Jamaica Crest Hotel Port Antonio

... from the town of Matam, Matam province, who deciding that they could find a better life in the Promised lands of the European Union, sruck out for France thruogh the unforgiving deserts of the Sahara to Morroco where they hope to find them a boat to take them over the Med on their way to France. If there is anyone who would like to corroborate on this ...

Jamaica was my very first missions trip. I went with Shayna and Chad for one week and we had an amazing and eye opening experience. The water was beautiful and we went to ocho rios and climbed the waterfal too-it was so beautiful! We also witnessed poverty and need in ways that we had never seen before. We were able to minister God's love to people but honestly I think we all took away much more from this experience than we could ever give!

Owdedo everyone, evriting aight here having my first night with the host family. Its pretty exciting they have a beautiful house. Kids running everywhere, Trying to start learning patois but i feel pretty stupid every time i say ...

I got a ride from the airport to the upper town. After check in, I ventured in the city and was soon offered some "stuff". Oh well, no thank you. The Bob Marley museum is quite interesting and probably the only notable attraction in Kingston (other than this feeling of being in a different country).

... food market, but there is also a section selling tourist trinkets and carvings. Since Martin collects masks, he bargained for one with "Rock Bottom" whose mantra was "love, peace, unity and respect" (always accompanied by a corresponding set of interactive hand motions). He was a pretty cool character and a very talented carver. I did get a tongue-lashing from a woman in the market for taking a photo that she happened to be in (not that I was really taking a ...

... rasta-wannabe' type people on the street, trying to command respect from tourists without returning one inch of it. But... A big city can not judge the island or the people though, as like all cities, corruption runs rampid throughout the streets. Well as it seems from my narrow wordly experience... Maybe I am expecting too much? For now, I want to leave.

Hey All I am fine. I survived Hurricane Dean. They moved all Peace Corps volunteers to the U.S. Embassy. We were there for three days. The community that I live in suffered minor damages. My host family and the house are fine. Some trees fell in the back yard. One of the communities that I work in was completely devastated. Many are homeless. Helping with disaster relief. Will write back soon. Claudia

... Each batsman only bats once, when they are out they cannot bat again - Only the player catching the ball when the bowler bowls at up to 95 miles per hour is allowed to wear gloves. The other players have to use their bare hands to catch the ball should it be hit in their direction ! - The team which wins the Cricket World Cup will be world champions, this is official because any country in the world ...

... Eight hours after leaving MoBay we were stuck in friday rush hour traffic in the middle of Kingston, which, in case you've never been there, really really sucks. Normally when I travel to Kingston all I have to worry about is getting off the bus and getting into a taxi. This time I had to navigate us through busy streets, around aggressive Jamaican drivers, on streets that didn't have names (or at least no signs). Needless to say harsh words were exchanged between ...

... zinc panel roofs came off with 10% of them sustaining structural damage to the roof framing or walls. In Polly Ground I have visited about 70 homes and still have some more to visit. Many of the houses were already in disrepair. A few are not houses but shacks constructed from zinc sheeting, found plywood, tree branches, etc. I will upload pictures some time later and send out an update. Again we are okay and grateful to have come through this with our lives and health.