One life! One Love! Let's get together and FEEEEEL alright! I think that mantra will be with me for a while. We decided that being together almost 10 years was worth celebrating. We are so thankful and in awe of God blessing us enough to go. We would have never guessed that when I quit my job that we would be able to leave this road, much less this country! We had a great time in the sun and sand. We went to an all-inclusive resort so the most work I did while we were there was just walk to the food and drinks. It was pitiful. We did get off our chairs (see the two in the picture on the end of the sand strip--that is where we sat most of our days) to snorkel and zipline. The ziplining excursion was neat because we got to drive through the Jamaican countryside and see how they really lived. You can see the pictures of their market, bars, and homes at the end of this post. Their houses are simple shacks built into the mountainside (mostly concrete buildings) with clothes hung out to dry everywhere. There is no shortage of bars though! In the rainforest they gave us free mosquito repellent--thank you! I was amazed at the roots of the trees. There is limestone all in the mountains of Jamaica which I learned proves that the entire island was once underwater. We saw banana trees (see picture), sugar cane going to market (see picture), and groves of oranges. I thought that fruit would be "the thing" but it was actually veggies! They eat a ton of greens! Even for breakfast they had steamed cabbage, things with spinach, and pumpkin in just about everything. Still the pineapple and juices were great. AND--they are some milk loving people! Everywhere I turned they wanted to put milk or coconut milk. Their famous Blue Mountain coffee grown up in the 7k foot mountains there (that is twice as high as Denver CO) was delicious with whip cream and some cinnamon. The resort had 3 specialty restaurants for evenings. We tried just about everything but still we could not say we liked Jerk Chicken. It was just too spicy for us. We found out that we just don't enjoy their favorite spice--allspice. Still, we ate squid, mussels, conch fritters (they love to fritter and fry just about anything--even spinach), esquivich *fried* fish, fried plantains, yams (which are yellow and are at every meal)and coconut milk. We even had a fresh almond from the tree! I have to confess that the things I did not try were curried. I can't stand curry and even with a zest for adventure of all sorts I could not eat curried mutton folks. But, their "national" dish is the red fruit you see in the picture. It is ready to harvest when it naturally opens on the tree and it is called "Ackee." Ackee has high nutritional value and is rich in essential fatty acids, vitamin A, zinc, and protein. The fruit was imported to Jamaica from West Africa (probably on a slave ship) before 1778. The country was full of great culture and people. The Jamaican people are so pleasant and kind. I will miss them for sure this week. Where else does your Taxi driver hug you when he drops you off at the airport?
The roadsigns were one of the things that made me laugh the most.
1. "Cover your head-Don't get dead!"
2. "Wanna see your family again? Don't speed. Speed kills."
3. The best one though--"Drive, Walk, and Ride Good."
4. You may be DEAD WRONG if you overtake carelessly. These folks don't care about lines on the road, or oncoming traffic...they will pass others. It is just how they roll !
I took my hair straightener for some odd reason. Well, I found out in about 5 mins that that would NOT be happenin'. I could have had dreds in no time. My hair was kinked so tight it was crazy.
Folks, I did not take my nice camera so these pics are the best I could do with our 10 year old point and shoot!
Some things I thought were interesting.
1. There are lots of churches and most of the folks I had the pleasure of talking to believed in Jesus! Still, of course, the Jehovah's have churches all over as well. Still, Baptist are the majority of folks!
2. They all have cell phones and LOVE to use them. AND, they are only 25 American dollars a month.
3. Very few have their own cars and those that do seemed to barely run! There were broken down cars all over. Most folks have to send their kids to school in a taxi and get to work in a taxi--that is NOT cheap.
4. They have the Blue Moutains and we have the Blue Ridge--both have a blue hue that is beautiful.
5. Rules are not really rules...if they have them,they don't enforce them...no one really cares if you are late or WHATEVER you do.
6. Their Walmart, Megamart, is for the richest of folks only.
7. The people love Americans and even though you don't have to tip at the resorts--you feel terrible if you don't since they are so sweet and loving.
8. Healthcare in Jam. is free, but they think it is a sham since everything else is so costly. The interest rate from the BANK is 25% so there are unfinished structures all over the place.
9. Road workers actually were laying in their orange vests and helmets under the trees with no scorn from the public! Hey, mon, that is No Problem. I am not saying that some Jamaicans don't work hard...but most of them don't have that American work ethic for sure!
10. There are 10 women for every one Jamaican man. Omar told us that this makes women very insecure in their country and he always has to tell "his lady" that she is the only one for him. I had a laugh with him about that. I told him that most all women were insecure no matter what ...botox, surgeries, etc., in America..he was amused and amazed at the lengths folks go to!
11. Jamaicans are very proud of their country and people. In fact, they are even proud of their termites. Our guide pulled over to show us a termite mansion (see picture) and poke it so that they'd ooze out everywhere. It looks like about 20 of our hornet's nests put together. YUCK.
12. Reggae music is more than Bob Marley. There are whole stores and its own Reggae MTV channel there.
Some things I learned about resort-living:
1. always take your own mug to all-inclusive resorts...it stays colder, and their cups are small.
2. Buffets disgust me even more now. I know that is the only way to feed that many folks, but I got so sick of seeing folks lick their fingers and then touch the serving utensils! GROSS--and I am not a germaphobe.
3. Canandians are nice folks...most of the folks there were Canadians.
4. Most folks don't venture very far from the swim up bars so the snorkeling and the good spots on the beach for us were quite wonderful! No crowds where we were!
4. 4-5 days of doing nothing is enough for me. I know that is strange to say. I did love reading in peace. Jonas and I love to play, but we also love to work hard and such and that was just almost too much of too little to do for us! ha!
5. Foreigners love to take their clothes off NO MATTER what their bodies may look like!
I was thinking today when I put Caleb down for nap that there is really not much more relaxing then lying next to your child hearing and feeling his breath while you smell the scents of home and read the Three Little Pigs. Stll, it is a joy to take a break from the toils of normal life as well!
It was an awesome 10 days with J after a week of snow and being together at home and then a week of sun just the two of us! Overall, I was so happy to go, happy to be there, and still happy to be home and see my babies and America! We are a blessed nation for sure.
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