Met Bob and Maya at Full Sail to prep the gear. We spent a few hours opening all of the cases and going over the camera equipment. Bob picked up a van. Maya and I waited hours for him to return. When he finally came back, he picked me up and drove me to the truck rental place. I drove back the box truck and we all loaded the HD gear.
Bob and I got a quick bite to eat at Crispers before hitting the road. I drove the box truck to Miami, while he drove the van. It drove surprisingly well, although it was incredibly loud inside the cab (I later found out that neither door was closed all the way). Consequently, I could not listen to the radio or talk on the phone, because I could not hear either one.
We hit a few patches of traffic on the way down, but got in with just enough time to eat at Pollo Tropical before heading to the first shoot. There were authentic Cuban restaurants all around and our first shoot was INSIDE one such establishment, but the producer decided to feed us fast food instead.
The restaurant where we were shooting was one of the most famous Cuban restaurants in Miami. We interviewed Huber Matos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huber_Matos), one of Castro's right hand men and a general in his army during the Cuban Revolution. He didn't speak very much english and conducted the entire interview in Spanish. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying, but it was easy to feel the intensity of his words.
Speaking of the language barrier... We were shooting in "Little Havana", which might as well have been part of Cuba. No one spoke english. If we didn't have the film's producer with us, we would not have been able to get around. Next time I'll bring a guide book.
Afterward, a few of us (the rest of the crew had arrived in time for the shoot) went to a little bakery/cafe for some Cuban pastries and coffee. Fantastic! The coffee was like a small shot of espresso with a bit of foamed milk and a lot of sugar.
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