2010 - Day Thirty Four...

We are in Jamaica today; we pulled into port about 8 o’clock this morning. Among other things, I ended up getting a photo of the tiara with a native Jamaican, a pretty old man who had little objections to having his photo taken with something glittery. He seemed to take the whole thing in stride, and since he works in the tourism industry, this was most likely not the most unusual request he has heard.

Every night, the steward comes in and tidies up the room, and turns down the bed, leaves a calendar for the next day (which is really just a sales pitch for shopping), leaves a chocolate-mint candy and makes some kind of a towel animal. So far I have had a monkey, a seal and a whatever-the-hell this thing is from last night. Looks like something that should not have seen the light of day (or dark). Any ideas about what it is?

Well, today I cannot believe what I did, but everything turned out alright, no one got arrested or anything like that. I got up at my normal time, had a nice shower (plenty of water, hot water too) and went back on the Lido Deck for some breakfast. I joined Mark and Shara and we all talked about our day. My intention was to get off the boat, go into the city, buy a t-shirt and come back to the boat, and get some work done. I paid $15 for a shuttle to take me around the city, and I could get off and on as I wanted to, there was to be a shuttle every twenty minutes. I got off at one of the ‘craft markets’ where all the items were supposed to be made locally. NOT TRUE if you asked me, and the stalls were very small, and the vendors were very oppressive, so I left very quickly. I got back on another shuttle, and the driver asked if anyone wanted to take a city tour. So I said sure, and he gave me a card that advertised local attractions such as Ocho Rios, Dunn’s River Falls, Negril (a beautiful white sand beach about 10 kilometers away from Montego Bay), Rose Hall Great House and many more… I asked how much the tour would cost, and never got a clear answer…I was not informed that Ocho Rios and Dunn’s River Falls were about 100 kilometers away, either. OMG!

This shuttle driver found another guy to take me on the tour, and we were off. My new driver was named Lee, and we kept going and going and going. He was like the Energizer Bunny as for as keeping ongoing was concerned. He was very informative and I asked lots of questions about Jamaica. Lee had been a bartender in the United States, but had to return when the economy went south. Politically speaking, they (I think) like the US, and they are really not concerned about any political persuasion, they just like the US.

On the way I learned about the White Witch of Rose Hall, saw her old house; I saw Columbus Bay (this photo), where Columbus allegedly landed. Did you know they mine bauxite in Jamaica? And they still grow sugar cane. The local currency is the Jamaican Dollar, and gasoline is about $4.25US per litre. I think the exchange rate is about $85,000JD to $1US, but I might have that wrong.

Okay, here is the weird part. During this trip, I decided I was in this Toyota van ALONE with someone I did not know, and I was going further and further away from Montego Bay. Lots of scenarios went through my mind. I was most likely not the smartest thing I have ever done. AND THEN Lee starts getting and making telephone calls, and says he has to go pick up a ‘package’ in the city of Ocho Rios. We get into Ocho Rios and he wants to stay with his car while I go and look at the Dunn’s River Falls. There I go, wondering if he is going to be there when I get back. I do not spend a lot of time admiring the falls (this photo), and I get back the parking lot, find Lee and off we go again. He is getting directions to meet this guy (who he says he does not know) and we are out from the main areas of Ochos Rios. We finally find the building, and I am left alone in the van, somewhere in Ochos Rios, and the most comforting this is that I am across the street from a police station. Lee goes into this building, comes out with a package, and puts it in the back of the van. He then backs out, says he is giving this guy two minutes to come out with another package or he is leaving. He backs out, drives a little ways down the street, and then here comes the other guy with another, bigger package. Lee gets out, they talk a little while, and they put the other package in the back, and then we take off.

We stop and put some gas in the car ($1,500JD, which I figure will be about 3 or 4 litres) and we are off. Then Lee starts making phone calls again, because he has to ‘drop off the package’. WHATEVER! So, we get to this place, Lee makes a phone call, and the next thing I know we are pulling off to the side of the road, and Lee is pointing to another tour bus. I ask him if I am supposed to get out and get in that bus, and he says no. He gets out of the van, goes to the back of the van, takes the bigger package out of the van, put it in the grass on the side of the road, gets back in the van and takes off. I can see the bag on the side of the road from the rearview mirror, and I also see the other bus pull up, open the door, sweep the package into the bus, and take off.

What in the hell just happened? I have no clue, but as I said, no one got arrested, and I got back on the boat pretty much intact, but a little short of the money I had when I started. All together, the day cost me more than it would have if I had booked it with an excursion company, but then I would not have this story of intrigue to share with you, would I?

The Jamaican flag is black, green and gold; the black is for the people, the green is for the land, and the gold is for the sunshine. I thought that was pretty interesting. The Jamaican’s are also very proud of their world-class long distance runners. I bought a Jamaican newspaper, and am still going through it. All the school children wear uniforms; different uniforms indicate both different schools and different grades within those schools.

Jill just called and invited me to come have a glass of wine with her and Jack. I need to freshen up some before that, so I am going to close this blog entry for now.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!