Rio Blanco Hotel Ocho Rios

The Jamaica trip was a much better experience overall than Haiti with the only exception being the pushiness of the vendors. We took a tour of the Green Grotto Caves, which was amazing. There were bats in abundance and the path we followed was guided by a very knowledgable and entertaining man who told us about the history of the caves and their use in the Jamaican version of the Underground Railway, as well as historically in the original civilizations of the island. Jarod was the ...

The ship docks at Ochos Rios in Jamaica so we decided to just do a little shopping onshore .Jamaica is a fairly poor country so competition is very strong for any sort of business that they can get. After you leave the ship it's a kilometre walk down to a few shopping centres. About 15 different people asked if we wanted a taxi and then once in the stores the store ...

... Falls. Somehow It took us hours to get there. We all stopped for hair cuts for some reason and then went shopping for new toilet. Dunn's river is a water fall that you hike up from a beach. We got there pretty late so we didn't have anytime to hang out at the beach. We climbed the river once and then went into Ochi where the rest of the nurses from the clinic were staying. We hung out had jelly coconut and finnaly got ...

Ocho is an interesting city, divided by a straight line, on one side (from the center to the port), relatively safe area day and night, upscale boutique, restaurants and on the other side, the chaos and not so safe area. There are a few hundreds meters of beachfront.

... guide with our tour. We loaded onto our bus and we were on our way.

The place where we would be zip-lining was about an hour drive from the port. The bus had to climb a narrow, rugged and one lane road up into the mountains to get to the zip-line area. Before we got to the mountain road, we traveled along a main highway through Jamaica and were able to view the country ...

... including chefs, and managers. If you enjoy Italian Sandals Dunn's River is the place to go!

Originally built in 1958 as an Arawak Hotel, the property has a rich history, having changed hands several times. In the 1970's it was transformed by the famed architect Morris Lapidus into the Eden II. In 1990 the property came under the ownership of Sandals, was gutted to the bone, and a new pool was installed, incorporating a ...

... beer and vodka.  Chance (being his appartment) yelled out trying to find out who it was.  It was the bloody hotel security - ****!!  I shat myself as I thought we were in trouble and quickly butted out the joint, but Chance had already opened the door and let him in!!  ...We were introduced to Clive, the security guard ...the man responsible for providing all these substances for the party, hahaha!  So we let him in and gave him a drink.  He told us that he could ...

... From St. Paul, I joined my cousin and drove north to Duluth, Minnesota. My dear cousin is getting married this summer, for which I am the maid-of-honor. Our visit to Duluth was the only opportunity before her wedding when the whole bridal party would be together to pick out the bride's maid dresses. That experience was surprisingly and thankfully painless and quick. I had a great time surrounded by the other women in my family, my mom and my ...

... it off the tourists. I want to say, "More power to him." But what can be said for a society that seems to value the American dollar more than their own? Once I got into the rhythm of being on vacation, I was able to just enjoy myself and the company of my parents. It isn't every day that I get to spend time with them, so I decided to forget about work and volunteer life for the week, and I chose to be a tourist. Granted I did use my knowledge and experience to get good deals ...

This was a horrible nasty little place I hope to never see again. When you walk down the street, it is filthy and taxi drivers nag at you and then throw insults when you refuse to take a taxi. I Came. I Saw. I LEFT! One almost saving feature of this hideous place was swimming in the water, but even that turned south when I felt what I believe to be a sewer pipe under my feet.