I’m
pretty hard on Tampa, Florida sometimes and I probably shouldn’t be since the city does offer an abundance of
activities for the visitor. 7th Ave in Ybor City with its strip
of nightclubs and bars is a given destination for the young, wild college student while Ybor by day is an enchanting
cultural centerpiece for the city. Take the International Bazaar for example. They offer a number
of activities during the week and weekends for people interested in belly, swing and salsa dancing. Martial arts is
covered by Sensi Sisco and Dave Kanter hosts a weekly drum circle on Sundays from 6 PM to 8PM. The setup looks a lot
different than the drum circle I used to frequent in Venice Beach, CA, but I’m dying to be involved in a drumming
community again. The movement of the hand talking to the drum and the sound of the drum talking to the people are both
infectious. I’ll have to mark this on my calendar for a future Sunday.
Also, another cool thing being
offered are the Cigar Rolling courses on Wednesday and Saturday. The 12 week course covers the history of cigar rolling
locally and globally, definitions of the different blends, preparing binders, formatting the cigar all the way down to
quality control. I don’t even smoke cigars, but I’d be curious to take part in these courses for the historical
information at the very least. And for those wanting to go to Cuba, but haven’t quite made the trip this could be good
starting pointing in learning about one of the countries biggest exports.