10 Years, 12 Nights, 6 Hotels, ONE LOVE - April 2012 Trip Report

Welcome back, glad your sister is getting better sorry you had to go through that. Looking forward to some more pictures. Thank you for the ones you've posted.

It's good to see you back and I hope your sister continues her recovery.
May the upcoming Season and New Year be full of blessings for you two.

All I have to say is

1)You guys are he best
B) You always make me tear up at work
III) and of course SEE YOU SOON!! 17days

Thanks everyone for your kind comments! I’m glad you’re still with us on this journey. :o

Another hiatus from this trip report for me, and, while scarcely 7 months have passed since this trip, it feels like it all happened a decade ago. By a strange law of emotional relativity the passage of time feels enhanced as the bonds with those we met have strengthened.

After Jamaica we made excessive use of the new technologies and saw each other frequently through the tiny lenses of laptops and smartphones. We now regularly hasten home to see our family of turtles in a video chat and participate in each other’s lives. We have glimpses of where they live and what they do. We virtually went on car trips with Guiriguy and Sweetiepie, attended wedding receptions, and examined notable bathrooms with Tizzy in Texas. We greet new pets in the family, keep up with each other’s RADIO broadcasts (Spottycatz!) , promotions and struggles and saw Ninja come home with a Hoagie after Karate class.

For a special treat Sandy and Booger brought us back to Negril for a chat and we bantered, joked and danced with the Catcha staff via webcam. We have in essence become a family by choice, straddling the North American continent and beyond.

What happens in Jamaica does not stay there. What happens in Jamaica becomes part of who you are and it makes your life at home better, richer and more textured. Meaningful relationships are formed on this very website and become very, very real.

I can hardly believe now that we have met these people a mere 26 weeks ago and that makes the time, when we had just met, seem decades distant.

Day 11

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We woke up in a sweaty confusion. Above the fan of the Pisces cottage spun slowly. It was early, but through the daze a feeling of urgency crept in. Something was happening. I glanced across Daisy’s shoulder at the clock radio.

Me: “Man, when are they leaving?”.

Daisy: “Dunno, about now? … I think.”

Me: “Oh man! … Wanna say good-bye?”

Daisy: “Oh, no! I can’t. I promised not to cry …and I would.”

Me: “I can’t lay here with them right out that door! I have to go say good-bye again.”

I tossed some water in my face in the bathroom and grabbed clothes of the floor. With my shirt inside out I slipped through the front door and stared into the bright sunlight reflected of the sedan waiting there. Ben at the center of the early action wagged his tail and slowly wobbled towards me.

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Crouching down to pet his wiry fur I spotted Marley and Ninja at the front desk. I ran back inside to report to Daisy, but saw the water built up on her lower eyelid. She waved off and I went back outside without a word.

Ninja came out of the office and sauntered over. We managed a cool hand shake and braved the moment as if it were any other. I asked if everything was going smooth, if they were on time and such. He nodded and we wordlessly looked at office entrance waiting for Marley to come out. Just two men standing there and chatting on the surface undisturbed by the happenstance of one party’s departure.

Then behind me the cottage door squeak open and Daisy emerged hesitantly, asking to be allowed to show her teary face. Marley finally joined and we discussed emphatically all the opportunities we would not miss to see each other, the trip reports we would write.

“It’s the beginning of something beautiful, not the end! “

“You are right. This moment is a joyful one! Good things are in motion.”

“It sure is, isn’t it?”

“Bah, yes of course it is!”

We were so brave.

When the car turned the corner though and the gate was closed and everything continued as if nothing happened: the birds still sang, the security guard smiled at us with no sign of loss or grief, when all the world just pretended that nothing at all had occurred it stung so badly that I could finally not hold back the tears and to my surprise broke out into a full on ten second sob fest. Daisy had already been at it for a while. We took turns. She wiped my tears off and repeated: “It’s just the beginning, honey. You’ll see them ALL again!”

“That’s right my love! That’s right.”

We went to the porch and sat down for cigarette before breakfast. Lost in our private thoughts we sat in silence for a while. Then the landscape slowly took over, the morning glory, the hummingbirds and butterflies. Our little resident land crab was acting extra cute as it tried to pull an oversized blossom into its little tunnel. Finally you just can’t help smiling. It is very, very difficult to stay sad at catcha falling star, no matter the misery.

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Surely we were still shaken up, but positivity had overcome us by the time we headed over to have our last breakfast at Catcha. It really all looked like a beginning, not an end. Besides, not everyone had gone. Coco and her husband were having breakfast at the table next to us. They are so polite . She smiled and waved at us always careful not to intrude.

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We gorged ourselves on ackee, salt fish and caliloo while a magnificent frigate bird put on a show to which we had front row seats. Looking for hot air to rise on the magnificent creature glided by, time and time again, and stalled in midair like a kite, much closer than I ever had the luck to see one.

They are quite common and probably cause little excitement in a more serious birdwatcher, but I absolutely love these birds. I clearly remember seeing them as “little Markus” while watching TV with my mom on our little black and white TV-set with three channels. The frigate bird was a common feature in nature documentaries in those days. When I first saw a male siting near the nest with his pouch bloated like a red birthday balloon, I wished , but never imagined to see one in real life. A land where such otherworldly creatures might live seemed very strange indeed and impossibly far away. How could I ever hope to see one! Maybe that explains my strange obsession with the bird and the absolute delight and disbelief when I spotted scores of them on the first day of my first trip to Jamaica. So, to the annoyance of my honey, I dropped my fork and knife into the Ackee and Saltfish in the middle of breakfast and made like a proper tourist with my camera. Here is my best shot of the Man-o-War bird, the pirate of the sky, the F16 of Ornithology:

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After breakfast and before packing we schedule one last proper excursion through the Catcha-Falling-Star grounds with our camera. A few hours with no pressing events and all the time in the world to discover more flowers, birds and insects.

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Across the cliff we could see our next destination. The mysterious Banana Shout. It looked a bit irreverent and almost unkempt from here, but also enticing, full of mystery and adventure.

It was almost time to find out. After a few hours of chasing critters with my camera, I returned to the cabin were Daisy was all packed and ready. We said our good-byes and thank-you’s to the amazing staff that had doted over us for the last days, we bought a phone card for the kind security guard and finally stepped through the green gate out onto the street.