**on-site Trip Report [[ Monday afternoon ..... 12/24/13 ..ChristmasEve ]]

"..AT the tone,
the time will be 3:30 pm.."

** beeeep ***


Folks,
you WON'T believe what-a-gwan in Lucea-town today --- now --- as we speak

it is craaaaaaaaaaaaaazy...!!!..

firstly,
IF:::>> any of you's followed my instructions to come-on-down to Jamaica-ASAP, I STRONGLY suggest that you de-plane in MoBay, and hop an air-shuttle or something to Negril. ----- 'cause you AIN'T getting thru Lucea TODAY ---- BELIEVE DAT...!!!..

*they*-SAY::::>>> be careful what you wish for, na tru

well,
i wished-for a pre-Christmas, @-Christmas trip

been wishing for loooooooong-time

my wish has been granted,
and thus-far i'm NOT disappointed
AND
I KNOW there's more excitement to come between now and midnight.

1..town is jammed packed with people..

2..the 3-4 bounce-abouts are busy busy with jovial-jumpin' pickneys @ Ja$50 per half-hour jumpin'

3..vendors EVERY-where, selling selling selling EVERY-thing

4...folks buying buying

5...as previously mentioned, the mother-daughter shopping together trend is EVERY-where

6...dads with the kids all over town

7...once in a while,
i've seen that all-familiar body-language,
as a lady chats-up her-man
for some dollars.

she looking vex-ed
he looking sheepish

8...WesternUnion line is looooooooooooooooooooooong-er than yesterday.

9...Barber-shops are standing room only inside, and nuff men outside waiting waiting

10..Hair salons (both official and un-official) are busy busy, too.

[[ continuing in a few minutes ]]

[[ continuing ]]

after drinking & eating my obligatory daily jelly coconut ( Ja$150 )
i strolled over-to the main market
to whagwan

stopped a familiar vendor lady's shop/stall,
to check on when she leaving,
'cause i need a few likkle things for the-yard,
such as 2-cups, a fork, and other odds & ends

mi-SAY::>> "..What time,,, when-today are you leaving..??.."
she-SAY:::>>> "...I'm leaving TOMMOROW night.."

HUH...???...

she reminded me of something, some-somebody once told me,
that many of the market vendors SPEND-the-NIGHT at the market
or some(?)-place, to await early moring deliveries, and for other reasons

well,
apparently,
in this instance,
in her case
she gonna make SURE she's der, on-site
to get the laaaast-drop of Christmas-spending-money that may come-into her shop/area.

Yesterday,
my Ja-mentor told me,
because Lucea-town was gonna be so jammed packed and crazy, she wasn't coming to work ---- turned the operation over to one of her associates for the day, while she chill-ed and did at-home stuff.

she said,
it wasn't gonna be all that busy/bad where her office is located,
BUT every-place all-over town it'll be:::::>>>> "..folks buying food, clothing, hair, and nails.."

interestingly,
she mentioned that "..they guys WILL be paying for the stuff.."


* sigh *

self-SAY:::>>> "..WHY you sigh so...??.."
mi-SAY:::>> "..'cause i don't wanna be doing this strip report..... I wanna go out-side where the FUN is..."

[[ continue in a few minutes --- say tuned .... * sigh * ... ]]

Smith??!! Strip report you say?
Freudian slip, perhaps? You are so funny. See you soon.

[[ continue-ing ]]

Some of you's are probably *wondering* why i'm not at the grave-diggin'

change of plans
as frequently happens in Jamaica

i'll explain later,
at another time

Today's Walk to Lucea-Town, from mi-yard

after a relaxing morning at mi-yard,
i gathered my gear,
to begin the 30-minute stroll to town

weather nice
gentle Christmas breeze was breeze-ing
sun hot
shade cool

i saw a young neighbor lady,
sitting roadside,
under an ackee,
waiting for a taxi-to-town

since i was walking,
she opted to join me.

this young-lady,
some of you boardies may remember::::>>> she's depicted in an old-old photo of mine called "..Laundry Day.." --- somebody should post that pic ... 'tis one of my favorites.

she/I/we strolled to town
chattin' along the way
..me catching up on the latest in the neighborhood

she:::>> beggin' for this & that

first she wanted Ja$500

* sigh *

mi-SAY::>> "..Don't have it.... I'm waiting for my money to come to WesternUnion.."

then,
she ask did i bring any gifts, etc from-foreign for her and others

mi-SAY:::>> "..Yep..!!.... sure did .... BUT, Jamaican Customs-folks took it all .... they said what i brought, had in my bags, was contraband, and not allowed..."

she said something(s) in Patois, kinda like "..Bumba-something,,,, and me being '..mean..' ,,, me not being easy (whatever that means)

that Jamaican language is difficult to unna-stan most times, for me
...i tell 'em ALL the time:::>> "..I don't speak Patois,,, so i don't unna-stan nutin' you saying to me.."

* sigh *

so it goes

was a nice walk
lots of back & forth
friendly chatter-ing

At one point,
she said:>> "...Let's take the short-cut.."

huh??... what short-cut...?..

she led me off the main road,
into an overgrown dirt path
which twisted and turned
round & round,
down & down


[[[ to be continued ,, in a few minutes ]]]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nurse Marcia

Smith??!! Strip report you say?
Freudian slip, perhaps? You are so funny. See you soon.

---

lol
lol
lol
lol
lol
lol
lol

Probably-so

lol
lol
lol
lol

i would comment further,
but DO NOT wanna go off on THAT-tangent at this time

after-all,
it is Christmas time, na tru

lol
lol
lol
lol

but,
you SHOULD see all these pretty-er than usual Jamaican wo-mens

opps.
my bad
said i wasn't gonna go THERE..!!..

lol
lol
lol

"You no easy" means you out foxed the girl

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by smith744

[[ continue-ing ]]

...

she:::>> beggin' for this & that

first she wanted Ja$500

* sigh *

mi-SAY::>> "..Don't have it.... I'm waiting for my money to come to WesternUnion.."

then,
she ask did i bring any gifts, etc from-foreign for her and others

mi-SAY:::>> "..Yep..!!.... sure did .... BUT, Jamaican Customs-folks took it all .... they said what i brought, had in my bags, was contraband, and not allowed..."

she said something(s) in Patois, kinda like "..Bumba-something,,,, and me being '..mean..' ,,, me not being easy (whatever that means)

that Jamaican language is difficult to unna-stan most times, for me
...i tell 'em ALL the time:::>> "..I don't speak Patois,,, so i don't unna-stan nutin' you saying to me.."


[[[ to be continued ,, in a few minutes ]]]

---

Maybe I misunderstand, but any time I hear "Bumba" something... Bumb***** is the word I think... I believe they are being nasty and offensive and they think you don't understand. I've had it said to me with a smile, knowing what it actually means, I just don't interact / do business with those people... I've been tempted to say, "I know what that is", but figure I'm on vacation and it's not worth the hassle.

[[[ continue-ing ]]]

"..AT the tone,
the time will be 4:45 pm.."

** beeeep ***

so-sorry
it's taken so long for me to get back-witcha
and post more

it's boardie-NurseMarcias fault
:-(
she said/posted somethings
which prompted me to go outside
to look around

after going outside
all i can say is * WOW WOW WOW *

Folks,
this Jamaica/Lucea thing
is BUILD-ing GROW-ing
...almost at the boiling point

:-)

Whagwan out-side right-now as we speak

1...WesternUnion now down-to 'bout 40-folks in line

2...smiles smiles big-smiles EVERY-where

3...route-taxi/vans are pulling ON-TO the sidewalks to discharge passengers

4...LOTS of old-folks in town ---- some of these old-timers in-frequently come to town, if at all --- but they're out & about today

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
PULL-UP...!!!...

Ain't today Tuesday....??? !!!..!!!! ..??? !!! ???

this don't make NO sense --- they 'spose to be at work, at home, someplace ----- Lawd-ah-mercy..!!.... WHO's minding the Jamaica/Lucea store, yard, resorts, tourist things ...???..

5...Did i mention:::>> pretty-wo-mens EVERY-where --- ESPECIALLY in MY-age-category ----- opps... i digress.. sorry...

6...the JUTA tour bus operators and other guys taking tourists/foreigners to Negril AIN'T looking too-chipper as they pass-thru Lucea-town ---- i can tell, they wanna park dem vehicles and JOIN-the-festivities. .... so it go

7...oh oh oh::>>> along with the hair, cloths, etc, mentioned above::::>>> eye-lashes EVERY-where::::: short-ones, long-ones, looooooooonger-ones ---- poor MissPiggy MUST true-ly be vexed 'bout now, 'cause no-way she gonna find any eyelashes on this planet ---- the pretty Ja-ladies done bought-up all the eyelashes.

8...the bleached-skin guys looking good, today ---- skin color even all-over

9....did i mention the jerk chicken barrels..??.. --- NORMALLY there're at most 3 (maybe 4) jerk-chix-guys around town on a busy/normal NIGHT.

but,
here it's 5pm,
and so-far
i counted TEN-plus jerk-chix barrels::::: some set-up, cooking & selling .... more setting up .... and looks like MORE are on the way ----- mi-gut tells me we gonna have nuff jerk-chicken (and other stuff) for sale tonight.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
i'm 'spose to be telling you about my walk to town with my lady-neighbor, who took me into the wooded short-cut, na tru

soon-come

but first,
a likkle while ago,
i thought i had a seizure,
or
a heart attack

:-(

there was this lady,
in a TIGHT black
leather-ry looking
out-fit

short skirt

tall shoes

etc etc ETC..!!!..

when i look pon her, i lost my breath, my body trembl-ed

question for you nurse/doctor/medical-types::>>>> are those heart-attack symptoms..??... mi no know

opps..
my bad (again)
i digressed



[[[ likkle more --- soon come back ]]]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HarryS

Maybe I misunderstand, but any time I hear "Bumba" something... Bumb***** is the word I think... I believe they are being nasty and offensive and they think you don't understand. I've had it said to me with a smile, knowing what it actually means, I just don't interact / do business with those people... I've been tempted to say, "I know what that is", but figure I'm on vacation and it's not worth the hassle.

---

lol

don't trouble ya-self, mi fren

it AIN'T dat serious..!!..

:-)

lol
lol

[[ continue-ing ]]

the rest of the story --- ChristmasEve Walk to Town

as she/I/we walked the path,
there was a SPECTACULAR view of LuceaHarbor
with OZ in the distant

opps.
not OZ
'twas that likkle-city resort --- GrandPaladium/Fiesta

we emerged,
back onto the main-road

mi vex-ed
'cause idiot me didn't make-note of where we entered the shortcut......it did save a likkle time

ummmmmmmmmm
must get her (or somebody) to point-out the short-cut entrance

well,
we continued our walk
chattin' along the way


at another point,
she asked for money against

so,
i reached into my back pocket,
and pull-ed out my likkle clear-plastic bag of coins

she-SAY:::>> sometings in Patois, about cho this and cho that , with this teeth sucking sound thing-y

nevertheless,

for some strange reason,
folks who passed by in taxis,
or were in their yards as we passed
*seemed* to greet us with this *funny* look:::; as if to say::>> "..what's going on..??... --- she with the foreigner..."

* sigh *

when we passed one yard,
she exchanged greetings with a guy in Patois,
he asked/said something

she-SAY:::>> "...he my friend, from blah blah ..... he my *mean* friend.."

* sigh *

conversation shift-ed

she wanted me to get her a man --- from foreign.

mi-SAY:::>> "..What kind of man do you want..??.."
she-SAY:::>> "..Like YOU..!!... ... BUT not as *mean*.."

* sigh *

later,
she said she was gonna make me a cake --- a fruit cake... a Christmas cake

BUT,
she need 1-1/2 dozen eggs.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

so,
moi,
being in a holiday giving modern
[[[ i don't know what came over me ]]]

volunteer-ed to take her to supermarket to get the eggs.

1-1/2 dozen:::>> Ja $450

* sigh *


[[[ continue-in a couple minutes ]]

...My Christmas *gift* to YOU-All...

After seeing what i've seen over-here-so in-Lucea-town/and-country,
i'm quite SURE things are the same-way in Negril.

IF you come down here for vacation,
and do things you shouldn't do,
and thinking nobody know what-ah-gwan
or what-ah-went-on
YOU are sad-ly mistaken

while here,
it best-est that you do *things* as if the whole world is watching and/or knows what-ah-gwan

'cause it may not be the whole-world,
but it SURE IS all of Negril, and it's environs

enjoy your gift.

GOT to go..!!..

the DJ's AND sound-systems have arrived

SEVERAL of 'em

all over town


the party has begun...!!..

ho
ho
hoooooooooooooooooo.... merry everything..!!..

:-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs5w3P6xsJ8
.
.
.
I can't believe..!!..

i walked into one of my back-up computer-places ---- wanted to upload video above to YouTube

asked, how long was open-for

he shrugged,
and said
he'll be here ALL NIGHT ...!!!!!!!.....

'til morning

this-thing (the LuceaChristmasEve celebration) goes on 'til the morning

its called "Grand Market" ,Smith!! itS A cHRISTMAS TRADITION in Jamaica....
LOTS of food,music, revellers.. children usually pick out their christmas presents from the many vendors..in Kgn its done in the markets and the shopping malls...ppl galore ...sidewalks ,stores, parking lots RAMMED!! Watch yu bag of coins, Smith!! hehehehe lots of pickpockets too ...,unfortunately...Wish I was there!

Smith,

LMAO! wata boots and machette!!

Enjoy,

VVHT