A "Shiny" new Trip Report!

[jojo p]

I MISS your smiling faces

[Summer]

This is great. Keep going. Cow Skin Soup!!!!! Never heard of it nor will I ever try it.

I have had it and it was great, am a soup lover just tell them not to put the cow skin in or sometimes they use the chicken toe leave that out just give me the broth.

[Lola]

Well, this is an interesting report with insider info, LOL Sometimes HiLo or ValueMaster have packages of salted cow skin in the meat area.

[TAH]

I have had it and it was great, am a soup lover just tell them not to put the cow skin in or sometimes they use the chicken toe leave that out just give me the broth.

Chicken foot soup is usually a different recipe altogether, and I don't eat that stuff either. I will eat oxtail, I will eat goat, just can't do skin and/or foot soup. LOL.

[lawngirl]

OMG I CANT WAIT TO GET THERE!!!!! thanks for everyone's reports......251 days...not really counting....

[Lady Jane]

I have had it and it was great, am a soup lover just tell them not to put the cow skin in or sometimes they use the chicken toe leave that out just give me the broth.

I love soup too Summer but without the skin of foot in it, I still don't think I would be able to swallow it.

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

After the Earth rotated us into darkness, we were starving for a fat AhhBees burger, and once again....we were not disappointed. (well, a little but I will get to that later) I had the bacon stuffed cheeseburger and it was so good we went back 2 days later and got another one. I highly recommend trying everything on their menu at least once. The perfect meal just before you go to bed. (leave me alone! I'm on vacation!)

This place even looks cool at night.


Weird looking bug we found outside on the ceiling in the hall.


We had a great nights sleep (as I always do in Negril) and woke up early to great the day. The Mirage has no bar or restaurant on site, but they do put out a small complimentary continental breakfast for the guests. It was nice to have the basics each morning. Fruit, coffee, juice, milk, and homemade bread, toast, croissants, and some seriously delicious banana bread each day. (I think it was all from Charella) It was all really good but I'm more of a meat and potatoes guy and by about 10:00 I was always looking for some bacon or something.

[Nancy Marie]

I'm afraid to ask but how big was that bug?

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Haha!
It was about the size of my thumb.......with legs!
Not a big fan of the insect world but this guy wasn't too scary looking.

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Guests of the Mirage are allowed to use the beach at their sister property Charella, so on our first day we took full advantage of this. Charella is a really nice place and it seemed like we were treated just like one of their own guests. We got a personal tour of the lobby area, pool, restaurant, and bar area before being escorted to our very own spot on the beach. We knew the Boardie Bash was going on but we didn't feel like drinking yet so we had a small breakfast that was pretty good, toured the grounds a little, and then took a walk down the beach.

We stopped by Sunnyside first to say hi to Maureen and have a couple of blender drinks to try and beat the heat. It was our first full day and I was a hot and sweaty as usual. I know they are better known for $150J Red Stripes but, it's nice to have a mudslide or a dirty banana when it's really hot out. After walking the beach for a couple hours we decided to head down to Firefly and check out the bash.

The princess with her coffee while we wait for our breakfast.


We stopped by our friend Masons shop to say hello. You should check this place out if you've never been in there. He's a real nice guy and there is never any pressure to buy something. He has some very interesting carvings for sale and he is definitely a true artist. It's not the same stuff you see everywhere else on the beach, but I must warn you......it's HOT in there!


The master craftsman hard at work on another amazing piece.



Now, we didn't actually know anyone that was going to be at the boardie bash, and I'm really not all that comfortable meeting new people, (especially strangers that you meet online) so we thought we would just do a walk-by and see if we could recognize anyone. Well......we didn't. Julie suggested that we continue up the beach to CW to see some of our longtime friends that we knew would be there and then hit the bash on the way back. We didn't get very far with that idea as luck would have it, and I'm glad that we didn't.

Next up......the infamous JoJo!