Chapter 6

How far we travel in life matters far less than those we meet along the way.
- Anonymous

We awoke well after dawn in our castle by the sea. We were sorry to be saying goodbye to our private piece of paradise, but at the same time we were pretty darn excited to be heading to Catcha Falling Star.

We had enough scraps of food around to qualify as breakfast, so we opted to dine in. We goofed around a bit taking pictures of the penthouse. The place is hard to describe even with pictures, so we wanted to make sure we had some good material to work with.

It is such a special place.


We hadn't yet made it down to see Connie in her new space at Jenny's and we planned to correct that this morning. We got our bags packed up and moved to our lower level and then wandered down to the front gate. We both agreed we'd likely kill ourselves trying to get our bags down the stairs, so we asked if someone might bring them down for us.

We had been staying at the castle for three days now and technically we had never actually checked in. I actually didn't even know where the office was. The security guard found Petrona for us and we settled our bill. We made arrangements for a ride to Catcha in about an hour and headed out onto the road. I know the road can get busy, but it sure wasn't this morning. The sky was a perfect blue above us with hardly a cloud in sight. The sun reflecting off the stone wall along the road was bright and made a sharp contrast to the shade cast by the various trees and bushes along the way. We encountered a couple of people and simple 'Good Morning' and a smile seemed to elicit a welcoming response.


I say seemed because I was still struggling to understand much of what was being said to me. I'd been listening to reggae music all year in part with the hope that it might help out a little with my ear for the language. I was mostly still just hearing 'Wah woh wah wah.' I was claiming a small victory because I seemed to understand at least a few words when folks repeated themselves the first time. Sunshine remained at a total loss.

We arrive a Jenny's and are greeted with a warm smile from Connie. Her niece was also working that day. We each ordered a juice. Sorrel was on the menu and I just had to have a glass. I absolutely love this stuff and there is nothing like it at home. I know of an ethnic grocery store in town that sells bags of the dried sorrel, but I think if you aren't making the juice with Jamaican water, it just isn't the same.

Sunshine was also keen to acquire some of Connie's special brownies. He is a big fan. I'm pretty sure he all but cleaned her out. He also acquired some fancy fungi. I was horrified by the bill, not because it was unreasonable for what he had bought, but because it wiped out the better part of days budget. On the way back up the road to the castle I was pretty clear that he'd best be pacing himself with this stuff.


Back at the castle our bags are down and the driver is waiting. We say our goodbyes, load up and are off down the road.