Clarity I know how you must feel being so far from you sweetie when he is so sick...I hope he feels better soon.....sending white light...
Clarity I know how you must feel being so far from you sweetie when he is so sick...I hope he feels better soon.....sending white light...
~~~love and light~~~
Oh No! Sorry to hear about Markus. Those ear infections can be terrible, I hope they get him on something to clear it up. I once had a sinus infection that got so bad it went to my eye also and it looked horrible but then they gave me drops and it cleared up pretty quickly. So I hope Markus got some help at the urgent care and hopefully he is on the way to a quick recovery!
I know how you must feel being worried about him and not close enough to help. I am hoping you both get some relief soon!
Only thing worse about an ear infection on ground is the anticipation of having to be 33,000 feet in the air with one. I'm sure Marcus will get the necessary antibiotics to get that on the mend.
I must say that when I came down for Happy Hour to the Seastar Bar on the Saturday before the show that I did witness the love and friendship. Now Daisy was not around at the time but Marcus and Jamar were in the pool sitting on their side of the bar. I have never seen such happiness expressed on those two faces of two guys sitting together with Marcus giving Jamar the biggest hug. It was so special that I couldn't even interrupt it with "Hey - you must be Marcus and Jamar" - I just enjoyed the moment and let them enjoy theirs. Wish I could of taken a picture though - it was a kodak moment!
At least I did manage to get over later in the evening to introduce myself and meet the infamous trio!
Totally loving your trip report and photos. Hope Marcus' ear infection gets better soon. Those can be so painful and hard to heal up, especially with all the time he has spent on an airplane.
Thank you so much everyone for your well wishes and positive vibes for Markus.
We chatted on Skype this morning and he's doing so much better! The antibiotic drops got rid of his pink eye and his ear infection is slowly clearing up. He's definitely on the mend. I'm so relieved.
It's really hard being apart like this..I wish I could just fast forward through the next two weeks...
IrieAlways - it was so great meeting you at Seastar! Oh and I have a snapshot of that scene you described at the swim up bar- just before I left them to take a nap, I'll post it later. Yes, They were so happy that night!
Now Jamar is going to step up to the bat, get this trip report moving again...!
Then I'll have a go
and Markus is fast asleep in Germany, so he will be updating tomorrow.
Over to you, Jamar...
Carpe Diem
So finally I get the chance to sit down and write about my experiences in Jamaica!
First off I want to apologize to everyone that’s been eagerly anticipating my response to such an interesting trip. To start things off, the night before our departure for Jamaica, I was feeling very nervous. So nervous that I couldn’t sleep I was putting more into this trip than I ever have a trip before. I’ve been to numerous places around the globe, from Paris all the way to Thailand,
but somehow I thought this trip was going to be just a little bit different because this was the first country for me that is predominately a Black Country…. Not to make this about race but I was thinking how this trip was going to affect me considering that the faces I’ll be staring at would be almost like looking at your own reflection in a mirror. How are these people going to perceive me?
Will they like me? Will they look at me with envy due to the fact that I’m coming from America (“Land of opportunity and immense wealth”- at least in their minds ) These were the thoughts that were running through my head even before I could set foot on the plane to begin my adventures. I was afraid by what I was going to see… you read often in the news or see on TV about the poverty in these countries, but I was going to be seeing this up close and personal...
Finally after a fairly short flight (I felt it was shorter than what I imagined, but maybe because of the anxiousness I felt) we land in Jamaica!!!
Upon arriving into Montego Bay, the one emotion that hit me the most was Insecurity! I felt this sense of insecurity come over me as many of the locals were staring at me! We’re they staring at me with disgust? We’re they staring at me because they were intrigued by me (Seeing as how I looked the quintessential foreigner)? That was the thoughts I was experiencing as I was trying to look and act excited when talking with my friends Markus and Daisy.
So we find our driver… His name is Chicken- it’s so funny because that’s his nickname! I noticed that everyone in Jamaica has nickname that they’re called. In my family it’s the same way (You never get called by your real name but by a nickname based on your personality or behavior from start of birth- Don’t laugh, but my family calls me “SCOOP”- not really sure why, I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m greedy and eat all the time)
Anyway, digressed a little there, so when I met Chicken, I felt a little more at ease and he put me there, we had such a great conversation on the road to Negril, we talked about similarities in the Jamaican culture and the African American culture and based from talking with him, I could see that there were a lot more similarities than differences. We stopped along the way to have a quick beer and chatted some more…
Bar we stopped at.
Based from talking to Chicken, the first Jamaican I spoke to by the way, I was starting to feel a little at ease, but was I still feeling insecure?
Oh Hell YES!!!!!!!
So Chicken stopped us by Bigga’s for some Jerk Chicken, my first jerk chicken ever experienced…
Markus and Daisy told me about Bigga and his famous chicken so I was eagerly excited to try it…
Biggas.
So we ordered and Bigga sprinkles that Jerk Sauce on…. Let me tell you,
it was the hottest hot sauce I ever experienced… I’m sure many of you that are reading this are probably scoffing at this or laughing deep down inside… but for me, who hates anything really spicy or don’t have a knack for the flavor, this was HOT!!!!!! So I had to resort to mixing it with some Ketchup but all in all it was real good and enjoyed it very much!
Me, Markus and Chicken at Biggas
More coming soon
Last edited by jamariquoi; 11-19-2011 at 08:05 PM.
It's off-season, so they upgraded all of us from our economy priced Manor rooms to a beach side cottages. That was a dream come true! I had looked at the beach side cottages longingly during our last trip but they were out of our price range. I never imagined we'd end up there.
Jamar was taken to his cottage (room 31) bottom floor and literally steps from the beach. Markus and I were taken to our cottage (Room 50) at little further in the property and second floor. We walked past the familiar strutting Peacocks and the lush grounds.
I felt kind of dazed as though I was in a dream state, My excitement was masking my exhaustion.. it all felt kind of surreal.
Once we were alone in the room, Markus started walking around running his hands through his hair and taking it all in while shaking his head in disbelief.
“I can't believe we're here.. I can't believe we're here...I can't believe they upgraded us.. this is.. just...”
Meanwhile I tore open my suitcase and pulled out one of my bikini's. I had one thought and one thought only:.
BEACH.
No unpacking, no re-arranging toiletries – Who has time for that? I needed to get into the water.
Markus got changed into his bathing suit too and sat on the balcony with a smile. He had this kind of drugged look like that boy that had just gotten his teeth pulled out in that famous you tube video “Is this real life?”
I was feeling the exact same way.
Last edited by Clarity; 11-19-2011 at 08:19 PM.
Carpe Diem
HAHAHAHAHA, that's is SO funny, that video had me roflmao.....I can see that look on Markus' face. (Glad he's feeling better btw)Originally Posted by Clarity
Looooving ya'lls report!!!
Stir IT UP
Thanks SG, Angel, Gerry, Shauna!
Alisa & Rastagal –Bigga’s is definitely worth a stop on the way to Negril, especially if you enjoy spicy! Now that I have the “ketchup trick” down to a science, I know we’ll be stopping there again on our next reach.
PGW – Yes, The cottages directly on the beach are the best, aren’t they? I think I’ve been a little spoiled by this experience…
Tizzy – lol –Yeah, We were both pretty whacked out when we arrived at the hotel, After such a long red eye flight - any rational person would have gone straight to bed (for a nap at least)…but we were all way too excited.
Ralonzo –Of course, I’ve searched high and low for good Jerk chicken in SF! Sadly there is only one good Caribbean restaurant located in SOMA and only open for lunch. I haven’t been there yet because it’s too far away from where I work. There are some Jerk chicken places I’ve heard about located in Oakland and Berkeley. I wish there were more…
Maybe I should learn to MAKE jerk chicken myself – invest in one of those barrel cookers and keep it on the fire escape.
Do you have good Jerk Chicken options in Florida?
NOLAnmr – I loved those pictures you’ve shared! Your wedding looked so beautiful, you both look so happy too! I really enjoyed our stay at the Coco La Palm, It’s the best stretch of beach on the strip and I loved their happy hour special. It was fun to read your trip report, especially since you also experienced the honeymoon suite at CCLP. It’s amazing isn’t it? You know it’s funny, on the trip I also had an experience with fighting Jetski drivers… except that me, Markus and Jamar were kinda trapped helplessly in the middle of it. ack! I’ll be writing about that later.
It was also interesting to read about your experience at Hedo II – I’ve always been curious about this infamous hotel. It sounds like you can have a pretty chill time there after all. I’m also interested in Sea Grape Villas! You mentioned you have a trip to Xtabi coming up. Where are you leaving? Look forward to reading about your experiences there!
Glad you enjoyed our last trip report (Can’t believe you read it all in one night – It’s like the “War and Peace” of trip reports. Lol – we got a little carried away) We had so much fun writing it. Markus and I would make dirty Bananas and listen to Reggae while we typed it together. It was fun reading each other’s impressions of the people we encountered and places we went.
This trip report is harder… now we’re far apart from eachother…in two different countries with two different time zones.
I'm really missing him
There should be a new TR update from Markus tonight.
Last edited by Clarity; 11-22-2011 at 02:16 AM.
Carpe Diem
Love your report Clarity! I am always so happy when I log on and you have written more. Jamar's report is nice too!
Shauna, have you found any good JA restaurants in the Clearwater area? I'm heading down in two weeks to visit my son and would like to go to one. He found one a long time ago in St. Pete but I don't know if it is still there.
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