Sunsets, Rum, Sand and Gizzadas 97 Days in Negril

[goldilocks]

[QUOTE=Kahuna3;118352]

Next time I passed him he looked me right in the face and said, “HEY! . . Change, buddy?”

Yes suh! Nohing you can do to stop a man from trying..................

[Onceyougo]

On the Coconuts International pic: Sadly, they had no brownies yesterday evening - I didn't ask about the mushrooms. Just a tease I guess...

[Crusher]

Yeah those change guys can be annoying as heck sometimes.

We travel around Negril with our friend Doc most of the time so it weeds out some of the chatter that we would get normally on our own. I know they are just trying to make a living and I can respect that but I have been around and don't appreciate someone trying to hustle me.

I have even had to correct some of the workers in the Cambio a time or two with counting errors. It happens.

I don't know how much those guys actually make in a day but its gotta be worth it because they are out there rain or shine!

[Lady Jane]

Is his name Eric? Persistent guy? I think I met him ( no I don't exchange $ with the "boys")

[Kahuna3]

Is his name Eric? Persistent guy? I think I met him ( no I don't exchange $ with the "boys")

Didn't ask him his name. Persistent?!! Yes, as persistent as a mosquito in your ear in the middle of the night.


Another beautiful day here in Negril. It hasn’t rained for a few days now, so the humidity is down and it feels cooler. Cooler in relative terms, of course. Back home it’s -27C with a -39C wind chill. When it’s that cold, the snow crunches when you walk on it.

If I was back home I would be in hibernation mode – sometimes, when the weather is real bad, I don’t leave the house for three or four days. So I’m happy to be here in Jamaica! The windows are all open, the birds are singing and I can hear children playing in the yard next door. And we have another two months here

We’ve noticed that things have quieted down quite a bit since the big, frenetic lead-up to Christmas and New Year’s. No more loud music coming up from town and the frequency of the ‘advertising cars’ driving through the neighbourhood – the cars with loudspeakers on the roof – has dropped right off. Even the dogs have chilled out. Quieter is better.

This morning we were walking up Hermitage Road, returning with our daily haul of groceries. I was feeling like a packhorse; sweat on my brow, trudging up an incline, my backpack loaded down and carrying heavy black grocery bags in each hand. We rounded a curve and someone called out, “Hello, Bea!”

It was a male voice. I glanced in the direction from which it had come. I didn’t see anyone, but we were walking past a small raised clapboard house. It was perched precariously on pinnacles of mortared stones. The windows were slatted, half open. I assumed the man had called from within.

“Hi!” Bea called, and waved toward the house.
“All right,” the voice answered.
“Who’s that?” I asked
“Mikey,” she replied.
“Mikey?”
“Yup, Mikey.”
“Who’s Mikey?”
“Oh, he saw me walking alone the other day and he walked with me a bit and asked me if I had a Jamaican boyfriend.”
“. . . and?” I asked.
“I told him I was all set.”

A white woman walking alone in Negril is likely to be approached by a Jamaican man (or a steady stream of them!) and propositioned. They are constantly on the lookout to recruit a ‘sugar momma’ from foreign who will provide them with money and trinkets for their ‘company’. The ideal situation for the man would be to have a virtual harem of several sugar mommas who wire him money throughout the year and bring presents down when they come to visit.

We have a new friend, Toya. A young Jamaican woman. We’ve had some interesting conversations with her. More later.

Likkle more . . . .

This is a new store on the Sav road across from the bus park. They mashed down a big block house that was there before. Check out the parking. The owner is related to the Chiny Man store owner in town.


Perfect palm, perfect sky, perfect day - Negril


Sometimes I wish I had a better camera for opportunities like this.

[slimjim]

“Hi!” Bea called, and waved toward the house.
“All right,” the voice answered.
“Who’s that?” I asked
“Mikey,” she replied.
“Mikey?”
“Yup, Mikey.”
“Who’s Mikey?”
“Oh, he saw me walking alone the other day and he walked with me a bit and asked me if I had a Jamaican boyfriend.”
“. . . and?” I asked.
“I told him I was all set.”
Too funny!

[Lola]

heh heh on the 'change money?' guy; I've been here a few years and he still calls to me

[callme2]

Wow, I miss my Negril! I haven't been home for 3 years, and haven't been on this forum for a long time.
Thanks for posting! Everything looks so different.
I have to get back soon!
Thanks again, and cheers.

[Jamadian]

"Sometimes I wish I had a better camera for opportunities like this."

Everytime you post pictures I wish I was the guy behind the camera taking them, even with your camera :-)

[Kahuna3]

Everytime you post pictures I wish I was the guy behind the camera taking them, even with your camera :-)

Jamadian - Your time will soon come.


I just had a Jamaica moment; I was out in the yard looking around and checking the weather (it’s cloudy) when I observed six little green parrots gathered in an ackee tree. They squawked at each other for a few minutes, hopped from branch to branch, and then flew off in a loose gaggle to who knows where. It’s the first time I’ve seen these parrots in the wild. They’re called the yellow-billed amazon and are endemic to the island. It was so cool to see them!

Here’s another Jamaica moment:
“Did you know that the coconut is the only food that goes into the body and washes the heart?” the man asked me. He was selling jelly coconuts from the back of his truck which was loaded with coconuts and sugar cane.

“No, I wasn’t aware of that,” I replied.

“Yah, mon, it does,” he assured me, “it cleans aroun’ de heart.” He gestured with his hands, like he was washing a heart, I guess.

I was thirsty, so I said, “Well, in that case you’d better give me one. My heart could do with some cleaning.”

“Two hundred,” he said.


We call it ‘Dead Man’s Corner’. Others call it ‘Mandrix Corner’ for reasons unknown to me. Most people know it by ‘The Church Corner’. But all will agree; it’s a dangerous piece of road to walk on, no matter what you call it. It could rightly be called ‘Dead Woman’s Corner’, since a woman who was walking the road was run down by a truck there not long ago. Sadly, she died.

The corner is blind in both directions, it’s sharp and it’s on a hill. On one side there is a tall concrete wall which completely blocks the visibility of vehicles entering the corner. That is where the woman was run down. We often take the alternate route down into center-town, specifically to avoid Dead Man’s Corner.

The corner is tricky to negotiate while walking; there is no sidewalk. When walking westbound, up the hill, we stop just before the corner on a grassy verge and look back along the road. We wait until we see a big gap in the approaching traffic and then book it up the hill and around the corner. Most locals just walk blithely around the corner, leaving it to fate whether they will make it unscathed to the ‘safer’ part of the road.

For the most part, drivers approaching from either direction don’t slow down a bit, they just lean on the horn and take it on good faith that they won’t run someone down.

If and when the proposed West End sidewalk materializes, it will be a great day for people who walk this section of the road. Until then, we will be very careful, fully alert and cross our fingers when we walk Dead Man’s Corner.

Dead Man's Corner


Yeah!! Chicken has arrived at the Corner Bar.


23/7 - gone but not forgotten. I loved that place, and I miss it.