15022: Matt Jay: Re: 15012: Hermantin on Little Haiti

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jepiem@aol.com
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Obviously Ms Hermantin knows a lot more about Little Haiti than I do and I
did
not pretend to know Little Haiti very well. It was just an attempt at
giving
some clues to a potential tourist, not as a tour guide in any way. As for
the
exact boundaries I doubt this would be so important to a boy tourist
though I
thank Ms Hermantin for provinding the exact info for those interested. I
go by
the Little Haiti area often but I find it difficult to navigate all those
areas
mentionned without a guide since a lot of them are not really well known
to
those not thouroughly familiar except of course NE 2nd Avenue which seems
to be
the center of action. I believe a tourist guide to the area by the local
chamber of commerce would be of great help. I hope the Mapou Libreri will
not
mind my mentionning it as a starting point because I didn't know any
better
place for one to start. What I fail to see is where Ms Hermantin got the
notion
that I had given an "unfavorable description of Little Haiti" as a
"cultural
destination". My saying I didn't know why the lady wanted to bring her son
to
Little Haiti had none of the negative connotation which Ms H seems to
infer. It
simply meant that when you go on a travel of that sort, it helps to know
what
you are looking for. A simple whirlwind tour of any place cannot be more
than a
starting point towards an education about a culture and that is the point
I
tried to convey, perhaps unsuccessfully. I still maintain that "Little
Haiti"
is not all of the Haitian community of South Florida and that if you go to
the
Hialeah flea market (which I do often) you can really mingle with the
small
entrepreneurial side of that culture and much more and you are always
guaranteed to find it there on saturday mornings like in the old Haiti. By
the
way, I am not sure why that place is called Little Haiti and who
christened it
that, while the equivalent cuban section is called Little Havanna, but
that is
quite another matter. I cannot end without thanking Ms Hermantin for all
the
info she provided which will be of help to myself as well.