Sweetie Pie’s circadian rhythms and mine are pretty well in sync for the most part. On her own she normally gets up a little earlier than me but together we seem to fall into a pattern of slowly waking, snuggling, dozing and reawakening that starts sometime before six and usually has us up by 6:30. In Negril the dance seems to start a little earlier. The first few nights we don’t sleep real soundly and there is a rooster somewhere well down the road that likes to get his first crow in around 4:30. My kinda rooster. He certainly is not loud enough to wake you from a slumber as later nights will attest but as I lie in a semi-lucid half sleep I hear him and check my watch. He is pretty consistent through the week.
Darkness breaks about 5:30 and with each roust from the dozing we check the light past the verandah. Just before 6:30 we get up. I notice that across the courtyard there is a suite on top of the kitchen area that has a stairway up to its roof. Yesterday we couldn’t see the sun actually come up from our verandah and I can tell this roof top has a great view. We dress and walk over. We are greeted by one of the better sunrises we will have this week, a pulsing, ever changing show of color on some whispery clouds perfectly spaced between us and the sun. We stand quiet for the most part, Sweetie Pie’s back pressed against my chest, my arms around her waist.
I love to find a spot where you can watch sunrise or sunset and turn around to see the opposite horizon. I find that often the light play behind you at these times can be as or more impressive than the sun itself. Sunrise in Negril offers the opportunity to watch darkness descend out across the Caribbean and our location is perfect. It does not disappoint today. A fishing boat headed out to the reef goes by and I have an incredible sensation of providence. I feel good, the sun is up and we’re in paradise. I turn to Sweetie Pie,”Coffee?” “Oh, yeah!”
Coffee is very important to both Sweetie Pie and me. Blue Mountain coffee is very high on our anticipation list for this trip. Unfortunately, the restaurant coffee at HSH is one of the few disappointments we have with the place. Later in the week we notice some guests renting a percolator from Charlie but today all we know is the coffee yesterday was not up to our standards. Really, not even close. Sweetie Pie swears it is instant and I’m not going argue with her. It was not good. So on our walk into town yesterday we kept our eyes out for a coffee stop. Sweetie Pie remembers one that stood out to her but doesn’t remember the name. I remember a nice looking cliff side shack that said Blue Mountain Coffee in big letters. We head out.
