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

[smith744]

"..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 ]]

[smith744]

[[ 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 * ... ]]

[Nurse Marcia]

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

[smith744]

[[ 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 ]]]

[smith744]

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

[captaind]

"You no easy" means you out foxed the girl

[HarryS]

[[ 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.

[smith744]

[[[ 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 ]]]

[smith744]

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

[smith744]

[[ 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 ]]