RAVEL MARVEL Wilderness and wild nights in

AS my speedboat raced across the bay, it was hard to imagine that the States’ third-largest skyline before me was swampland just 100 years ago.

But then things move really fast in Miami.

Nowadays, it boasts the most expensive postcode in the US, while pockets of the city house multi-cultural treasures such as Little Havana and the feast for the senses that is Ocean Drive.

While most cities have founding fathers, this piece of sub-tropical paradise has a founding mother.

But Julia Tuttle isn’t your average “mom”.

In the 1890s she predicted that her little outpost would become the centre of trade between the US, the Caribbean and South America.

It turns out Julia wasn’t wrong on many things, but even she couldn’t have foretold everything this city would have to offer.

A trip down Little Havana gets you to the Ball and Chain, where Cuban music is played with gusto and smoke from cigars – bought from one of the nearby tobacco shops – fills the air.

Little Havana is a Miami institution and has been so careful to retain its heritage that you won’t find multiple Starbucks here.

Down the road, Little Haiti came later, when political defectors crossed to Florida in the 1980s.

Smack-bang in the middle was Earth N Us farm, run by an old hippy who lets you wander around his little part of the world in the centre of the city.

Like many parts of Miami, Little Haiti is under siege from property developers wanting to snap up its prime location.

But locals are fighting back with arts centres and food halls to try to cash in on the tourist buck themselves.

And if that fails there is always a voodoo priest to fall back on...

While many never drag themselves away from the sunny hedonism of South Beach, to get a true reflection of Miami you really should.

Over in Hialeah, voodoo was so ingrained they tried to pass a law to stop animal sacrifices. It failed. Spectacularly.

The neighbourhood of Wynwood was struggling until a New York property developer saved it a few decades ago.

Buying a block’s worth of property, he encouraged people to express themselves on his walls and buildings.

Now the whole area is colourful with diverse graffiti full of political statements and critiques on modern America. The young and hip flock to the trendy bars and restaurants which have revitalised the whole area. Over in Little Havana, Café La Trova offers a contemporary take on Cuban cuisine with, left, stewed garbanzos – a chickpea dish full of chorizo, kale and melting fontina cheese. Wynwood backs up its hip status with the likes of the Concrete Brewing Company – one of many craft firms offering beers