Thanks Sbeth, Tizzy, Marley, Boogs, Fun in the Sun, Flipadelphia, MofromMonroe, wpyogi, Seveen, Guirigay, Beachgirl66!
Wpyogi – LOL! Omg! Your Shamma Lamma ding dong story had me cracking up!!
Beachgirl66- Remember how I was trying to do that protective dance around you when Brasi left to walk Marley & Ninja out of Roots? Lol! It was all too crazy! I really miss you!
Okay, Markus is up next with Chicken’s magic bus ride
Carpe Diem
Trip Report Continued..
There had been a million reasons to be excited about this trip. The thought of the Villa Sur Mer had sent happy chills down my spine every time I looked at the pictures online. The One Love Pub Crawl was something we had been wanting to do, since we planned our first trip and it was on the itinerary this time. And then of course there were all the boardie events and not to forget the day of our tenth wedding anniversary and meeting Daisy's long lost family.
Things like wedding anniversaries, as well as meeting a lot of new people, always carry some element of anxiety though. “Am I gonna get this right?”,
Day Six however was in the purest sense a care free event and with all the insane excitement and running around crammed in to the 5 first days, we had been looking forward to this treat especially: Chicken's Magic bus trip!
Day 6
As the wise Suzuki Roshi remarked though: “When you get up in the morning, I believe, you do not feel so very good.”
This morning was no different. A coffee will usually fix that problem.
Daisy turned around in bed for “just five more minutes”, as I stepped into the two trunks that lay next to the bed, then pulled yesterdays stinky shirt over my head.
It was early. Guy, who lived across from our room appeared from the direction of the beach in a Speedo and a towel. He seemed to be the only one fully awake on the premise.
The kitchen staff was still puffy eyed. The deck and pool empty. A girl was fumbling with the shutters in the golden morning light.
“Could I possibly get some coffee?” I asked her
“Ya Mon! Just give me a minute.”
She disappeared through the swinging doors of the kitchen. I heard some cluttering noises and some Bombaclaat!'s. Then a tinkling and out she came with a beautiful porcelain coffee-set on a tray that made love to my nostrils.
This was our first morning at the Seasplash and it was going just great! The liquid in the white porcelain service looked dark and thick. I proudly set up a the table in front of the room and woke up Daisy again with the good news in a sing-song voice: “ Coffee is ready, love, on this, the day of Chicken's Magic bus trip!”
I took a sip and admired the beautiful setting. Birds were chirping in the coolness of the morning and the sunlight coming at a low angle created magical effects. A Hummingbird whizzed by and a groggy butterfly sat on the back of a chair, slowly pumping its wings into shape.
Daisy came out with the cellphone. Marley had called and we had an extra half hour to get ready. So we enjoyed the hot coffee in slow sips.
We walked around afterwards to check out the Seasplash grounds for the first time in full daylight.
Last edited by Hubby-man; 08-08-2012 at 03:43 PM.
When the bus arrived at the front gate, we stood waiting like two school kids, satchel and all. The whole crew was already inside. We slapped fives as we walked through the aisle and were immediately handed a Red Stripe. “Good Morning!!”
To my surprise it wasn't Chicken driving the bus, but his brother. Very well. My brain was still too tired to comprehend it all.
First stop ATM machine then everyone back into the bus.
We hardly sat down, when the bus came to a halt again in a strip mall near the Negril round about. Every one spilled out and and headed into a tiny mart. Inside the windows and doors were bared and the cashier was in a cage. To get to the merchandise one had to pass through an impossibly narrow turnstile. Just like South Central I thought.
All 16 people descended on the beer cooler. It was cleared out in seconds and like locust the crowd swarmed out through the rest of the store to demolish any other alcohol bearing shelves. It didn't matter who got what anyways, since any item purchased became common property as soon as we had left the store.
Outside some people lit cigarettes, others sought a bathroom. It was difficult to get everyone back on the bus. What is more: we only had a few feet to go before the bus had to pull into yet another parking lot. There was a leak in radiator and water was visibly dripping from the grill. Chicken was already waiting with a replacement vehicle at the most recent stop.
The whole troop hobbled out of the bus again. Luggage and Coolers were transferred, a little traffic jam occurred as people tried to enter and exit either of the two buses. So some stepped out of the way and lit another smoke and opened another bottle. Raul even began creating improvised mixed drinks, in two plastic bottles.
Others remembered things they forgot to buy before and crossed the parking lot to find another store.
Meanwhile Chicken made his way through the crowd and of course found many familiar faces and old friends. A lively chit chat ensued. Some people who had already transferred their belongings to the new ride sat patiently in the seats of the new bus, but - as nothing was happening - exited again and popped open another drink.
Several attempts were made to get back on the road, but someone was always somewhere other than here. Whoever had waited the longest sighed and stepped out of the bus again lighting more smokes.
“Geez, it's like herding Turtles!” Becky exclaimed.
“Like what? ... What did she say?”
“She said it's like herding turtles!”
“Oh that's a good one. We should make that the title of our trip report.”
“I like turtles.”
“Did she call us turtles?”
The rest I guess is history.
Well, even turtles eventually get it right, and with every one on the bus Chicken grabbed the microphone and proclaimed the official beginning of the trip.
“Every disappointment is an appointment!”, he announced referring to the broken radiator.
I am not exactly sure what that meant, but the pun assured me that the real Chicken was now at the helm.
Last edited by Hubby-man; 08-08-2012 at 03:47 PM.
As the motor hummed away smoothly and every one began settling into their seats, Chicken attempted some tour guiding and began pointing out this and that. The experienced crew took it quietly for a while, but when Chicken wanted to pull over to let everyone take a picture of some old sugar plantation, every one looked at him dumbfounded.
“Hey Chicken, we are not even in Sav la mar, yet. How many times you think we've all seen this road. Pedal to the medal, my man, pedal to the medal.” Someone declared
Chicken looked surprised, almost hurt, then realized his mistake. He'd have to come up with something more exotic to get any cameras clicking in this crowd. Chicken chuckled Chicken style. “Alright, my friends, I understand!”
“Chicken, your bus is why we're here!”, Marley explained. “we have already reached our favorite destination!”
“Hey chicken, put some music on!” Booger said with some buzz in his voice.
“Ya, Mon!”, chicken replied, now roaring with laughter and fumbled for a CD.
“Could you be loved, Could you be loved!” The whole bus was one unified voice. Beers rhythmically swaying in the air. The CD-player cut out many times, but the voices always carried on the song. “..by my door step, singing loud and clear..”.
A bottle of rum cream was passed around. “hell why not?” I took a healthy swig and handed it down further.
Some rum cream jokes ensued which led to some roaring laughter.
Even Brasi who was nursing a major hang-over in the back seat was chuckling.
Tizzy, who had so far buried her face in John's, in frightening proximity to the groaning brasi, now got up and joined the banter. Half standing on her seat she held two bottles of beer precariously over the seat in front of her.
I noticed she was bouncing up and down.
Time for another pit stop.
We were somewhere between Belmont and YS-Falls and pulled over to a large filling station with a lumber yard next door. As we stepped out the heat was a shock. I could feel the softness of the pavement as it emitted a nauseating odor of hot fresh tar. The air flickered above the ground and it almost seemed unnecessary to use a lighter to light a cigarette. Within seconds I felt sun burnt.
Tizzy wasn't the only one needing a bathroom. No surprise, considering the buckets of empty bottles that were being carried off the bus.
A long line formed in front of the unisex bathroom, with each person exiting giving a report of what one would find inside. We were all pretty toasted at this point. Enhanced by the heat and alcohol, the rumors of what the bathroom looked like grew into a horror story as it was passed on. Three inch long, blood thirsty mosquitos supposedly covered every inch of the walls, waiting patiently, only to descend on people in a big cloud once their pants were around their ankles. Daisy now clutched my sweaty sleeve and debated whether she wanted me to go in first or the other way around.
A Danish family extended the line at the end. The mother and three nearly white-blond daughters, arranged by size like organ pipes, looked like poster children for the Scandinavian Tourism board. Their pale unburned skin, indicated that they had just arrived. Dad was still at the pump sighing over a war torn map that he had spread over the tinted windows of his luxury SUV Rental. All of them were dressed in the most formal of business attires. A band of medieval knights would have looked far less out of place. They looked our group up and down with obvious disgust.
“We are driving our daughter to a volunteer organization in Mandeville, where she will work for 6 months.”, the mother announced with a heavy Danish accent. They looked in horror at our rowdy group. I felt really sorry for them. We must have given them have some second thoughts about her daughters philanthropic adventures. I could only imagine the discussion in the car that must have followed. ("Don't you get involved with those types, young lady!")
The bathroom turned out to be not so bad at all. And with fresh 12 packs in the icebox. The turtles were back on the bus in a record-breaking 30 minutes, YS-Falls now only a short ride away.
To be continued....
Last edited by Hubby-man; 08-20-2012 at 12:38 AM.
Awwwww man...I was there for this trip...but even I sighed when I read "To be continued..."
LOL
Oh and P.S. How did I completely miss the Scandanavian poster family from Medieval Times?!?!?!?!?! Hahahaha
Love it
I wanna
? ya
and treat u right
hahahahaha
that was the best bathroom stop ever lol... i remember a very enjoable smoke and some fun banter with you and daisy
Stir IT UP
My favorite thing about your posts is you have a trove of pics you haven't shared until you hit that point of the trip report. I also hate that you've been holding out on us this whole time...
I'm also with Marley on this. I took forever on this day so I have no standing to say what is about to follow. I also don't care. Hurry up!!
What's so funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
Brilliant Marcus. Yet more pieces of the jigsawAnd Mike's dead right, I just love the way you're pulling photo's out that haven't been seen yet. Family? What family???? See......missing pieces!!!!!
Rise early, treat everyday as though it's your last and your last day as it's your first.
first image that came to mind... children of the corn and then i thought wait.... they were ginger... lol no offence to any gingers i got a lil freckles from my family tree... and to the beautiful couple that is spotty cats... My grandfather, well hes my grandmothers husband i grew up with him so its no difference to me, is of scottish decent from the cameron clan... if thats what you call it correct me if im wrong hehe
Originally Posted by Hubby-man
I think if she had pearls she would have clutched them
Da Ninja - 1st Annual Belly Flop Champ - Soon Come
~Fear accompanies the possibility of Death, Calm shepherds its certainty.
People's actions no longer affect a warrior when he has no more expectations of any kind. A strange peace becomes the ruling force in his life. He has adopted one of the concepts of a warrior's life -- detachment.
~from "The Eagle's Gift"~ blog.ralonzosinclair.com
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