DAY 1 IN JAMAICA

We take off from Miami and land without event. We really liked Miami and the airport. We really enjoy people watching and there are all different kinds of people in this airport.

Customs/Immigration took only 30 minutes, give or take so no problem there.

We hired Rocky to drive us to/from the resort, so was surprised to see a strange man holding a sign with my name on it. Rocky was so busy he had to get help. “Gerald” was our appointed driver for the day. He quickly stopped at a “Rum Bar” and got us 2 of the coldest Stripes either of us have ever had.

We stopped at “Biggas” and Glen bought us all lunch. I had the jerk pork, Glen and Gerald, the chicken. All I can say is AWESOME. Cooked to perfection, spicy and tender. And yep- Biggas t shirt is really white.

Bigga had this sweet little Momma dog hanging around. I say Momma cuz her “teets” almost hit the ground. Poor thing. I was feeding her scraps from the chicken being careful not to give her the bones when Gerald told me to give her the whole thing. I told him dogs should not have chicken bones cuz they can choke. He just laughed and place his whole plate right on the ground for her. I quickly followed suit. I reminded myself I was in a 3rd world country.

Check in was quick, effortless and painless at RIU Tropical Bay. Our room is beautiful and clean. Our bell hop got us to our room and surprisingly was able to accommodate our EVERY need…….and boy did he do a good job (this is the point where I worry about my Mom and 21 year old daughter reading this so will go into no further detail).

We unpacked….for the 1st time in 3 days. Remember we have been living out of a suitcase. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to unpack and organize. Playing Bob Marley, drinking a Pina Colada and listening to the ocean AND organizing. Does it get any better?

Yes, it does. We throw on our suits and head down to the beach. I CAN’T QUIT SMILING. I once had a therapist pose the question to me….”In one word, what makes you happiest?”. My answer……..WATER. I quickly walk out into the sea and am standing knee high in the water and just praising God that I am able to take this trip to rejuvenate, replenish, refresh, rekindle, reconnect and the “re’s” go on.

After a few moments of gazing out into the sea, I turn around and my husband says to me……”You are so beautiful”. At that moment, I felt beautiful. I felt connected to him and the sea and to myself. People talk about the “vibration” of Negril and I am totally feeling it. I wish I could bottle this feeling up and take it out whenever I needed it.
The night ends with us finding some friends who are in town at a different resort, having a drink at THE ORIGINAL Office of Naturre (we will be back later for the lobster.) and dinner at the buffet at RIU.

Here is a little snippet of RIU Tropcal Bay…………if I could use vulgarity here, I would tell you this place is F*&^ing AWESOME (sorry Mom). Seriously, this place is beautiful. Sorry….I know Spain owned, but I have to wonder, if this place wasn’t here, how many people would NOT come here and how many local jobs would be lost? This is my 1st time at a RIU and I can totally understand why people wouId be loyal to the brand. I know, so many levels to this statement and don’t want to wage an argument. But, seriously, this place is clean, the staff - WONDERFUL, the food is phenomenal. How anyone could complain about this place is beyond me.

Note on the food. We are from Wisconsin and take our cheese seriously. When we got to dinner, we found that they had an entire portion of their buffet dedicated to CHEESE!! I think we each had 5 or 6 different cheeses with a glass of red wine. Yes, the wine was even good. We followed the cheeses with pasta and sea food, then a dessert plate made of various desserts. I don’t know about you guys, but at home, I don’t eat like this. I have been on Weight Watchers for about 2 months now and some sort of diet since I was 12 ( ) and really try to watch my calories, so to say that I am in food heaven is an understatement.

Needless to say, after a great day of EVERYTHING, I am totally and completely overwhelmed and THANKFUL.

I Love This Place….

Might be a few days before I get back on again. I plan on doing NOTHING today. Thanks for reading my trip report and for the encouragement to keep writing. You guys are the best cyber friends a girl could ever have.