Wednesday, July 30, 2008
I Love this Story
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Jamaica'n Me Crazy!


Near the end of June, Ben and I went to Jamaica for a week. Our mission: Tom and Amy's Wedding. We arrived on the afternoon of June 25 and had a day for ourselves before the wedding festivities began. On Friday, my cousin's family chartered a catamaran for a late afternoon cruise. Ben and I took a taxi to the resort where everyone else stayed to meet up for a short bus ride to where they would launch the catamaran. We met my dad in the lobby who wanted to sneak us into their resort, but we had already been caught. Amy and my cousin, Tom, came back from the beach just before the sunset cruise.



Bobash and I on the cat. We snorkeled and were also dropped off to swim in caves. I took advantage of every opportunity to get in the warm water.
Later that night, Olga returned with us to our resort.


The following morning, we had to get up early to get Olga back for her maid of honor duties. She had an appointment to get her hair done, so we were on our way. Ben and I ate at their resort and swam in the ocean before getting ready in my parents' room.

Amy looked like a blue-eyed doll. Olga was pretty in blue.
My parents.
Following the ceremony, we attended the reception. They had a steel drum band.
Everyone had a great time. Congratulations to Amy and Bobash!
Here are some beautiful flowers of Jamaica.
The day after the wedding, we relaxed on the beach at our resort, Legends. Our room was one of four that was as close to the sand as you can get. I would wake up to a reggae band playing just beyond the balcony or waves lapping on the shore. The beach was beautiful, but the food was horrendous. I kept double checking my jaw to make sure that it wasn't broken and sewn shut since everything was served in liquid form. But I didn't starve. This is Ben by the pool. Check out the size of that palm.
The view one morning.
Facing the ocean and looking left. Looking to the right.
Ben, without even a spot of sunburn.
Ben's head.
The fruit lady. Check out her machete.
The police patrolling the beach.
This is a photo called "High" for a couple reasons. In a pot shortage, he can smoke his shirt.
The following day, Ben and I visited the sister resort called Samsara. It's located on the cliffs of Negril and had a completely different vibe than our beach. There were many ladders that dropped into the open ocean. Ben and I snorkeled, relaxed, ate, drank, and were happy to be there.
Ben enjoying a beer and a burp.
His reaction to his burp getting caught on camera.
This is a picture of a friend we met, Michael. He pointed us in the direction of the craft market where Ben and I bought some small items to decorate our new house. I bought three ironwood carvings and had my hair braided. I was told that it would take the heavy wood carvings 300 years to deteriorate. There's no way I'll be able to verify that, so they could have told me 1,000 years if they wanted to. It was quite an experience being there. Everyone wants you to visit their shop, so we were advised to be firm, but went into a lot of people's stores anyway because we had a hard time saying no. Eventually though, the heat made it a lot easier to keep moving and head back to our beach.
Daps with a local artist and wood carver. Ben and I also wanted to visit some of the waterfalls in Jamaica. When Ben was 12 and came to Jamaica with his family, he went to the Dunne River Falls which are probably the most famous waterfalls in Jamaica. We decided to figure out how to get to the less crowded Mayfield Falls which, because of their far off location in the Blue Mountains can be almost $200/person. So once again, we talked to Michael and he arranged for his friend Trevor to take us. At the beginning of the journey, Trevor wanted to stop at his dad's bar for a drink.
Trevor is in the red shirt and his dad is behind him. Just before this picture was taken, Trevor pulled out a marijuana bud that was a foot long. I recommended that he put it away since his father was right behind him, but he reminded me that it is a Jamaican tradition for a father to teach his son to smoke. He rolled a joint with a little tobacco for the ride to the Falls. He also brought a rum beverage. When it spilled all over Ben and the car, I knew he wouldn't be drinking it, so I felt more secure. He smoked joints like a cigarettes, and couldn't even drop one before we were stopped by the police who, to top things off, also thought we had drank a bottle of rum between the 3 of us. Outside of the car, they were speaking Patua, and I thought for sure Trevor might say the pot was ours and I was going to end up in a Jamaican prison. According to Trevor, we were stopped because of a sporting event that was taking place, oh, and that pesky joint. Trevor had to keep telling the officer that he didn't have any guns, and yes he was smoking marijuana, but he was being honest about it, and he was just trying to work by taking some tourists to the Falls. Because 1/3 of the country is unemployed, the officer let us go. The payoff probably helped, too. Crazy! I was so scared, and had no idea how the journey would end.
After a two hour drive on the worst roads I have ever been on (Potholes a foot deep, people! Now I knew why Michael was so fascinated with U.S. roadwork), we arrived at the Falls. We hiked down with Trevor who waited at the entrance of the Falls, while we continued the journey with our guide, who was the Jamaican Spiderman (I'll publish the video soon). It was so green and lush and beautiful, I thought it might be heaven. It was unreal.












Jamaica exceeded my expectations. It was amazing. The sun was mild, and the water was so warm that when you stepped into the ocean, you might not even notice. Ben and I were sad to leave and hope to make it back to a Caribbean island again some day.
Our last day...


I hope to post Ben's photos in a future post.