** on-site Trip Report ~~ Sunday morning .. ...... 06/07

[smith744]

Me..??..
LIVE here ....???? ..
not sure I can *manage*

:-(

* Whew *

my body is TIRED...!!..
&
THEN,
there's all the *things* i need to learn
....'twill take me 3-4 life-times

:-(

i can't keep-up with the Ja-people(s)

sob
sob
sob
.
.
for example,
'member the guys with those crabs..???.
...them up all night catching crabs,
......then cooking, prep-ing & selling
.
.
THEN,
i get 'em to get my goat
...kill it
....prep it
....cook it
.....etc etc.

and THEN:::>> they pary party PARTy
late-late-LATE into the night

* sigh *

nope
..me can't manage
.
.
today,
Sunday is gonna be ANOTHER chill day.
....no church .... 'tis 1st Sunday .... looooooong service

....no Negril .... public transportation available, but not as frequent, on Sunday

....no nothing ---- [[[[ fingers crossed, 'cause Jamaica has a way of dropping ''some-thing(s)'' ((( ???? ))) into your lap. ]]]

.
.
.
i REALLY should be doing some on-line bill-payments (back in foreign)
and
tele-commuting to/with my yard-work clients:::: let 'em no not to panic, cause me soon-come back [[[maybe]]] .... some of 'em don't know that i've left.
.
.
...continue in a likkle while..
stay tuned

[captaind & Linston]

Smith,

Take it from an old timer. The best days you'll ever have in Jamaica is doing NOTHING

Cap

[smith744]

Smith,

Take it from an old timer. The best days you'll ever have in Jamaica is doing NOTHING

Cap

LOL
LOL
LOL
LOL

i know
i know
i KNOW..!!..
.
.
lol
lol
lol
.
.
.
But,
there's a whole-heap
of ''..somethings...''
that i wanna do

i don't NEED to do 'em
but
i '''wanna..''' do 'em
.
.
.
hey, CaptainD ~~~ one-day(??)) you & me gotta sit-down and chat --- we can share a bag-juice or something
lol
lol

likkle bit
more postings soon come

[smith744]

....continue-ing...
.
.
my curried goat *party* .... a few highlights

first,
Thanks Capt., for the heads-up on pricing, and other things.
:-)
of course,
i did some additional *re$earch* once i got here.

..
.
ummmmmmmmmmmmmm
WHERE to start this ''tale'' ...??

so,
i told step-father,
what i wanted, and we close deal ..... kinda sorta

i run to town
to link with my Lucea-mentor
&
to run some errands::>>> shopping for few take-back-to-foreign goodies/necessities

spent more time
in-town, than intended

hop in taxi
BACK to-country

see my 12-year old *mentor*
.....yep yep YEP..!!... he a mentor TOO .... over the years, the likkle pickneys have been some of my BEST-est teachers.

''..Did you see 'em kill a goat down the road ... at the cross-road..''
''..Yeah, mon..''
''Good....that my goat..'''
''YOUR goat..??? !!!..''
''yeah..''

drop-off my shopping bags
at house
....stroll down the road, to see whagwan

.
.
folks all around.
hangin' out

me see nothing

find step-father
..he smiling
'''..WHERE the goat..???... blah blah blah .... where the skin... blah blah ... where the blood... blah blah..''

''..Come..!!..''

he takes me behind the Ja-Oprah's shop,
and there're a couple guys cook cook cooking in some big big pots
...things smelling good
.......meat stuff cooking in one pot ... soup stuff in another... all over wood fires

''..Where the skin..??.. blah blah..''

he looks puzzled
'''...threw it away ... probably the dogs got it....drag it down the bush blah blah'''

:-(

* sigh *

so it goes
my bad .. .. i didn't tell him my *plan*

.
.
oh
oh
oh::>> some may be wondering ''How Much'' this crazy-idea of mine cost-ed:::>> 'bout $100+ USofA
could have gotten for less but
here's the deal...

I had a dream, as somebody once said.

earlier,
when step-father were working out ''things''
he went into that typical/usual Jamaican price negotiation thing-y,
and I told him::>> ''' STOP..!!!.... .... i don't have time for that ..... just MAKE it happen... give me a price,,,do what you got to do.....THIS time, i'm dealing in the USofA from-foreign ''way''....''

he laugh

to me-self,
i ju$tified this endeavor as:::>> ...a belated Ja-stylee wake, for my mom...
...and told him so
.
.
jumping ahead
....the curried goat was OFF THE CHAIN..!!.
:-)
WONDER-FULL

me happy
satisfied
more than pleased
OVER-joy-ed

...likkle bit..
soon come back

[smith744]

..continue-ing..
.
.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

12:19 pm
today

laundry done

so,
NOW::>>> rain fall
.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


looks like i'm gonna chill for-SURE

...soon come back...

[smith744]

..continue-ing...

.
more about the goat thing-y, later.
.
.
.
Refrigerator Repair

when i arrived the fridge was not working.
...even though landlord & i don't need no fridge
.......all he do wit it is make ice (for water & drinks
and to chill a few things

we don't shop much
..just what we need and gonna use right-away
.
.
but he loves his ice & ice water (from time to time)
me no care

.
he tracks down a repair man
...cost::>> approx. $69 US dollars
.....same job in-foreign, WOULD have cost much more, or repairman would have told him/me/us to buy a new frige
.
.
New Bath Area Renovation

.
landlord paid the guy who worked with him to do the work:::>> Ja$3,000 ... approx ,,,,, i.e., US $25
....they worked from sun-UP 'til sun-DOWN
......worked like Georgia-slaves

though not complete,
i think this is gonna be the BIGGEST bathing area in Lucea-country
....me no know WHAT his from-foreign girlfriend/wife did to him
:-(

his plan
is to put in a bath-tub

the area is so big,
he can put in a sauna,
a hot tub and some more stuff

watching Jamaican guys work,,, do their thing, always amazes me
...great skills
...make it look so easy
....master craftsmen, with NO formal training
....ultra-QUALITY work
.........stuff put together to LAST,, long time

..more soon come..

[smith744]

...continue-ing..

.
.
down-side of a chill-out day::>>> me and landlord spend more time chattin'
'bout this & that..

me ask questions

he fill me in

the back-stories on folks in the neighborhood, around town, around Negril, etc etc are mind-blowing .... at least the stories blow my from-foreign mind with from-foreign sensibilities

...Too TOO MUCH information
.
.
yep yep
i gotta spend more time at a resort, or someplace
.
.
... to be continued..

[smith744]

..continue-ing..

.
.

'''at the tone,,, the time will be 1-pm ... sunday....... beep...''
.\.
.
Old-man, my 12-year old mentor just dropped by
to hang out
chill
while the rain continues to fall ... falling a likkle harder now.

Old-man chattin' with me & landlord
.....Old-man has a likkle garden with gungo peas, callaloo AND he has two goats.

* sigh *

WHAT was I doing when i was 12....????....
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

.
.
.
when Old-man took me mango hunting
i was constantly amazed at his actions, movements, how he *flex*

every now and then,
he would STOP
...pause
......look around.
........survey the surround-ings
............listen
in deep deep

d
e
e
p concentration ----- as if he was working out some kind of calculus problem

we'd go along the winding paths
in the bush
..grass growing head-high in some areas
.....rocky paths
.......muddy paths

we'd come to an area,
under a few mango trees
....mangos all over the ground
.......just like landlord said it was:::>> '''...mangos like water..''

to me,
all the mangos
look fine.

but to Old-man
there were only certain ones he *wanted*

we might find 30-40 mangos on the ground
and he'd only *select* one or two

me no know what was wrong with the other 36-38

:-(
.
dem looked fine to me

* sigh *

.
.
on we went
hunting.
.
.
.
BUT,
every now and then the child thing-y would pop-up
in Old-man's behavior

he'd be several paces ahead of me
.....and then i didn't see him

:-(

i continue.
....then:::>> he'd SUDDEN-ly *appear*

him playing hide & seek with me
...trying to frighten me
....as he hid behind a tree
.......or crouched behind the tall grasses

glad he didn't freighten me
'cause if he did
i SURE would have tumbled down the hillside
down
down
down into one of the gullys,,,... over the hillside with the 85-degree slop

can you imagine..??..:::>>> me rolling down the hillside, falling on my machette

...to be continued...

[smith744]

...continue-ing..
.
.
more goat stuff

.
.
i told my Lucea-mentor,
what landlord said
as to why he no like to eat curried goat

she shook her head
and said:::>>>>> that's a different *part* of the animal ... he has no worry.


she should know,
'cause after all,
one of her expertise is in agricultural-science matters
.
.
.
when,
curried goat was ready
told step-father
new *plan*::>>> THREE plates..!!...
one for me
one for landlord ....he changed his mine when i told him 'bout the wake for my mom
one for landlord's mom

she too
no know about my goat thing-y

hadn't seen her all day
and
we never know when she gonna come home from working from where-ever

but,
miraculously
when i brought the 3 plates of yummy food back to the house
she
arrived

weird how things go in Jamaica
.
.
....more soon come..

[smith744]

...continue-ing...

.
.
yep
yep.....me MUST spend more time in an all-inclusive resort


my 12 year-old mentor-SAY:::>> ''...Bill....do you have any food..???..'''

:-(

1:35 pm
rain STILL falling .....HARD..!!..


''..Bill ..... lock-OFF the music ...!!.. ... lighting blah blah blah...'''<<<<:::say landlord

all lights
and electrical stuff have been unplugged etc etc
.
.
we chill
...Old-man shelters inside with us, from the rain
...small plastic bucket placed on my bed
.......'cause a itty-bitty hole in zinc roof, blah blah


ummmmmmmmmmmmmm
wonder if any vacancies at Beaches or Sandles
or better yet,,,,, at Tree House
.
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

.
.
by the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,
ain't it interesting how rain
...especially as it tap tap taps
on the zinc roof
and trigger a reaction in a person's urinary system
......bladder fill up
.
* sigh *

so it goes...
.
.
...more soon come..