TravelStream™ news feed for member jamcan on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jamcan en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:47:02 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/1/1164923700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/1/1164923700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/1/1164923700/tpod.html Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:47:02 -0400 For those who don't believe in fate.........

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Ocho Rios, Jamaica

November 30, 2006.....my 34th birthday. I'd been plannning this trip for not so long, it was kind of a last minute decision. This was my 5th trip to Jamaica and I decided it was time to break out from the usual places I've stayed and try a different side of the island. I'd never been to Ocho Rios before but heard lots about it from people on our Jamaican chat forum. Some love it and some not so much. In preparation for it I booked a room online at www.skyauction.com at Rooms on the Beach in Ocho Rios. I got a smokin deal too, I love that website. And my next mission was to try and find some locals there since it was one place in the island that I didn't know anyone. Thats when I went on Myspace and did a search for people from Ocho Rios. After sifting through loads of profiles I finally found one who looked like he was friendly and fun. I decided to contact him and tell him my trip dates and find out if he'd be willing to meet up when I arrived and show me around a little. After checking out my profile he agreed, gave me his number and told me to call when I got there.

The most important thing on my agenda for this trip though, was to meet up with a retired American lady I'd been chatting online with for years! She retired to Jamaica and at this point lived in Montego Bay. I had been trying to meet her for years but since she only spends 6 months of the year in Jamaica, my trip dates never matched when she was there. This time was a sure thing....she would be there. I was so excited to meet her! She's like a second mother to me.

My flight down went without incident and I arrived in Montego Bay around 7:00pm. Alice, my retired friend would be picking me up at the airport. I collected my bags and started toward the exit of the airport, knowing she'd be easy to find because she's white. Sure enough as soon as I walked outside there she was, looking exactly like all the pictures we'd exchanged. It was so good to finally meet her, and like usual it felt as if we'd known each other forever since we've been chatting for so long. When you meet as many online people as I have it becomes "normal".

Alice had brought along a friend of hers named Dickey, another chat forum member who lives in Jamaica. Both of them welcomed me with open arms and showed me the way to her car, and loaded up my bags for me. The ONE thing that stood out for me was Alice's driving. If you know anything about Jamaica its how crazy they drive and I was so proud of Alice after only living there for a year, how she fit right in with the crazy drivers lol. She navigated with expertise and honked the horn at the appropriate times, etc. A true Jamaican at heart.

We arrived at her house shortly, which was located in an area of Mobay called Bogue Village. Its a nice little housing scheme and I was excited to see her place since I'd heard all her stories about having it built the year before. We pulled into her driveway and I had no idea that she'd planned a birthday party for me that evening! Alice is the sweetest lady EVER! When I got into the house her Jamaican boyfriend Ted was in there just finishing the final touches on my fried chicken birthday dinner. And to my surprise, another forum friend Richard, whom I had met on my trip 6 months earlier was there too! I was so happy that Alice planned this ahead of time for my birthday. So it was me, Alice, Dickey, Ted, Richard and Alice's neighbor Devon....some fried chicken and a big bottle of Appleton rum for my birthday dinner. It was such a nice evening and a great way to celebrate my birthday.

The evening ended fairly early, probably around 11pm and I was pretty tired from traveling all day. My plan was to stay the night at Alice's and then she'd drive me to Ocho Rios the next day to check into my hotel there for 5 days. Once everyone went home from the party Alice and I finally got the chance to sit alone together and talk before bed. I already knew a lot about her since we'd been online and phone friends for a couple years so we just caught up a little on everything. This lady was and still is a true inspiration to me, and although I've not seen her again since, we still talk all the time and I'm planning on seeing her again for my birthday this year (2008).

The next morning we wake up really early. One thing about Jamaica is that no one sleeps in there, including me. Its so easy to wake up and start the day early there, its always bustling from about 6am. Reggae music is already in the air in the distance, people are out washing their cars, etc. Its just easy. Alice made some coffee and I sat out on the veranda for a while enjoying the heat and watching locals on their way to work. We were in no rush to get to Ocho Rios, 1.5 hours away. There were a few people I had to connect with on this trip. A girl from our chat forum had sent me down with several pairs of flip-flops for some family members in Jamaica, and another girl sent me down with some cell phone accessories for her Jamaican fiance. Its always difficult shipping things to Jamaica so instead they shipped the stuff to me and I just brought it with me. So I spent a little time making some phone calls to arrange to give these things to the people they were intended for. Then Alice and I had some breakfast, her neighbor Devon came over to lend me a Jamaican cell phone for my stay. That was a treat since its way cheaper to use a local phone. Believe it or not, I hadn't ever up to that point invested in my own Jamaican cell phone.

Around lunchtime we decided to start out for Ocho Rios. I needed to get checked into my hotel and contact the guy I'd found on Myspace to make some plans. The drive from Mobay to Ochi was nice, pretty much all along the coast and the highway is really good. For Jamaica, this highway is huge. 2 lanes going either way and brand new (they were still working on it at this point). About half way to Ochi we stopped at a roadside fish hut. Alice had eaten there before and said the food is really good so we decided to have lunch there. We both had fried fish and she was right, it was tasty and the scenery was to die for since we sat right at the ocean's edge to eat.

After a couple hours on the road we reached Ochi and found the hotel. It looked pretty nice from outside and it was beachfront. I was hoping for a seaview room since I noticed the giant cruiseship docked right in front of the beachfront rooms! That amused me since I'd never seen a ship like that in real life, only on TV. Alice and me went to the front desk to get me checked in and sure enough I got a beachfront room on the 2nd floor! And when I entered the room I was pleasantly surprised with how cute it was. The verandah was of course, my favorite part. I was mostly amazed that I scored this place for $52/night! Gotta thank skyauction.com for that one.

To be continued later today................
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Terre Haute, Indiana, United States

Soon to come.......
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Montego Bay, Jamaica

So, as if winning my first trip wasn't fate enough....would you believe I won a second trip to yet another concert in Jamaica? Winning it was an even greater story than the trip itself!

July 2006, a friend of mine at work tells me a local nightclub here is giving away a trip to Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay. I've always wanted to get to Sumfest, its a HUGE reggae/dancehall concert over a period of days. So I decide to go online and enter this contest. Once you submit your entry it tells you that you have to be present at the club on a certain night for the drawing. I really didn't want to go on a chance because the night was a weeknight, I have to get up for work at 6AM every day. But I decided "you can't win if you don't play" and I'm always desperate to get to Jamaica. I also decided that even if I couldn't convince someone to come with me on a weeknight, I'd go by myself.

My friend Charlene agreed to come along and we headed to Tequila nightclub for this draw. When we walked in we saw a draw box and a bunch of ballots on a table and decided we'd enter a whole bunch more times. I think I put in 5 more and she entered a few too, the draw was to be at midnight. Around 11:30 I notice 2 guys come into the club that I totally knew!! They were the promoters that gave away the first trip I'd won!! I couldn't believe it. I ran over to them and said HI and asked if it was them that was giving away this trip too. They told me yes and we all started laughing and joking around about "wouldn't that be insane if YOU won again?" We had such a great time on the first trip, so they wished me good luck and off they went to get a drink.

The draw was late....it was about 12:30 when they finally announced they'd draw the name. I was really excited, totally convinced it would be me. I'd even run through my reaction in my head, imagining that if I heard my name my drink would go flying and I'd run up to the stage. My two promoter friends took to the stage with the big ballot box in hand. One shook it, the other reached in for a name.......the suspense is killing me!!! They call out "ASHLEY FINSTER". My heart sunk to the floor as I looked around for a girl to run up to the stage. They waited.....and waited.....and waited for her. After about 5 minutes the entire crowd started BOO-ing and yelling RE-DRAW...RE-DRAW! So they tossed her ballot and decided to re-draw. He reaches in again.....pulls out a ballot........they call out "ASHLEY FINSTER"! This time everyone BOO-ed immediately and shouted to re-draw. They didn't wait very long the second time to throw out her ballot.

Meanwhile I'm nauseous with the possibility that I could still win! H reaches in the box a thrid time....pulled out the ballot....a huge grin apears on his face as he yells out KRISTI KELLER! It was actually surreal because without knowing, I really did toss my drink and run! I got to that stage so fast I don't know what hit me and the two promoters hugged me while laughing their heads off! The only thing they needed me to do before they could declare me a winner is see my identification which I pulled out right there! I was shaking so bad it was pathetic....and the rest is history.

After I filled out and signed the winners contract I quickly phoned on of my best friends in Indiana who was also going to Montego Bay for Sumfest. It was 4AM her time but she made me promise that if I won I'd wake her up. Her and I were so excited that we'd see each other again.....even though I had just gone to Indiana a month earlier to see her, we ALWAYS wanted to meet in Jamaica but our timing was always off.

The next morning at work I was severly dragging my ass around on 3 hours of sleep. I was too excited the night before and didn't get any sleep. But I was running on pure adrenaline and retold the story a hundred times to coworkers and my boss.....who had to approve last minute vacation time for me. hahaha.

****************

Skip forward 2 weeks...........July 21 and its my day to leave!!!! I'm traveling with a long-time friend of mine, Debbie. We've known each other for 20 years, and I can't believe how hard it was to find someone to go on a FREE trip with me! I think the problem was short notice. The friend that came to the club with me that night didn't have a passport nor enough time to get one. But I was happy Debbie could come...in the 20 years we've been friends we had not traveled anywhere together. So on the morning of July 21, Debbie's mom drove us to the airport and we were off! I cannot WAIT to get back to Jamaica! Up til this trip it was 2 years since my last one, for financial reasons, so this one means a lot to me.

The flight we were given was a cheap red-eye, we left Calgary in the afternoon and didn't arrive in Jamaica until 7AM the next day. I don't think I've ever felt more tired! But as soon as we touch down all the fatigue melts away as I smell my beloved Jamaican air again. We collect our luggage and go out to the waiting area where we expect there will be a flashing sign that says HI AGAIN WINNERS!! hahaha. This time we went alone, the promoters had arrived days before us. In the waiting area an attractive Jamaican lady in a suit approached us on a chance and asked if we were Kristi and Debbie. As soon as she found it was us, she had someone whisk our luggage onto a cart and lead us to a car already waiting to deliver us to our hotel. We didn't know yet where we were going to be staying, and the driver started driving towards Rose Hall, a place I'd never been before. I'd never spent any time in Montego Bay before.

Soon he pulls into a beautiful hotel with a gaping outdoor lobby, the Half Moon resort. He says he will go find our promoters while we sit at a seaside table on the patio...what a beautiful country this is. I could cry every time I see the Caribbean sea. Debbie and I have a seat and wait, soon after a cute Jamaican server approaches us and offers us any beverage we want, "on the house". I figured 7:30AM is as good a time as any to enjoy a cool rum punch, Debbie orders the same. It went down fabulously! While we were sitting and sipping a familiar voice comes from behind. It was the promoter to greet us! The first thing he said is "I still can't believe its YOU again", and laughed. I introduced him to Debbie and he said this is NOT the hotel we'll be at. Apparently there is a mix-up and we will be heading off to the RITZ CARLTON!!!!! Like that's supposed to be a problem?? haha

Up the road a ways we pull into the Ritz, it looks super nice even if I'm not a fan of resorts. Hell, its free - who am I to complain? The promoter gets us checked in and a bellman shows us to our room. When we walked the room was fairly impressive, the bathroom was super impressive! The large patio door opens onto the most beautiful courtyard I've ever seen, even though we did phone the front desk to see if we could switch to a seaview room. There were none available.

The first thing Debbie and I decide to do is nap. We'd been flying through the night and couldn't sleep properly on the planes. So we strip down, and crawl into our wonderfully luxurious beds, one for each of us. I could hear by her breathing that Debbie fell asleep immediately. Me, on the other hand, had a much harder time so I just lay resting for about an hour while the constant nattering that I'm wasting precious Jamaica-time eats away at my brain. So I get up, get in my swimsuit and head out to find the beach on this massive property. It didn't take long before I was laying in the sweltering heat of July in Jamaica. It was almost unbearable. All my previous trips were in springtime so it wasn't this hot. I had to get in the water after only 20 minutes or so, I'm just not the type that lays around tanning anyways. I think I was out for a total of about an hour, including swim-time before I headed back to the room to get Debbie's ass up!

While Debbie did her shower I had to start making phone calls to all the people I needed to see. My girl Tia from Indiana was the first person I called, she arrived a few days earlier. Once she knew I was there we immediately made arrangements for her to get to the Ritz and hang out for the day, I was so excited to see her again. Her, along with another guy Richard, I would be meeting this trip, are both friends I made online in the Jamaican chat forum I mentioned in my other blog (entitled Forum Freak). I had already traveled to Indiana the month before to meet Tia for the first time, and this would be the first time I meet Richard. She gets her taxi arranged while I'm already on the phone to him asking when he's going to show up. He agrees to come out to the Ritz and meet us too. The 3 of us are long-time forum members so we know each other pretty well already. He's Jamaican and lives on the island, she goes to Jamaica 3-4 times a year because her fiance lives there.

We finally get a call from her, she's in the lobby and I agree to go get her because this hotel is HUGE and there's no way to tell her how to get to our room. When I get to the lobby its soooooo good to see her again! We have a big hug and head back to the room to pick up Debbie and head for some lunch at the beach. Richard was going to call Tia's cell phone when he arrives and in the meantime we sure had some fun down at the little beach bar. We made friends with one of the bartenders, Stephen, who as soon as he found out we're all heading to Sumfest that night, made sure we were up to the times with the new Jamaican dances. At that time, apparently the Frogback and Stookie were the ones to know. If any of you know anything about Jamaican dance, you'd know that a new one evolves almost every day and you have to learn it. Its quite amazing really, there are hundreds of them all with different names, and some even have their own songs.

While laughing and dancing with Stephen, the 3 of us girls had a few drinks and some food. Jerk pork, rice & peas with Festival. I never eat American food when I'm in Jamaica....it defeats the purpose of being there. Soon Tia's cell phone rings and Richard has arrived, so Debbie decides to stay at the beach while we go find him in the lobby. I have no idea what he looks like though because he never puts his pictures on the internet or our forum. But I KNOW he knows what I look like because my pictures are all over the forum. It was so cool to actually meet him! We laughed for some unknown reason, I guess because him and I have been moderating that forum for so long up til this point and have never met! He was awesome! I was embarrassed because I was the only person who dared show up in the lobby at the Ritz in my 2-peice haha.

We all headed back to the beach to find Debbie and chat over some drinks. I knew Richard couldn't stay too long because it was the middle of a work day for him. But he managed to squeeze in a couple hours for us. It was really neat meeting him face to face, hearing his voice, and laughing over forum stuff. After a while we all decided to head back to the room so Debbie and I could get ready for Sumfest, then we'd head to Tia's hotel in Montego Bay so she could get ready, wait for her fiance to get off work, and all go to Sumfest. Richard stayed a while to endure the getting-ready part and finally he had to leave us. We all walked to the lobby together, said goodbye to Richard and jumped in our taxi.

Us 3 girls started our short ride to the Gloriana hotel, right on the strip in Mobay. Once we got there we all just chilled out and I called the promoters to see if they would drop off our wristbands for the concert that night. They agreed. At this point we decided it was time to go for dinner. We had made prior arrangements to meet a couple other girls and a guy from our forum who were also in Jamaica for Sumfest. We were to meet at The Pelican, a local restaurant on the strip. As it turned out only one girl, Amy, actually made it for the dinner. The 4 of us dined, the food was just okay. Nothing spectacular.

After dinner we only had time on our hands to wait for Tia's fiance to get off work so we headed back to her hotel. This hotel Tia was at, Hotel Gloriana, was kinda cute. Didn't look like much from the street but once inside the gate there's a big courtyard area with a pool, bar and lots of rooms that open onto this area. Her room was main floor and opened on to the pool area too. So we sat on her verandah for a couple hours just talking, having a couple drinks and taking pictures of our feet LOL. (as it turns out I'm leaving for Jamaica in 11 days and will be staying at Gloriana for a few nights. Will post more pics of it).

Her man finally arrives, gets dressed for the night and we off to Sumfest!!!! This is the whole reason I went on this trip and I'm sooooooooooo excited now! All the dancehall artists I ever wanted to see in one fabulous night! We started out towards the venue. The closer we got the more apparent it became that our ride couldn't get anywhere near the gates since traffic going in was so bad. We decided to jump out and walk the rest of the way.

I'm skipping forward to describe the scene inside the Sumfest venue. It was an outdoor concert and it was already packed inside so we didn't end up being very close to the stage. But I could spot who all the artists were and the music was loud and clear! Around the perimeter of the grassy area for spectators were several vendor booths selling liquor, food, keepsakes, etc. The crowd was ridiculous! My favorite part about the crowd all night were the people with aerosol cans and lighters, creating homemade blowtorches throughout the show. This is what Jamaicans do. A few of them lit firecrackers behind us, and everyone was loud and alive that night! I would have to say that attending Sumfest was one of the coolest Jamaican experiences I've ever had.

My goal that night was to meet a Jamaican guy to dance with....that's all. And it only took about 20 minutes for that to happen. I was glad I did too because he was really helpful in getting me up to speed on the new Jamaican dances that night. It was a lot of fun and he turned out to be another friend that I keep in contact with to this day. At the end of the night (or I should say morning, we got out at about 6AM) we headed for the street to catch a taxi back to the Ritz. I was absolutely BEAT, dead tired and worn out. It was a great night.

Another highlight of this trip was our day trip to Negril. I hadn't been back to Negril in 2 years and I missed it terribly, its my old hood! Debbie was totally up for the trip so off we went. Its about a 1.5 hour drive from Mobay and we had arranged with a driver for one price, to take us there in the morning and come pick us up later that night. The drive is one of my favorites...there's a lot of countryside to see and most of it is along the coastline too. We also get to drive through the cute little towns, if you remember I mentioned the town of Lucea in a previous blog. We finally arrive in Negril and get dropped off near Irie Beach Bar....you might remember that from my last blog too. This is 2 years later so I'm curious to see if any of my old friends still work there.

We approached the restaurant and I saw that no one I recognize is there. We found ourselves a table and had a seat to wait for the waitress, when I finally saw someone I knew! It was so funny, as if no time had passed. He recognized me right away too. It was Sheldon, he's in my last blog as well. He came over with a big hug, asked how I was and I introduced him to Debbie. He was working so couldn't sit and chat much but he said he'd be back over as soon as he could. In the meantime Debbie and I ordered our drinks and food. Soon after, Sheldon came back and he had his cell phone in hand saying there was a call for me. LOL I was like "WHAT??" Who even knows I'm here?? He handed me the phone, I say hello and the person on the other end asks if I knew who I was talkign to. Of course I didn't. He said "its Lincoln"! It was so good to talk to him again! I guess Sheldon went and called him to tell him I was back. Lincoln told me he'd be down to Irie in the afternoon to start his work shift.

After we ate we decided to hit the beach (only 3 steps away) for some tanning and swimming. We spent a good couple hours relaxing, having more drinks and swimming in the warm water. I came out for a break and went to order another drink when I saw Lincoln coming down the path from the restaurant. Awww it was so great to see him again. We got to hang out for a bit before he had to start work.

Of course being in Negril I wanted to show Debbie the west end, the cliffs, where Ricks Cafe and the lighthouse are. So we hopped a cab from the beach and headed for Ricks first. From there we could walk to the lighthouse. When we got to Ricks I was disappointed to see that none of the divers I knew from all my previous trips, were the guys I knew. And I was excited to see the BIG changes at Ricks since I hadn't been there since before hurricane Ivan had destroyed almost the entire property! It was bigger and better than ever now, very different and modern. We enjoyed it for a couple hours, sitting on the cliffs watching tourists jump. Debbie even jumped off the smaller cliff and had a swim.

After we were finished there we started walking up West End road towards the Negril lighthouse. It wasn't too far to go and we ended up stopping at a little roadside bar, "Sir D's", to pick up a Red Stripe to go. Continuing on up the road we finally reached the lighthouse and hoped to get a tour of the inside. Unfortunately it was closed so we could only take pictures around the grounds. We didn't stay long since the lighthouse was closed. While we were there we'd noticed the sky started looking really ominous, like there was a good size rainstorm coming. It darkened fast and the clouds were thick. So we started back on foot, down the road back to Ricks where there is shelter. Well.....we didn't make it very far when we heard the loudest thunder EVER and the sky broke! This was so cool to me, I LOVE thunder storms. And storms in Jamaica mean business!!! We picked up our pace quite a bit since we were now getting drenched! It was so funny, we were laughing at how hard the rain came. Finally our only rescue was coming into sight....the same little bar we stopped at on the way up!

Frantically we ducked into the tiny roadside place to see the owner, Harold, was still there, he welcomed us back. We literally had no where to go now, except to sit down and wait out the storm. Good thing Harold had lots of alchohol to keep us company LOL. This rainstorm ended up creating for us, the most memorable part of our trip. We were stranded at Sir D's bar for at least 4 hours, overlooking the ocean, high above in the cliffs. Watching the heavy rains and getting to know Harold, his wife Donette and their kids, who lived across the street. There was no way we were getting a taxi up here during the storm, no cars passed on the street. We made the best of it though. Harold put on music, brought out his instruments, kept the drinks flowing and we had a ton of fun! Eventually the rain subsided a little and one or two cars stopped to get a drink as well. We had a blast with the couple people that stayed the evening with us there. Harold's wife cooked dinner for us at their house across the street and their daughter brought it over for us. It was the BEST night I've ever had in Jamaica. Such wonderful people. It was actually sad having to say goodbye.
**a year later I had a friend going to Negril and I mailed her a photo album of Harold and family. She took it to Sir D's for me and gave it to them as a gift from the Canadian girls**

Finally it was our last day in Jamaica. The promoters only gave us 4 full days before we had to go home. As always, that morning was a somber one. I hate packing up to go home. So Debbie and I decided that we were gonna go out in style. We got up first thing and headed for the spa at the Ritz Carlton. Everything in there was free for guests to use. We went in these weird spa tubs, took showers, used all the expensive products, got all done up nicely, etc. Then we went to the lobby of the hotel and boarded our bus for the airport.

That's pretty much it for this trip. But there's still plenty more trips to go.

Stay tuned.....for my BIRTHDAY TRIP!!!
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Negril, Jamaica

April 2004



My mission:
To convince a city-slicking 12 year old boy that Disneyland is not the best vacation in the world. The tools I have to complete my mission: a tight budget, 2 tickets to Jamaica and a 12 year old boy with an attitude about going. He thinks that just because its my favorite place on earth, why should I have to inflict it upon others? What is there to do on a beach all day for 7 days straight? His biggest concern was staying up all night the night before departure packing his most fashionable clothing and burning CD's of songs that will remind him mostly of home while we're gone.

*****
Saturday, after 6 hours of a rare direct flight from Calgary, Canada to Montego Bay, Jamaica, our plane begins its
descent. Looking out the window I saw what was all too familiar, as I'd been to Jamaica twice already that year. But what my son Curtis saw was more ocean than he'd ever seen before, and the color of the water was a shade of turquoise he'd never imagined before. As we descended he noticed that he could see through the water,
to the bottom where all the coral reefs are, and he could distinctly see the different depths of the Caribbean Sea.

Finally the plane turned to an angle where we could see the island, although it doesn't look like much from the air, just a bunch of green hills dotted with a bunch of white houses. No concrete jungle in sight, and no theme parks. I know in my heart the joy of stepping off an airplane into this beauty, this climate, this culture, this natural wonderland....but does he? What will he think of the seemingly low-tech airport compared to the likes of the big cities we've been to? What will he think of the gong-show taxi ride to our cabins, an hour and a half away in Negril? What do I mean by gong-show you might ask? Pay close attention later, to any of the descriptions of our taxi rides!

Our plane touches down and anyone who is Jamaican on this flight applauds the landing, something I became accustomed to in past trips. The minute I fell in love with Jamaica was the minute I understood why people clap and cheer when they arrive here. Curtis enjoyed that moment with a puzzled, yet entertained look on his face....wait until he hears the singing ladies in the airport!

In 2004 at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay (MoBay), there were no boarding bridges from the plane to the airport yet, so when you land there you descend a flight of stairs onto the tarmac. While still in our seats the front and rear doors of the plane are opened up and immediately the warm, humid air rushes through the cabin, and instantly my pants are sticking to my legs. To me this is like "old faithful", the fresh smell in the air, the humidity, the heat. I find myself thinking "this is it...he'll either love it or hate me for subjecting him to this."

While we wait in the customs and immigration line, my mind wanders to whether or not our taxi man Lloyd will be waiting for us when we get through. In Jamaica, time is usually not of the essence, it's known as "Jamaican time" which means if there's a clock on the wall it usually doesn't work. Finally a distraction....the singing ladies! Aside from the fact that I'm actually in Jamaica, the singing ladies are my favorite part of arriving. I think they must
work for the Jamaica Tourist Board and they greet every plane-load of tourists with a performance of random folk songs such as "Welcome to Jamaica". It's very apparent that the people of Jamaica know tourism is their #1 industry.

For me the excitement of having yet another Jamaican stamp in my passport is payoff enough, for Curtis it'll take a lot more convincing. The ride from MoBay to our cabins in Negril is an hour and a half of countryside and some not so nice scenery, which will serve as his first impression of this country.

As we step out into my beloved Jamaican sun, up rushes Lloyd, our taxi driver to whisk us away. We don't actually know him but I spoke with him on the phone 2 weeks earlier to book our ride. He was recommended by the lady who owns the cabins we are staying at. He shakes my son's hand as if to treat him like a man and asks if its his first time in Jamaica. Curtis says yes sheepishly, actually having to admit he's a tourist and not a regular. But they do the man thing and quickly get to know each other on the way to the taxi van. Curtis finds it amusing that the vehicles in Jamaica have a right-side driver's seat and drive on the opposite side of the road.

Most of the highway between Mobay and Negril is full of potholes and lined with little wooden shacks in poor repair. Although, if you look up to the left you will see the odd white mansion on the hillside and wonder who actually lives there. After traveling a ways outside of Mobay, over to the right is the ocean which follows
you the rest of the way to Negril.

Curtis is very quiet in the back seat and it makes me wonder if he's already regretting this trip, since the majority of the scenery is small wooden shacks, children and old people seemingly riding their bicycles and walking to nowhere, and cook shops that look like somewhere you wouldn't eat if you were paid. I turn to ask Curtis if its too windy back there, as Lloyd prefers to have all the windows down rather than turn on air conditioning. This does wonders for my curly hair, considering that humidity + wind = messed up afro! To my surprise Curtis answers, "no, I'm just taking in the scenery".

Finally we reach pretty much the first civilization since leaving Mobay, a town called Lucea (pronounced Lucy). It's a bustling little place, the streets crowded with people, cars and buses carrying other tourists on their way to Negril. Our speed reduces from Mach 1 to a crawl, and I always marvel at the apparent "I've been driving in Jamaica my whole life" expertise of these taxi drivers inside town or city limits. There never appears to be any road rules. Pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles compete for right of way, yet no one gets hit. And when two cars pass in the street there is only a fraction of an inch between them.

Lloyd stops behind another taxi van whose driver and Caucasian passengers are standing around the van. There's also a police officer talking to them. Lloyd gets out, runs into a store to get Curtis a beverage and then stands outside talking to the other driver. After a few minutes, Lloyd and the Caucasian couple approach our van and get in. The story was that the other taxi didn't have current JUTA stickers and is forbidden to carry passengers for money. Lloyd agrees to take on the 2 passengers as they're heading for Negril as well.

The two Americans sit in the back with Curtis, and after conversing for a couple minutes we learn they have come to Jamaica to get married and honeymoon at a large resort. They are quite disgusted with their experience so far since they had only been in Jamaica a few hours and it was a disaster. As if trying to impress Curtis isn't hard enough, he gets to hear first hand someone else's horror stories. I immediately jump in and assure them the rest of their trip will be unforgettable and that in a couple years they'd look back and laugh at the mishap. I hate when I hear tainted views of Jamaica, I sort of take it personally.

After driving another half hour, the familiarity of "my town" comes rushing back to me when I see the first of the major Negril resorts on the right side of the road. I tell Curtis we're almost there and figure this has got to impress him. Although we're not staying anywhere near a mega-resort. Remember I mentioned a budget? But I also don't
like to be mashed in with all the "other" tourists. I get to see enough North Americans when I'm at home. In my opinion, staying in an all-inclusive resort defeats the purpose of traveling to a country with a different culture.

Our van slows down as we approach this monstrosity of a resort, the Riu, on the right. I've heard and read a lot about it. I know it's beautiful, known worldwide and overpriced, but serves its purpose for people who want to come to Jamaica and not worry about organizing their own marriage and honeymoon. Lloyd pulls into the rounded driveway right in front of the main doors so we can see into the lobby. Wow. Impressive. We wish the couple well, congratulate them on their marriage and I sincerely hope the rest of their trip would be hassle free. I see them slip Lloyd some money that he tries to refuse, with no success.

Onward. 15 minutes or so up Norman Manly Blvd, where the hotels gradually got smaller and much less than MEGA, the van slows and stops. This is it, the moment of truth. Introducing Curtis to the tiny wood cabin he'll be occupying for the next 7 days. I act more excited than normal to try to hype it up for him, I wonder if its working?

The place we're staying this week, Lazy Dayz, is run by a fellow Canadian out of Ontario. In 2004 it was comprised of about 6 rustic cabins, a gazebo style loft, a 2 bedroom guest house, and a really nice beach house where the owner stays when she's in Jamaica, and gets rented out when she's not. There is also a really tiny wooden cabin where the cleaning and maintenance staff stays.

The two cabins I rented for the week are the smallest, but are built up on a really large wooden deck that has 2 picnic tables and 2 porch swings. In between the 2 little cabins is a smaller wood structure that houses 2 toilets and 2 sinks, separated by a wall. Behind that is an outdoor shower...one of the surprises not even I knew about! This shower area is only partially surrounded by a fence about my height, and the toilet building. To me, this seems charming. Who wouldn't want to shower outside surrounded by lush greenery and the sound of reggae music?
Although I have to admit, the first time I used it I kept my bathing suit on assuming someone's sole mission was to walk around the corner and catch me naked.

Lloyd gave me his cell number in case we needed to get around during the week, and then he left. As he drove away we were presented with the keys to our 2 cabins by a staff member. She pointed towards the staff quarters and advised us that if we needed anything we should come there and ask. I also knew that the Canadian owner of the property would be arriving in a couple of days. I felt completely safe and secure here, although we hadn't actually opened the doors yet.

The grand opening....I felt like a married couple about to cross a threshold and I'm nervous. Remember, I'm in Jamaica facing a city boy who didn't want to be on this trip. This is day one, I don't want to go through 6 more full of misery from a child wondering when we're getting the hell out of here! I've done this trip before and stayed in
meager accommodations and I know I can handle it. In fact, it increases the pleasure I get from experiencing life. But the only places my son has been involve amusement rides and skateboard parks.

I insert the key, turn the knob, open the door and VOILA! A small, wooden cabin. Complete with a queen size bed freshly made up with basic white linens, some wooden shelving on the wall, a rod to hang clothing on, a chair in one corner and a mini fridge in another corner. Thank goodness for the fridge! More Red Stripe in my cabin! The floor, walls and ceiling are made of wood and the inside of the cabin reminds me of my uncle's cabin in the woods in British Columbia, Canada.

I relax a little more about Curtis now because he's been to my uncle's cabin before and loves it there. There are definitely no frills here but I also know we won't be doing anything inside these cabins except sleeping. The purpose of our trip is not to hang out indoors and play cards. Once Curtis actually steps outside of these gated grounds he will finally see what I see and feel what I feel on this God-given island.

Curtis has a smile on his face so it seems that all is well and I can rest easier. I start making excuses for the lack of a fancy hotel but he seems to think "whatever". I think that means he likes it, he already has his shirt off and ball cap on, ready to hit the beach. Its very late in the afternoon now, the sun will be setting in a couple hours and I
realize we haven't eaten since before lunch time.

The next challenge that I have in mind for him is food. Yes you can find burgers and fries in Jamaica, hell there's a KFC and a Burger King in Mobay. But the less expensive food is local food and it's really something that shouldn't be missed. If you don't eat local you really haven't experienced anything here. One of my favorite places to hang out in past trips is called Sun Beach Bar and that's where I figure we'll eat our first meal since its familiar and its close by. They have local and western food and lots of Red Stripe for moms.

Our cabins were set back on the moderately treed property a little ways, so we started walking towards the front of the property passing the staff cabin, the 2 bedroom house, the loft and the beach house. At the front of the property there is a large iron gate that's left open during the day. Beyond that I see the magnificent Caribbean Sea in its entire blue-green splendor. I can hear the rumble of the waves washing up on the sand, I can smell the salty air, and I can see the yellow-orange sky as sunset is approaching. I know Curtis has never seen anything quite like this before. Stepping through the gate, the full effect of 7 Mile Beach overcomes us. I've seen it before but each time is like the first. You actually have to know my son to know that when he says "whoa" he means it. I think the magnitude of the scenery is one of the few sacred things in my little world.

We turn to the right and walk up the beach. Sun Beach Bar is a few hotels down the beach. It's been a while since I've been there and as I walk up I'm shocked to see it's the same girl, Sophie, working there! I guess a few months in my world is longer than in Jamaica. Sophie is working the bar on the beach and behind the bar and up a few steps is a large, covered restaurant/entertainment facility. It has tables for dining, bar stools and a pool table. This is where my son will eat his first meal in Jamaica. I'm a bit disappointed he opts for western food, fried chicken and French fries.

During our ride from the airport to our cabins I used my cell phone to contact Piper, who was going to come meet us at some point during our stay. Using a foreign cell phone in Jamaica is not advisable since the roaming charges are astronomical but when compared to the cost of renting a cell phone for the week, it worked out to be the about same. As long as my calls were quick, to the point, "where are you? Okay see you there", I wasn't worried about the bill when I got home. Oddly enough I had found out that incoming calls were more expensive per minute than outgoing calls. Interesting. And I must explain the only reason I even insisted on having a cell phone there was because I have friends in Jamaica from previous trips. Life is better there when you can contact your local friends.

This first night we decided to take it easy since we had been up since 4AM to catch our flight. Jamaica is two hours ahead of our regular time zone so night approached fast. After spending some time in our cabins getting unpacked the only thing left to do after dark was walk up the beach and look for a watering hole that was open.
Somewhere we could sit and enjoy the sound of the ocean until we were tired enough to sleep. And we were also
waiting on Piper to come greet us.

Walking the opposite way from where we went to Sun Beach bar earlier we discover we don't have to go very far before a bartender is calling us over to 'his' bar for refreshment. Well that was easy, we didn't have to look for anything because it found us! Curtis thinks we should stop there so we walk up and each take a seat on a bar stool that is permanently fastened into the sand somehow.

This place is called Irie Beach bar and unbeknownst to us this first night, it would become our home and family
for the next 6 days. The bartender, Jerome, was young, very cute and had a great sense of humor. Immediately he starts asking questions about where we're from, when we got here, when we're leaving, if we're hungry, etc. Like I said before it is painfully obvious that Jamaicans know what their number one industry is because they treat tourists like gold. I chat with Jerome while he cracks open a Red Stripe for me and pours a coke for Curtis. Red Stripe is the local Jamaican beer and is also the cheapest way to drink here, next to Appleton Rum which is also local.

My first mouthful of Red Stripe is heavenly, not because it tastes any better than other beer, but because I'm in Jamaica. Everything is better here, heck even a sunburn is better here. I divert myself from conversation with Jerome long enough to notice that Curtis is sitting down the beach close to the water and in the dark. Next to him is an old, scrappy looking Rasta man and they seem to be deep in conversation themselves. Jerome chuckles and tells me my son is very outgoing and brave and I occasionally keep turning to see that Curtis is okay. It is definitely night now so it's best to err on the side of caution.

At one point I turn around to look down the beach again and a very fine looking man catches my eye and seems to be heading towards the bar where I'm sitting. But as he walks closer my eyes light up as I realize its Piper! In my bewilderment of how he found us at this exact bar a big grin spans my face and I jump up and give him a hug!
Its actually been 11 months since my last trip here so a big hug is warranted. He tells me that when he went
to our cabins and discovered we weren't there he decided the next logical step would be to search the beach in the dark. That theory is a bit iffy to me but I guess it worked.

Piper is a strapping young man, 6'4" and well built, whom I met by accident on my very first trip to Jamaica. He's a police officer and was doing security at the concert I came to see my first time here. We met, hit it off and the rest is history. On my second trip I stayed at his home, met his family and neighbors and was able to see the REAL Jamaica through local eyes. I will treasure that trip forever. Thankfully we have managed to keep in touch.

Piper sits down, orders a drink and I notice the look Jerome is giving off. I can tell he's wondering if this man is ruining his chances of becoming friendly with me. Its fun. A few moments later I call Curtis back up to the bar to meet Piper, they've spoken to each other by phone before so its time they meet. Curtis thinks its cool to meet a Jamaican police officer and starts asking him all kinds of questions about it, including why he's not wearing his uniform and where his gun is. Piper answers all the questions with ease as we wrap up our beverages. Its about 10:00pm now and I'm getting a little tired and Curtis is hungry....again!

I say goodnight to Jerome and he informs us that he's also working the morning shift tomorrow and that we should come by for breakfast. I agreed. As we're walking back to our cabins Piper offers to take Curtis up the road to pick up half a jerk chicken they could split. You never have to go far to find a random food vendor on the side of the road with his makeshift barbeque, cooking up plenty of jerk chicken. You pull up along side in your car, buy it by the quarter or the half, they wrap it up in foil and off you go. Their barbeques are actually a cut-in-half-lengthways metal barrel with coals burning inside and a grill over the coals. Away went the two of them while I organized my luggage a little more and changed for bed.

A short while later Curtis and Piper reappeared with a big foil package and a couple of drinks. Immediately I wonder if Curtis will actually enjoy and be able to handle jerk chicken in Jamaica. You can buy jerk sauces in North America too but somehow its nothing like authentic jerk. In a previous trip I ordered jerk chicken and the restaurant actually served the sauce on the side because not everyone can enjoy the full effect of the fireball going down their throats. But wonders never cease to amaze me, the child ate it without batting an eye, although I could practically watch the sweat beads pop out of his skin on his nose and upper lip.

The chicken seemed to suffice for the two of them and they finished their drinks. I thanked Piper for feeding my boy and decided we should call it a night. I knew the next day we'd rise early and get in a full day. On the agenda: breakfast and head to the cliffs. I wanted to take Curtis to the most incredible place to be in Negril (besides the beach, that is. The boys did a funky handshake, I got a hug and we were off to bed as Piper drove off the property.

I saw Curtis to his cabin which was only about 30 feet away from mine. I was a little worried if he would mind sleeping by himself in his own cabin. They were literally just 4 wooden walls, 2 windows on the front and one window at the foot of the bed. All three windows were just screened with wooden, horizontal louvers that could open and close. Inside, the ceiling was similar to the inside of a garage, vaulted with the framing visible. Outside, the roof was topped with tin sheets. The front doors on each cabin were pretty much just regular wood doors with a knob that locked from the inside, nothing fancy or overly secure.

Curtis jumped into his bed, made up with plain white sheets and a bit of a heavier blanket on top. Not once did either of us use the heavier blankets, even with the cool sea breeze that blew at nights. I lay down beside him, we chatted a little about the day and I asked him if he liked it so far. I also asked him if he minds sleeping in this cabin alone and almost immediately after he said he'd be fine, we hear a "ping" on rooftop. We both looked at each other and giggled at the timing. I assumed it was an almond falling from the trees above. After one or two more "pings" I left his bed, secured his door and said goodnight to him through the screened window.


DAY 2

It's the most amazing phenomenon in Jamaica, no matter what time I go to bed there, I always rise at the crack of dawn with the sun. I'm not sure if it's the heat that makes it impossible to sleep when the sun's up or if it's the reggae music that seems to start around 6:00am every day. It's just a happier place to wake up to. As I lie in my bed and see the sun peering through the louvers, the oddest sound I've ever heard comes out of nowhere. It's obviously a bird but I have never heard this one before. There's not even an accurate way to describe it unless you were standing in front of me listening to me imitate it. Comically enough this bird becomes the source of much laughter between me and Curtis throughout the trip. Even to this day, 4 years later, one of us will randomly just make the sound and we both burst out laughing.

I open my louvers, put on something decent and step out my front door. It's ridiculously early yet as soon as I step outside the caretaker appears out of nowhere and waves a friendly "good morning" to me. It makes me smile and he carries on about his business. In between mine and Curtis's cabins is a picnic table which eventually becomes our swimsuit-drying table. I sit there for a minute wishing I had a cup of coffee, and knowing I'm not nearly beautiful enough yet to walk to the nearest restaurant and get one. I decide to peer into his cabin to see if there are any signs of life. Not yet. So now would be a great time to test out my first outdoor shower.

Since this is my first time using a shower that's outside and only partially surrounded by a four-foot fence, I decide to err on the side of caution and shower in my swimsuit. I'm not sure who I thought would come parading around the corner at this hour wanting to take a peek, but I wear it anyway. Well if it wasn't the most amazing feeling to be in a cool shower in the warm air, out in the open. When I put my head back under the showerhead and look up all I see are palm trees and blue sky above me. Does life actually get any better than this? Even thinking back on it right now it makes tears well up a little at the simplicity of it all. This trip was extremely budget since all costs were doubled by bringing Curtis. But being surrounded by nature in the shower made me think I had it all wrong the times before. This is the way to go!

Shortly after I'm dressed and sitting at the picnic table Curtis emerges from his cabin in his boxers. He doesn't look how his usual groggy self looks at 7:30am. He's smiling, shirtless and ready for the day. He decides there's no point in showering until later since he'll be swimming in salt water. So towards the beach we head once again, to
keep our end of the breakfast bargain with Jerome. On the way up the beach I told Curtis about the awesome fruit shakes they could whip up in a hurry to go with his breakfast. They are pretty much made-to-order, any flavor, any tropical fruit you ask for. And for the grown-ups they'll actually put a shot or two of rum in there. My favorite is the Hummingbird. It has milk, banana, rum cream, Tia Maria and grenadine. It whips up into a nice frothy, pink shake.

We arrive at Irie beach bar, the same place we sat the night before with Piper. One of the things I love the most about Jamaica is everyone is up at the crack of dawn and happy. Just like Jerome, as soon as he sees us he gives us the same welcome as the night before. The first thing I notice is the reggae music that's playing which was all Christian themed this morning...it's Easter Sunday. I had thought about finding a church for an Easter service but sitting in front of the ocean listening to this music WAS church to me. This must be God's country. I had my coffee, we ordered breakfast and while we waited Jerome asked what our plans for the day were. Our morning plan was just to hang out and swim in the ocean, then have some lunch and hit the cliffs, Rick's Café. I've been there several times and I KNOW Curtis is going to love it. Watching the divers alone, makes it worthwhile.

After breakfast the sun is already blazing so we shed our clothes and hit the water. We could pass so much time just laying on our backs floating in the water, watching the action on the beach; the odd tourist, vendors selling their wares, other people in the water. I'm pleasantly surprised at how quiet Negril is at this time of year, I would have thought otherwise. And I'm also pleasantly surprised that my son is satisfied with such little action. Everything was going to be alright.....and he still hasn't discovered Rick's.

**I just noticed this is 9 pages in a Word document
already!! I could write forever but in
the interest of my readers I'll try and whittle this down a bit now. **


*Rick's Café - My son ends up being obsessed with it after one day. I had planned to take him there a few times over the week but he ended up spending 5 out of 6 days up there! After the first day my friend Scott the diver and his friends Hector and Cory started picking up Curtis in the afternoons and taking him up there, where I would come and meet them later on. It was also only by the 2nd time at Rick's that Hector started driving us back to our cabins every night after Rick's. Fabulous friends.

*Irie Beach Bar - We pretty much ate all our beach meals there since Jerome made us come back the first morning. At the end of 7 days we knew the entire staff and I was getting custom made meals to order! YAAY! My favorites, some of whom I still keep in touch with are Jerome, Lincoln, Allan, Peter and Sheldon. There was also a young guy who hung out at Irie every day named Fabian, who was a pretty fun guy too. Him and Curtis would joke around a lot together.

*Jungle nightclub - One of the nights, long after Curtis went to bed, I knew some of my friends would be at the Jungle so I decided to walk over there. After Lincoln got off work he walked me up the road in the dark to make sure I got there safely. When I got inside I partied the night away with Fabian and Hector, and just before sunrise Hector drove me back to my cabin safe and sound.

*Walking day - Curtis and I spent one day just walking up the long Norman Manley Blvd to see what we could find. We talked to a vendor who burned reggae CD's to sell, we test drove some motor scooters and I considered renting one until I realized I'm not that great a scooter driver LOL. We found an internet café and decided to chill for an hour and each sit down to check and send emails to our friends and family back home. We stopped and took pictures of the Jungle nightclub, Roots Bamboo beach club, and various other things. We stopped walking way at the other end of the road at Selina's Café for a meal. I had found Selina's on the internet randomly before this trip and discovered that she is from my hometown of Calgary, Canada. She moved to Jamaica years ago and opened this restaurant. So when we arrived there I made sure to chat with her and tell her where we're from too. She was really nice and after our brunch she offered to drive us into town since we were heading that way anyways.

*Beach days - During the early part of every day we always hung out on 7-Mile beach, before going to Rick's up in the cliffs. One of the days a couple of local kids ended up taking a liking to us so they played for quite some time in the water with us. When we were finished swimming and were going to walk up the beach a while the kids asked their parents if they could come with us. So off we went and Curtis thought it was pretty cool that these kids liked us so much. Another beach day Curtis and I walked up the beach alone and happened upon a little nude section of beach. This was hilarious because Curtis had never seen old, naked people in public before LOL.
Immediately he took out the camera and started snapping inconspicuously. He also took some other really cool pics on the beach which I've posted in this report.

*Shopping - I'm not a big shopper when I go to Jamaica. For me I'm there because I love the country, not to buy souvenirs. But one day Curtis and I did the shopping thing because I knew he wanted to buy for some friends
back home. I taught him the art of negotiating for better prices before sending him off on his own. We looked at beaded jewelry, wood carvings, towels, beach wraps, etc. Once Curtis got an idea of what was out there I gave him $1000 JD (about $20 CAD at that time), we picked a meeting spot and off he went. The funniest part was when he returned he had nothing but a bracelet and no money left. When I asked what the heck he did with his money he said he ate a patty and went back to the internet café! Such a city kid.

*Nights in the cabins - Our nights in those little cabins turned out to be some of my most cherished moments with my son ever. Remember I mentioned the bird we kept hearing that made us spontaneously erupt into laughter?
We heard that little guy every morning! Some nights we'd also lay in Curtis's cabin and listen to the "ping ping"
of almonds falling onto the tin roof, until one time the little pings were interrupted by a huge KABOOM! We laughed so hard speculating what that might have been. Our best guess was a coconut LOL! Sometimes we'd just lay there listening to the constant honking of car horns on the road. In Jamaica, honking is a friendly gesture like saying hi, so it goes on constantly, its not a sign of "get the hell out of my way"!! One night Curtis and I laid in his bed laughing and talking so late that I just fell asleep there and never ended up back in my own cabin.

*Saying goodbye - This is ALWAYS the hardest morning to face in Jamaica. We had our last breakfast at Irie on the beach and we remained pretty quiet through that. Most of the staff we grew to love was there that morning so it was nice to see them all one last time. Our drive to the airport was really quiet, as was our trip home.



To be continued...............
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/2/1107830400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/2/1107830400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/2/1107830400/tpod.html Sun, 11 May 2008 23:24:50 -0400 Forum Freak! - The distances I will go to for these people!

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Orlando, Florida, United States

The most interesting part of this entry I guess is that it opened an ongoing chapter in my life. Since becoming a member of a Jamaican chat forum in 2003, I guess it was inevitable that I would eventually develop an online crush on a male member at some point over the years. Well it happened pretty much in the first few days of 2005, and he was a guy named Frederick who lived in Orlando, Florida....remember I live in Calgary, Canada.

After much flirting online, the phone calls started. It was fun and went on for a couple months. This was not unusual for me having phone calls with forum friends, I have several of them, male and female. But with this guy we felt compelled to meet each other to see if we'd click. So in February of 2005 I was on my way to Orlando. The bonus of this trip is that 3 other girls from our forum lived in Orlando so I could kill a bunch of birds with one stone. I should mention as well that the 3 girls had already met the guy a few times in person, all compliments of our forum. I remember when they met they posted pictures and stories online of the fun they had. This totally looked like something I wanted to do, and my mission became to meet as many forum friends as possible/affordable.

I bought myself an airfare/hotel package online and February 7, 2005 and my plane was touching down in Orlando. I have to admit my nerves TOTALLY had the better of me that I was meeting a guy I'd only known by phone calls and forum flirting. But worst case scenario, we wouldn't click and I'd still meet the girls and enjoy Orlando for 5 days. This was worse than a blind date because I paid a lot of money to get there! Only at least I knew what he looked and sounded like.

I get off my plane, locate my luggage and head out the airport doors to look for my ride...which was him. Soon enough his car that he'd described to me, pulled over as I nervously stood there waiting for him to get out. LOL I think I was planning in my head what excuses I could come up with just in case! But when he got out of his car, aside from being shorter than I imagined, he was the same person I thought he'd be. This began a great time in Orlando, it was hot and sunny when I just left winter back home, and anywhere where I can see the ocean is a great place.

My first day in Orlando I spent alone since Frederick had to work. I slept in long and hard that day from flying the night before. Not that its an overly long flight, just that travel knocks me out. The first thing I did when I woke up was go outside. I didn't even get dressed, I just headed out the door into the parking lot in my pajamas. I wanted to test out some warm southern weather. To my surprise, I guess they do have a little bit of winter in Florida because it wasn't as hot as I hoped it would be. BUT it still wasn't February in Canada weather. Good enough for me!

After I was showered and dressed I decided to just go out and walk. My hotel was in close proximity to shopping and food so I headed up the street until I saw a souvenir shop. I hate souvenirs but I went inside anyways. I picked up a few funky trinkets for my son and my mom and basically just browsed. I was now getting hungry so I kept walking up the street til some form of food struck me...mmmmm Pizza Hut. It was weird dining alone in Pizza Hut, every time I eat there I'm with my son.

Back at the hotel room now, I decided to get in touch with the 3 girls from the forum; Althea, Joy and Keisha, because we'd all be meeting up later that night. When Frederick got off work the 2 of us went for dinner and acted all goofy about meeting. I had never done something this weird before.....well unless you consider flying to Jamaica and staying with a police officer I barely knew, NORMAL! Okay so I'm spontaneous! Needless to say dinner was good, we talked a lot and then decided we should get to Althea's house and get this link-up started!

Frederick had already met and been to Althea's house so he knew exactly where to go. Her and I had talked on the phone a few times as well as being friends on the forum so it would be cool meeting her I thought. We arrive at her house, knock on the door and Frederick starts calling out "IMMIGRATION MAAM...open up!". I laughed so hard and was still laughing when she opened the door. It was really neat to see her in real life, before I'd only seen pictures. She invited us inside while she finished getting ready. To this day I kick myself that I wasn't the trigger-happy camera girl then that I am today. I so wish I'd taken more pictures!

We all chatted a while and the plan was for Frederick to leave since he had to work a graveyard shift that night. While he worked Althea and I would drive the 60 minutes to Joy's place and hang out. Keisha wasn't able to make it which broke my heart, I really wanted to meet her. So we hit the road, the whole while we drove her and I mostly talked about funny stuff on our forum, the relationships we've all formed, etc. Ironically while we drove, her cell phone rang and it was another guy from our forum calling her. I guess they'd chatted on the phone before too.

We arrived at Joy's house, I was really looking forward to meeting her too. She was a feisty little fireball on our forum and I wanted to see what she was like in real life. To my surprise when she answered her door she's this tiny little thing standing there. Maybe 5 foot nothing, mother of 3, cute, chatty and fun. Us 3 girls sat in her living room til 3AM the next morning talking and laughing so hard about funny stuff on the forum. The funniest part of it all is that these girls are Jamaican and if you know Jamaican females they are ridiculously funny, especially when they slip from english to Patois and start telling stories. Needless to say we had a blast that night and I didn't get dropped off at my hotel til well after 4AM.

The following day I wanted to see the beach so Frederick agreed to take me to Daytona and spend the day. The drive was really nice, and not super long. We parked and just walked up the beach and back down the boardwalk. None of the shops were open though, that was disappointing. As the sun was going down it really got chilly and this surprised me. So I guess that meant it was time to head back to the hotel. We had to get ready to go out later that night with Althea again. Frederick, Althea and I were going to go downtown Orlando and hit a nightclub. The club was a lot of fun that night. For the most part Frederick did his own thing and Althea and I danced, met people and had a great old time.

The time came for me to leave Orlando and I was really glad I made this first trip of many to meet forum friends. The girls were a blast, Frederick and I really clicked, and I had decided I'd return again soon.

Now that I had this one forum trip under my belt I decided I really wanted to keep doing this sort of thing and meet more of them. Some people think cyber-life is really surface and fake but I beg to differ on that concept. If you keep reading my blogs you will probably end up agreeing with me. To this day I still talk to the same people online all the time and keep making it my mission to meet more of them.

Stay tuned...........
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/1/1210396560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/1/1210396560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamcan/1/1210396560/tpod.html Sat, 10 May 2008 02:45:00 -0400 For those who don't believe in fate.........

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Negril, Jamaica

May 2003

This entry is about my 2nd trip to Jamaica, all made possible by a Jamaican police officer (Piper is his nickname) I met on my first trip 2 months earlier. We stayed in contact after my first trip and he offered to let me stay at his house in Savanna La Mar, Westmoreland. Without this offer the trip never would have been possible since I couldn't afford to fly and pay for accommodations. I was also looking so forward to staying more in the country and seeing more of the "real" Jamaica.

Just as it was 2 months ago, as soon as I entered the immigration area at Sangster Int'l airport in Mobay, the singing ladies were there welcoming the tourists with a song called "Welcome to Jamaica". Its such a pleasant way to pass the time while standing in line for your passport stamp. It was much more pleasant than the following 30 minutes. First of all I had issues at immigration because I didn't know Piper's home address to fill out on the immigration card. So they wouldn't let me through until they could reach him on the phone to confirm. Second, I had brought down a computer to donate to a school (on behalf of someone back home). There was some debate on whether I'd have to pay duty to bring it in but they finally decided it wasn't worth enough to worry about.

It was pouring rain when I stepped outside so I was hoping Piper was ready and waiting. The only problem is I kinda forgot what he looked like since it had been 2 months and I didn't know him that well. But I guess I wasn't that hard to spot because he found me. He loaded up my bags into the car and I took a minute to inhale the Caribbean air once again. Its so good for the soul. For the split second I was actually in the rain before getting into the car, it managed to saturate me. But the air is so warm its never an issue.

I have to say that out of all my trips, this one is the one that I got to see the MOST regular Jamaican things and people. I HATE to this day that a digital camera wasn't a part of my life yet because I missed out on so many pictures that I'll never get again. But I'll post what I have anyways.

First stop on the way to Sav La Mar was KFC (still in Mobay). We hit the drive through to last through the 2 hour drive to his house. This would be the only time I ate fast-food on this trip. Next stop was a little roadside place that didnt even look like a place LOL. During the week I discover these "non-places" are quite common. We entered the small wooden structure where I found a bartender with a full selection of beverages and a couple TV's with the day's cricket game on. We each had a Red Stripe, chatted with a couple locals and started back on our drive. The rest of the drive we talked about how my flight was, he played tour guide and explained everything we were seeing (most Jamaicans take it upon themselves to do this), and tried to plan out the week around his job. It was just before elections at this time so Piper advised me he'd be really busy at work, as a police officer, since election time can get very heated in Jamaica.

Piper's House

I was charmed to death to see where he lived, where regular Jamaicans live! Driving up to a fairly large, gated house only to find out he occupies one room in the house. Down the hall a single mom and her son occupied another room, and they all shared a kitchen and bathroom. The other side of the house was occupied by a couple and their daughter. Its so cool that this is normal, and it makes me think instantly of how fortunate we all are in North America. Piper told me that most of this housing scheme is occupied by police officers.

In the photo's, the room I'm in is his entire space. There's a bed, dining table, television, fan and a fridge...all in one square room the size of a bedroom. The hallway you can see leads to the bathroom and the kitchen that he shares with the single mom and her school age boy, who seems to come and go as he pleases into Piper's space.

There was a large back yard where they handwash laundry and have a burning pile for trash. The bathroom was a pretty good size and as I found out through my stay, having a shower is hit and miss depending on water pressure. Some days its a slow drizzle....in which case they put a basin under the faucet all day to collect the drops, then use the full basin to bathe at the end of the day. This is so cool!! I love learning this stuff.

Across the street there is a house that looks half built and uninhabitable. Piper tells me that the way they build in Jamaica is they start the house and live in it before completion. As they get more money they add on when they can. There are also random animals grazing in the yards, such as goats or donkey families. Throughout my trip I find that its normal to see random animals in the streets.

It gets dark around 6:30pm every day in Jamaica, which is when it cools off (barely). Piper had to work my first night there and I was glad to get an early sleep from my long flights. So he says goodnight, backs the car out and locks me behind the giant iron gates surrounding the house. I couldn't go anywhere if I tried, and I didn't try to go anywhere but bed.

Trip Highlights

* I spent a day at 7-Mile beach in Negril, alone, while Piper worked, however he gave me a cell phone to use and his friends worked at a beach bar where I hung out. Sun Beach bar. I spent most of the afternoon getting free drinks from an older American tourist who knew I was alone LOL. But I knew I was safe and what time my police man was coming to pick me up.

* My second day alone at Piper's house I met the family that occupied the other half of the house. They were taking their little girl to the beach in Negril that day and knew I was trapped in the yard alone, so they offered to take me. Such nice people! The daughter seemed think I was cool and she chatted me up the whole time we were out. I spent the day with them and went out for dinner with Piper that evening to a spot in his neighborhood. Judging by reaction when we came in I don't think they see many tourists there.

*Piper managed to take enough time off work that we headed into the country a couple days. I managed to drive through the following parishes: St Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, Trelawny. My favorite stop was at his aunt's house in Mandeville, because it's so high up in the mountains that the air is extremely cool. I was actually too cold in my shorts up there, mind you it was raining.

* We visited a school in St Elizabeth where his uncle is a teacher. The children in their uniforms were adorable! I later learn that all schools are uniformed...I love it. It seems to show much more respect.

* We spent a day in Falmouth, Trelawny where a Canadian friend of mine (Erynn) was living and volunteering. So me and Piper visited with her and a Jamaican friend of hers, who also had a newborn baby. Then Piper, Erynn and I went out for a drink and to play some pool before our long drive back to Sav in the evening.

* My absolute favorite stop on the whole trip, I can't even remember where we were. But Piper stopped at a roadside wooden hut that was apparently a barber. While he was inside getting his hair cut I just sat out in the street watching the people. One little Jamaican boy walked through the street and just stopped and stared at me a while. I'm assuming white people NEVER come to this little place. He ran off, only to return about 5 minutes later with 6 of his little friends. They all just stood in the street and smiled at me. Amazing....it still melts my heart to think about it.

* Throughout the trip we made several stops at several roadside bars to hang out, have a beer and listen to music.

* I met his aunt, uncle, mother and sisters. I also met several of his friends. All of them were very welcoming.

* Piper and I spent one evening at the beach after dark, I can never get enough of the ocean. We walked a long way, stopped at a restaurant for some food and a couple drinks, listened to reggae that seems to play everywhere, ALL the time in Jamaica. The beach in Negril is charming at night. You can hear the constant rolling of the ocean, yet its so dark you can't see it. The beach is lit with many little bars and different sized restaurants. You can see 8 billion stars in the sky. The odd couple or group of people walks up and down the beach after dark, but for the most part people stay in the lit areas where the bars are. Its the most peaceful feeling being at the beach after dark.

* If you remember Scott the cliff diver from my first blog entry, I had contacted him and made arrangements to go out one night while Piper had to work. Piper took me to the Jungle nightclub, made sure I connected with Scott and then left for work. This was my 2nd experience at the Jungle only it was much different! The first time 2 months ago it was a tourist club night. This time it was locals night! What a trip that was....not many tourists but packed with Jamaicans! Scott and I hung out, danced and drank all night! The clubs don't close til morning in Jamaica so it was a long night. By the time Piper came back to get me I was falling asleep in the car on the way back to his house.

* My last night, unfortunately Piper had to work again. I had the choice of staying at his house and doing nothing or finding something to do. I remembered the night I was with Scott he mentioned a reggae night at Alfred's on the Beach in Negril. So I opted to get dropped off there. I hung out by myself listening to mellow reggae mixed in with the ocean waves since Alfred's is right on the beach. I never did find Scott that night but enjoyed a relaxing evening with rum and music. Piper picked me up relatively early.....2am.

*****

On the day I was leaving Jamaica, we woke up early so I could enjoy part of my last day. Once I was dressed and packed we just spent time sitting on the verandah talking about the week and speculating when I would come back. We laughed about lots of things we did and saw during my stay, I learned more about Jamaica, and I promised him I'd mail pictures of the trip when I got back. While Piper was bathing I wrote in a thank-you card I brought with me to give to him. I kind of gushed in the card because he was the reason I was able to experience everything I did in that week, and I was so grateful. After signing it, I slipped some cash in there, sealed the envelope and left it under his pillow. It was the least I could do.

Sitting in the parking lot at Sangster airport, listening to reggae in the car, was the crappiest thing I've had to do! Oddly enough it rained the day I arrived and rained again when I was leaving. That just makes the sadness WORSE! We sang to the music a while, then it was time for me to check in. Ugghh.

Oh did I mention in the last entry about the crying when the plane takes off? LOL....

Jamaica soon come......AGAIN!

To be continued........




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Negril, Jamaica

March 2003 Highlites

*Winning the trip from VIBE 98.5 in Calgary. Managing to get a passport in under 2 weeks....very costly!
My friend and I were both in a radio contest draw to see Sean Paul perform in Jamaica. We decided that if either of us won we had to take the other. So I was driving to work on the morning of the draw and live on the radio they drew the name and started dialing the number. Well.....my cell phone wasn't ringing so I was sad. When the girl answered they said "Is this TRISTA??" My heart skipped a beat because with a name like Trista...come on, there could only be ONE of those in the draw. When I heard the girl speak I started screaming in my car!!!!! The rest is history.

*Leaving Calgary heading for the tropics for the first time in my life!
Need I say more??

*Meeting up and traveling with lots of Canadian reggae/hip hop artists who were accompanying us to the Sean Paul concert in Negril. Snow, The Rascalz, Baby Blue Soundcrew, MTV camera crew following us around.
This was almost the coolest part of the trip. You'd have to be in the Canadian music scene to know who these artists are but at the time it was very cool that these artists (who would also be performing at the concert) were riding in the same plane and staying in the same hotel! We ended up spending lots of time with them all, breakfasts, dinners, etc.

*Arriving in MoBay after a 12 hour journey from winter to summer.
The standard flight from Calgary to Montego Bay is Air Canada through Toronto. We leave Calgary at midnight, spend 4 hours on a layover in Toronto from 6-10AM, then arrive in Montego Bay at 1:00PM the next day. Ugghh. I can never decide if the best thing to do is sleep on the plane or just keep drinking!

*Dancing & singing airport authority and free Appleton the minute we stepped off the plane! Being half snapped before even boarding the bus for Negril.....and all the little roadside bars we stopped at on the way.
When we arrive in Mobay, the airport workers are familiar with the artist SNOW, who was traveling with us. Instantly they all start singing one of his songs and dancing around with Snow. It was a hoot! There was also a rum punch booth set up outside the airport that day, I've never seen it since. But they were serving free rum punch to anyone who wanted it. We boarded our bus and set out for Negril.



*Pointe Village in Negril with free food and drinks 24 hours a day
The promoters of the trip we won had us all staying at Point Village which I would highly recommend. Its a beautiful complex, plenty of restaurants for a variety of food, lots of bars so you can double-fist the drinks all day, every day. I enjoyed staying there, except that is pretty far away from the main strip in Negril.

*Being with the artists and an MTV camera crew everywhere we went....there's some VIP treatment when you're traveling with MTV and famous people!
Since this trip took place during spring break and it was a major concert event, some MTV camera crews were also following our group around. We got in free at every club, VIP section at the concert, and many more bonuses...all just because we won a trip! On a side note though....I would NEVER attend spring break in Negril again....I just don't like the "spring break mentality". Maybe I'm too old LOL.



*Entrance to any club free, drinks inside free, people staring at you because you're having dinner and drinks with famous people and acting like superstarz....LOL.
Speaks for itself.

*Meeting a Jamaican police man (Piper) who was hired by the artists for protection, but instead he was too busy dancing with me!
If it weren't for meeting Piper I probably wouldn't have gone back to Jamaica so soon after this trip. We kept in contact after I went home and he decided that if I came again I could stay in his home, which made a second trip affordable.

*The Sean Paul concert where we met and spoke with Sean Paul and his dancers, Beenie Man, Wayne Marshall, Lennox Lewis. Got to watch the concert from the artist area, not the crowd area.
We had a pretty cool setup at this concert. We were really close to the performance area, had access to the artist tent, and stood beside LENNOX LEWIS for the whole concert!! That was a major hilite for me because I'm a hardcore Lennox fan! The promoters arranged for us to meet Sean Paul which was pretty cool too.


*Meeting Scott, one of the cliff divers at Rick's Cafe.
He was a pretty cool guy too and as it turns out I see him in many of my following trips.

*Crying as my plane flew away.
As they say in Jamaica....once you go, you KNOW. So I guess until you go you won't understand why I cry every time my plane leaves the island. Its infectious too because everyone I know cries when they leave too! As they also say in Jamaica.....SOON COME. That means see you soon.

****************

Then we had to leave 5 days later....waaaaay to short a trip. Luckily my police officer and I swapped info and made a plan for me to come back and do it all again, Jamaica stylee!! So the minute I got home I bought my ticket to go back 2 months later.


To be continued...............
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Negril, Negril, Jamaica

For those who don't believe in fate. This was originally written by me and posted on a travel forum in 2004, after my first two trips to Jamaica in 2003.

**JamCan steps up to the podium to accept her award** "I'd like to thank Sean Paul for playing such an important part in my life this past year."

My story will prove that random people, places and sequences of events happen for a reason. I'm a firm believer in fate and that everything happens because its supposed to, there are no accidents. I give Sean Paul (Jamaican music artist) full credit for creating what my life is today compared to what it was a year ago. Here's how he fits into this story and how he started everything:

*If I didn't like Sean Paul so much in 2003 I would have NEVER been burning out my dialing finger to win a phone-in contest to see him live in Jamaica.
*If the first person who's name they drew for the trip didn't get the radio station wrong they would've NEVER redrawn another name which happened to be mine.
*If Sean Paul didn't have the police security he had in Negril I would've NEVER met Piper (Jamaican police officer) and would never have been able to afford my second trip to Jamaica. Travelling was NEVER a priority for me because I'm a single mom and wouldn't have thought I could afford such a luxury.
*And if I never went the 1st and 2nd time I would have NEVER thought to take my son the 3rd time. And both him and I wouldn't be the Jamaica-heads we are today.

So it all explains how people you don't even know play important roles in your life whether you know it or not. Don't ever discount the reasons why things happen because there is an "ultimate" plan for us all and its not for us to question.

Of course the "Sean Paul" part is a comical angle on the whole thing, he really didn't play ANY role in all this except for the fact that I won the first trip to see him. That's what started it all.

Stay tuned!!!!!




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