Admittedly, this is self indulgent but I think there's some meat on the bone.
Days 1 and 2.
Landed Saturday around 1:30 in the afternoon. I realized that when I woke up today, I had been in Negril less than 48 hours and already forgot what day it was three times. IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!!
Flight, arrivals and customs went without a hitch (I didn’t have my camo pants on this time����)
I’ve been hitting Club Mobay upon arrival the past few trips because t's one of my CC perks, but this time they told me “all full up.” (They have the right to deny entry if they’re at capacity with paying customers) so I hit the Grouper to wait for the man, Linston.
He shows up with his plush new ride and we’re off. Cambio, convienience store for some road sodas and the mega mart for provisions and a new SIM card (doh, forgot to recharge over the summer.)
After the requisite pit stops, we’re on then road. Always good to be back. The colors, smells and the sights on the ride to Negril always brings a tear to my eye.
Check in at Travellers was smooth. They’re becoming real pros here, kudos to them. Head to the room, get situated and chill for a little, then head to CSA sports complex for the Reggae Marathon pasta party and packet pick up. Grabbed my stuff, a small plate of pasta, and chatted with some familiar faces.
Noticed a bunch of people (locals) with to-go boxes so I decide to try and grab one for my driver. A couple of the cooks and workers were hesitant to hook me up. I eventually spotted an older gentleman that looked the part of “boss-man” and explained my situation. Bingo, he set me up with a fat plate and wrapped it nice.
I’m headed towards the exit and security said no to-go allowed. I’m looking around and it seems everyone has takeaways. So I point that out and try to explain this is not for me, it's for my driver but she gives me the same answer: “I’m sorry, no to go’s” - So I’m not gonna give her a hard time; just doing her job, and who knows, maybe her “boss man” is watching.
There's always more than one way to skin a cat, especially in Negril. So I say, “okay thanks, I understand” and turn to walk back inside thinking there’s gotta be a “back door” right? Eventually found an alternate exit with no watchers and made it out, no problem.
Met up with my driver, double checked that he wasn’t insulted that I grabbed him a plate and headed back to home base. I was really itching to go out but after running the 10k last year on about an hour sleep, decided it was best to at least get back to my hotel and start shutting it down a little bit earlier this year, but not before I walked to the corner bar for a fried two piece! So darn good.
Wake up, dressed, fueled up, and hopped the shuttlebus to Long Bay beach. Like clockwork, I got this nailed down. Haha.
Waited around, made the ceremonial prerace bathroom stop and was ready to go. 5:15 start was exactly on time the four years I’ve done it. I just do the 10k, between the heat and all the walkers that line up at the front of the corral, I’ve stopped trying to “race” it down here, so I was just looking at an easy cruise to the roundabout and back.
6:25 AM and back at the finish/start. Pro tips: after you grab your medal, water and sports drink, head right to the coconut booth because obviously they gotta chop them so if you don't get a precut, you end up having to wait, and they eventually run out.
Once you get your coconut, head to the massage line. Complementary massages for finishers, SWEET! The line is usually still pretty short at this time (I had three people in front of me.)
After that, grab your beer, take a dip in the sea, take some pics, and enjoy the people watching. And don't forget your banana and Mrs Mary's plantain / banana chips. Did I say I have this dialed in? ��
Then realize it’s not even 7 AM yet �� and you’ve still got the whole day in front of you, which is like a week and a half here.
Shuttle bus back to Travellers (didn't feel up for the long beach walk back this year,) breakfast, another quick dip in the sea, and naptime ������ cause Lenbert and the One Love bus is picking me up at 2:35! Snoozed, rallied, packed a couple roadies, then waited curbside for pickup.
Hopped on the bus and see some familiar faces from previous reggae runs and said our hellos. At first you’re “familiar strangers” meaning *I know I’ve seen that person before*...kind of like if you commute on the same subway line at the same time everyday for years, you’ll have people that you expect to see, until you don’t. And then you’ll think a few months later, that you haven’t seen “red coat and hat woman all winter.” Cool photo book on that concept: https://mymodernmet.com/peter-funch-...phs-commuters/ Hope you dont mind the link Rob. But I digress... After a few rum punch, everyone is old friends again.
Pub Crawl was a blast, as always. We made it to Somewhere West for sunset. It was my first time there and it’s amazing. Make the trek out there if you haven’t been yet.
One of Lenberts doggos:
wave action at Somewhere west
Lucky snap I got
Back at HeadQuarters and trying to decide what’s for dinner. Opted for newish Italian place at Pure Garden to see what Nonna Marilena was whipping up.
A quick five min walk and I arrive at PG. FYI, the restaurant is waaayyyy in the back, so you’d easily walk by if you weren’t looking for it.
I asked her what was good and she said she has some pasta dough ready and wants to make tagletelli with carbonara. I asked if she had any mozz cause I was craving that caprese I’ve seen pics of. Alas, she was out of mozz, so I asked what we could do for antipasto. She says she has some scamorza cheese and could make me some focaccia with that and some tomatoes on top. Yum. What I didn’t realize was that she was gonna bake the bread fresh. ��
She got the bread going, pulled the pasta dough from the fridge and hand rolled it to order. Double ����.
Enjoyed a couple red stripe under the stars by the pool while waiting for a homemade meal.
Pasta came out first which was wasn’t a big deal since the bread was actually baking and not just sitting on a countertop somewhere simply waiting to be sliced.
Personally I would have liked a little more salt on everything but I’ve come to accept that we’re real heavy handed with salt in the states.
Marilena and her daughter were gracious hosts and the conversation was enjoyable. Def check it out. Just keep in mind, this isn’t the typical American-guido red sauce on everything fare, so set expectations accordingly.
All that said, you might be thinking, why get Italian when in Negril? Well, you can’t get traditional homemade Italian just anywhere, so when the opportunity presents itself, a camel’s gotta fill his hump. And I still have the rest of the week to gorge on curry goat, oxtail and brown stew chicken ��
Back to HQ, full belly, good vibes and ready to call it a night after a loooong day.
Slept until 1:30 in the afternoon and I’m not mad at all. I used to stress out if I slept through breakfast and missed morning beach time (FOMO) but I’ve accepted that it’s vacation and you’re supposed to do whatever the hell you want. FYI, JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) is the new FOMO.
Whew. That was a lot. Thanks for reading ���� I usually start out my trips hot and heavy and by midweek, I'm like "what computer" ?