"Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!" OHHHHHHHHHHHH TOO SWEET!!!
Printable View
"Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!" OHHHHHHHHHHHH TOO SWEET!!!
Great report...love the poetry...nice touch.
...and I don't like dat Indy man, either.
Indy guy needs to get kicked off the rock!
Quote:
Originally Posted by rastalady
I believe he is making his own karma.......
I awake in the middle of the night, my head is a pulsing thumpfest. I’m thinking “Wow, I must be really dehydrated to have this bad of a headache from 5 stripes and a dirty banana.” I get out of bed to get some water in the bathroom and I feel extremely woozy – and not the pleasant variety. I get a big glass of water – they have one nice big 20-24oz plastic glass in the room – and I slug it down. Sweetie Pie asks how I am and says we’ll go get some Tylenol in the morning. I lie down and in a few minutes my mouth starts salivating, a little saltiness and I know what’s coming. Off to the bathroom I go again. It’s an ab racker so I’m thinking probably not the liquor but I lie down hoping it is and I’ll feel better soon. Now this is not romantic in the slightest but just let me say you really don’t want to have this happen when you’ve had ANY vinegary fish escoveitched and I had wolfed down the leftovers. Sweetie Pie is very comforting but I sleep uncomfortably, it does not get better. before dawn I manage to fall asleep.
I am awakened with “Sweetie, come take a look at this!” my blurry eyes come into focus to see Sweetie Pie leaning out over the verandah railing, her backdrop an impressionists dream of grays, blues, pinks, yellows and reds. Let me tell you, if you’re going to wake up feeling shiddy that’s the way to do it. I swerve out to the balcony and we hang out for a little bit watching light rise and darkness descend. I am in lousy shape. Sweetie Pie sends me back to bed. I feel bad. “Don’t worry, I’ll read my book on the verandah,” she smiles. HH had given her a brand new copy of The Hunger Games for the trip and she was hooked. “I’ll get us some coffee as soon as I see someone about,” she says. I’m in and out of consciousness for a good chunk of the morning. She gets us coffee, toast and eggs. I get up and try to eat but that turns into an epic fail. Back into bed I go. In and out again several times hoping the next waking moment will be without pain and nausea. At some point I think to grab the newbie list and give it to Sweetie Pie.
Every time I do awake, however, I am greeted with the view of Sweetie Pie reading her book on the verandah. If you have to be sick, that’s not a bad setup. I’ll be using that little mental picture the next time I’m down and out.
Finally, some time late morning, I’ve had it and I get up. I’m still feeling pretty ragged but I say, “Let’s go!” and we get dressed to walk downtown. We head down what will become our daily trek. On the way we pass Chicken Lavish and I’m very happy to hear Sweetie Pie say, “That’s supposed to be very good!” I am pleasantly surprised that thinking about food does not make me queasy. I know where we’re going for dinner. We are trying to find the Hi Lo but my head is spinny and we end up walking past the roundabout and up to the gas station. We stop and look at some fruit, the lady has some nice pineapples. I see a soursop too. We only have US$ so I tell her we’ll be back in a few.
We end up going back to the market at the roundabout. We get a Maalox type antacid, Tylenol and sunscreen at the pharmacy counter and change my cash, Sweetie Pie grabs 4 vitamin waters and we meet at the checkout. While I’m in line Sweetie Pie goes up to the rack by the exit with the dog food. I see her kind of fidgeting and say, “You’re thinking about our dogs aren’t you?” She nods and I say, “You want to buy food for the street dogs, don’t you?” She nods again and says, “Well, dog treats if I could find them but I don’t see any. You think I’m crazy don’t you?” Now I have to admit the question of the street dogs was posited with a snarky tone but it was a LOVING snarky tone so I couldn’t pass it up, “Sweetie, I KNOW you’re crazy!” Just as the clerk is ringing up the waters a bag of dog treats comes flying onto checkout belt. This was probably the best 1000J I spent the entire week. We walk out the door and I rip into the bags. A huge chug of antacid and Tylenol with vitamin water starts to turn the tide.
We walk back to the fruit lady and she cuts a pineapple up for us, we also get the soursop. She is very funny. “You just slice it open, peel it back and eat it,” she says as she gives a mildly erotic mime demonstration. I say that soursop is probably one of the most misnamed things on the planet, she agrees and tells a story about a lady who was very concerned about the name because she hates sour things.
We stop and get a couple of mangos from another vendor. By now the vitamin waters are gone and I can tell I’m on the mend which makes me very happy. We make another stop at a Rasta shop, get some oranges and he shows us his carvings. He is very good, a very high polish on most of his pieces. Most of his good stuff is in the 4000-8000J range but I ask him what he has for 1000J. I have a good friend at home with a tiki bar and I want to bring him a souvenir. He shows me a small, more roughly worked cedar Bob Marley head. Bingo.
We eat the pineapple on the road back to HSH. We get back to the room and cut a mango up. I’m feeling almost human again. We spend a little time on the verandah and I’m feeling a lot better. We run field of vision checks on the balcony and discover there is only the corner in the right for semi-privacy and only at night. Some of the verandah games will need to find a new playing field.
We suit up and head down for some time on the sundecks and our first swim in the sea. We stop and grab a couple of drinks, I’m not quite ready to jump all the way back in, I order just a Ting. We start down the stairs to the sea. We had walked down them last night in the dark which was a little sketchy with just my iphone flashlight. In the daylight they look spectacular. A series of crisscrossing stairs and bridges traverse between multiple sun decks and dives, all at different levels eventually leading down to a sea access deck with a ladder.
We set up on the farthest west deck, orienting the chairs to the track of the sun. We break out the books, Hunger Games for Sweetie Pie and I’m reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore. I notice that Sweetie Pie is using an unusual bookmark. “Did you fold up Beautiful Dreamer to use as a bookmark?” I ask. “Yes,” she replies coyly, “I want to always remember where I am.”
I tell her about what I was thinking this morning about being sick in paradise. She agrees and says she didn’t mind too much, she is devouring the book. I tell her my biggest disappointment about this morning was I had intended on waking her with a whisper in the ear, “Beautiful Dreamer, Awake Unto Me!” She likes that.
I point out an interesting visual effect that minds of a particular persuasion find interesting. Sweetie Pie is not of that persuasion so she is usually interested when I can describe or show something to her that sort of explains things a little. When you sit on a deck on the edge of a cliff you can set yourself so that as you look out to sea you can have an uninterrupted view of the sky and sea stretching to the horizon through the extent of your peripheral vision. Because there is little to nothing for your brain to process in context to other objects and the focal point of the horizon is so far way it is very easy to slip into a 2 dimensional mode of processing the image. It can be as if your staring at the most amazing painting you’ve ever seen. If you turn your head steadily and quickly to the cliff behind you are suddenly presented with an incredibly 3 dimensional surface at very close focus. It can play some fun mind games with you. Sweetie Pie finds it NEARLY as fascinating as I do.
Sweetie Pie slips back into her book. I’m reading a little but am prepared to spring a plan. It’s Sunday afternoon, I check the sea every once in a while for a sailboat. When I notice one coming I point it out to Sweetie Pie. As she watches I serenade her with Downstream by Supertramp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN_7mHDknyM
It’s time for a swim. We stop at the deck above the sea access level and take a gander; it’s maybe an 8 foot dive. Sweetie Pie has a reticent look on her face. We didn’t bring down our snorkel gear so I recommend we just swim today off of the access deck. She agrees and we go down and dive in. We swim for a bit, the water is just perfect. Cool enough to refresh you, warm enough to stay in for a long time. Sweetie Pie swims back to the access deck and scurries up to the 8 foot deck looking ready to jump. She’s so adventurous. She starts toward the edge and hesitates. “Do you want me to go first?” I ask. A nod and a smile bring me out of the water. I take the leap but because I don’t know how deep the water is I open my elbows out as I hit the water. It stops me shallow but even from only 8 feet it puts a nice little smack on my triceps. Sweetie Pie jumps in after me and keeps her feet together and her hands tucked in at her side. She goes down further than I expect her to, further than I did. She comes up smiling and excited, we swim around for a while and get back out.
Attachment 9793
The sea shower on the cliffs at HSH is unique. One of the deck platforms was built to extend back between the cliff and a very large rock that has cleaved off of it. From the resort at the top of the cliff you cross a cement stair bridge to reach the top of this large rock where the stairs continue to meander down. The piping for the shower runs down from the side of the bridge and the shower is directly under the bridge. This creates a very cool secluded shower spot with some incredible views.
As I head over to turn on the shower I hear Sweetie Pie say, “Oh, I’ve cut myself pretty bad!” I wish this was the first time I’d heard Sweetie Pie utter those words! I look over and her left foot looks like it’s covered in blood. Mild panic sets in, we grab a towel and quickly realize that the water was making it look worse than it is. Still, she has a coral cut that has broken well through the skin. We quickly rinse off at the sea shower and head up to the room. We run into Charlie and when he sees Sweetie Pies foot he runs off to grab something he can’t remember the name of. He returns with hydrogen peroxide and we rinse out the wound.
We decide to get cleaned up for sunset and dinner, a brief conversation as we’re both down with Chicken Lavish. We come down for drinks at the bar and sunset. A couple more dirty bananas! Yes, I’m back! As we‘re having our drink Charlie drops by and says a friend of his is there that he lets come in once a week to sell his wares. He’s a good guy, Charlie says. Sure, we’ll look at his stuff. So The Original Wicker Man comes over. He has a great spiel. “Nothing is definitive, everything is negotiable until we find agreement that satisfies both parties…” He’s really good, I like him. He does some really nice stuff with wicker. He explains the whole process of harvesting and preparing the vines then working them. Cool stuff but we’re not going to buy any wicker, we have virtually zero souvenir space. Sweetie Pie asks about necklaces and he pulls out a load of them. A lot of stone and anthracite stuff that could come from anywhere, Sweetie is asking about the origin of all the necklace materials. She starts to look at the coconut shell necklaces. Wicker Man says he polished them all himself. They are very nice and very Jamaica. Sweetie Pie tries one on and it’s beautiful. Wicker Man takes the opportunity to gaze at Sweetie Pies breast. “This necklace falls perfectly on your chest,” he says. I smile because he is truly right. I tell her she is giving the go ahead for a lot of guys to ogle her this week, they’ll just be able to say “Beautiful necklace” or “Where did you get that?” but I don’t mind, both her and the necklace are deserving of attention. We make a deal for $20 US. Sweetie Pie gets a lot of comments on the necklace over the week.
Attachment 9794Attachment 9795Attachment 9796Attachment 9797Attachment 9798Attachment 9799Attachment 9800Attachment 9801
Sweetie Pie had asked for wine last night but someone had run off with the corkscrew so we couldn’t have any. Tonight we have a couple of glasses at sunset. It’s a beauty. Everyone is gearing up for the Super Bowl but Sweetie Pie has virtually no interest in watching televised sports so we hang out with a few other guests at the bar until just before the game starts and then we head to Chicken Lavish.
We head down the road, Sweetie Pies first venture out at night. She is wearing her Golden Goddess sandals, not a lot of protection. We work on our safe walking plan. In her sandals she walks on the very edge of the road with me off the road until we see oncoming traffic, then it’s off the road and walking if the side is OK or off the road and stop if it isn’t. Over the week we get really good at what side of the road to be on at any given section. Facing traffic whenever possible but sometimes it’s better to be on the other side depending on curves and walls and trees and dogs and touts.
We are the first dinner guests a Lavish, it was probably pretty slow until after the game. We order Conch soup, share a three piece and get some Red Stripes. 1700J!! The cook asks if we want fries or rice and peas. I say rice and peas and Sweetie Pie says fries. I’m trying to talk her into the rice and peas and she asks the cook if he’ll do half and half. As I continue to try to talk Sweetie into rice the cook gets my attention, “The lady would like half and half,” he says with a wry smile.”We’ll have half and half,” I say. “excellent choice!” says the cook.
We settle into the people watching table in the corner against the back wall. I love the dining room at Chicken Lavish, it’s a big covered open air affair with a lot of tables and you can tell it gets hopping. Unfortunately it’s a slow night. Conch soup – amazing. I want a gallon of it. It sets the standard for the week as far as soup goes and I will have some good ones. The chicken without the sauce is kind of like southern fried, we didn’t sauce it because of my stomach. Fortunately this is the last time we have to worry about how spicy anything is. Chicken Lavish slaw – amazing. Tangy, crunchy, ever so slightly sweet. Great rice and peas but what totally surprises me are the fries. They are perfect. Extremely crispy outside but not overdone. They are still soft and tender inside. A lot of places in Negril seem to have figured out great french fries but I believe Lavish has the best. They may be the best I’ve EVER had.
We finish up our dinner and one other couple has come in to dine and somebody else has stopped by for takeout. It is like a private dining room almost as the other couple has taken the table as physically far apart from us as possible. I turn to Sweetie Pie and ask, “Are you satisfied?” “For food,” she replies. “Well, let’s see if there are any other desires I can help you with…”
We stop by the kitchen on the way out to give our respects and have a nice conversation with chef and the cook. The cook says, “I’ve been cooking 13 years and Chef been at it 30.” It shows.
We amble home and I tell Sweetie the best thing about being sick today is we still had a great day and now we have another first full day in Jamaica ahead of us tomorrow. We stop at the bar at HSH and have a nightcap then up to the verandah for a little bit. I read her Wild Nights by Emily Dickinson. She is absolutely one of the great poets and to know her own personal story and then read some of the things she was able to write, well, she was an incredible soul –
Wild Nights
By Emily Dickinson
Wild nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile the winds
To a heart in port,
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart.
Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in thee!
Shortly after we settle in it starts to rain, then it starts to rain hard. We doze off in each others arms to the sounds of a tropical rainstorm.
I awake a few hours later, the storm has passed but it’s still windy. I get up and sit out on the verandah for a while. The first few nights in the tropics are always a little restless for me as my body adapts, maybe a little more so with the sick and all the sleeping I did today. I listen to the wind rustle through the palm just off our balcony and notice the sound of the rain water being blown off the palm leaves. It is magical. I feel very much at peace. I think that I am in the right place at the right time with the right person. “Sweetie, are you up?” “Yes, Sweetie, I couldn’t sleep but I’m coming to bed…”
Great..! Your explanation of the road games...and the romance...pics...perfect...more please. :)
It was nice meeting you guys, nice story. The best to both of you. Carry on.
Respect Brasi, thank you.
Aimee and Brian - right back at you. Pub Crawl won for Most Fun at the awards banquet! :) Did you see the pic I posted on Newfies thread?
I'm trying to write things up a day at a time so it may be a few days before the next installment. The next few days on the rock were awesome. What am I saying? Every day there was awesome :)
guirigay
Thanks for the report good reading and glad you had a good time. Thanks for the photo's of HSH looking at them thinking next Tuesday can not get here soon enough.
Nick
Very nice writing. I'm really enjoying your story.
Thanks
What a beautiful story..thank you for sharing..can't wait for more
Great Song, I had not heard it before. PERFICT Day and location.
OUCH! She is LOVELY, and I like the neckless too. I have one too.
"I feel very much at peace. I think that I am in the right place at the right time with the right person."
PERFECTION~~
We will be waiting......................TAP.............TAP.. .............TAP~~
Sweetie Pie’s circadian rhythms and mine are pretty well in sync for the most part. On her own she normally gets up a little earlier than me but together we seem to fall into a pattern of slowly waking, snuggling, dozing and reawakening that starts sometime before six and usually has us up by 6:30. In Negril the dance seems to start a little earlier. The first few nights we don’t sleep real soundly and there is a rooster somewhere well down the road that likes to get his first crow in around 4:30. My kinda rooster. He certainly is not loud enough to wake you from a slumber as later nights will attest but as I lie in a semi-lucid half sleep I hear him and check my watch. He is pretty consistent through the week.
Darkness breaks about 5:30 and with each roust from the dozing we check the light past the verandah. Just before 6:30 we get up. I notice that across the courtyard there is a suite on top of the kitchen area that has a stairway up to its roof. Yesterday we couldn’t see the sun actually come up from our verandah and I can tell this roof top has a great view. We dress and walk over. We are greeted by one of the better sunrises we will have this week, a pulsing, ever changing show of color on some whispery clouds perfectly spaced between us and the sun. We stand quiet for the most part, Sweetie Pie’s back pressed against my chest, my arms around her waist.
Attachment 10040Attachment 10041
I love to find a spot where you can watch sunrise or sunset and turn around to see the opposite horizon. I find that often the light play behind you at these times can be as or more impressive than the sun itself. Sunrise in Negril offers the opportunity to watch darkness descend out across the Caribbean and our location is perfect. It does not disappoint today. A fishing boat headed out to the reef goes by and I have an incredible sensation of providence. I feel good, the sun is up and we’re in paradise. I turn to Sweetie Pie,”Coffee?” “Oh, yeah!”
Attachment 10042
Coffee is very important to both Sweetie Pie and me. Blue Mountain coffee is very high on our anticipation list for this trip. Unfortunately, the restaurant coffee at HSH is one of the few disappointments we have with the place. Later in the week we notice some guests renting a percolator from Charlie but today all we know is the coffee yesterday was not up to our standards. Really, not even close. Sweetie Pie swears it is instant and I’m not going argue with her. It was not good. So on our walk into town yesterday we kept our eyes out for a coffee stop. Sweetie Pie remembers one that stood out to her but doesn’t remember the name. I remember a nice looking cliff side shack that said Blue Mountain Coffee in big letters. We head out.
It’s shortly after sunrise but there is already a fair bit of activity about. It’s fairly quiet though as it seems to be a lot of watering, gardening, sweeping and raking. There are a lot more friendly greetings of passing at this time of the morning. Sweetie Pie has loaded up one of her cargo pockets with dog treats and she is very excited. We pass a street dog at one of the lane intersections and Sweetie Pie tries to give it a treat. The poor guy is extremely timid and won’t go for it. Sweetie Pie is disappointed and says,”Now I feel really stupid, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” “Caring is never a bad idea,” I tell her and give her a kiss. This poor, frightened dog is the only one all week who avoids Sweetie Pie’s treats.
We pass Mi Yard, home of the latest and earliest cup of coffee in Negril. I tell Sweetie Pie we’ll head back there if the Blue Mountain option falls through. We do end up having a very memorable cup of coffee there later. Just ahead on the water side of the road are a series of shacks all connected to each other, a nice little bar set back in one and the Blue Mountain coffee shack at the end on the right. The windows are propped up but the door isn’t open and we call but no one comes to the door. Sweetie Pie says this isn’t the one she was thinking of anyway. We walk a few more yards down the road and she says, “There it is!”
There is a young man standing out on the road looking a little groggy. He greets us and asks what we’re doing today. “Looking for some good coffee,” Sweetie Pie says. “This is the place, mon! Here, come on in, I’ll take care of you.” I’m not really sure exactly where we are at the moment. We enter through a gate between the German Bar and a large multi-story sort of Spanish looking building with a nice garden shaded verandah on the front and a PADI dive shop in back. There are all sorts of different signs around – German Bar, Mary’s Bay, the PADI shop, Easy Rock, Internet Café and several others. We head toward the verandah.
“Late night, big party, Superbowl,” says our hopeful barista. Initially we’re not quite sure if he is coming in or going home when we show up. We tell him we’ll take a to go cup if he has them if he’s trying to get out. “No, no,” he says, “I’ve got nice big mugs you can walk around here with but they’re not to go.” He starts in on what are obviously opening up chores. “Have a look around,” He says,”I’ll let you know when the coffee is ready.”
Now I love this about Jamaica but I can see how it can frustrate certain personalities. He DOES NOT start on the coffee. He has a few other get the place going things he’s going to do every day regardless of circumstances. Getting the coffee going is probably somewhere between 6-10 on his list. So we walk around and look at the property. It is a gorgeous location that I will go into some more detail on later.
On the large patio between the German Bar and the big building we meet the German Bar dogs, Ganja and Jamaica. Ganja is a sort of scruffy looking dog, Jamaica has the classic look of a Jamaican street dog. Sweetie Pie is ecstatic. Her first accepted biscuit of the week goes to Jamaica. “I know you’re taken care of and these aren’t supposed to be for you but you’re just so cute!” she says.
Attachment 10044
We come back and have a chat while site prep continues. We learn our coffee god’s name – Max. Max is a big sports guy and the BBC sports feed comes on the speakers. We talk a lot of Futbol, I have played, coached and ref’ed in my day. I tell Max about my experiences watching Jamaican matches, chain link fences and barb wire separating fans from players, usually only by inches. “Yah, mon, we’re crazy,” he says. Max won’t say too much but it seems he was a player of some repute in his younger days. Coffee still isn’t ready but we’re in no rush. We chat away while Max goes about his chores.
Eventually the magic elixir is ready and Max pours us a couple of mugs. “Now what were you saying about rum cream down here?” asks Sweetie Pie. Max grabs one of the small bottles off the shelf behind him. We crack it and turn a perfect cup of coffee into a little bit of heaven. We head out to drink our coffee on the German Bar pier. I’m going to say this right now, if you know of a more romantic place to share a cup of coffee early in the morning than the pier at the German Bar, you’ve got something very special.
Notice the pocket full of dog biscuits Sweetie Pie is toting
Attachment 10045Attachment 10046
We head back in for another mug, black this time to take in all the flavor. What always amazes me about Blue Mountain is you can make it quite strong and it never gets bitter. Max makes it strong and it’s delicious. “Lots of people come for my coffee,” he says and we believe him. Nice Krups slow drip machine. Not French press but excellent drip coffee. Sweetie Pie is taking a shine to Max which cracks me up a little. He might be the most sport crazed man we meet the whole week, not her usual cup of joe. This is now her place and I don’t think there is a second we’re there the rest of the trip that the BBC sports feed isn’t playing.
We settle up and head out. 900j for 4 big mugs of coffee and the rum cream. We forgot the rum cream and Max comes running after us. “We’ll bring it back tomorrow,” we say with big smiles.
Back to HSH we head. We eat some fruit for breakfast, a mango and the soursop. If you are ok with your fingers getting sticky wet a soursop may be the most sensual and fun fruit you can ever share with your lover. I’m just going to leave it at that. The flavor is creamy and sweet with just a slight pineapple-citrus finish. I love them.
We prep for the water. We have SPF water shirts but we slather on the sunblock on our necks, ears, calves and my scalp. We’re going to snorkel today. Down to the sea deck we go. Sweetie Pie, with one hand on the sea ladder, attempts to lean over and wet her mask. I see more injuries in her future and pull her back. I show her the safe way to enter the water with fins, mask and a sea ladder. One foot on the ladder toes pointing out to sea, swing the other foot over and on, step down until you can sit on a ladder step. Hold you’re mask down, don’t reach for the water, wait for a wave to come up to your mask. Big loogie (I have to do this for her)wipe, rinse, smush the mask on your face, breath in through your nose to pull it tight.
Soon we’re in the water and heading east along the cliffs. There are lots of small coral and boulder canyons running in this direction, great for snorkel diving. I try to show Sweetie Pie how to dive but she just flails at the surface. She has a hard time pulling herself far enough below the surface to get the power from our large scuba flippers to drive her down. It’s cute and funny. She’s not getting it so we move on. I point out a large gar fish and she gets so excited she sucks in water. I can hear this even though I’m submerged. She comes up choking and laughing, a strange combination.
We get down to Blue Horizon West and I point out a sea ladder where we can get out and take a break. I show Sweetie Pie how to get out on a sea ladder, basically entering in reverse. It always feels a little strange to go up a ladder backwards. Unlike the nicely tilted ladder at HSH the Blue Horizon ladder is a little more vertical making it even more peculiar. The shoreline at Blue Horizon is very broken up, from HSH it doesn’t look like more than stairs down to a rough platform with a sea ladder. When you get over there you can see that at one time it was a very nice series of stairs, platforms and perches. Now it has been seriously worn down by the sea and old steel handrails and crumbled concrete dot the shoreline. It’s a very dramatic spot.
There is a young man enjoying a sub in a secluded spot amongst the rocks that we couldn’t see until we were up on the sea deck. We nod and smile at each other. We grab a spot on some steps out of his view and chill for a while. It is a very nice spot. We gear up and head back out but Sweetie Pie notices a plastic bottle floating in the water and it irritates her. Once in the water she tracks it down then heads back toward the sea deck to throw it out. Her first throw is unsuccessful so she recaptures the rogue bottle and gets closer to throw it out. The bottle makes it out but I hear Sweetie Pie say,”Oh, ouch, dammit!” I wish this was the first time I had heard those words from Sweetie Pie.
We snorkel back to HSH and check out the area where we jumped. It’s probably only 7 or 8 feet deep where she went in. If only she’d had her scuba shoes on… We scope out the landing areas for some of the other jumps but I have a feeling we’re done with jumping this trip.
We head for the ladder. Sweetie Pie easily negotiates the nicely tilted HSH ladder. We hit the sea shower, it’s very nice.
On our way up we run into Robert and Carol, a nice couple from Canada we met last night. Robert sees Sweetie Pies foot and runs up to get a tube of Bacitricin. This ends up being very helpful for Sweetie Pie through the week. Robert tells a very funny snail joke, perfectly slow played until the punch line.
Back at the room we change and as we are chilling on the verandah our driver Chris shows up. We beg off the Percy’s trip but schedule Mayfield Falls for Friday. Since we want to rush nothing this week we tell him 10:30 departure. Another perfect day lies in our future.
We decide we’re walking up the cliffs today so after dressing we head out. We get to Samsara and I start to tell Sweetie Pie about my last trip here with the ex and the kids. We spent one night at Samsara and hated it, walked up the lane the next day and saw Xtabi, I told the ex that it was an amazing place but I didn’t think they allowed kids. From over the wall a gardener says, “Oh sure we do!” and proceeds to pitch me on the place. We talk for literally five minutes about a variety of things, he’s trying to sell me on the place the whole time. We never see each other but he convinces to go up to registration, we get a room and move in for an incredible week. The entire staff called me Family Mon the whole time. It holds a special place for me and my kids. I tell her I’m a little anxious, she squeezes my hand and kisses me.
Xtabi is every bit as beautiful as I remember it. We go in and grab a table under the roof. We order a couple of Red Stripes and conch burgers. The Stripes show and I ask if we have time before the burgers for me to show Sweetie Pie the caves. Of course I know the answer is “Yah, mon” but really just want to let the waiter know we’ll be gone for a few.
We go down the beach cave first, Sweetie Pie thinks it is just too cool. Up and over to the boulder cave next. I show Sweetie the sea window and say we’re supposed to come back and take a picture. She says it would make a great picture. It is all pretty emotional for me, even now I’m feeling tings of pain thinking about wandering the caves with my kids, swimming with my ex, sitting on the decks. I’m glad to be there with Sweetie Pie though and the excitement and wonder in her eyes is clearly visible. It makes me happy. “Let’s go eat a conch burger!” I say.
Now the Xtabi conch burger is a singular thing of perfection. My understanding of this fact would come to pay some very nice dividends later in the week. Today it pays off in a sublime lunch. It is an amazing creation. I don’t know how they manage to hold all the conch together, there doesn’t seem to be any breading. It is just giant delicious mouthful of conch after giant delicious mouthful. It is ecstasy on a bread bun, a taste bud orgasm, food porn. Sweetie Pie is enjoying it nearly as much as me.
We are somewhere short of 48 hours on the island. Sweetie Pie turns to me and says,”We are coming back to Negril!” He swings… CRACK!!... Oh my, he got all of that ladies and gentlemen… It’s going, going… I’m taking the slow trot, only this one’s hand in hand…
We head down the path close to the road after lunch and run into a gardener. I wonder if he is the same man I talked to all those years ago. He asks if we’re staying there and I tell him, “Not this time, but I’ve stayed here before and will be bringing her back.” He smiles and says, ”Oh, taking her to the cave.” We wind through the cliff side cottages and I point out some of the views. I wonder which cottage Rum and Mrs. Peel were in. We head down to the bar cave. Sweetie Pie is fascinated. I show her the blow hole pool and we watch it fill and drain for a while. We make pirate talk double entendres and steal a moment.
On the way out we run into the gardener again. “How was it, mon?” he asks. “I think that’s my favorite cave,” I say, “It always reminds me of…” “A pirate cave,” the gardener finishes my sentence with a huge smile, “Yah, mon!” I pay my respects on his work, the gardens at Xtabi are always beautiful. I tell him I’m going to take Sweetie Pie across the road to his best work, he smiles again.
We go across to the garden side and I get a little anxious again as I fall back in time. My kids played with the owners children at the pool and inside the beautiful house behind it. I wonder how those kids are doing, how my kids are doing. I look up at the balcony where my ex and I shared so many evenings. I pull myself back to the present and try to give Sweetie Pie a little tour. The garden side at Xtabi is almost like a horticultural garden. Few plants are repeated in the design but all are in very good condition, a true testament to the gardener’s skills.
We head up the road, Sweetie Pie wants to check out Rockhouse. This is the part of the cliffs that shows the most change since my last visit. Lots of high stone walls on each side of the road, pretty disappointing. Rockhouse is, however, gorgeous. I had tried to book the low end rooms both here and at Tensing Pen for this trip but they were full. I tell the gate guard this and that I had been told to stop by for a tour if I could make it. We get a very nice tour of the place and even get a garden room opened up for us to have look. There will be a stay here at some point in our future. We stop by the restaurant to try to make reservations for the Rock Table. We are taken to 3 different people before an attractive, very professional looking lady pulls out a reservation book. There is some funny back and forth between some of the staff, looking at us, looking at the reservation book, looking at each other and back at us. Finally the boss lady says, “Tomorrow? We have seatings at 5, 7 and 9, which would you prefer?” “Well we’d like to be here for sunset, so 5 we think.” “We offer a complimentary one way shuttle, would you like us to pick you up?” “Sure” “We’ll be there at 4:45” They were.
So I’m walking on clouds as we leave, I’d been unsure if we’d be able to get the Rock Table and now we have it. The Evil Dr. Yes makes an appearance. “That looks incredible doesn’t it?” I ask Sweetie Pie. “I can’t believe we’re going to eat there,” she says. “Thursday night will be better…” I taunt. We have a little back and forth.
A lovely walk up the road brings us to Tensing Pen and the same story gets us another nice tour. We are left at the bar, we get a drink and go down to the cliff edge. Sweetie Pie marvels at the difference in the cliffs here and the walkways that have been cut into them. We soak it up for a while.
We continue up the road and I point out other spots I remember. As we approach Catcha I try to engage Sweetie Pie in conversation and we walk right past the sign without her even noticing. Success!! We make it to Ricks and before we even head in she says, “It looks very touristy.” I smile. We walk in and I’m almost immediately hit up by a diver, I give him a couple 100J. We walk to the edge and look at the jump cove. Sweetie Pie says, “That’s impressive.” She looks around the cliff and says, “This is not.” I’m not kidding, we’re inside the gates at Rick’s less than ten minutes. If I had a watch my guess is it would be closer to five minutes. “Let’s go to Seastar and get a drink,” she says. We don’t even wait for a diver to jump. I am in love with this girl…
I keep Sweetie Pies attention by telling stories from the board about Seastar until we turn up the lane, she is completely clueless about the existence of Catcha Falling Star. We roll up to the bar and I’m really impressed with the premises. The bar and restaurant area is huge and the new woodwork is very nice, a lot of carving on all the posts. We order up drinks and I remind Sweetie Pie of one of my strong trip desires. I have really been looking forward to a bar that doesn’t have problems with self-catering. I know Seastar is sub sandwich friendly. She smiles as I grab a snack.
Now my only problem with Seastar is they have CNN on the TV as we’re hanging at the bar. Sweetie Pie can’t resist and occasionally grabs a look. Eventually I have to drag her over to the couches, out of earshot of the TV’s. We snuggle up and sip away. After a couple of dirty bananas and Red Stripes we notice a van pull in with new guests. Who pops out of the driver’s door? It’s Percy! We chat a few times as he goes by. He says he saw Chris and hopes we enjoy Mayfield. We tell him about wanting to go out to his place but not wanting to go with the Indy’s. I sort of hint at why we don’t want to share their company and he says, “Yah, mon, I know what you mean.” We talk about coming out to his place for a day or two when we come back with HH and Coolbook. We ask him about camping there. HH and Coolbook spent three months backpacking through Costa Rica and Percy’s would be like the Ritz. “No one’s ever done it but we’ll work something out,” He smiles. We have his card.
Percy is hanging out, he says he’ll run us back to HSH when we’re ready. I go up to the bar for a couple more drinks. Sweetie Pie says she is going to lay down on the couch for a little bit. As I’m gathering the bottles the bartender gets a concerned look on her face as she glances over to the couches. “Is she OK?” she asks. I turn around to see Sweetie Pie fully laid out on the couch with an arm up over her head. I start to bust out laughing. All the BOARDIE DOWN stories come rushing through my head, particularly TicToc’s story that took place on those very couches! “She’s OK,” I inform her, “Just resting.” “Well you just keep her resting right there,” she says, “Happy hour is about to start and Percy will take you home when you’re ready.” So here is another thing I have to say – Seastar staff is awesome.
A little chill later Percy gets a phone call. When he hangs up he says, “We can go whenever you’re ready.” This makes me smile, it’s such a kind, passive way of saying what he really meant. Brilliant. “We can go now if you’ve got business Percy.” “Yah, mon!” says Percy with a smile and we’re off.
Back at HSH we settle in for a little late afternoon nap. It’s a good one. We slowly drift back to consciousness on the sounds of guitar and an amazing voice coming in faintly from the restaurant. “How about a quick swim, catch the sunset then Bentley’s?” I ask Sweetie Pie. “Sounds perfect,” come the reply. We throw our suits on and head down.
We head past the bar and find Charlie playing guitar with Steve, a guest we had seen show up with his acoustic last night. We don’t make it to the sea. Steve is a repeat visitor to HSH and always tries to get Charlie to play with him. They sound great. Steve’s lady Terry has a monster voice. Most of the guests at HSH have gathered in the bar this evening and things start to get really fun. Drinking and singing and snacking and laughing on the cliffs of Negril at sunset. Terry tells Steve to play Supertramp. I laugh and say, “Do you know this one?” and knock out the first few lines of Downstream. Terry smiles and says, “No, but I’ll bet you know this one.” Steve kicks into the intro to Give a Little Bit. Charlie comes in and then Terry and I sing it. We sound half decent, I’m having a blast. I turn to Sweetie Pie to serenade her and just about bust out laughing. She’s picked up The Hunger Games and is reading away. She looks at me and I get an air smooch and then she’s back in the book. Not the same impact as the cliffs yesterday! :D
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a hack singer but I am the product of 16 years of Catholic education which means a lot of choir and singing in church. I can carry a tune that I practice. Steve and Charlie and Terry are playing enough stuff that I know that I can kick in and Steve graciously pulls me back to the harmony when I try to run with the melody against Terry’s serious pipes. I get several smiles between page turns from Sweetie Pie. After we sing a nice version of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” A few people ask how long we’ve played together. I am floating because Steve and Terry are real, serious talents. “You’re very lucky, one night only!” jokes Steve. Sweetie Pie finishes her chapter and we try to sing a few things where we can get everybody going but can’t find anything that hits for everybody. Things wind down and I get a few more comments that go into the Can’t Believe They Said That box.
We head out for Bentleys. We had noticed the sign when we were walking up the cliffs this morning and had Percy point it out on the way back to HSH this afternoon. I knew to turn at No Limits, which was hopping and head up the road. I remember a story about someone asking a taxi to drop them off at Bentleys and being taken to the wrong restaurant. We pass the wrong restaurant. As we approach Bentleys a man is coming down the stairs. Before we can really ask he is saying “Yah, mon, this is the place, go on up, you gonna enjoy this!” We get up to the deck and there is Bentley talking with a couple of young girls. They turn to us with very big smiles, “Hello!” “Are you Bentley?” we ask. “Yah, mon, that’s me, Bentley!” I am so happy, “We came for crab cakes!” “I’m going to cook you some crab cakes!” says Bentley and he starts to move. I don’t think he really stopped moving until he sat down with us at dinner much later.
He goes into his bit which I don’t want to repeat entirely cause it’s his and it’s great. Some of my favorite phrases, which get repeated every now and then – “I’m going to cook for you” if he does, you’re lucky. Once he starts this is replaced by “I’m cooking for you.” “Five things” which is the number of things you’ll get on you’re plate if you order the crab cakes, all awesome. “You need another beer?” cause you will, and if you understand where you are and what you’re doing and who you’re with you won’t care if it’s the third or fourth or fifth time he’s asked since he started cooking for YOU.
Attachment 10047
A big stocky guy with a clean shaven head shows up to a raucous greeting from Bentley. He knows I am going to write something up but I didn’t ask his name so for the sake of discretion I’m just going to call him ScubaPro. Bentley is very upset that ScubaPro didn’t call him earlier, he said he would. They banter back and forth and the make good is that ScubaPro has to cook dinner for Bentley. Turns out ScubaPro is boarding with Bentley. He gets underway butchering a chicken for himself and Bentley. The Barrel gets it’s fire going.
We’re just a few slugs into our first Stripe lights – “Refreshing, light, You can drink a lot of them!” is Bentleys selling point – When Sweetie Pie scoots her seat and knocks over her beer and has most of it end up in her lap. Bentley and ScubaPro laugh when they see it. “A lot of beers get spilled at that table!” they say.
Attachment 10048Attachment 10049
We talk to ScubaPro as he is preparing the fire. He is a very high end diver, the toughest dive work out there. Zero visibility stuff. I comment on the mental focus and toughness required for that kind of work, the need to keep your spatial awareness in a world with no physical cues. He digs that, says most people don’t get that at all and if they do it’s not until they’ve known him for awhile. There is some serious mutual effective flattery going on.
ScubaPro is recounting his day to us and Bentley. He finished on the beach with a massage and a pedicure. We ask about the massage as we had checked out the spa at Rockhouse today. “I went to one of those dollar a minute ladies on the beach,” he says. We laugh and I say, “I don’t think ours would be as fun as yours,” thinking he’s speaking in euphemism. He isn’t, there are dollar a minute masseuses on the beach. Sweetie Pie says, “You’re pretty unusual, most guys wouldn’t admit to getting a pedicure.” I can’t help it, I’m thinking of Fabs at that very moment. ScubaPro shrugs his shoulders and we move on.
Another young man comes up the steps, a little taller, dark haired and thinner. He sits down and starts talking with Bentley and ScubaPro. He is boarding with Bentley also, been here for a couple of weeks. He’s known Bentley for a couple of years now, been down multiple times after a disability. The talkabout continues.
We talk about how things are going for Bentley. I say, “You’re sorta famous on parts of the internet.” “Yah, mon,” Bentley beams, “ I’m famous in places!” I tell him I found him on Negril.com, he wants details. “I’ve seen my picture on the computer,” he says. “Yeah, there’s good stories out there,” I reply. “Like what?” he wants to know. “Do you remember an attractive lady up here a couple of weeks ago who had too much cake?” Bentley and ScubaPro bust out laughing, “Oh Yeah, that was a wild night!” “Who posted THAT story?” Bentley asks. “The gentleman who was with her, I think.” Bentley looks a little quizzical as he puts it together. “Really? Yeah mon, I’m famous.”
We marvel at the crazy Rube Goldberg phone and power pole across the street. It’s got a wild post-modern industrial art quality to it. We decide the camera can’t possibly do it justice but also decide we will return with better gear.
In what seems like just exactly the right amount of time the food shows up. It is a plate to shame other plates. Everything is delicious. The cakes are perfect and the magic sauce is, ummm, well named. I don’t generally go overboard for sauces with a sweet tinge, but this is an exception. Pick your favorite over the top adjective – there you go. Forget about calories when you go to Bentley’s, he is tight with butter and your taste buds will thank him for that.
Attachment 10050
After my first few bites I turn to Bentley in the kitchen, he’s cleaning up a little and ScubaPro is putting the finishing touches on their dinner, and I say, “I’m going to put a post up along the lines of ‘What the heck are you doing, go the heck to Bentleys!!’” but I’m a whole lot more profane. Bentley and ScubaPro bust out at this again. “See, I told you it’s going to happen,” Bentley says to ScubaPro. I sincerely hope so but it will be without my helpful thread, even the wild carded profanities were unacceptable.
I really don’t know how long we sit there, it is awhile. Bentley and ScubaPro eat their dinners, somehow ScubaPro has snuck a giant lobster onto the grill as well. He is moaning over it as we look over. He lifts up a fist sized chunk of tail meat. “Fresh from the sea today!” He smiles. Bentley’s Boarder says he’s wiped out and is going to catch a nap.
As we are sitting around shooting the breeze there comes a point when Bentley can't take his eyes off of Sweetie Pie. "You look like a movie star," He says in his sweetest patter. I smile because I can't disagree, "You got that right mon!"
Attachment 10051
I ask Bentley if I can have a picture with him. He calls me into the kitchen. I am honored.
Attachment 10052Attachment 10053
We box up the leftovers and hope the kitchen is open when we get back to HSH as we do not have a refrigerator. In no particular hurry we find our way down the stairs telling Bentley we will be back. We head back down the lane. No Limits is even more hopping and things are starting to pick up over at PeeWees. We look at each other and turn right headed to Home Sweet Home.
Attachment 10054
The kitchen is closed when we get back and we don’t see anyone about. Without a fridge we make a truly dogmanitarian sacrifice. Sorry, Bentley, tomorrow the street dogs of Negril will eat like kings.
Neither one of us has had a full nights sleep since Wednesday. We are feeling it. We wind down and are laying on the bed, Sweetie Pies head on my chest. “I have a poem for you Sweetie, do you want to let me up?” “No, Sweetie, I want you to stay right here where I’m close to your heart.” I reach up and turn off the light. We sleep the sleep of the justified.
:eek: what a fabulous story so far..you guys are just awesome together....very nice report!
Tuesday
Pre-dawn peeks through the open verandah doors this morning glimpse a cloudless sky. We rise and step out onto the balcony, not a cloud can be found. “Beach day, I think.” “Oh yeah!”
With little chance of a color show we decide to watch the sunrise from our verandah. We catch the first rays hitting the top of the pine near the reception office. The dingy grays of pre-dawn slowly fade, pierced by tropical brightness in spots as the angle of the sun rises. As Sweetie Pie admires the courtyard I grab the poem for last night. I recite to her:
Eros
A poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sense of the world is short,
Long and various the report,
To love and be beloved;
Men and gods have not outlearned it,
And how oft soe'er they've turned it,
'Tis not to be improved.
We head down to do some Tai Chi. We stop at the cliff edge on the lawn and look down at the platforms below. Sweetie Pie isn’t sure if they are big enough so we set up on the lawn. I’m not sure what species of grass the lawn is but it has that soft, luscious, mushy feel to it. There is a part of Tai Chi that involves sensing the transfer of energy through your body from the earth you stand upon. The sensation of connection through this patch of earth is unusual, but very pleasant and peaceful. We do a couple of sets of the first form. We finish and take note of our starting and stopping points. We look down on the platforms again. Tomorrow we will do Tai Chi on the decks!
We head back to the room and have a couple of oranges. Jamaican oranges are super sweet and seedless, we scarf them down. We prep for the beach. Guirigay runs with some serious sunblock. Sweetie Pie lotions up and slips into yet another beautiful outfit off the silver screens of yesteryear.
Attachment 10232
We pack a shoulder bag and we’re off for coffee. Sweetie Pie gets her first real taste of the Pied Piper routine that will become part of our daily jaunt. We have the leftovers from Bentleys last night. The first Street dog we meet gets those and he is quickly joined by another. We head off quickly enough that they don’t track us down before we’re out of sight. The next dog, however, becomes a daily routine. Scar has been hurt bad at one point in his life as his newly given name attests. Sweetie Pie pulls a treat from the shoulder bag and Scar is in tow for the rest of our trip to coffee. As we come up to our coffee joint we pay a little more attention and figure out that we’re having coffee at Easy Rock which is also an Internet Café. Max is out front watering the roadside garden looking much more chipper than he did yesterday. He sees Scar in tow and Sweetie Pie tells him about her little program. “Somebody’s got to do it,” he says, “I’m glad it’s you ‘cause it wouldn’t be me.” The unlikely bond grows. “Coffee be ready in a little bit.”
We wander. The views from this sort of conjoined set of properties are excellent. A large patio between Easy Rock and the German Bar leads you to a smaller patio behind the PADI dive shop. This patio has a view to the west that could be shot a thousand times and still produce something new. The backs of the seaside business shacks lead to an old school waterside Jamaican home in front of some trees that separate the house from the ship style bar next door. We stare and swear we are bringing the rig next time. To the east you’re looking at Canoe and down the coast toward town. The beach is close enough that you can make out the properties closer to town.
These photos are not from this day but they show the views
Attachment 10233Attachment 10234Attachment 10235
We head back into the Café and sit down at the bar. Max comes in from the back and as he’s walking toward me says, “I’m sorry to tell you mon, but we have a problem.” His tone catches me off guard, like we have a REAL PROBLEM. “Uh, what?” I ask. “You’ve gotta put your shirt on mon, the health inspector can stop in here anytime and he’ll give me all sorts of trouble!” He pulls a hairnet out of his pocket, “I even gotta wear THIS when I’m back here!” he says and snaps it over his head. I smile at the easily avoided conflict and put my shirt on as coffee is poured.
We finish off the bottle of rum cream, second coffees are downed with more conversation about the Beenie Man show tonight. Max’s phone is “Blowing up” with phone calls for tickets. I would love to go but don’t see Sweetie Pie being able to make it through the first song. “I could make it through the FIRST song!” insists Sweetie Pie with a smile.
We head out for the beach. We stop at the market at the circle again to get a couple more vitamin waters, sunblock and change some money. It’s early and the lady at the pharmacy says they don’t have enough to make the change but she’ll get it taken care of. Several bounces back and forth with the staff lead to someone going outside and coming in with a money changer! The money exchange goes back and forth between me, the clerk and the money changer. He tries to short me right in front of the clerk! He slips hundreds in the middle of the thousands as he counts it out. I say “No, No!” and the clerk jumps in. After three tries he gets it right, I think. Sweetie Pie looks at me and says, “What’s wrong? You’re making your face.” I tell her I’ll talk after we’re out of the store. As we cross the bridge toward the beach I stop and take a surety count. It’s Ok but he would have shorted me 1000 if I hadn’t paid attention. I clue Sweetie Pie in that I was very frustrated about having to deal with a money changer when I went to a business specifically to avoid a money changer hassle.
We head onto the beach at the park just past the craft market. We’re walking the water line and the soft lapping of the surf is rolling over our Keens. Sweetie Pie is wearing a shoe length black yoga skirt and it starts to get a little wet at the bottom. She tries to roll the skirt up a little but that doesn’t really keep it dry. We stop two or three times as she continues to roll it up. What started out as Rita Hayworth in Rio is devolving into Ma Kettle on Waikiki. “What? What?!?” Sweetie Pie asks as my smile widens. “You little pisser!” she exhorts as she smacks me while I giggle.
Shortly we pass a resort with a beach front shop. Hanging beachside are a number of barely there cover ups. Sweetie Pie turns in. She finds a sweet little sheer black handkerchief she can tie around her waist. “How much?” I ask. $12 US. The clerk goes back inside. While Sweetie Pie was browsing I had been talking to a couple of guys sitting in front of the shop. One is selling boat trips, the other, older gentleman just seems to be hanging out. He leans over to me, gives me the nudge and wink and says, “Bargain.” I laugh and when the clerk come backs I ask again and get the same answer. “How about 600?” A laugh. “800?” “That’s my cost!” she says. “900 then.” “950,” she says with a “Deal!” reply. The old gentleman is smiling and gives me a tap on the arm when she goes in to make change. I get the change and wait for the clerk to go back in the shop. I turn to the gentleman and say, “Have a great day, mon!” We rasta shake with the full on finger snap. I hand him the fifty. He smiles and nods.
We continue up the beach. We stop at Merrills II because I love the sea grapes right at the shoreline and I think it’s a good spot for us to leave the bag while we swim because it has decent security. Plus it’s hot and we are thirsty. 300j for a decent rum and ting but it’s ok, we’re going to swim. After our refreshment and relaxation we head into the water. I don’t particularly like the float lined swim area but it’s big enough to get out where you can’t touch bottom. We swim and splash and play. We come into shallower water and sea dance which is a blast and just plain sexy. If you get out to a depth where your shoulders are just above water while your knees are bent you can hold your lover floating in your arms like a baby. At this depth you can twist and turn, run and stop, spin and swoon forever at nearly no effort with you lady’s face, neck and bosom laid out for you like a gourmet platter. I highly recommend you try it.
After sun drying and reapplying sun block we head up the beach. We stop at Sunshine Bar and get ice cold Red Stripes for 150J. Ice cold. We sit on the picnic table and have a few. This place is run by the lady from the old For Real bar. Cheap beer, no hassling, great bar. We meet Kim and Kathy and have a nice conversation, they are long timers. You just meet the coolest people in Negril.
After a nice stay we continue up the beach until we hit the Boat Bar. We have a couple of Red Stripes and Earl Lockes is there playing his guitar. He plays a couple of songs for us and we dance. A couple of Rastas sitting on the picnic table out front chime in from time to time. It’s beautiful, Earl has a great voice. “Husband and Wife?” he asks. “No,” we answer. “Well this is a song for the love of your life,” he says and plays a truly moving song I’ve never heard before that is perfectly suited to his gilded voice. We dance like no one’s watching but when the song ends we notice that’s not the case. We tip him the 400J left from our bar bill and slip to the back of the bar.
As I’m chilling in the back of the bar with a sub the bartender comes scurrying back, gestures with her arm and says, “Toss it, throw it away!” In a moment the cops are walking by. They come up into the bar and look around. This is not like the old days…
Earl is out front and pulls out his bullhorn, “Come to Alfred’s Ocean Palace tonight…” and he riffs a great Power Radio pitch right there for tonight’s show. A fella sitting out front next door will have none of it and starts his own pitch when Earl is done. This goes back and forth a few times. Dueling bullhorns, Sweetie Pie and I just about fall out.
We head back up the beach and watch the officers pat down a couple of beach vendors. They meet up with a couple of other officers who are being rock starred by a group of young ladies. Poses and pictures abound. Sweetie Pie says, “They must only accept gorgeous men to the academy. It makes sense to me!” It does look a bit like a Mighty Quinn casting call. The officers don’t seem too inclined to continue patrolling the beach at this time and we leave them behind.
In the distance I see the round house at the waters edge and know we’re coming up to our desired minimum destination – Tree House. I tell Sweetie Pie about my previous experiences there, especially one of my all-time great meals with the ex dining feet away from the waves lapping at the shore. “I think we need to grab a bite to eat here!” says Sweetie Pie with a smile.
We get a nice table in the round house near the water. Our waitress comes over and introduces herself and her and Sweetie Pie get into a conversation over her name which is spelled the same as Sweetie Pies. “Not many people spell it that way,” says Sweetie Pie. “Well,” says the waitress sheepishly, “I actually spell it with an E but the manager here misspelled it!” Sweetie Pie laughs.
We have just a quarter jerk chicken and an order of saltfish fritters. It’s getting late and we have dinner at Rockhouse coming up. Good chicken, great fritters. I fall in love with saltfish and dumplings right there. They are way up high on my list of favorite things. I could, and before the week is out I do, make an entire meal of them. Delicious, hearty, stick with you drinking food and like so many of the incredible Jamaican foods, everybody’s is a little different.
There is a group of late forty-something ladies at the table next to us having a hoot of a time. Sweetie Pie is soaking up their vibe and says, “Jamaica would be a great place for a girl’s trip!” She starts talking about potential groups and itineraries. She is hooked and it makes me smile.
Sweetie Pie with an E is a great waitress. When the bill comes I give her more than enough to cover it and my last 1000J which I ask to have broken into a 500J and 5 100J. I tell Sweetie Pie I want to leave a nice tip – the 500J and the 100’s will get us home in route taxi’s if we can’t negotiate a ride at the gate. As I’m telling her this I hear the bartender get seriously bent out of shape with our waitress. I have a good ear and can follow Patois pretty well. He doesn’t like making change and especially doesn’t like me asking for change above and beyond the order. That is me being kind to the bartender. He doesn’t let up. Our waitress walks up front to reception I’m guessing. Another waitress who overheard me talking to Sweetie Pie goes over to the bar and tells the bartender we need the change for a taxi and tip. That’s how loud and obnoxious the bartender was. He sort of lets up. We tip our waitress close to 30% in total, she was great, the food was great, the location was great - but we leave on a downer. Don’t think I’ll go back, I know it’s a small thing but it’s stuck, even now, weeks later. I’ll be leaving those memories in the dustbin.
On the way out I’m asked if I need a taxi. I’m half inclined to say no and just flag down a red plate on the road but I say, “500 to Home Sweet Home?” “Sure Mon,” he says and we jump in. I’m busted, $100 US on the beach in about 5 hours. We tell the cabbie we walked from HSH this morning. “That’s a good walk,” he says, “Five miles on the road.”
We get back and grab about an hour nap before we need to get ready for Rockhouse. Sweetie Pie gets into her serious primp mode, which means she’ll need about 20 minutes to get ready. You gotta love a low maintenance, high gloss, natural beauty!
We walk down to the front gate just before a quarter to five and the van is there waiting. Minutes later we’re at the entrance to Rockhouse. As we walk into the bar Chef is at a table by the railing with a notebook and he’s involved in a lengthy lecture to the ENTIRE staff about what initially seems to be tonight’s menu. I have family in the restaurant business so I find this fascinating. All good chefs do this nightly with their staff and it feels a little bit like getting to peer behind the curtain. The bartender says it will be just a little bit, would we like a drink. Rum and Tings! We notice the lady who took our reservation yesterday and exchange smiles and nods. She grabs the reservation book and walks over to another well dressed gentleman. They look at the reservation book and then up at us. The well dressed gentleman walks over.
He introduces himself as the manager and asks, “Home Sweet Home?” It is funny to be addressed as your place of residence. “Yes” “I need to inform you that there will be a photo shoot on the premises this evening and you may be included in it, I hope that’s not a problem.” “Well no, I don’t think so, what’s it for? Promotional material?” No, it turns out there is a Yoga convention in Montego Bay this week and a large group has arranged a special table with Chef Broderick. It’s going to be very ornate on a specially set table on the sea deck in the cove below the Rock Table. Dessert is going to be delivered from the sea via a boat. Yoga magazine is going to shoot the whole thing. Sounds interesting.
“So your table very likely will show up in some photos, is that OK?” “No problem, who wouldn’t want this lovely lady in their magazine?” I ask, “She should be on the cover!” “She IS gorgeous,” he says and then he makes my day, “But don’t sell yourself short, mon, you’re not too bad yourself.” He pauses briefly for effect, “Not too bad at all, mon.” WTF!! These freakin’ Jamaicans! I’m going to school on these F'ers, they are masters of the natural compliment!
He says it will be a little bit before our table is ready, please enjoy the resort and they will come get us. Sweetie Pie is concerned that we may have to eat quickly if there is a seating after us. “I think the table is ours for the night, Sweetie,” I say. It is.
We wander the resort and take some pictures.
Attachment 10236Attachment 10237
We sit in the lobby for a little while and eventually head out to the Rock Table. The special table is being set up below, Chef is overseeing every detail.
Attachment 10238
We order dinner – Chicken Corn Soup, Crab Salad, Calamari and Old Symting. A bottle of Chardonnay to wash it all down. The view from the Rock Table is great but you can’t see the sunset from the table. You need to go to the rail to see it. I check every so often and we snap some pics.
Attachment 10239Attachment 10240Attachment 10241
The food is very good and the presentation is top notch. Old Symting is like a Jamaican Bouillabaisse. Crab, lobster, squid and other seafood in a gently spiced broth. The service was very good with my only knock being the soup and appetizer were brought out together. We thoroughly enjoy the dinner and it is very romantic. Sometime during dinner a boat pulls up to the sea deck in what we figure is a dry run for the dessert delivery. It skulks away.
Attachment 10242