TRAIL OF ASHES TOUR: The adventure continues as Gerry G returns to Negril

[gerryg123]

It's Friday morning and I'm sitting on the porch of the home of my friend Keith, an expat from Philly who is a good friend now that we've known each other for about two years, having met at across the street at Bantons, a small bar way up in the CLiffs.

Keith lives in Negril about half the time, and he loves to have a good time. We talk politics, government conspiracies, extraterrestrials, all that stuff, then we head down the street to Moondance, a fancy hotel where we enjoy brunch -- and in Keith's case, the free wi-fi. I bump into a Seastar Inn regular, a bearded expat whom I forgot to ask if it was OK to put his name in my report, though he did say I post his pic. Nice guy. Chris from Seastar says he is the No. 1 plumber in Negril -- no one else is even close -- when it comes to hi-tech stuff like water pressure systems for large structures. Anyway, he's working on project at Moondance, so I saw him a lot through the reach ....

We brought along Keith's live-in assistant, Rasta, and the bill came out to $82! That's OK, though. Money was meant to be spent and enjoyed, right? We were the ONLY folks at the resort -- the server said there were no guests staying there at all but a wedding party was coming tomorrow (it's a top wedding hotel).

Keith and I made arrangements to go spearfishing later in the afternoon -- he has his own spear but later admitted he has never actually hit anything with it -- and then, finally, I found a little dramatic action. I took my motor bike down the hill a bit early and witnessed a car accident on the corner near the corner bar. A tourist was driving a rental SUV (with young lady in front seat) and pulled out just as a cabbie was coming round the corner, and BOOM. It was not that serious, no injuries or super major damage, but it was quite a scene.

A bunch of locals got involved, some of them yelling and screaming at the tourist. They all wanted him to pay the taxi guy immediately before the police arrived, though the truth is, that was not in the tourist's advantage, of course, because it was a rental with insurance. He was SO nervous he did not know what to do. I had been parked across the street, and being the only other tourist in sight, I walked over to help out. The only other one I knew there was the LOVE BUS driver (good guy), who was also trying to help.

I told the tourist to get his paperwork from the glove, and offered to help call the rental office -- sure enough, the paperwork said: "If involved in an accident, call this number 876 etc." The poor guy was so nervous that he was literally shaking as the paperwork was fluttering in his hand. I told him everything would be OK. I called the number for him, but with a thick accent it was hard to communicate, and the Love Bus driver helped.

Some of the locals were telling the tourist that if the police came, he would have to pay extra for a report, but that sounded silly. (not sure if it's true). This guy needed a policeman (there are not too many in Negril), and thankfully, a couple of cops arrived and got the cars off the road, etc. By this time, it was time for me to hit the ocean, but the funny thing was, a few days later I bumped into a local and by then the story had changed that the tourist was my friend and we were together, lol.