings on Ocean Drive where it is parked were erected.
by land
Band of terns on the vast sands of Miami Beach.
VIP homes
One of the many multi-million dollar mansions housed in the Miami Bay Marine Refuge.
plastic seduction
Mannequin at the entrance of a store at the base of the Congress Hotel
Hannibal Flag
Hannibal the King carries out a "flag", an exuberant movement that is very difficult to execute.
Neon hour
Lighting in Ocean Drive's hotels and bars is highlighted by the slow dusk.
Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.

It's only been twenty minutes since the “Island Queen” sailed from the Bay of Miami docks.

We passed under the large viaduct on Port Boulevard. The line of gray skyscrapers is set at our shores against the blue sky almost clear of fog or clouds.

The flag of the Land of Opportunity remains attached to the stern of the vessel but, from the angle we see it, it flutters, with its stars & stripes on an even higher plane.

We did not take long to navigate the first personal expressions of success achieved in the US fashion. “To your right is anchored Mr. Mark Cuban's fabulous yacht, which everyone should know from the “Lago dos Tubarões” program.

Thereafter, as we approach the west coast of Miami Beach, the narrator on duty does little more than announce other ships and mansions.

They are all owned by celebrities and millionaires, Americans but not only, some less exposed than others.

Miami's Countless Billion Mansions

With some ridiculous meters of vegetation separating them, the Instagram inventor's house, Ricky Martin's, followed. A mansion used by Shakira and Usher in filming of videoclips and, accordingly, one of the houses of the rapper Puff Daddy. “This is by Tomas Cramer, a German architect.” adds the narrator. “He complained that Miami was too hot.

Installed air conditioning throughout the interior. Not satisfied, he also installed a system out that cost nearly $100.000. Next is Phillip Frost's summer home, Mr. Viagra, or Mr. Blue, as he is better known. Each of the 32 palm trees you see in that garden came from Africa at a unit cost of $10.000.

The mansion only costs 60 million dollars.” The second largest house in the area belonged to Elisabeth Taylor and Eddie Fischer, one of her many husbands. In the garden, there is a black rabbit given by Michael Jackson. Others, smaller, belonged to Sylvester Stallone and David Beckham. Like the Brazilian Xuxa.

Singer Gloria Estefan's included a four million dollar recording studio. On Fisher Island, almost touching the big island of Miami Beach and accessible only by boat and helicopter, there were mansions of Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez, Sophia Loren, Boris Becker, so he continued to present the hostess at the microphone while the passengers, dazzled, turned now to port, now to starboard.

Miami reveals this and more. Much more, of course, than the DNA and laboratory intrigue of “Dexter” and, much earlier, from “Miami Vice” where excerpts from countless episodes were filmed in those same waters and on the docks we had before us.

Mansion, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

One of the many multi-million dollar mansions housed in the Miami Bay Marine Refuge.

Obsession with Fitness at Lummus Park

It is in Miami Beach, in particular, that all the symptoms of heightened prosperity and fame or yearning to reach them wash over. We return to the dock and disembark.

Afterwards, we drive via the A1A road and bridge to the opposite coast of the big island and feel its vibrations with the soft sun of the fake local winter massaging our increasingly tanned faces.

Countless young people – others not so much – obsessed with their physical shape and appearance follow each other on the irregular walk that zigzags between the coconut trees of Lummus Park and follows the Caribbean Sea.

They do it on the run, on roller skates or on a bicycle, on advanced skateboards or towed by stray dogs.

In a stronghold of beauty and class like this privileged strip of Florida, no one wants to be weak.

Mannequin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Mannequin at the entrance of a store at the base of the Congress Hotel

If the weather does not even invite you to stay at home, the sculptural and golden bodies of the stars serve as an unquestionable motivation for any exercise.

We stop in front of a kind of outdoor gym that groups bars of different heights, walls, tires and some other mobile auxiliary equipment.

Dedicated bodybuilders from different groups attend it in an unstable relationship, far from harmony.

We approach and engage them in conversation, when their cycle of repetitions and rest allows. Once some initial mistrust was overcome and at your pace, we realized the dynamics of your relationship.

Lazar Novovic and Dusan Djolevic were studying in the US when they met through a friend.

The Calisthenic Movement of the Bar Brothers and Hannibal the King

supporters of street workout, focused on transforming their lives, found a motivational video by Hannibal for King, a street bodybuilder from New York idolized in the USA and around the world.

A strong inspiration to create the Bar Brothers, their own movement of well-being and determination in today's international life.

Bar Brothers, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Lazar Novovic and Dusan Djolevic, mentors of the street work out movement Bar Brothers and Hannibal for King, one of its inspirations, show off their physical shape at Lumus Park.

We are lucky to find the three of them together.

Lazar and Dusan are busy filming a video with Hannibal and, at the same time, doing their own exercises. It is Hannibal who we photograph the most and who dedicates most of his time to us. “My story is curious: I broke my hands very seriously.

The doctors told me I would never be able to use them properly again. I ignored them and followed an alternative treatment that included a series of calisthenics exercises.

At a certain point, I found myself addicted to these exercises and highly motivated by the progress.

Hannibal's Intense and Exercised Life

I took exercise to the extreme, shaped my entire body and started creating motivational videos to help other people reach difficult goals. Today, I travel the world showing what I do and inspiring other athletes.

Don't think it's easy. I have two wives, three daughters and only one son.

When I'm in New York I live surrounded by women. To get away with it, I go out with my son, but even so, I'm always hearing accusations for living with other fit women…”

We asked Hannibal the King for one last photo.

Hannibal shows us an extreme position known as a flag, with his body stretched out horizontally using one of the side bars as an axis.

Hannibal the King, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Hannibal the King carries out a “flag”, an exuberant movement that is very difficult to execute.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to him and the group, wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to better prepare ourselves for our travels, to follow at least part of his techniques and teachings.

The Long Caribbean Beach of Miami Beach

The morning comes to an end. The beach directly opposite is made up and lifeguards are replaced at the end of the first shift of the day.

They ensure the continuity of your Bay Watch from the top of the typical lifeguard huts of these places, so exuberant and in a good mood that foreign bathers surround them one after the other with mobile phones at the ready and determined to photograph themselves with them as a souvenir.

Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Bathers spread a towel next to one of Miami Beach's lush lifeguard huts.

We are already well out of the cyclone season and not even the wind that is felt affects the gentleness in which the Caribbean Sea unfolds.

All the huts have purple flags hoisted, which intrigues us.

We asked a bathroom on the cabin's porch what the color means.

He answers us with a haughtiness and dryness that we have become accustomed to from those who have a place of authority in the USA, however insignificant it may be: “Jellyfish, we detected a few jellyfish in the water”.

We contemplate the nearby sea dotted with figures. The fact that it is a family nuisance and, we would like to believe, small, does not deter us from a well-deserved dive. While we splash in the water, advertising zeppelins fly over us.

Offshore, a barge navigates that displays advertisements on a panel.

We thought we knew the bathing universe in depth. We should have predicted that on a beach in the US, something new would appear.

Royal terns, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Band of terns on the vast sands of Miami Beach.

Ocean Drive and Surrounding Area, Miami Beach Art Deco

But if Miami Beach innovates, it does so with an entrepreneurial respect for its historic heritage. We return to the interior of the island in the late afternoon.

We were housed in The Hall, a boutique hotel that had adapted one of Miami Beach's 1200 Art Deco structures (the largest concentration in the world), most built between 1923 and 1943.

Around, several others stood out for the architecture of the time.

In particular, Park Central, between 6th and 7th street, a frequent stop for classic Hollywood stars: Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Carole Lombard and the like, characters that match the golden age of some colorful jalopies parked there under Valet Parking.

Art Deco, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Visitors to Miami Beach can't resist the charm of an Art Deco-era automobile in which the buildings on Ocean Drive where it is parked were erected.

In our view, one of the most opportunistic and irritating commercial pests in the US

With sunset setting in and bathers returning from the sand to the realm of concrete and asphalt, we find ourselves attracted by the call of Ocean Drive.

The neons of the Boulevard, Colony and Starlite hotels soon devour the daytime pastel tones of the buildings and seize the color of that glamorous marginal avenue.

Thus, they signal the reopening of the crazy nightlife of the neighbourhood.

Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States, Ocean Drive

Lighting in Ocean Drive's hotels and bars is highlighted by the slow dusk.

Soon, bars like Churchill's Pub – run by the UK – attract a heterogeneous horde of recycled punks, curious hipsters and metalheads or whatever kind of fans of the bands that play live there without any coherence of gender or notoriety.

Something similar happens at the Liv, despite being housed inside the Fontainebleu hotel and, as such, far more exclusive than Churchill's or Nikki Beach, this one, based in several cabins and equipped with bars tiki on the sand of SoBe Beach, South Beach of Miami Beach.

At that time, the most visible excitement is still that of a growing line of island visitors who want to photograph themselves in front of the famous Miami Beach clock/thermometer on the threshold of Lumus Park.

Key West, USA

The Tropical Wild West of the USA

We've come to the end of the Overseas Highway and the ultimate stronghold of propagandism Florida Keys. The continental United States here they surrender to a dazzling turquoise emerald marine vastness. And to a southern reverie fueled by a kind of Caribbean spell.
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Little Havana, USA

Little Havana of the Nonconformists

Over the decades and until today, thousands of Cubans have crossed the Florida Straits in search of the land of freedom and opportunity. With the US a mere 145 km away, many have gone no further. His Little Havana in Miami is today the most emblematic neighborhood of the Cuban diaspora.
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Waikiki, OahuHawaii

The Japanese Invasion of Hawaii

Decades after the attack on Pearl Harbor and from the capitulation in World War II, the Japanese returned to Hawaii armed with millions of dollars. Waikiki, his favorite target, insists on surrendering.
Maho Beach, Sint Maarten

The Jet-powered Caribbean Beach

At first glance, Princess Juliana International Airport appears to be just another one in the vast Caribbean. Successive landings skimming Maho beach that precedes its runway, jet take-offs that distort the faces of bathers and project them into the sea, make it a special case.
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Back to Danny Boyle's The Beach

It's been 15 years since the debut of the backpacker classic based on the novel by Alex Garland. The film popularized the places where it was shot. Shortly thereafter, the XNUMX tsunami literally washed some away off the map. Today, their controversial fame remains intact.
Boracay, Philippines

The Philippine Beach of All Dreams

It was revealed by Western backpackers and the film crew of “Thus Heroes are Born”. Hundreds of resorts and thousands of eastern vacationers followed, whiter than the chalky sand.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
Safari
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Wild Heart of Mozambique shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Thorong Pedi to High Camp, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Lone Walker
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 12th - Thorong Phedi a High camp

The Prelude to the Supreme Crossing

This section of the Annapurna Circuit is only 1km away, but in less than two hours it takes you from 4450m to 4850m and to the entrance to the great canyon. Sleeping in High Camp is a test of resistance to Mountain Evil that not everyone passes.
Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
Architecture & Design
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
self-flagellation, passion of christ, philippines
Ceremonies and Festivities
Marinduque, Philippines

The Philippine Passion of Christ

No nation around is Catholic but many Filipinos are not intimidated. In Holy Week, they surrender to the belief inherited from the Spanish colonists. Self-flagellation becomes a bloody test of faith
, Mexico, city of silver and gold, homes over tunnels
Cities
Guanajuato, Mexico

The City that Shines in All Colors

During the XNUMXth century, it was the city that produced the most silver in the world and one of the most opulent in Mexico and colonial Spain. Several of its mines are still active, but the impressive wealth of Guanuajuato lies in the multicolored eccentricity of its history and secular heritage.
Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan
Meal
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
Kigurumi Satoko, Hachiman Temple, Ogimashi, Japan
Culture
Ogimashi, Japan

An Historical-Virtual Japan

"Higurashi no Naku Koro never” was a highly successful Japanese animation and computer game series. In Ogimashi, Shirakawa-Go village, we live with a group of kigurumi of their characters.
Sport
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
cheap flights, buy cheap flights, cheap airline tickets,
Traveling
Travel does not cost

Buy Flights Before Prices Take Off

Getting cheap flights has become almost a science. Stay on top of the basics why the airline fares market governs and avoid the financial discomfort of buying at a bad time.
Tulum, Mayan Ruins of the Riviera Maya, Mexico
Ethnic
Overall, Mexico

The Most Caribbean of the Mayan Ruins

Built by the sea as an exceptional outpost decisive for the prosperity of the Mayan nation, Tulum was one of its last cities to succumb to Hispanic occupation. At the end of the XNUMXth century, its inhabitants abandoned it to time and to an impeccable coastline of the Yucatan peninsula.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

Horseshoe Bend
History
Navajo nation, USA

The Navajo Nation Lands

From Kayenta to Page, passing through Marble Canyon, we explore the southern Colorado Plateau. Dramatic and desert, the scenery of this indigenous domain, cut out in Arizona, reveals itself to be splendid.
Viti Levu, Fiji Islands, South Pacific, coral reef
Islands
Viti levu, Fiji

Islands on the edge of Islands

A substantial part of Fiji preserves the agricultural expansions of the British colonial era. In the north and off the large island of Viti Levu, we also came across plantations that have only been named for a long time.
Sampo Icebreaker, Kemi, Finland
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

It's No "Love Boat". Breaks the Ice since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
Cove, Big Sur, California, United States
Literature
Big Sur, USA

The Coast of All Refuges

Over 150km, the Californian coast is subjected to a vastness of mountains, ocean and fog. In this epic setting, hundreds of tormented souls follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and Henri Miller.
Walvis Bay, Namibia, bay, dunes
Nature
Walvis Bay, Namíbia

The Outstanding Shoreline of Walvis Bay

From Namibia's largest coastal city to the edge of the Namib Desert of Sandwich Harbour, there is an unrivaled domain of ocean, dunes, fog and wildlife. Since 1790, the fruitful Walvis Bay has been its gateway.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Ribeiro Frio, Madeira, Vereda dos Balcões,
Natural Parks
Ribeiro Frio Forest Park, Madeira

Ribeiro Frio Acima, on the Path of Balcões

This region of the high interior of Madeira has been in charge of repopulating the island's rainbow trout for a long time. Among the various trails and levadas that converge in its nurseries, the Parque Florestal Ribeiro Frio hides grandiose panoramas over Pico Arieiro, Pico Ruivo and the Ribeira da Metade valley that extends to the north coast.
on Stage, Antigua, Guatemala
UNESCO World Heritage
Antigua (Antilles), Guatemala

Hispanic Guatemala, the Antigua Fashion

In 1743, several earthquakes razed one of the most charming pioneer colonial cities in the Americas. Antigua has regenerated but preserves the religiosity and drama of its epic-tragic past.
Couple visiting Mikhaylovskoe, village where writer Alexander Pushkin had a home
Characters
Saint Petersburg e Mikhaylovkoe, Russia

The Writer Who Succumbed to His Own Plot

Alexander Pushkin is hailed by many as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. But Pushkin also dictated an almost tragicomic epilogue to his prolific life.
Sesimbra, Vila, Portugal, View from the top
Beaches
Sesimbra, Portugal

A Village Touched by Midas

It's not just Praia da California and Praia do Ouro that close it to the south. Sheltered from the furies of the West Atlantic, gifted with other immaculate coves and endowed with centuries-old fortifications, Sesimbra is today a precious fishing and bathing haven.
Balinese Hinduism, Lombok, Indonesia, Batu Bolong temple, Agung volcano in background
Religion
Lombok, Indonesia

Lombok: Balinese Hinduism on an Island of Islam

The foundation of Indonesia was based on the belief in one God. This ambiguous principle has always generated controversy between nationalists and Islamists, but in Lombok, the Balinese take freedom of worship to heart
Back in the sun. San Francisco Cable Cars, Life Ups and Downs
On Rails
San Francisco, USA

San Francisco Cable Cars: A Life of Highs and Lows

A macabre wagon accident inspired the San Francisco cable car saga. Today, these relics work as a charm operation in the city of fog, but they also have their risks.
cowboys oceania, rodeo, el caballo, perth, australia
Society
Perth, Australia

The Oceania Cowboys

Texas is on the other side of the world, but there is no shortage of cowboys in the country of koalas and kangaroos. Outback rodeos recreate the original version and 8 seconds lasts no less in the Australian Western.
Busy intersection of Tokyo, Japan
Daily life
Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Wildlife
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.