With the New Year upon us we flew to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We were very excited to take a long overdue vacation, especially because my wife Sherry and I had never been to the Caribbean. The blue water illuminated by the white coral sea bed was an awesome sight from the air!
We were immediately whisked off by the competent Rocky from Rocky’s Tours, who has been in business for over 25 years in the area. The 2 hour trip to Negril (sounds like “the grill”) wasn't bad inside Rocky’s air-conditioned bus. We had the whole bus to ourselves and were given a complimentary Red Stripe as soon as we got on. Rocky stopped at the Mega Mart for us so we could get some snacks and sodas for our room at the resort. He also stopped at the most awesome roadside stand where we ate Jerk Chicken and drank Sorrel. Sorrel is a traditional drink that is made in Jamaica around the holidays. It is also very healthy; being made with Christmas spices, ginger, and little Jamaican rum. The owner, Bigger told us that Sorrel is actually listed on the internet as a cancer-treating elixir. Bigger also sells Jerk sauce “to go”, and we were so impressed by his sauce and Jerk chicken that we told him we’d stop back in 3 days on our way back home.
We passed through 7-Mile Beach and arrived at the Spa just at the North End of the Cliffs. It was an impressive resort designed by the owner, who is also an architect. The thatched roof huts had a symmetrical design from the inside and the polished wood ceiling and floors gave it a rustic look. We dropped our bags and had and had the front desk call us a cab. We watched the sunset from our balcony and then made a b-line straight for the beach. The cab driver took us to Bourbon Beach where we had some drinks and a couple of appetizers. A guy walked in and sat at the bar a few seats away from us and I commented on his cool Neil Young t-shirt that he was wearing. We struck up a conversation and he said he’d originally come to Negril for just a few days, but ended up staying and canceling the rest of his destinations in the Caribbean. He said he’d found an apartment for 500 dollars a month. I thought that was a pretty cool thing to hear, considering we’d only been there for a couple of hours.
We walked up 7-Mile beach enjoying the warm tropical breeze coming off the ocean. We weren't really sure what to expect of the locals and were kind of on our guard after reading some of the postings. As we observed all of the cool beach bars along the strip I suddenly felt a strong pull toward a certain area of shops. I’m not sure if it was the cool colors of the building or the great music blasting out onto the beach, or maybe just fate but we wound up at Alton’s Geddy House. The Lobster sign was the first thing to grab Sherry’s attention as we’d been anticipating trying the Jerk Lobster on this trip, so we immediately sat down and ordered 2 lobsters and 2 Red Stripes .
As we sat down to the table we started to sink into the cool vibe right away. The tropical breeze, the reggae music and the cool hometown hospitality of Alton all seemed to add to the experience. The chairs were made out of tree stumps as if they were growing out of the sand, which was really cool. We all went inside to take pictures. Alton was happy to accommodate us and picked up some sugar cane that he must've had there as props for tourists, but it sure made a cool picture of a Rasta man holding these sugar-canes like a proud Jamaican!
Alton has a passion for music just like us and we could tell right away by the way he displayed his CD collection on the wall, not in bookshelf form, but with each CD displayed like work of art. I told Alton that I liked that and that I played guitar and was also a music lover and we really connected. He had a cool attitude and was really laid back and happy. When Sherry told Alton that she really gets the vibe and philosophy of the locals and she’d like to move there someday, Alton replied, well what’s stopping you? What a great way to look at the world, I thought!
The lobster was good and the sauce was amazing, and we asked Alton if he could bring us something tropical with some Jamaican rum in it. So he came out with some tropical drinks that he conjured up for us and sat at our table and we traded information so that we could keep in touch. Before we left that night Alton went inside and took down a painting off of his wall, it was really cool with a Rasta-colored canvas and sketches of Jamaican faces. He came out and presented it to us and told us that his father had painted it and that he wanted us to have it. What a cool thing to do, such a touching show of affection from a guy that we’d just met 2 hours before. We left with a feeling like we had discovered something on our first night to Jamaica. Something that could never quite be described in words, it was more like a feeling, or a philosophy, or even a positive attitude that seemed like a way of life here on the island. The cab driver took us back to the Spa and we took a midnight dip and were so thankful that we didn't decide to stay on the resort our first. We caught the vibe the first night there. I was starting to realize why that guy we’d met earlier had extended his stay in Negril. We took a swim in the salt-water pool and retired to our hut. More to come...
nice.
