Day 4
As you can imagine, after such a fantastic night, we slept in pretty late. I think we got up around 11:30am, and were still pretty tired. We decided that this night we wouldn't be up as late so that we would be well rested for Thursday night, otherwise known as "Ladies Night at the Jungle!"
We decided to skip the overpriced Kuyaba breakfast, and instead head down the beach to our friends at Coconuts. Miss Angie fixed us two nice plates of eggs, bacon and toast with coffee for under $10. About that time my sister and husband (_N5 from this board) had returned from the farmers market with a bunch of stuff for our planned excursion to what they called "the island". We were planning on taking a small group of friends to the island, and they brought back crabs, fish and various vegetables for a lunch on the island.
I personally LOVE crabs. Blue crabs, snow crabs, king crabs, stone crabs, all of them are delicious. But I had never seen crabs like this before...
Anyways, the way they described the farmers market made us really want to check it out. So, we hooked up with Bernard, grabbed a taxi and headed that direction, to come up with our own contribution to the feast.
The farmers was cool. I'm reasonably sure we were the only tourists in the entire area. Tons of different types of vegetables and fruits. Some we had never seen before. Benard took the time to explain what many of them were that we had never seen before, if they grew in the ground like a root, or on a tree, what they tasted like, etc.
As we were going through the various vendors, all of a sudden, Bernard eyes went wide with surprise. he said, "Wait here", and rushed off into a throng of people in front a a particular vendor. About 10 minutes later he returns with a large bag of some sort of fruit I've never seen before and tell us, "Veronica is a little upset with me that I was out all night. I'm sure this will make up for it." When we asked what it was, he explained that they were "Chiny Ginips" and that they were only in season about 2 weeks per year and were a Jamaican favorite. Turns out, they are sorta like giant grapes with a hard skin that yoe peel off with your teeth. They were delicious. They were so good we got an extra bag.
As we continued to walk through the farmers market, we were asked at least half a dozen time where we had gotten those Chiny ginips. Even on the way back the cab driver asked where we had gotten them from. It wasn't' long before the vendor was out of them.
We also picked up some pinneapple, green beans and oakra to contribute to the feast.
As we we nearly done shopping it began to rain. We thought it was just going to be another light shower, but soon it began to pour. Bernard guided us to a nearby vendors tent for shelter. Amazingly everyone in the entire farmer's market fit under the little bit of shelter there was, although we all stood shoulder to shoulder. We stood next to a mother and her little girl, and older rasta, a drink vendor and several others. The rain turned into a torrential downpour, and everyone worked together to keep the inside of the tent dry with umbrellas, towels, etc, laughing a joking around the entire time. It was one of my favorite moments of my entire trip, seeing the smiles of all those locals, including us in their jokes as if we were neighbors, as the rain fell from the sky in buckets for about an hour and a half. I'm reasonably sure we cleaned the drink guy out of his red stripe.
One of the younger guys lit up a "sub", and the stood up and chewed him out for lighting up so close to her child. Looking a little ashamed and apologetic, he put it out, and she thanked him.
The rain eventually lessened, and then stopped and we were once again free to roam the market. There was only one problem...the ditch beside the road was flooded, and there was not getting in or out. We waited another half an hour, and then called our driver Lenny, who's truck stood a little higher, and who could make it through the high waters.
We took out haul back to coconuts to put with the rest of the feast.
At around 8pm, we went to Roots Bamboo to have dinner and live music, but we were apparently the first ones there, so we decided to go elsewhere for dinner instead. Lenny suggested a place called Sweet Spice so we went there instead. no live music, but I think it's the only restaurant in Negril that we went to that was actually indoors with AC, which was a nice change of pace. it was also the only place I saw that actually had steak on the menu. Not having red meat all week, I was craving it, and ordered a t-bone. It came out a little thin, but had a delicious marinade, and was tender.
Once we got back, we were exhausted, and decided to crash early. We knew that the next day was going to be a long one, and that the next night was going to be a late one. this would be a good opportunity to rest up a bit. I think we shocked my sister and her husband, as we are normally night owls, but by 9:30, we were asleep.
Next Installment - Day 5: The Island, Ladies Night at the Jungle.
Originally Posted by Thatswhatshesaid
