Ybor (Saturday)

ALL WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST
Anon

The flavour of Ybor.

Tampa has history and I found that out at the Tampa Harbour History Centre. It’s called the History Centre rather than museum I suspect because it is a collection of displays that tell the story rather than being a collection of artifacts. Some of the displays are very innovative and like nothing I’ve seen before. They tell the story of the removal of the Semolian Indians from this region through a series of rotating stages, television monitors, lights and noise, and see-through screens that display images while the sets change in the background. Very effective.

The Semolian Indians, a collective name given to the Indigenous people’s of this region, were forcibly removed in the 1840s by the government and relocated to Oaklahoma, far away. They didn’t give up without a fight but after three wars (costly to the US government) they were suppressed and relocated.

NOTE: the Indians took in and protected run-away slaves, not just here but this was explained in Louisana as well. This resulted in a collision of cultures that evolved over time. The military or militia would constantly raid Indian villages to chase down escaped slaves.

Florida is wet and fertile. It is a great producer of timber cattle and crops of all sorts. Tampa is, and has always been, an important port – one of the busiest in the state. It has a heart though and that is Ybor (pronounced eebor). Tampa us not on the tourist trail and most of it doesn’t have much to say but Ybor is different. There are Cuban influences here. Cigar manufacturing was big in Tampa and this is where it was done. This region has the humidity, fertility and port facilities for growing tobacco and importing from Cuba. Refugee Cubans colour Florida and they are here. Tampa was the major producer if premier cigars in America. Famous people from around the world have smoked cigars from here, according to the locals!

The buildings have old-worldly charm and the streets are paved. Ybor has survived the city ‘rejuvenation’ to retain it’s character. They still make cigars here and you can sample some authentic Cuban food, although the Cuban sandwich I’m eating is very similar to something I got in a deli in Cairns! Ybor is a sample of Cuba – and I like it a lot!

You can go into bars here and watch your cigar being rolled then sit down to a beer and smoke it. How very civiliaed! Of course I choose the biggest fattest cigar possible and after much puffing, I was only a quarter of the way through. Hard work. But this didn’t stop me buying four more for the road! Ybor burnt down in the 1920s and I think I know how! These cigars produce serious embers.

I finally got access to my credit card statements online and I’m in better financial position than I thought. I hope I don’t rue not going to New York City. I wanted to go there very much but bypassed it because of money concerns. I will come back for NY.

Everywhere you go (or is it just my warped way of thinking) you can identify human equivalents of the animal world. While at an extended bus stop a young girl of about 10 years of age busied herself with cleaning the bus of rubbish. She clearly was not an employee but that’s what she did. It reminded me if those little fish that groom the big fish. The big fish deliberately park themselves at these grooming stations to get serviced!

The Scientoligists are here too!