Sunsets, Rum, Sand and Gizzadas 97 Days in Negril

[Crusher]

Oh geez this took a wrong turn at the beaver! :P

[Kahuna3]

Yes, looking back on this thread, I should have know to stay away from beavers.

So, continuing from where I left off . . . . .

I’m headed for the beach to find JT. I walk by the parking lot abattoir and cross the road to the Chiny Man’s store. I pick out a cold walkin’ beer, a Red Stripe, naturally, from the stand-up window cooler. It’s hot and busy in the store. The Chiny Man’s wife keeps close watch on all proceedings from her raised dias overlooking the floor. I always feel like I’m walking into some kind of post-apocalyptic movie set when I enter that store. The way people are moving around. There are always some guys in the back, watching your every move. It’s just a weird feeling, but I like it.

I exit the store and make my way past the traffic circle and cross the bridge. Off to my right I see the egret tree. As they do every day at this time, the egrets are beginning to congregate at their night roost in the tree on the bank of the South Negril River. Several dozens of the big white birds have already staked out their nocturnal perches. Ahead, the roast-peanut man is making his way across the bridge, headed into town. The steam whistle on his rickety, rusted-out push-cart shrieks loudly as we pass on the bridge.

I want to cut down to the beach ASAP and walk along the sand, but there’s no way I’m going to cut through the craft market; made that mistake once, almost had my arm pulled off. So I walk past the craft market and cut down towards the beach via the public parking lot there. I hear loud dance hall music coming from off to my left. I glance over. A car is parked there; all the doors and the trunk are open. Two young women and a small child are at one side of the car. It looks like they have been at the beach and are drying off and changing, getting ready to leave. Music booms from inside the car – pounding out a catchy beat. One of the young women is dancing to the vibe; nothing unusual there - Jamaican’s dance at the drop of a hat – they’re always dancing.

I’m not a voyeur by nature, but the scene is compelling, so I continue to look in the direction of the car as I walk. The young lady drops down into a really, really low twerk and starts to gyrate and twist, her hands above her head. She’s slim and lithe. It’s an impressive athletic move. Think Flo Jo. She’s smiling and laughing. The other woman starts to dance too, not twerking though, she chooses to remain upright; shakin’, shuckin’ an’ jivin’. The child looks on. Then the twerking woman takes it up a notch, she starts to twirl, shimmy, pump, shake, wobble and jiggle and vibrate while twerkin’ all at the same time. I’m truly impressed. The moves she’s throwing down would make Miley Cyrus blush. The women notice me watching them, they laugh and wave. I move on.

My first beer has gone down quickly, it’s empty and I need another. I hit the beach and head north. The sand here at the town-end is deep and coarse and the beach has an acute slope to it. Hard to walk in. I doff my sandals and strip off my tank top.

I grab my second walkin’ Red Stripe at the first little stand I come across on the beach. I ask the guy behind the counter not to open it. “Yah, mon.” He hands it to me. I take off my brand new Red Stripe hat and use the bokkle opener that’s built into the bill to snap the cap off. There; the first beer opened by my new cap is a Red Stripe on the beach in Jamaica – it is therefore well christened. It should serve me well.

. . . . . . likkle more . . . . .




A different kind of Jamaican dog. Also well fed.


The view from this bar is hard to beat, don't cha t'ink?


These rules look reasonable, except this school only goes to grade six.

[rennie69]

We anxiously await your next update from Jamaica. So glad I found your report, I'm getting information about Negril that is hard to come by. A month is a long time for us to wait till we land, so please continue your modern way of penmanship :-)

[HillCityGurl]

I am enjoying this immensely! I have read your book and would love to have another book authored by you.

I just hope I don't get caught checking for your updates at work!!

Hoping my 2nd job continues to go well so I can see this for myself come March!!

[Jaherring]

Love the little bar overlooking the sea.

[booger]

That pit bull pic is awesome. Really digging your report as I live vicariously thru your travels.

Curious, do you have a bruise on your arm from JD tapping you every 7 seconds while he talks to you. LOL. That man is a riot and his intro of Tizzy to you was comedy.

[Kahuna3]

HillCityGurl and Rennie69 - T'anks, mon.

Jaherring – that’s the Sky Bar – just beyond Swordfish, a new (refurb’ed) place.

Booger – I remember my intro to Tizzy very well. You just never know what JT will do or say. It was a Negril moment. A bruise? nah, just a small contusion.

This morning I was listening to IRIE FM (107.1 in Negril), when a guy called in from Lucea. He was talking to Ron Marchette, the host, and was going on about this-and-that. Then he started saying hi to other taxi drivers and people he knew in Lucea and then he sent out big-ups and Merry Christmas to all of his ‘baby mommas out there.’ He named a few; one in London, England, one in New York and one in Minneapolis; then the host cut him off. I figure he was probably only shouting out to his international ‘baby momma’s’.

It was the first time I’d heard the term ‘baby momma’s’. It figures though. Part of the culture here. One of the ladies on the beach, a very nice woman, has nine kids fathered by seven different 'baby momma's'.

Continuing my beach walk from last posting, going north along the beach from Sunnyside. . . .

Walking the Negril beach as a lone male is sure to attract the attention of all of the ‘ladies’ who stroll there. No exception this time, I’m propositioned several times; aloe rub, massage, ‘company’. Eventually, un-rubbed, un-massaged and walking alone, I reach Myrna’s store. Myrna, however, is not there. Too bad. I’d bumped into Myrna (she who wears the big straw hat) up at Sun Beach a few days earlier and we had been admiring the new hammock chairs they have hanging there. We both want one, me to hang from the almond tree out front and she for her home. She was going to check in at the Bashco shop in Sav to see if they had any.

I exit Myrna’s store and walk a few paces to Sunnyside Bar, Maureen (the sweetest bar woman in Negril) is not there and JT is notably absent as well. Hmmmm. I get a fresh cold beer and strike off for Sun Beach.

There is a lot more sand on the beach than there was last year. I can actually walk past Lazy Dayz without having to step on sand bags to stay out of the water.

Passing ‘The Hummingbird’, I glance to my right and see a movement in the shade of a coconut tree there. It’s my old friend Dexter who works at the resort, he’s waving to me. I detour in and take a seat beside him on the edge of a cement deck. We pop fists, exchange greetings and catch up. Several minutes into our discussion he raises his t-shirt to bare his stomach revealing a six inch scar that snakes vertically down his belly. As scars go, it’s not a pretty one.

“Me got an operation in March – dey take out me gall bladder.” Dexter informs me. I know that in Canada gallbladder surgery is performed laparoscopically, four little ½ inch incisions. Patients go home the same day and can pick up normal activities in one or two weeks. Dexter’s scar is obviously not the result of a laparoscopic procedure; maybe a question of money? Don’t know for sure.

“How long were you off work – a month, six weeks?” I ask.
“No, mon. Me off four mont’,” he replies patting his belly, “but me feelin’ good now.”
So, obviously there were complications. Dexter is not a spring chicken. “How about a beer?” I ask him.
“Ahhh, a Pepsi? Me no drink beer no more.” He pats his stomach.
So I go to the bar and get a beer (number four?) for myself and a Pepsi for Dexter. We talk a little longer then say our goodbyes.

. . . . likkle more . . . . .









This place has been freshly painted, which is a popular thing to do for Christmas here. There has also been a lot of cleaning and raking going on.

[rennie69]

So Kahuna3, are you going to the Scrub-A-Dub on the 27th? LMAO. On a serious note. We'll be at the White Sands on Friday the 24th of January. If you're around we'd love to buy you a red strip if you have the time to stop in?

[Kimbobwee]

The lime green & pink place is Sandra's......Great likkle rum shack! Hang there many occasions.

[poolguywindsor]

Did not recognize Sandra,s bar in the daylight! lol