Looking for a party, but I found a wake

I had a nice day.
I swam, ate a biiig breakfast and was (chillin) on my veranda at the hotel.

A couple of the housekeepers were just getting off and stopped to talk.
"well Mark, what will you do tonight" they asked.
"I don't know yet, where are the parties."

They thought about it, and then said
"well,there is a wake tonight"
Wake? you mean like when someone has just died?

Yeah mon, there will be nuff people and music.

Soon, my main man Nick drove up and I told him what the ladies had just told me.
"yeah mon, when someone dies there is always a big party" we celebrate the life he/she had"

Nick knew where the wake was gonna be held and said he would come for me that night.

Nick arrived after dark and soon we were on our way.

He drove to who knows where and then we saw small crowds of people walking.
He turned up a lane and there were cars parked on both sides.

From atop a hill you could hear music blazing and crowds all around a nice size house.

"Man, we gotta climb that hill" i said.

"Yeah mon, come on you can make it"

So, I huffed and puffed and made my way up.

When I got to the top I saw what must have been 100 people or more.
They were dancing and drinking and smoke was in the air.

It was a party!
"this how we do it" Nick said.

I had left my drinks in the car and did not look forward to the trek back down that hill.
I looked to my left and saw the long curved driveway that led from the road.
"Man, why didn't you tell me there was a road that we could have walked up
instead of climbing the side of that hill?"

Nick just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

I started to walk through the crowd and happened upon a man who was lying on the ground.

He was rolling from side to side, yelling out some words that I could not understand.

Nick said "He was related to the deceased and now he caught the Holy Ghost"

We have that same expression here in Chicago.

I kept going and there were little groups of people standing here and there
all the way down the driveway.

"Man, this is just like a regular outdoor party"
"Yeah mon, I told you, this is how we do it".

I made it to the car and thought about carrying my cooler back,
but decided to pull out a couple of Smirnoff Red's and chill at the bottom of the hill a while.

People were still coming and soon it seemed like the party was covering the road too.

You could hear the music very well on the road and since other folks were chillin
down there I stayed by the car.

After a while Nick joined me and then said he was walking back up the hill to the party.

"have fun I said, I'm feeling no pain right here"

We left about 1:00 AM and headed straight back to my hotel.

I have been back to other wakes in Jamaica and they were all like this one.

So, don't be shy if you hear about a wake taking place.

If you just show up it is showing respect.

The correct name for this Jamaican tradition is called "nine-night" or "dead yard".

Yes, thanks Butterfly.

Hey Spoon,

Call Linston @ 376-3652 and go out to Zion Hill for an hour or two...

You'll enjoy it

Cap