I've got to find my way back, back to summer paradise - Nov 2011 Trip Report

Great report, glad to hear you are enjoying the subs!

Anxiously awaiting more! I'm almost at the 4 week stage now before we leave, so your reports are helping me cope. Great pictures too!!

I love your writing - I'm laughing about the packing. Three weeks to go and I started today. I know I'll change things at least 20 more times! Every trip I say "Next time I won't bring soo much" but it never works :)

I realize at this point that I have managed to eat nothing more than a yogurt today. The drinks were going straight to my head and the sub wasn't helping. Tim Horton's to the rescue, as I hadn't actually eaten my biscuit that morning. Eating Tim's in paradise struck me as funny, so I got Sunshine's help to capture the moment.

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Somewhat to my dismay, we discovered when we arrived that the restaurant at the hotel was closed because it was low season. The reviews had all said it wasn't very good, but I have to admit, I was kind of counting on being able to get some food without having to venture away from the hotel that first night. Having only just finished breakfast and skipped lunch, we do need to find food. I seriously contemplated just starving.

Instead, we decide to head down to the beach and actually put our feet in the water. This may sound nuts, but I just felt safer and more comfortable exploring the beach under the cover of a bit of darkness.

So we wander out, another drink in hand. The sand is soft and still warm from the sun and the water is the perfect temperature. We share a bit of a smooch and hear a call from not far behind us. It is the Rasta we dealt with earlier. He invites us next door to share a sub with him. We tell him we aren't buying and he says it isn't business, just a sub amongst friends. Seemed a sure sign we had seriously overpaid. So a mere hours after arriving I find myself on the beach, sharing a sub with a Rasta man.

The whole thing felt surreal and at that moment I truly felt how far we had come. I did eventually figure out he was trying to sell us a farm tour for later in the trip, but it still didn't detract from that moment. We said our good-byes to our new Rasta friend and wandered back to our beach.

"Sunshine, we aren't in Kansas anymore," I said. He just smiled a contented smile back.

Now I am really hungry. I am not very good at being hungry. If fact, if you ever meet me and I seem to be more of a b*tch than you would have guessed, I am probably just hungry. My father is the same way. My mother has carried candy in her purse all my life, so when he starts to lose his cool, she can spike is blood sugar to a friendlier level. I didn't have any candy.

I have put this off as long as possible and probably longer than is actually wise. I'm several drinks and a couple of subs into the evening. I haven't slept in three days, and I now I need to find food.

Traveling with all our cash seemed foolish, so we pull out what seems like a fortune in $JA and lock the rest in our room safe. You know I have done my research, so I decide that we will turn right on the road and stop at the first place whose name I recognize. We hadn't walked long when I see Sweet Spot across the road. Perfect, I thought; this was on my list of places serving real Jamaican food and I believe they do take away. We cross the road and head in.

Every country seems to have their own protocol for the order in which one arrives, greats, sits, orders and pays at restaurants. As our first stop, I was clueless as to what we might do. It wasn't that busy, as it was already after eight o'clock.

The women behind the counter says something quickly, I miss it completely. Third time repeating really slowly, we get that she mostly just asking what we would like.
We order up friend chicken and curried shrimp, both with rice and peas and a couple of red stripes while we wait. Time to pay. Since we seem to not be communicating well, she writes the price down. Think it was $2300JA for the meal. No problem, we pull out our cash and start counting.

Uh oh, small problem. We've only $2100 between the two us. Seriously, when I lived in Europe and before the Euro, I carried four currencies in my wallet pretty much every day. I could do exchange rates in my sleep. How have I screwed this up so badly? I wanted to crawl into a small hole and never emerge.

She asked where we were staying, to which I replied honestly; it didn't seem a moment for subterfuge. She paused to consider us. With a roll of her eyes she appeared to come to the conclusion that someone ought to be educating us and today is was going to have to be her. She proceeded to give us a rather stern and incredibly sarcastic introduction to the Jamaican currency, which started something like this, "See this, this $100JA bill, this is like 1, that is 1 of your dollars. See this $500JA bill, this is like 5..." She worked her way through a stack of bills and then asked us what we were going to do now.

Well, I didn't see that many options. If we both walked out, we would have no food and I would never darken the door of the place again. So I guess the only answer is I will wait here and Sunshine will walk back to the room and get more money. Sunshine was none too impressed to be heading back to the room on his own, but he sure wasn't going to send me on my own. So I stood at the bar and tried to become invisible. After a few minutes I decided I might as well drink my Red Stripe. I did have enough money to pay for it at least. It seemed like forever, but Sunshine was back in 10 and our food was ready not long after that.

We took our boxes and booked it back to the hotel. We head out onto the patio and dive right in. With my very first bite of Jamaican food, I was in love. The curried shrimp was delicious. The shrimp tasted great and were not overcooked (which is a total pet peeve of mine) and the veggies were awesome. The best surprise though was the rice and peas. Who know something so simple could be so delicious. Sunshine shared some of his chicken and I must say it put the Colonel's to shame.

I suspect we went back to the beach that night; we stood with our feet in the surf in the moonlight almost every night we were there. After the journey of the day, I can't really recall. I do remember not knowing what animal was making that sound and not being able to believe how loud it was (frogs, of course). When they first started up I thought it was an alarm going off somewhere.

I do know that I was relieved to be there, excited for what the next day would bring and ready for a good night's sleep.

Love Love Love your report this is so awesome I can definitely relate to alot of your ways..."Packing, Compulsive planning, and not so nice when hungry"!! lol
I too will be staying at Rooms for my first solo trip to JA so your report is helping me with my count down....

Oh and by the way great writing as I'm the person that usually skips LONG reports..I'm glued! lol

Loving your report!

I will admit I was starting to loose interest with all the prelude, but glad I hung in until the good stuff started,lol

Thanks Cherry - there's been a real shortage of trip reports to read lately and it helps count down the weeks :) Can't wait to read more...

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. I have been having a lot of fun writing this, so I am glad you are enjoying it. Now where were we...

Chapter 6

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.
-Cynthia Heimel, "Lower Manhattan Survival Tactics"

The next morning dawned without us. We were there, but we were sound asleep, asleep in a way that I can only achieve when I am on vacation.

In theory, our rate at Rooms included breakfast. Reviews on Trip Advisor for the food weren't that good and you had to be there before 9:30. That isn't in my time zone. We were there seven nights and the only time I even caught a glimpse of the buffet was on the day we were leaving.

Though we weren't going to partake in breakfast, I was going to see about getting us a different room. I had read on Trip Advisor that the second floor rooms were nicer. I hated the way our patio felt like part of the pathway and we discovered that the shower in our room only half worked.

The Reggae Marathon had been the day before and when we arrived, at least half the hotel seemed to be booked by Jamaicans. I suspected now that it was Sunday better rooms would be opening up. I went over to the office to enquire. Using the shower as my complaint, I asked for a second floor room, ideally facing into the hotel grounds. The women at the front desk seemed not at all surprised at our comment about the shower. I found that a bit annoying. If you know it doesn't work, why not fix it? Now I sound like my father. Whatever, I brushed it off.

We are in Jamaica, so of course this was request was "No problem." An hour later we moved our bags over a building to a second floor room. Even better, we actually have a bit of an ocean view from our Garden view room. It was a big improvement.

So somewhere around 11, we decide it is time for some breakfast. Again, we have no options on site so off we go to the road, this time making a left.

I spot Montana's a little ways down the road. It was on my researched list of good places for breakfast.

The beach road seemed pretty quiet and there was only one other couple at Montana's. We picked a seat and ordered up juice and pineapple pancakes. Don't know what that is going to look like, but how can it be bad?

First bite and I am starting to wonder what magic these Jamaican's put in their food. It just tasted so darn good. My guess, he put pineapple on the griddle and then poured the batter over top. The pineapple had started to caramelize. We drizzled what I assume was cane syrup over it and I was in heaven.

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Montana's is right across from Fun Holiday resort. There appeared to be some sort of car rental operation going on out of the Fun holiday parking lot. At least that was the only explanation we came up with as to traffic we were seeing. There was a perpetual flow of cars coming and going, which I enjoyed watching. Though not as lush as some other places, I thought Montana's had a nice shady yard and that it was a good place to pass away an hour.

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If you are staying on the beach road and don't know it like the back of your hand, print this map and tuck it someplace where you will always have it; for me that was my camera case. (http://www.negrilinfo.com/negril-map.html) It is not at all to scale, but given how sketchy some of the signs in Negril can be it was really useful to know what else was around our intended destination.

Our afternoon was spent in the clutches of sand gravity. Part of the time watching life on the beach, some time spent reading, some time spend floating about in the sea. The Christmas breezes were up, so we really never had super calm seas while we were there. It was never so much as to interrupt our plans, but it wasn't quite the calm bathtub that I have seen others capture on film. Maybe if I had ever made it to the beach before 11am, I would say differently.

Sometime mid-afternoon, we decided lunch would be a good idea, so we wandered down the beach to Alfred's. Neither of us was overly hungry, so we opted to just share an order of fish and chips. It was good, but I though the batter on the fish was pretty greasy.

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Our bellies full, we headed back to our beach for a sub and a cocktail. Before I could believe it, the sun was setting and we there catch it in all its glory.

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I love being in a place where the only thing I have on my calendar is watching the sun set.

We decided on pizza for dinner that night and turned right down the road and wandered to the Italian cafe. The dining room was like a giant screened gazebo and had pretty paper lantern like lights suspended from the ceiling. It had a really nice vibe to it.

I have been to Italy and have also spent some time leaving in communities with a big Italian presence. In my experience, pizza at an Italian restaurant is generally an individual sized affair, especially if the pizza only comes one size. It wasn't expensive, so I assumed that would be the case. So we each pick our pizza and order up. When they arrive, each is the size my local dominos would call a large. It was a thin crust, but still it was huge! There were going to be leftovers. It was delicious and though I don't recall how much it was, it felt like great value.

I am sorry for the lack of photos in this report. I am only guessing, but I think that I must have 250 pictures of the sun setting and 40 of the rest of the trip. I think I was too busy trying to figure out what I was doing to think to take a picture.

However, I do have a small problem with intoxication and bathroom photos. I have bathroom pictures from most everywhere I have been in the world. In the days of print film, it was more limited, but in the digital age, it is a free-for-all. You could lay odds after I have had a few beverages and I head to the loo, as to whether I will come back with a photo...or two...or three. The Italian Cafe was no different. Pretty sure I was fascinated by the bamboo and thatch construction. I think we had wine with dinner; I'm going to blame it.

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...1/bathroom.jpg

Second day into our trip and walking along the beach road is starting not to feel so intimidating. We are starting to slow down our pace and just enjoy the sights and sounds. There are still lot of folks eager to sell their wares, but it is feeling less oppressive.

The one thing I haven't yet figured out is the language. Now I am not talking about the patois. I had no expectation of understanding that. I am talking about the accent to the English. This isn't at all intended as a knock at all on the Jamaicans; it is my issue not theirs.

The single biggest challenge we both had on our trip was a total inability to understand what people were saying to us. It might as well have been in Greek. In fact, if it had been Greek, it would have been easier, as at least I wouldn't have been supposed to understand. As it was, I was having a heck of a time communicating. Everyone had to repeat everything and I was feeling like a bit of idiot.

If you recall in various Peanuts/Charlie Brown TV specials, when every an adult spoke, all we heard was "wah wah wah woh wah wah woh." This is what I was hearing in Jamaica.

A clip to jog your memory. No one is putting me to sleep, but it wasn't an easy clip to find.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04

I see Shamrock's on our way back and we pop in to check it out. I had heard somewhere about Shamrock's magic orange juice and I wanted to give it a try. Add to that list a few cold Red Stripe for the room and snacks should we find ourselves with the munchies. We discovered Rough Top Coconut Drops the day before and the first bag is already history. Sunshine is exploring the cookies; I am all over the chips and cheesy snacks.

I love exploring the snack food aisle in foreign places. I am always interested in what kinds of things other people see as snack flavors. The Jamaicans seem to have my number. In this paradise I am also in heaven.

All our goodies selected, it's time to cash out. I say hello to the fellow behind the till. "Wah wah wah woh wah" he replies. Gosh I hope that wasn't important. I pass over my goods; he rings them in to the till.

"Wah wah woh wah."

Hmmm, he is probably telling me how much this all is, I'll just give him a big bill. Ok, now he's giving me change that is a good sign.

"Have a good evening," I say.

"Wah woh wah," he replies

He's turned to the next customer, doesn't seem to be waiting for anything. I'm outta here.

I added up the change when we got back to the room, and I was pleasantly surprised. If you stick to the local fare and skip the American imports, you can stretch you snack dollar a long way.


Bellies full and Red Stripe in hand, we head down to the beach to enjoy a sub. I can hear the party getting underway at Alfred's. There was a point in the planning process where I really thought I would want to go, but the beach is so chill and tranquil. I couldn't imagine anyplace I would want to be other than here with my honey. I like chilling with him and I don't need to spend the money or go through the hassle.

In my younger days, if there was a party, you could pretty much count on me being there. A new club opening up, I was there the first week. As I got a bit older, I really lost interest in doing these things. I would much rather sit with a smaller group around a table, bar, campfire, etc, enjoying random conversation than get dressed up and go spinning about the clubs. A lot of the time, I would rather pour myself a drink and curl up with Sunshine at home. I have been rather hard on myself about that change. Rather than taking it as a sign of changing interests, I chalked it up to some character flaw.

Sitting on that beach in Jamaica, enjoying the evening my way, I seemed to find peace with that fact. I am no less of a person for not wanting to join the party at Alfred's. I also reserve the right to change my mind. If next time I want to go, that is ok too. The important thing is I need to not beat myself up about it.

Now my recollection of this evening is all warm and fuzzy, but Sunshine seems to remember things a bit differently. Apparently that evening, there was a hustler out on the beach that was well past when he should have been home and much hollering ensued. I do recall security yelling at some dude, but it really didn't mark my evening. For Sunshine however, things really clouded over.

This is like a Guirigay and Clarity trip report rolled into one. I love it!!

Love the report, and I love the comment "I love being in a place where the only thing I have on my calendar is watching the sun set", I plan to steal this to use on my next vacation! Can't wait for more, keep going....

"Wah Woh Wah"

LOL!! This had me cracking up so much!! This was exactly what it was like for me on my first trip to Jamaica! I found myself nodding a lot with a confused smile because I just wasn't getting it. Markus and I would just whisper guesses to eachother.

Thanks for your kind words about our TR, Let me tell you I am really really loving your trip report so far. It's incredibly well-written, insightful, funny, and so engaging. I found myself thinking "yes!!" to so many of your observations and sentiments. The pictures are beautiful too. (those bathroom pics! lol! I have a lot of those too - good to know I'm not alone haha!) As soon as I started, I couldn't stop reading and now I'm at the end, I'm sad. I'm waiting eagerly for the next update. Thankfully you update faster than I do. I'm grateful for that.:o This is really great, please keep it coming!

Oh and I can so relate to your early posts about the uber-planning before a trip, I'm totally guilty of the same. ;)

Lovin' your report-- it just keeps getting better! And I'm with Clarity-- the "Wah Wah Woh Wah" is hilarious!! My sisters often compare individuals to the Charlie Brown teachers, only it's usually after a really boring meeting at work. For us, it means, blah blah blah. But I really look forward to the Jamaican "Wah Wah Woh Wah." I guess I'd better learn to smile and nod, too! Very carefully, of course. I don't want to agree to something that I might regret!

I am loving every bit of your report! Can't wait for more!!

Wow I can relate to so many of your thoughts and feelings and I just can't get over how you are so effortlessly weaving them into the story. i feel like I'm getting to know you :)

Specifically, I am laughing at how much I understand your sentiments regarding the party scene and not always wanting to be in the middle of it. You nailed it. I have to admit, its more of an issue for me at home than in Negril, but at the same time I know exactly what you mean!! I finally came to terms with it as well LOL

Wah wah woh wah.....you are too damn much i'm literally LOL at my desk reading this...
GO ON GIRL keep it comin!

This is so great!

Great report! I love that you are doing things at your own pace! One question???? Was the older Rasta Man you 1st ran into wearing white dreads and living next to Rooms on the Beach? When we were down in July, we searched for a 60 year old Rasta named Jobby, who lived to the right of Rooms and they told me he'd moved on...

Happy Travels...

SKB

Love2travelchic – I am sure you will enjoy Rooms. I will post a few more pictures from around the resort and make a few observations when the trip report is done.

PGW – I am honored you've stuck it out this far. I have really enjoyed your trip reports, but we do have a different style. You photograph Red Stripe the way I do sunsets!

2nutx4travel – I was feeling the same way and decided it was my turn to contribute.

Marley – Thank you! That is a great compliment. I am a real fan of both!

Tanfastic – Please do. I highly recommend it; it is a good way to live.

Clarity – You are so sweet. I'm glad to hear I am the not the only one who got a bit lost in the language. I am hoping to have better luck on this next trip. My goal was to keep this report rolling along with the days of the week. More is coming.

Tizzy – Girl, you are making me blush. Thank you :o

Kevan – I don't think it was the same fellow. This Rasta was a bit grizzled, but his dreads weren't white; he normally hung out down towards Bourbon Beach, he just happened to be up our way that day. I believe his name was Caswell, but I was having language problems with him too. I saw him in the background of a picture on the board about a month ago, but I can't remember the context to search for it.

Chapter 7

Adversity is a fact of life. It can’t be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it.
– Unknown

Monday dawns and Sunshine is cranky and just plain out of sorts. Don't let the sun outside our window fool you, he is having a cloudy day.

Without wanting to make this story any longer than it need be, Sunshine losing his cool somewhere around the third day of a vacation is not a new phenomena. This has happened before. There is something about the combination of travel, strange schedules and unfamiliar places that seems to lead towards minor meltdowns. Sometimes, in the moment they don't seem that minor. He did once, on day 3 of a 16 day European vacation, declare he was going to the airport and not leaving until someone flew him home. I made him take a nap. By the next morning, most of the clouds had past and by day five, it was like the storm had never come.

In Jamaica, this cloudiness felt harder to me, as I was on unfamiliar ground as well. It is hard to be an anchor when you are already adrift.

We got up, had our Shamrock's OJ, which is the single greatest orange juice I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. We had a few snacks to tide us over, but we did need to find food.

This time we venture towards the beach. I knew from my map that Mama Flo's was not far past Alfred's so we headed on down to check it out. It was on my 'cheap but good eats' list. We arrived and were the only customers.

"Hello" I say.

"Wah woh wah wah," I get in reply. Oh dear, not this again.

"We'd like to have lunch please." Alright, I know it is our breakfast, but since I want lunch food and it is almost lunch time, I am trying to minimize the confusion/requirement for conversation.

"Wah wah wah wah woh wah," with a gesture that seems to imply pick any seat you'd like.

We settle in and our waiter brings menus. This guessing what people are saying thing is going ok. He asks what we would like to drink, at least I hope that is what he said because I answered Red Stripe; it seemed to be the right response. We order off the menu. Waiter disappears to the kitchen, some muffled conversation takes place. Saying nothing at all, our waiter wanders back past us, out to the beach and heads for a swim. Seriously? I have heard about things getting done on Jamaican time, but did our waiter just leave and go for a swim?

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I thought it was funny. Sunshine's clouds got a bit darker.

Our food arrived, brought out by the cook, since the waiter is still frolicking in the sea. I had an egg and tomato sandwich, Sunshine had a burger. Though there wasn't anything exactly wrong with the food, it wasn't that great. They may have just been having an off day. Unfortunately, that is just fueling the storm sitting next to me.

We walk back to the hotel and I suggest we settle into the beach. Sunshine plays along for a bit and then declares he is going back to the room. Annoyed, I give him a bit of a "Yeah, whatever," response and seethe for awhile on my lounger.

After a bit of time spent muttering to myself, I started to feel the sun shining on me. It was comforting. I wandered down to the water and floated on my own in the surf for awhile. The waves had a certain soothing quality to them. After a while, I felt my annoyance kind of drifting away. I came to the conclusion that Sunshine having a cloudy day was ok, we all have them. More importantly for me though, this wasn't something I needed to fix; in fact, it wasn't something I even could fix. I was reminded of the serenity prayer. I think this was a 'wisdom to know the difference' moment. In that moment, right then, what I needed to do was enjoy the peace and solitude that was right in front of me.

So I sat on my lounger and I picked up my book. I watched the people go by and enjoyed my day. I wandered back to the room a couple of times, mostly because I needed to pee. Sunshine had the curtains drawn, the lights out and some random TV on. That is ok, I remind myself; if sitting in the dark is his thing today, let him be.

I just love sitting under the palms.

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I eventually dragged Sunshine down to watch the sunset, partly because it was good for him but mostly because I didn't want to be alone for that moment. I know I said I would let him be, but I am taking baby steps here.

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After the sun had set, I decided it was time to negotiate how the rest of this day was going to go down. I may have been starting to settle into this Jamaica thing, but I wasn't ready to hang out by myself after dark. I also knew that if I don't put a bit of momentum behind Sunshine, he was just as likely to dig himself a deeper hole to wallow in as to snap out of it. Negotiate might not be the right word for how this conversation went down.

"Sunshine, we need a plan for how this evening is going to go down."

"Huh," was his witty reply.

"Well, we've gotta eat and we've gotta drink, neither of which is going to happen if we don't leave the hotel."

"Well, I guess."

"OK, let me rephrase," I continued, "I have to eat and drink. I am not going out there by myself, so you are just going to have to come along.

"I am going to make this simple for you. We are going to walk up to Shamrock's and get supplies. On our way back, we will stop in at Sweet Spot. I know our last visit was a disaster, but we know the food is good, we will have enough money this time and we can just bring it back to the room. After that, you can sit in the room all night if you like."

I got kind of a grumpy look that I loosely translated to agreement.

We headed back to the room for a bit. Sunshine settled under his personal storm cloud, randomly surfing the TV. I pulled out my book and got comfy.

If you are thinking to yourself that I am getting a raw deal here, let me clarify. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes. The only thing that is better than curling up with a good book is curling up someplace awesome with a good book. The only thing that tops that is Sunshine curled up with me. Luckily, Sunshine generally feels the same way. With all the airline weight restrictions, carrying enough books to last us both a week has been a challenge. We have transitioned to e-readers this year. I can't wait to get to the Negril with a whole library in my pocket.

I eventually declared that it was time to venture out and Sunshine grumbled along. Shamrock's OJ, red stripe and snacks for tonight, done. Different guy behind the till, but I didn't understand what he said either.

We walk into Sweet Spot. I figure the chances of our not being recognized are slim. At first glance I confirm that yes, the same lady is serving again tonight. She sees us and her eyebrows shoot straight up; oh goody, she remembers us. Now I am pretty sure she didn't expect we would ever darken the door of her establishment again. For me, that was kind of the point. I just didn't want have this bad feeling every time a walked past the place. It’s a getting back on the horse after the fall kind of thing.

Luckily, this woman already thinks we are slow, so she is talking to us that way as well. This of course means I have some concept of what she is staying.

"Hello," I say, "We were kind of hoping we might get a do-over."

She paused, considering, "A do-over?" Still contemplating, she slowly began to nod her head, said yes and gave us both a big smile, "What will it be tonight?"

We ordered off the board, oxtail in brown stew for me, curried shrimp for Sunshine and a couple of red stripes while we wait.

She starts to write up the bill, pauses and points to it and with a sly smiles asks, "We gonna be good here?"

"We're good here," I assure her.

Our bill paid, she points us over to a table and tells us we can sit down; she will bring the food over when it is ready. We figure we are making progress, as we certainly didn't get offered a seat the last time.

It took a bit of time for our food to be ready. It was good people watching, as there was a steady stream of folks, mostly Jamaican, coming in to order or pick up. A few settled into their meals at the brightly colored tables, but mostly they were getting things to go. Box meals in hand, we headed back to the shelter of Rooms. The oxtail was really good; if you are not sure, yes it really is a stewed tail, bones and all. It was my first go and there were some unfamiliar textures, I'm guessing from the bone marrow. I'd absolutely have it again.

Now I know that breaking Sunshine's funk isn't expressly in my job description, but I do have some experience with them and have developed a few strategies over the years. I was out on the balcony and I could hear the DJ cranking things up practically next door at Roots Bamboo (at least I think that is where it was coming from). With a night club practically in our backyard, I really wanted to head down to the beach to listen to the music. I didn't want to go to the party; I wanted to lurk from next door.

So I started running plays at Sunshine and I could feel some of the clouds slipping away. I almost had him, but I zigged when I should have zagged and the clouds slammed back down into place. Darn. Oh well, I tried. Tomorrow, I will have to bring out the big guns.

Up next, though some might seek a knight in shining armor charging to the rescue, I just want his castle.

We have had some funny things with waiters too. One time Bentley sat down and ate his meal with us just after he serverd us. Another time at 3 Dives my wife ordered a chicken breast. The waitress didn't think she understood how much food it was and as she cupped her own breast in her hand said 'You want a whole breast?"

Regards,

Bob

You should have just wondered over to Roots alone...The sun shines very bright over there after dark....

I cant stop laughing at "I zigged when I should have zagged"! too funny! Oh my and the picture of the waiter *tears* in my eyes from laughing! I'm loving this lady keep it going!

That sunset pic above is outstanding! Wow!

Loving this report, so funny...."our waiter" was one of the best ever. I'm glad you are having fun with this and mellowing in the tropical heat. You are drawing us right into your trip in an intimate, but casual way. Great style.

I like that you went back to Sweet Spot and gave it another shot, well played.

Quote:

---

She starts to write up the bill, pauses and points to it and with a sly smiles asks, "We gonna be good here?"

"We're good here," I assure her.

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Classic!

Love the waiter story Cherry - still laughing :) You'll love the ereaders, for some reason I read so much more with mine that I did before. So much lighter and smaller than a book. Just don't forget to plug it in at night...

Can't wait for more!

I am so loving this report! Your sense of humor in dealing with "moods" totally crack me up. My personal "sunshine" also has a tendency to slip into them at a drop of a hat. In Negril, I find that a little harder to negotiate. Your term, "settled under his personal storm cloud" is one that I have got to remember. But, as we all know, loving involves the entire package. And learning when to zig and when to zag...LOL Your writing skills are quite good mi lady!

I can totally relate to having an e-reader. I recently purchased a Kindle Fire so I could have plenty of books at my fingertips and be able to not have to turn on a light late night as to not disturb "sunshine's " snoring. This will be my first time traveling with it and I am totally psyched....plus, I can check emails, surf the net if needed, etc. I have never brought my laptop to Jamaica but the size of the Kindle is perfection for travel.

Can't wait to hear more...:)

What great report! I can't tell you how many times I've zigged when I should've zagged ;-)

I am so enjoying your report!

love this report cherry....still not sure about ox tail....

Ate oxtail many times in Grand Cayman, late 1980's. I like your adventurous side, not afraid to enjoy the culture and vibe of Negril. Keep going...and pass the popcorn

Cherry, thanks for the heads up on the Rasta...I agree with BR Mon, you shoulda rolled solo to Roots Bamboo,lol... We've stayed at Rooms at least 5 times.... I love coming out about 10p or 11p and hearing the music... We usually just go in the direction of the tunes, along NMB, not the beach at nite...
Very cool that you are patient and know your honey so well....

Happy Travels,

Skb...

I love the waiter picture.

There is a part of me that is really amazed that you all are still following along. I know I warned you this would be long, but this is turning into a novel. Thank you for being encouraging. If you are going to keep reading, I am going to keep on writing :cool:

I do have to pay the bills though, so I have to split today in two parts. I will get it all in before day's end. Darn this working for a living thing.

Bob – I almost snorted coffee out my nose with that 3-dives story. Thanks for the laugh.

BR Mon and Kevan – this girl was still a lot too 'deer in the headlights' to be venturing out to Roots Bamboo on her own! There is always this year. And I am with you Kevan, the music in the air at Rooms in the evenings was awesome. It gave the place such great energy.

Ktans – Judging by your avatar, I think you will enjoy our first stop of the day today. Thanks for reading.

Groove – Growing up, my mother would often make Oxtail soup with dumplings. Sounds fancy, but in truth her oxtail soup came from a package by Knorr and her dumplings were Bisquick. I will say though, the soup's flavor wasn't far off of what I ate. Maybe start there…

Lady Jane - I never really think of myself as adventurous, but thank you suggesting I might be :o

Yetta – Thank you for sharing, it really is about the whole package and I am totally smitten.

Bjritz – 'intimate, but casual' – I really like that, thank you! I think that perfectly captures what I was going for.

Loves2, 2nutz and Coco – I am glad you are getting some laughs in on this. We aren't quite done bumbling around yet…

Chapter 8

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
- James Matthew Barrie

Right or wrong, sometimes I feel that I do know the right answer. I am generally the sort who wants everyone to agree to the plan before we get underway, but sometimes, I just need to take charge.

Tuesday morning I awoke to sunshine outside and clouds tucked in beside me. Even on his cloudiest days, things are just better because I get to wake up with my Sunshine. As you know, I am a girl with a list of lists for every contingency. It is time to pull out the 'Sunshine is having meltdown' list and see what we can do.

Over coffee and orange juice in the room, I inform Sunshine that we are going to get a cab and head to Blue Cave Castle for breakfast. This gets a mixed reaction. We haven't yet taken a cab, so he isn't enthusiastic about that but he has heard the word castle and he is intrigued.

"Castle what?" he says.

"Blue Cave Castle," I reply, "It is up on the west end road, up on the cliffs. There is a castle there and they have a restaurant; I hear it is pretty good. It should also be quiet there, no hustlers around those parts."

"Fine, whatever," was the best response he could muster, but I know deep down, he is intrigued.

Down to our hotel parking lot we go to get one of the cabs always lingering there. I know we could go out to the road and try and get a route taxi, but that was far more adventure than I was looking for. When chartering a cab, I had pretty much decided from my research that my going rate was $10 to wherever I was going on the beach road or up to the west end. No one ever disagreed. I am confident our drivers came out to the good on that deal, as we never went far. Was I overpaying? Maybe by Jamaican route taxi standards, but I can't get anywhere for $10 in a cab at home, so I was happy enough with the exchange. We normally tipped a few dollars, depending on the stops we made along the way.

We take off down the road and start winding up the West End. Our cab driver pulls up to the doors of Teddy's Hideaway and through the car window starts pounding on the door, which is locked. Oh no, I thought to myself, please tell me this place isn't going to be closed. The top half of the door opens up, and a few words are exchanged. Our cabbie tells us it is all good man and through the blue door we go.

If any of you have ever been back in the actual restaurant part of Teddy's Hideaway, it is fine, but it doesn't have much of a view. It certainly didn't line up with some of the descriptions I had heard. There are 3 or 4 people in the space and they were clearly all local workers.

We are greeted by Teddy himself, sporting a big wide smile. "Wah wah woh wah."

I literally feel like throwing my arms up in the air in frustration. Why oh why can't I understand a word of the English these friendly people are saying to me. Everyone seems to understand me just fine, so we must be speaking the same language.

On his third try saying the same thing, Teddy has taken to talking real slow, explaining again that we can eat anywhere on the grounds and that he will show us around. He takes us through a narrow, sun soaked passage way, introduces us to his pet crocodile.

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We emerge into the main yard of the castle, near the Blue Mountain coffee station. There is not another person in sight.

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I can feel the shift in the atmosphere beside me almost instantly. It is like someone has released the valve on a pressure cooker and the steam is pouring out.

Teddy points out the highlights of the grounds and we pick our table. Being of the fair skinned set, we pick the table in the covered hut near the cave entrance.

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Our waitress arrives and we order up our now habitual breakfast Red Stripe. We agree to a bit of sharing with breakfast and order Teddy's famous Banana, Rum and Cinnamon pancakes, as well as the egg scramble with shrimp, peppers and tomatoes.

Our food hasn't even arrived and Sunshine is all smiles. The clouds might still be lurking around the edges, but for now it is clear skies ahead.

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I must say that I know why Teddy's pancakes are famous, but that egg and shrimp scramble was one of the best plates of eggs I have ever had. I don't give high marks for eggs very often; I am incredibly picky. It was all perfectly cooked and beautifully seasoned. He has some pretty wicked hash browns to go with; they were a mix of white and sweet potatoes and they may have been deep fried. Heart healthy they may not be, but they were good for the soul.

It was a windy day and the seas were a bit churned up, enough so that the cave was chained off and the swim ladders were pulled up.

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We sat a spell and had another round of Stripes, enjoying the breeze and the quiet. At one point, we see a big catamaran sailing slowly by. We've spent some time around boats and generally we always wave when one goes by. Folks on board are waving back. I look a little closer, as something looked different. Oh gee, they are all naked. We both burst out laughing. I'd have captured the moment, but I just wasn't quite quick enough with the camera. Everyone did seem to be having a good time.

We eventually decide it was time to move on and settled our bill. We stopped to visit the turtle pond on our way out.

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Blue Cave Castle wasn't our only destination on the West End. Up next, our first adventure in a route taxi.

Cherry - PLEASE keep writing your novel! So good, so funny, so true! And I hope you know - the laughs are truly with you. Only Speaking for myself, of course, but I can relate to EVERY new thing you are experiencing. Except the cloudy Sunshine - mine found his happy place in Negril on day one and never looked back. Cannot wait to hear/read/see the rest!! Thank you SO much for your perspective and willingness to lay it all out there!!

I love this TR....it makes me want to hug you....not only am I looking forward to the rest of this report, but I'm looking forward to reading your soon to be trip report...keep it coming!!!!

Your report gets better and better! Not only are you a tremendous writer, but you have a delightful sense of humor and a great attitude. I'm so enjoying this! Although, you've raised the stakes tremendously on trip reports. I'm feeling a bit a "trip report anxiety" for my upcoming first trip to Negril in December. :)