It took just a decade for Miami to morph from a capital of sleaze and a haven for sun wrinkled retirees into the hippest city in the US. Traveller Asha Gill takes a deep breath and plunges into the de facto capital of Latin America.

She meets:

Luis Pons– a Venezuelan architect who introduces Asha to plastic-fantastic Miami – shiny surfaces, lurid colours and plenty of hot air.

Kiki Valdes – a Cuban-American artist fast turning live action painting into Miami’s latest spectator sport.

Kacine Kromrey – a kite-surfer who organises her work schedule around the wind patterns off the Florida Keys.

Elise Gonzalez – a police lieutenant and bodybuilder who outpaces Asha at the Dr Martin Luther King Day parade

Yanui – a Haitian dancer and voodoo initiate who takes Asha inside the world’s oldest and most mysterious religion.

Barbarella – a designer, drag queen and door bitch – who gives Asha a lesson in how to power dress for success.