Jamaica -- Day 3 (July 29, 2010)

- It is now 11:45am and I haven’t done anything yet today…. And I’m perfectly fine with it.

- I have a monster of a pimple on my chin! It is so huge and actually kind of embarrassing. I forgot my prescribed acne gel at home so that explains its grand appearance. If you look closely at my the pics taken at Susie’s last night, you could actually see it. Anyhoo…

- I was supposed to go to a number of places with Paula today but that didn’t happen. Since I felt sleep deprived once again around 2pm, I took a nap. When I woke up, Paula and I went to Devon House. We only stopped by the ice cream shop (which was really crowded, btw) to get some ice cream. It was really yummy and extremely creamy… kind of like Cold Stone Creamery’s ice cream…. But, better!

Devon House I Scream

- I took a few pics in front of Devon House and the fountain outside. A little boy stepped into my photo taking session by Devon House and asked Paula "Are you a rasta?" (LOL... He probs thought she was because of her sister locs). She responded 'no' and asked him if he was a rasta himself and he said "yes".... Kids... :-)Devon House

- Today, we tried to contact my father but the presumed hotel in which I thought he worked said they didn’t know of any staff there by that name. Turns out, he works for JUTA Tour Bus Company . These taxis shuttles people from the airport to the hotels and various other locations. We’ll try contacting him at that company tomorrow.

- Around midnight, Paula, her friend Cara and I went to two night clubs. The first was club Privilege. It looked more like a lounge than club. No one danced. The girls just stood there looking/being stoosh. (lol) The second club, club Fiction, was more crowded and the people were actually dancing. Around 3am, I had my share of “clubbin’” and decided I was ready to leave.

Us @ Club Privilege

Me @ Club Fiction

Jamaica -- Day 2 (July 28, 2010)

- Woke up at 6:30 this morning. The neighbor was mowing the lawn. It was quite loud.


- I have come to the conclusion that I have NEVER seen so many mosquitoes in my life! They’re eating me alive.


- Drove around with Paula today. Our first stop was at a church. She went to help out with pre-school class at Vacation Bible School (VBS). The children were precious but some were a little antsy. I think they just wanted to run around outside for a bit. I’m sure it’s hard for about 16 kids to sit in close proximity in a room all day. She did really well with them though. I wouldn't have that much patience with so many children. I can deal with 2, maybe 3, at a time, but 16?? Not I.... I took a few pics and recorded a video of them.









- After VBS, we visited Spanish Town, the former capital of Jamaica (when the Spaniards owned the country). I took a few pics there too. We didn’t stay very long.




-(4:57pm) I just saw a Volkswagon Jetta… Reminded me of my bestie, Malinda. :-)

- By 6:30 pm, I was SO TIRED! I don’t know if it was because I woke up so early in the morning or because I am not fully reenergized after the lack of sleep I received the day before. Both reasons are one and the same, actually.

- Around 9pm, we went to Susie’s Bakery and Coffee Bar to hang out with some of Paula’s friends and to watch a the performance of a live band. The music wasn’t that great. Well, the music was good, but the guy’s vocals were a little shaky….
I had the worst hankering for something sweet, so I ordered a slice of cake: Chocolate Fudge Ripple. Yum! It was truly delicious! Sadly, I didn’t think about taking a pic of it until I was stuffed and couldn’t eat another bite. That cake cost $650 Jamaican dollars. Worth every bit of money. However, the portion was huge and Paula and I were not able to finish our portion. It would have been better to split one … oh well. We’ll keep in mind for future reference.

Jamaica -- Day 1 (July 27, 2010)

-- I waited til the last minute to pack, give myself a pedicure and upload recent pics of my love to my iPod, so I didn't get to bed until 2:30am. I slept for an hour and had to wake up in time to make it to the airport for my 6am flight. I had a 4.5 hour lay over in Miami. It wasn't fun but it went by pretty fast. Just my luck though, I ended up sitting b/w some woman openly breast-feeding her one year old saying "eh! Suck titty" whenever the kid seemed to get restless and Creeper McCreeperson guy who stared at me without blinking when I first walked down to the gate.

-- I was at immigration/customs in the airport for about an hour because I didn't know the address of my friend, Paula's, house ... I was finally rescued!

-- Rode from the airport and got a mini tour of East Kingston. The hills in the background were beautiful. I snapped many photos as we drove by. My friend's house is lovely: big, spacious and private. We didn't do much the first day b/c I was incredibly tired... Just watched movies and hung out. Later in the evening (it got dark really early), we went for a drive to the supermarket. I saw SO MANY PEOPLE!! Definitely more than I saw during the day. I guess we were just on another side of town. This late evening drive is what made me think that this is not the Jamaica that I remember. Then again, I was only 7 yrs old when I left so I definitely could have seen things differently then. I don't know, the streets were just crowded and the buses were full as people made their way home from a hard days work. :-/ Many areas looked impoverished but I'm sure the people were alright with it and very much happy. I guess it's an eye-opening experience and I count my blessings. Here are some pics from the drive home from the airport:






-- On the drive back home from the supermarket, the full moon was beautiful as it rested behind the hills. It was quite a sight. Sadly, I didn't carry my camera with me to take pictures.

-- that was basically the first day in a nutshell.