Amazing First Visit to Portland

[sammyb]

What a nice surprise! Can't wait for more, great start!

[agregory]

My husband came down with a head cold before we left Negril and he was handling it pretty well, but our first night in Portland he was coughing a lot and had trouble sleeping. We decided to visit a local pharmacy and see what we could get to make him sleep better at night and breathe easier during the day. It was Ash Wednesday, which of course is a big Jamaican holiday (what day isn’t a holiday in Ja? lol), with most people off work and kids off school for the rest of the week. Tommy, our driver in Portland, picked us up and we went into Port Antonio to find an open pharmacy. The fourth one he tried was open, so we went in and found a bottle of cough syrup with codine and a bottle of decongestant (pseudoephedrine) for about $1500J. It was a steal compared to the same drugs in the US, which you can’t even buy over-the-counter And they both worked wonders for him too for the next couple of days. We are not normally “drug” users and opt for natural remedies and essential oils normally, but this was a quick and easy way to make him feel better.

It was a beautiful day, so we walked around Bikini Beach for a little bit and planned to eat there, but the restaurant was closed. We rode over to the craft market and each ordered a Jamaican breakfast and homemade juice from C&S Smoothie Bar & Kitchen. It was delicious! As we waited for our food, we wondered through the craft market and bought a few things. We met Rock Bottom, who I remember from Vi’s trip reports. He was a fun guy to talk to. We bought one of his carvings and he threw in another one as a gift, plus a bracelet that he made for me while we waited. His work is beautiful and he seems like a great guy! We bought something from each shop that was open that day, which was only 4 or 5. Very low pressure market with lots of great, real Jamaican-made souvenirs and gifts.

Bikini Beach


Rock Bottom's works of art at the craft market


We decided we would spend our day at Boston Beach. There was going to be a huge party there for Ash Wednesday, with lots of Jamaican families enjoying the beach. We picked up some ice and rode back to our house to get changed and pack a beach bag and our backback cooler with Red Stripes, Ting and overproof rum – yum!!!

We arrived to a pretty quiet Boston Beach, but we knew from the 100+ speakers set up in the parking lot and along the road that many more were on their way


We set up a spot in the sand for the day and enjoyed the sights and sounds. We witnessed our first sandball fights and determined that snowball fights are much cleaner. I’m sure the kids and teenagers throwing sand at each other tracked home piles of it after the day was done. Watching the teenage girls and boys interacting was amusing – lots of selfies and giggles, just like at home We also enjoyed all the football action and the surfers.







Watching the Jamaican lifeguards can be amusing sometimes too. This one was determined to keep his shirt dry.