Sunsets, Rum, Sand and Gizzadas 97 Days in Negril

[heater]

The ice cream man on the beach goes up and down the beach, what do you mean he is at Charela?

[Kahuna3]

Pretty bad when you can recognize a damn urinal…Alfreds!

Yup - that's the place!

I'm talking about the ice cream man who walks around our neighborhood in Redground. Sorry to cause a panic on the beach.

[JamaGinger]

Enjoying your posts, Kahuna. You are doing something that I have always thought would be my ultimate adventure...get a feel for what it would be like to "live" in Jamaica. I have been thinking about that more often recently, since I up and quit my corporate "good" job within the last couple of months. Trying to decide whether I really want another one of if I want to just come on down there. :-) Loving your stories.

[Boogzy]

It is very reasonable to rent long term in Jamaica

[Marko]

It is very reasonable to rent long term in Jamaica

tru......usually $25,000J's+ for a one bedroom apt...you can spend as much as a $100,000J's+ if you want too......
you can rent houses too...they vary in price...current is expensive here so A/C is a no no when you live here.....

Cool Runnings, Marko

[Kahuna3]

Party – Hearty:

This morning we went for our walk through center town and out the road to Savannah la Mar. (I love the way that name rolls off the tongue. Try it yourself. Pronounce it like Scarlet O’Hara would. Slowly and exaggerated and let the vowels roll around your mouth. It’s kind of exotic, isn’t it? It takes me back to the time when the Spaniards were here – exploiting the people and the land.)

But I’ve drifted way off track.

We were late this morning, not leaving the house until about 8:30 am. Turning the corner from Hermitage on to Redground Road, we heard music coming from ahead. It was the same music I’d heard from afar as we sat on our patio admiring the seascape and the beauty of the morning while having breakfast.

The music was dance hall, blasting from a car that was parked on the side of the road. There was a young woman leaning up against the car. She was sipping on a Red Stripe. The car was parked directly across the road from a small local bar, the ‘Good over Evil’. Lined up in front of the bar were six or seven of the local young men. I recognized one of them as the fellow who used to offer us heroin every time we passed. That stopped when one day I explained to him that I’d given up all drugs and alcohol and was now living totally ital. Not true but I find it stops them cold sometimes.

All of the young guys were drinking beers and holding spliffs. They were hip-dancing to the music. Kind of just standing in one spot buy movin’ an’ groovin’ to the vibes coming from the car. They wore branded t-shirts, bandanas and had their pants hitched down low around their buttocks.

One of them called out, “ Yuh goin’ for an early morning walk, mon? Yeah, mon, dat’s good for da bone.” (Da bone?) He hoisted up his Guinness and toasted us as we passed. It was obvious that this group had been partying all night and were still at it at 8:30 am, Tuesday morning.

Elsewhere, along the road, the morning was unfolding as per usual. Kids were riding to school on the back of bike taxis, people were walking the road down to work. Dogs were sleeping on the side of the road. A lady was hanging out her laundry.

Chalk it up to another Negril moment.


'Sustainable' community development?! Please.
See the images of Nanny of the Maroons and the ackee pods?






This is a cool looking joint.

[jimnkim]

Loving the daily updates and great pics.

[Kahuna3]

Nocturnal Visitors:

We close and lock our security grill shortly after dark but we leave our front door open for air circulation until we go to bed. So our living room is virtually wide open to the great outdoors. We hear the nightly chorus of crickets, tree frogs and katydids; very tropical. The katydids start first, right around sunset. There are only a few of them. Then, five minutes later, the crickets start followed closely by the tree frogs; hundreds of them. Occasionally a croaking lizard will join in, overpowering all the other calls with its mighty screech.

I love the call of the katydid. If you listen carefully you will hear him say 'katy - did' . . . 'katy - did'.
The name of the bug is onomatopoeic

I recorded one calling this evening at the following link. The calls are on the first sixteen seconds of the recording.




So, speaking of bugs, you might recall that Bea had a conniption one evening when a bug flew in. What she thought was a ‘huge, gross cockroach’ was actually a pretty little lime-green katydid. Since then we’ve had small moths, a few ants, and several geckos enter our accommodations. We have a resident tiny gecko, about two inches long, living on our fruit and veggie platter. He does his best to keep the fruit fly population down. When we go near the fruit platter he sees us he dashes for cover behind the microwave.

We have small bats that orbit the almond tree shortly after sunset. They’re not fruit bats. I think they go after the insects that live in the tree. One night, a bat flew through the doorway, did one circuit of the living room, and then flew out. Bea just ducked and glanced over at me for that one. Apparently she doesn’t mind bats.

Several nights ago we had a special visitor. A tree frog. Bea discovered it, she was sweeping up and saw it just before she got to it with the broom. It was just sitting there on the floor, not ‘gleeping’

I took some photos of the little guy, he was about one-half inch long. Tiny. I put him in a plastic cup and then place the cup in a planter just outside. The frog crawled out to the lip of the cup and stopped there. Soon he began ‘gleeping’ like there was no tomorrow. It seems the plastic cup was acting as a megaphone, because the little guy was producing awe-inspiring ‘GLEEEPs!’ He was still there when we closed the door and went to bed; it was like he was performing in the Hollywood Bowl.

Our visitor.





Last night I was in the bedroom reading when I heard a piercing scream from the kitchen. I jumped off the bed and went into the kitchen. Bea had bailed out onto the patio but there was a very, very large moth frantically flying about trying to find the doorway. This thing had a body the size of my middle finger and a wingspan of six inches. It was crashing into the ceiling, the walls and the cabinets. Eventually it tired and landed on the coffee pot. I picked up the coffee pot and took it outside and nudged the moth off. It flew away into the darkness.

Check the size of this beastie . . .

[ekfa51]

i just had a good laugh over that moth! i am with bea!..... out of there! thanks for the great trip report and pictures!!

[nutz4travel]

Awesome - love the tree frog!