Man, there is a wake tonight. What a party!!
I asked the housekeepers, security guards, bartenders, taxi drivers and anyone with a good ear.
I was told about many parties, but my housekeepers told me about a wake.
Some call it a Nine Night affair.
Now, in Jamaica, when folks pass, they have a party.
I mean a BIIIG party to celebrate and give thanks for the life of the individual who has met his maker.
I called my man Nick and he came by around sundown.
We were sitting on my veranda at the hotel just talking and stuff.
Nick, Man, I heard about a wake tonight.
"who's" he asked.
I dont know, but there was some young guy that was killed on his motorcycle.
h, okay, I do remember that, where is it?
Man, you asking me?, the housekeepers just told me about it this morning.
After a while, the housekeepers were getting off of work and when they passed my room, i called them over.
They talked to Nick for a while and he said he knew where the place was.
I had been to a couple of wakes before and trust me when I say "It is a real party" with food and drinks and of course music.
There were other parties up and down the beach that night too.
Nick and I started to head towards the AI's and pulled up at a place named CHances.
They were having a 70's and 80's music party.
It is pretty fancy, folks were dressed up very nice and the security was in force at the gate.
It was $1000J to get in, but it was still early and I heard that it gets going pretty late.
"man, lets not pay now, it is still early, we can come back later if we want.
Aye Aye captain, said Nick, and with that he turned the car around and we started heading out of town.
"we will go to the wake party now, it isa going on for sure" he said.
So, we were off.
Every time when I head off the regular streets and up into the countryside at night i am spellbound.
A little mysterious, just a light here and there.
Houses way up on the side of a hill far frown the road.
It is cool as he--.
I love it.
like riding a roller coaster and you are scared of a big drop.
Windows down, I am drinking and smoking and Nick has the tunes blaring and i am in love with Jamaica again.
FANTASTIC folks, please get away from the touristy spots.
Anyway, so we make turns here and there and the road starts to be full of folks.
We make a hard right turn, almost a U-turn up into a hilly area and all of the sudden there is a big crowd.
We pull up behind a row of parked cars and stop.
"Man, look at all those people! There must have been 200-300 folks.
Some were on the road, some in cars and a whole lot up the side of a hill.
I grabbed a cold one out of the cooler and Nick and I headed into the crowd.
There were speakers taller than me and women and men were dancing and daggering and what have you.
Ma, these folks were letting it all hang out!!
They were selling food and drinks and it was pitch black except for a little light but close to the people selling drinks and snacks.
I walked about midway into the crowd and stopped.
Nick was not far behind, even though it was as dark as could be.
Every once in a while a motorcycle, that was in the middle;e or on the side of the party would start up, turn on his light and slowly creep out to the street.
This was the best time to really see what was going on and who was standing by you.
All of the ladies were dancing and some guys too.
That motor cycle light really helped.
After a while I turned around and ...no Nick?
It's cool, he knows I am okay by myself.
I walked back to the road and Nick was on his cell phone by the car.
There must have been 200 women and 100 men at the wake.
I think we stayed there about 2 hours and it started to mellow out and folks started to leave, so we did the same.
We made our way back to the beach, but I was tired and did not really want to go to the Chances old school party.
The next morning I heard from a waitress on the beach that Chances was great.
