It’s hard to find something in Miami that someone back home will want – something that will help them understand what the hell you’ve been doing for the past three years and why you’ve opted to spend your days on the hurricane-addled edge of the world.
Thank God for the Asociacion de Veteranos de Bahia de Cochinos Brigada de Asalto 2506 (a.k.a. Bay of Pigs Museum). Located around 18th Avenue and SW 9th street, quaint, iron-barred little house plays social center to all the guys who trained, secretly, in the Everglades and tried to take over Cuba in the name of Democracy.
Some of them even participated in hunting and killing Che Guevara. They’re all pretty cool. And they have a much-overlooked gift shop.
$60 buys you a guyabera’s bearing the 2506 brigade insignia patch. $15 gets you a baseball cap. But the real steal is the $20 K-piece military-style 45th anniversary hat (from 2006).
If you’re looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer, swing by and wish the 2506 boys a Merry Christmas and a Castro-free New Year. -- Calvin Godfrey